Edit: Deleted
Hi John,
Nice marketing and all, obviously far and away beyond anything I ever did.
If I may be blunt, youāre putting the cart ahead of the horse. Itās great making people think youāre an established company, but having little experience in the field I think your concentration should be getting the cleaning part down first. Iāve been doing this since 1996 and new challenges still come up on a regular basis.
You need a solid WC foundation first, otherwise customers may not be happy with the results and word of mouth is WAY more powerful than marketing strategy I see being fronted. I see it quite a bit where Iām located, customers are wowed by the amazing websites but Iām the one they call when the novices donāt deliver as expected.
Not trying to offend, just my .02.
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Your zeal is good, but you are not approaching this with a level head and a mind for growth. Relying on ONE mode of advertisement and having NO experience is going to leave you scrambling.
Flat pricing only works with volume and cookie cutter jobs, IMO.
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This is just placeholder, so I can see what it looks like. It would of course be filled with real reviews.
Yeah I totally hear what youāre saying. In my initial post, I glossed over some details.
I worked for another window cleaning company in Toronto before becoming a developer.
So Iām not completely fresh. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I should emphasize that Iāts really important to me to treat customers well and do my best to give them a good service.
Thatās why Iām still working full time and will only do weekends, so I can start slow and work into it.
I think youād be right if I was unemployed. Iām still working full time, so 1 form of advertising will be enough for me to get jobs while working out any kinks in pricing or systems.
I will have some vehicle lettering but nothing crazy.
Have you ever done the thing where you charge $199 for 20 windows? That seems pretty popular and is flat rate. By saying 20 windows, in my opinion, you know what youre making for the first 20 and then you can charge per window after.
Thatās basically what Iām doing and it could be wrong, but Iām going to test it. If it doesnāt work out, Iāll come back and tell you youāre right.
Almost every homeowner couldnāt accurately tell you how many windows they have. Most will assume that you are flat rate pricing by the level of the home. Iām sure when you show up and find 40 window on a 2 story home, and tell them it will be more, they are going to be upset. Especially if they trusted you enough to prepay.
Ever deal with Pella designers with the interior storms? Better hope you donāt have to with your pricing! They are fairly common in my area.
Starting out part time is smart. But how much time a day top your realistically have to clean glass? A job you can knock out in a couple of hours in one thing. A all day or even a job that will take you 4+ hours is something different. People donāt really want you there interrupting there dinner/supper.
Just some things to think about.
Hello and welcome to the forum!
Customers here are justifiably skeptical and cautious here, so we got on with Angieās List after dropping the contractor we were 1099 for.
For longer than I care to admit we did do their coupons and storefronts, one of which was $99 for 20 windows. Of course people took severe advantage of this and we were swamped with bought ācouponsā the first couple years. We kept in mind however this was a āloss leaderā and our business grew exponentially once word got out we were reliable and did more than expected.
Some companies are fine with flat rates, but realistically it canāt be done here as there are so many houses with 50+ year old windows.
Welcome to this very educational forum. A thought, timing is everything. Your dumping dollars (investing) into marketing. Butā¦itās winterā¦right? Have fun. Springs coming. Thatās when itās time to media blitz residential.
Hey, thank you for your response
I havenāt invested any marketing dollars yet. Iāve been building the website and all of the individual landing pages for when I run ads in the spring.
@windowcleaningxl, why are you choosing a window cleaning business over a Web design business?
Hey Jeff, I do freelance web development as well.
Iām planning on niching down and only doing sites for service businesses like window cleaning.
The best way for me to do that is to practice what I preach and show real results and then I can help others replicate what Iām doing and hopefully save time and money along the way.
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I need help on my www.simpole.com site and might trade a sim22 for some help in Word Press
Thereās that other shoe droppingā¦
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You took longer to get to the āI just want to help othersā schtick that dozens of web / SEO guys before you have tried on this forum.
Consider becoming a WCRA vendor before you attempt to sell your services here, please.
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Iām not attempting to sell anything. He asked me a question. Yeah I make websitesā¦ Im a developer. But, I want to start a window cleaning business as well.
And I am. Iām just showing my journey and any challenges I face because it might help some people who donāt know as much about the online stuff.
Pretty harmless. I didnāt link to my personal site.
And I had a membership, but didnāt renew,
āIām not attempting to sell anythingā
9 years a member and 7 years a moderator here, and this is exactly what is said prior to selling something every time. Happens 3-4 times a year.
Congrats on your window cleaning business, but this post is a word for word warm-up for āwinter web workā
How do I know, I am a web developer as well, but i also sponsor the WCRA 
Iād think a moderator would show a bit more tact.
Seems like youāre more upset that a professionally employed developer is hereā¦ Are you the only one allowed?
If I solicit, then by all means tell me Iām wrong. But Iām simply sharing something that some people might find interesting.
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