Whenever I hear window cleaners talk about ways to grow their business it’s usually focused on finding new customers. Unfortunately that is the least profitable way to grow a business.
Increase prices - Talk about raising prices can strike fear in the biggest baddest window cleaner on the block. The fear is that the customer will flip out, and not ever hire them again. So, a window cleaner will put off increasing prices… allowing inflation to eat away at their profits. The truth is you need to raise prices at least enough to maintain your standard of living. I feared raising prices, and was shocked by my customers reaction. One told me it was about time. My income went up, and nobody complained.
Increase frequency - In most cases a residential window cleaning customer will get their windows cleaned once a year. And I found that by keeping in contact with them year round I could get more to move up to 2 times a year. The benefits include; increased efficiency, less dirt on windows and higher dollars per hour. You need less customers to for the same amount of income, less marketing costs and less paperwork. You increase your profits.
Increase transaction size - There are many ways to increase transaction size at each house. Two of the best ways are screen cleaning & sill cleaning. You have to remove the screen to get to the window most of the time. So why not clean them while they are down, and make some extra money. This is a win-win situation. You are happy because you are making extra money, and the is happy because your are providing added value.
Steve Wright over at Window Washing Success Tips talks about another method in this post Gutter Cleaning Anyone?
These three ways to grow your window cleaning business are often overlooked, or glossed over. But I have found that this can be quick and simple way to increase revenue and profits. And because you already have a relationship with your customers they are open to these because they trust you. Give these three strategies a try and watch your business grow.
John Jantsch makes a great point about attracting the right customers. In fact you are attracting the type of customers you really want. Check it out here:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/01/22/frequency-matters/
86% of Americans used coupons in 2006, and saved over $2.6 billion. People are enthusiastic users of coupons. We love to search for them, clip them, and redeem them. Many times customers will try a new company or service because of a coupon. Coupons are so popular with they make a powerful tool for marketing.
There are pros and cons with using coupons in your window cleaning business. My experience has shown me that coupons have more pros than cons for a window cleaning business. Some of the cons are that customers will become use to getting coupons. They will wait for the next coupon before purchasing. So, the argument against coupons is that your condition your customers to shop only with coupons.
I use to believe in the arguments against coupons, and avoided using them. I thought coupons would only attract bargain shoppers, and cheapskates. I would be forced to cut prices and that would lower profits. However I changed my mind after using Val-Pak. Much to my surprise I found out that everyone likes to use coupons. Some of the customers that called to get their windows cleaned perfectly within profile of what I considered ideal customers.
Here are several tips to use coupons for maximum results. Make sure you keep the coupon simple. A lot of small print is not good. Keep your offers simple… like free screen cleaning with every window cleaning appointment. Leave off the special circumstances, or qualification otherwise it will kill response. I also found way to make your current customers angry is to put out a new customers only coupon. Do you really think it’s a good idea to punish your loyal customers? If you decide to give a $17 dollar off coupon why would you not let your past customers take advantage of it? They are reading the same publications your potential customers are reading. So, let everyone redeem your coupons.
Another quick tip for coupons: If you are giving a dollar off on your coupons make it an odd number. Avoid giving $10, 20 or 25 off. You will get better response by giving $17, 22 or 24 dollars off. It will stand out, and grab attention. My personal favorite is $17 dollars off. I have found it gets good action.
Make sure you give serious attention to coupons in your marketing, and reap the rewards.
Over at the Gravitational Marketing Blog Jimmy & Travis discuss why it’s a waste of money trying to be cute in your marketing. I agree that the big companies with more money than brains can afford to play silly branding game. Us small business owners have to be smart with our marketing dollars.
That is why it’s not a good strategy to follow what big business does.
You can read more about it at their blog.
What a customer says about you is 1000 times more effective than anything you say. And I found out quite by accident that letting a potential customer talk with a happy customer is magic. A potential customer will call and see if you are worth the risk, and do a good job. That potential customer is wondering if they should let you and your employees into their home. And if they can get a first hand account from a satisfied customer, they will confident in your service. That is why references are more powerful than testimonials, if you use the right.
Early in my window cleaning business a potential customer asked for a couple of references. I didn’t have any references, but I didn’t want to lose the customer. So, I said sure let me run back to the office and call you with their phone numbers. I got back to the office and started calling the customers that I thought were thrilled with their window cleaning. When I got a list of 4 customers together I called the potential customer and gave her the references. A couple days later the potential customer called and set an appointment to get her windows cleaned. I found out later that she had called all four references to check me out. This new customer became a long term regular customer, and ended up referring just over 6% of my new business in her first year.
Letting a potential customer call a current customer works so well because of the honesty involved. As the business owner I’m naturally tell the potential customer what a wonderful guy I am. I’ll also tell the customer that I have excellent skills, and customer service. That is what the prospect expects me to say. However if the prospect calls a current customer and hears the same thing, then that is different. The customer has no financial gain, and no reason to be less than honest. It’s just one person talking to another. It also shows that I’m confident in my window cleaning business. The situation in not scripted, and the customer must be happy. They would not recommend a business that delivers a bad service.
How do I get customers to agree to being references? Simple really… I ask. the best time to ask is right after I finish a window cleaning job. The customer is telling me how nice the windows look. At that point I’ll ask if they would mind being a reference. If they are not enthusiastic, I’ll quickly back-off. You don’t want a less than enthusiastic customer as a reference. A lot of times people hesitate because they don’t like strangers calling, and I completely understand. Above all else I want to respect their privacy. Never, and I mean never use a customer as a reference without their permission.
Give this strategy a try in your window cleaning business. You will have customers closing jobs for you, and they will be better at it than you. References are a powerful marketing strategy that I don’t see used enough.
Found a great post on Michael Cage’s Blog about positioning a business against competition. I suggest you check it out…
Keith Goodrum
This weekend my wife was watching HSN and I sat down on the couch to watch with her… I was bored!
However my marketing radar went off about 2 minutes into the segment. They are master marketers… Watch when you have some time for a free sales seminar. They were pitching, presenting and closing. It was awe-inspiring. They have a little counter showing how many units are selling. When they say or show something that hits the right buttons… the numbers start to jump. And the host will immediately repeat whatever caused the spike.
What happen next really made me salivate from a pure marketing viewpoint. Up in the right hand corner pops up an icon that said select here to order. I was stunned… I picked up the remote control and pressed select.
You can order through cable! The ultimate in convenience…
You do have to have an account set up with HSN, you don’t have to wait on the phone anymore.
This is great example of opening up more avenues to accept customer orders.
Keith
How Big Is Your Back end?
If you felt I’m asking a personal question, then you have no idea what I’m talking about.
Most businesses go after the hardest type of customers there to get. They spend way too much time and money focusing on this avenue of business. Can you guess what type of customer I’m talking about?
Yes, I’m talking about new customers. They are the hardest to get for 4 reasons:
- They are hard to find – In the great sea of unwashed masses it is hard to find your customers. Not many people can stand on a street corner and pick out who is likely to hire you, or buy your product. The surest way would be to stop each person and ask him or her… a survey. You would have to go through a lot of S**t to find the shinola. And that is what most new customer marketing does. This is very inefficient.
- It cost a lot of time and money – You spend more money chasing after new customers. Why? Because you are sorting through many people who are not interested, can’t afford it or they use someone else.
- You don’t know the quality of the customer – Is this customer you just got any good? Do they pay on time? Or at all? Are their expectations high, medium or low?
- They are the least profitable- It cost typically costs 4-5 times more to get a new customer vs. a repeat customer. And to add insult to injury Entrepreneur Magazine states that repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers.
So, repeat customers are cheaper to get buy from you, and they spend more…
There are companies that will take a slight loss on the front end because the back end is so profitable.
I was listening to the 12 Month Internet Millionaire put out by Russell Brunson. And on it Vincent James said that his goal was to break even on the front-end sale. If he broke even or made a small profit he knew he had a winner. Those recordings are awesome… I recommend getting them. Click here to see the page.
I have been amazed at the lack of plans most people have with the customer after they get them. I have asked many people this question, and I usually hear that they are just concentrating on getting them in the door.
Not a good plan.
Stop what you are doing and come up with any plan to make another sale to your existing customers. It could be anything, just come up with something. You be surprised at the results. I remember the first time I sent out a backend offer to my window cleaning customers. One customer said to me it was about time I contacted them again. She told me she was waiting for me to ask her to call again, and she was not going to call until I did. That was an eye opener… a lesson I’ll never forget.
The moral of the story is… get a plan together to resell past customers. Any crappy plan will do at first. Then you can put together a detailed plan as you go.
Keith
Do you know why customers leave or fail to do business with a company in the first place?
According to the Small Business Administration 68% leave because of Perception of non-caring, 14% product dissatisfaction, 9% price, 5% friend’s recommendation, 3% move, 1% Death.
68%… WOW!
There is one huge reason is lack of follow up. Follow up is paying attention to your customers, making them feel important; you show you care about them. Everybody likes to feel special and when you pay attention to your customers they feel special.Follow up is not difficult and you should put a plan in place to prevent the 68% form leaving.
In his blog Dan Kennedy said this about follow up:
“Because virtually nobody does a decent job with follow-up, when you do, your competitive edge is huge and automatic.”
URL: The Power Of Follow-Up
Keith
It has been awhile since my last post. No excuses…
Did you know that using samples is a great way to grow your business?
Yes, but you are thinking… How do I use samples in a window cleaning business?? Elementary my dear Watson, you just do it. The best part about samples is you get to use the word FREE in your marketing.
When most people think samples they think that they should give away free window cleaning. That is one version of samples, but not the only one. I’ve given away free window cleaning when I first started out. I’ve given away free window cleaning to charities as a goodwill gesture. However I’ve not done this for several years.
But I still use samples in my marketin. Here is a small list of samples I’ve used:
- Free Screen cleaning - My favorite form of samples, because it makes the phones ring.
- Free sill cleaning
- Free window of your choice cleaned
- Free gutter cleaning - Worked out great for the customers… Not so great for me.(Kind of gave away the store on that one!)
Samples are a great way for customers to try out your services without risk. I first learned about samples while reading Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins. I’ll give you a free copy just subscribe to the Get a FREE copy of Scientific Advertising.
Keith
