July 16, 2007

The Often Snickered at…Kick-Ass Marketing Tool

Is…

The Flyer.

Most of the time I’ll get funny looks or comments about using flyers to market my business. Usually will hear…”They don’t work - who would read them.”

However today I booked another window cleaning job off the flyer.

What I really like about a flyer is once you find one that works, it keeps chugging along. Producing steady results week after week, month after month. No worry, no fuss.

The flyer is also very versatile. Pass them out to homes, leave them on store counters, post them on bulletin boards, stick a stamp on them and mail ‘em. The list can go on, and on.

The best part is they are cheap to create, and produce. All you need is a computer, word-processing software, and a printer. If a flyer is not working, you can make quick fixes. Your marketing become flexible adjusting to your customers response.

I’ll get off my soap box now.

Going to get another 500 flyers out tomorrow.

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July 13, 2007

The Only Vote That Counts

Well it finally happened today…

A person called to complain about getting a flyer at their house.  I wonder what took so long?  I was expecting one much earlier.  The call was left on voicemail before business hours.  He said he did not want to see any of my flyers anywhere, or he would get laws passed to stop me. 

What am I going to do about it?  Am I going to stop flyering?  Nope — Just make sure we don’t give him another flyer at his house.  You cannot let a little criticism stop, or slow you down.  You have to let it roll off your back like water off a duck.

Because the only vote that counts is the one who puts cash in the bank.  Flyering has a high ROI.  For every dollar spent printing flyers & then passing them out returns $11.18 in new business. 

And the votes are in…keep flyering!

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July 11, 2007

What Happened?!?

Wow…it has been over two months since I’ve posted anything.

I could bore you with tales about how May, and June got busy.  However just about any window cleaner waving a squeegee around gets busy that time of year.  So, I won’t

The motivation was just not there to post…and once I got into the habit of not posting it became easier to just let it slide.  The last couple of days I’ve been thinking about starting this back up again.  However I kept putting it off.

This morning I got up and decided today was the day.  My goal was to get this done before I left for the day.  I’ll get back on a regular schedule, and have some more great tips coming your way!

 That’s it for now…Off to clean a customer who is 10 minutes from here!  You gotta love that commute!

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May 2, 2007

What Do You Do If You Don’t Have Any Window Cleaning Jobs?

When you don’t have a lot of jobs you have time to market! So, that is what I did today. Spent 2 hours putting flyers in bags, and loading up into the truck. Then went out for 4 hours an dropped 500 flyers.

Finished up by 3:45pm and headed for home. By 8:00pm 5 people had called to get an estimate…HURRAY! Figure over the next couple days should get another 5 or so estimates. I’m happy with the results of the flyers. Tomorrow will be spent getting the 5 estimates knocked out, and getting a couple jobs booked.

I have to admit that when I had recieved no phone calls by 5:00pm…I was nervous. I started to think that my flyer was a bust. However I caught myself, changed my thoughts to expect good things to happened. And felt great when the phone started to ring. Funny how something as simple as a ringing phone can change your attitude.

The plan is to get another 500 flyers out by Friday, get the estimates done, and have 3-4 jobs booked for next week.

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May 1, 2007

How To Start A Window Cleaning Business On A Shoe String Budget

Have you ever said to yourself:

“If I knew then what I know now…”

Well, it seems I’m in this situation.  My wife got a job transfer to New Jersey…so I’d thought I’d tag along.  I’ve always boasted I could go any where and start the window cleaning business.  “No problem” was my stock answer.

Now its time to cash the check my mouth wrote.  I’ve decided to chronicle my experiences with starting over.  The good, the bad, and the entertaining!

I’ll post 2-3 time’s per week for the first year.  You’ll get to see what is planned, how it is executed and the results.  This will give you an idea on how to start a window cleaning business.  There are ulterior motives for doing this.  This will keep me on the ball…if I say I’m going to do something, then it’ll be easy to find the motivation to finish.

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