Hello everyone. I have just read the second posting in this section regarding starting out and I have not yet hit the residential areas but am having no luck with the commercial businesses so far. I know persistence is the key to any goal. I tell my kids “As long as you never quit or give up, you can never lose, because you have never quit.” My dad used to tell me “if you through enough mud at the wall, something is bound to stick.” Not really in that nice of a term. I know that I have only passed out and talked with 100 company managers, owners, and supervisors. But I feel after 100 I should have received at least one call. I evin have a 1-888 number on my cards. I ask for the owner or manager, I introduce myself and I tell them I am servicing all the businesses in this area. And All I get is “we use our own people” “we are not interested” “Are you bonded?” “No thanks” My wife said that I should offer my services right then and there for just Penneys a panel. And towards the end of that first 100 stack of cards. I evin started telling alot of store fronts that I wont count the smaller lower windows. So if they had 5 tall windows and 5 smaller 2 foot by 2 foot windows under them, I would just charge them $10 for the outside and $10 for the inside. And still nothing. I currently work at a retail store 2pm - 11pm and my wife and kids try to pull me out of bed at 8am and I spend that time parking in a parking lot and walking from one business to the next, until im out of cards or 12pm comes around. I think I cover about 50 stores a day. No matter how big or small they are. But as im walking Im thinking about how am I going to make money at $2 a panel if I have to drive miles to get my $10 bid? How do I charge them? Im lost. Any ideas? Thanks.
Keep going …
Dont talk to them about panels or counting, just give them your price
Dont sound nervous
Due the first service for free, right then and there.
Keep going…
You need to quit or give up the method you are
using. Too much goes into those “just keep marching
on” statements, you may march right off a cliff.
Right now commercial work is going to be extra hard to
get. Most will sacrifice services like window cleaning in
a second if sales are down.
If you are going to keep after commercial/store front you
need to take the focus off price all together.
Instead of rolling in the door with “Hi, I’ll clean your windows
for $14” and forcing them into a defensive posture, create
interest first.
Cut the crap and be direct as they really don’t want to
talk to you-
[B]"Hello I’m Amber with Improve Your Business Window
Cleaning. I am here today to give you a 2 week free trial of
our effective Face of Your Business image program.
What we do is come out and create a clean and welcoming
message for people walking by.
These days you need all advantage you can get, right?
(allow him to answer an obvious yes)
I don’t want to take up any more of your time. We can
give you your first cleaning this week. You have no
obligation and nothing to lose.
Is there a certain day that is best for you?"[/B]
Something to that effect…
Two spools of thought came through me after reading your post.
-
The Economy - I would chase down the residential in this economy. The businesses are all cutting back and most that have been in business for any amount of time know of several window cleaning companies as they have been solicited in the past by them. Not that commercial work isn’t viable work but it is tough to make a day of without landing several nearby each other.
-
Your approach - I always try to give the prospect the understanding that they are in the presence of a professional that would serve their needs. I try to accomplish this by having the “solution” prior to landing the job. Recently I sent a letter to a retirement village nearby me and I did so after doing a thorough walk thru of the entire facility on the outside and even on the inside. I took 20 minutes and put together a written estimate and sent it with my solicitation letter. I received a call a few weeks later and we are in the process of the scheduling the work now. It’s over a 2k gig so it was worth the time. Even if hadn’t gotten the gig I think I would have accomplished what I set out to accomplish and that was to sell my company as a professional one.
I wish you much luck!
I agree with what most, if not all have mentioned here. I really think that Dwight is right when he said go after the resi jobs not commercial. Now is not the time to be hitting those as a brand new rookie at this job. Residential will get your foot in the door (no pun intended) for the commercial accounts later.
I would also recommend getting a book by Zig Ziglar called [I]Zig Ziglar’s Secrets Of Closing The Sale[/I]. It has lots of valuable information regarding what to say to someone you are trying to sell your business to.
Good luck!
I can’t even imagine relying on commercial/route work these days.
That is the hard way to grow a business
If you are able, go residential.
My experience is that price drives the commercial business more so than residential. Commercial is cutthroat where I live right now, rural northern Wisconsin. Got a retired ‘cash only’ guy in the area that does it for about 50% less than I will. Watch this guy work and you know he’s doing it for pocket change rather than employment. Got another company that hires summer people at hourly rate to cover their commercial work while the owners pull in the bucks doing residential. Then the owners carry the commercial in the winter. In this way, they are also underbidding me significantly in commercial. I’ve given up on going to volume with commercial window washing. That’s at least true when it comes to small, montly service accounts. I’m still looking at some large occasional commercial accounts in a near by city that I can do with a wfp system.
If you are set on doing commercial, or residential for that matter, follow the advice in this thread. Study like a grad student every detail of your approach.
Look at every possible detail as a make or break detail. Think of yourself as a business owner and sales expert; not as a window washer. Base an important purchase on your success; it will help keep you motivated. “No eating out until I close a deal.” Anyone on this bb could teach a monkey to do ground level commercial window washing with some measure of quality. Few, that can clean glass, or perfect any technical trade, can run a business. You’re a business owner, not a glass cleaner. The skill and fortitude of character that is required to run a business is way beyond what is required to clean glass. That’s why the vast majority of start-ups go under in less than a year.
Continue to do what you are doing and you will continue to get what you are getting. Start paying very close attention to what you are doing rather than what your prospects are doing. Change a little something EVERY time you make an approach. When you make your first sale, make sure you know what you changed and stick with it. Repeat to success.
If you are just starting out, clean glass for for free until you convince yourself you know what you are doing. In the process you will build some referrals and testimonials.
Eric
Yup, what Chris said.
Also…don’t pigeon hole yourself into only targeting commercial accounts…think about going after residential too
Sales are definately hard these days. I have been handing out more cards and getting less response also.
head up and good luck
In general, commercial has slacked off. I view this as a good thing. I’m going to be using this time to target the places that do not have a window cleaner. I will call on them twice or once a month, keeping my card on their desk and my face in the back of their mind. I know I won’t get the job right away. I plan on the getting the jobs when the economy turns.
I have a chain of 5 fast food locations. I was talking to the owner one day, explaining how some other fast food places have dropped window cleaning. He was surprised. He told me that he loves having clean windows, but he has me clean the windows for another reason. He says that if the employee’s see that he cares about the windows, that they are motivated to take care of other things. Why would they take it upon themselves to mop the floor if the windows are horrible? I use this line of reasoning a lot when talking to decision makers, they’re a lot more responsive after that.
But def. look into residential - just don’t totally drop commercial. The good thing is your in a climate where resi. window cleaning is probably year round…
Good point micah.
Hit the resi bro. You WILL get jobs soon if you do that, they have more disposable income. Chasing commercial is always tough.
I agree start with residential and let the commercial come to you. Once you have some time with residential I think you will be more ready to transition into commercial as well as doing residential. I am just starting to hit that phase myself.
I have been getting commercial prospects calling me up for bids, and I am just now adding the WFP system so that I can become more competitive to bid for those commercial prospects.
All my attempts to bid on commercial have gone nowhere, except for the ones that have called me first or that I had a referral for.
Try and get some referrals or maybe consider joining the local chamber of commerce and go to their activities where you will meet a lot of business owners.
I’ve know people that tried to start a window cleaning business and failed!!!
I mean, my roommate tried in like 2004 when the economy was up and he was a super business savvy guy…failed!!!
Why? Why did I succeed over many people I know… a friend told me that practice DOES NOT make perfect, but perfect practice makes perfection. SOOOO, it comes down to 3 areas.
- what do you look like, I know this may sound bad, but if you an extremely ugly person, peoples reception to you will be less. PLUS dress nice and uniform.
- what are you saying? if you have a shake in your voice people pick that up FAST! Don’t be nervous, just kidding…everyone is nervous when they are doing this for the first time…practice speaking loudly and pronounce everything- NO slang or “Whad’ up, can I give ya’ll an estimate to clean yo winda’s”
- follow up…that’s it, nothing else to say. Get all the contact info and follow up in a timely manner.
Your Dad was right. Take names and numbers, then in a week or so do the round again. Don’t under sell yourself or you will be doing windows for pennys.
Your approach is a major factor. The trick is to get them to like you. Ask them about there day or about there business. JUST DON’T GIVE UP!
Good Advice Matt .
Well, thanks everyone… My daughter and I whent out the other day and hit about 120 redidental homes. My daughter is 15 and bit shy so I just asked her to place our cards on the doors on the other side of the street and I knocked on the doors. This is what I said “Ring ring… Hello My name is Eric with Streak Free window clean. I was going around your neighborhood offering free estimates on residential window cleaning. Would you be interested? Heres my card, Give me a call any time you may need my help.” Basically that is what I said that day. I dont know… I think Bullhead City AZ is just to much of a poverty city… And NO… I cant teach my kids to NEVER GIVE UP. If dad does. I had one residential customer last week that payed me $45 for 15 panels on there home and it felt great offering this service. I can see that I need to work on my muscle memory when it comes to fanning the windows. It was nice to have that one customer… I told them that I would give them a 20% discount if they referd me to a friend or co-worker and told them to mention a code I put onto the card. They were real happy with the idea.
I wish I could afford an add in a newspaper or something… My next full paycheck im going to make some zeroxed flyers. ANd pass them out. The Buis. cards are getting pricey to just post them on doors.
By the way… What is the WFP system?
WFP stands for Water Fed Pole. go to youtube and type in Water Fed Pole Cleaning and you’ll get the idea. Once you get enough customers it is a great investment.
WOW. I remember that desperation too, when my wife and I quit our jobs to focus on the window biz. We were doing hundreds and hundreds of flyers, going to business mixers,really mining for referrals and getting next to nothing in return ,and that was for residential. There is the 1% rule with marketing. Pass out a 100 cards , maybe get one job.We never even went after commercial accounts, only if they called us. We picked up about a dozen or so last year and we have maybe one left now. Go after residential and make your flyers irresistable with some kind of deal for their first service. Try nextdayflyers.com We got a thousand full page color flyers for $190.00, I hit the areas that I could never get any business from and immediatley we got a tidal wave of calls. This forum is amazing and has helped me out huge. Search the forums and ask any question you may have. Good luck out there!
So what can I add that hasn’t already been mentioned…
Well I used to be one of those “decision makers” - general manager (plus everything else) in a somewhat retail environment. I would have salesman calling, faxing, emailing, and visiting face to face every single day. It does become overwhelming and exhausting, of course it didn’t help that we were a distributor of about 100 different manufacturer lines. But nonetheless, business owners and managers MUST be on the defense - they know why you are there, and sometimes they just flat out don’t want/need your service, and thats okay. I will list my personal likes and dislikes of sales people who would call on us.
-Casual dress (someone who walks in with a suit better be the IRS) or I’m not interested
-Get to the point already!!! I don’t care who, when. where, why…I want to know WHAT.
-Time is precious…please don’t waste mine. Don’t linger, don’t over sell, get in and get out.
-Make yourself known, but not a bother. If I am not initially remotely interested, come back in a month or two - not every week. I didn’t forget your face from last week.
-Be friendly, casual, and interesting - heck become a customer, and I might reciprocate.
-If we shake hands, by all means shake my damn hand like you want to do business. I can’t stand cold, clammy, limp or lifeless hand shakes. It shows no enthusiasm.
-How does your service benefit me more than what you are selling? Maybe on your first job, go ahead and clean those cobwebs, or ask if I want that bulb replaced…it makes my life a lot easier, plus I can see you are going the extra mile.
-Most managers think they are worth their weight in gold, sometimes you have to “play the game” or stroke their ego - but be casual about it.
-Don’t really sell to me - get to know me and my business.
-Sometimes no, really does mean no. But that doesn’t mean to disappear of the face of the earth. Check in periodically without a handful of literature, just because I don’t need your services, doesn’t mean my business neighbor won’t.
-Don’t act desperate, be confident.
I guess in the end businesses are being cornered from every angle, they must be on the defense. Anything that comes across too aggressive, raises red flags. Now I have the challenge of working on the other end of the spectrum - good luck everyone!
