The last couple weeks I’ve given bids to a few customers with massive homes. 5,000 plus sq feet and 50 or more windows on these houses. Expensive sports cars,pools,views. These people must be swimming in money. But they want me to clean all their windows for $150.00 bucks. I had one guy laugh at me when I gave him the estimate. I guess the current economic climate must hit these people pretty hard. Bigger bills to pay I suppose. I realize that a lot of people just view me as a lowly window cleaner but doing ladder/roof work, moving furniture,cleaning screens,tracks and all the windows in your frickin glass castle all day is worth something. Anyways just been losing a few bigger jobs lately, but the normal to semi rich are keeping us busy. Anybody else experiencing this? Last year we landed almost every job we bid on. I think there are tons of lowballers rolling around here.
I’ve been getting just the opposite.
More wealthy people are calling on our services and we’re closing more bids on higher end homes then before.
we still do the mid-end homes but find ourselves in some pretty narly homes
Just finished a home with 8 full baths and 2 halves.
Unless they’ve told you that, don’t make this an excuse for them. Some people are just cheap or put little value into a window cleaning service. I think you are just having a string of bad luck. I’ve had a few too this season but you’ve gotta move on.
2 hard truths to this business:
• There will always be people with loads of money that will try to pay as little as possible for everything.
• There will always be companies out there that will do a service for less than you.
Colm,
I found some blind cleaning pictures on your website. It looks like you just scrub them down on people’s lawns, then rinse with hose. Is it really that simple?
I’ve thought about adding blind cleaning, but thought I would have to buy some sort of machine, or extra tools. Then, I thought I’d have to learn something new. But, you make it look easy.
John,
He’s using a piece of astro turf you can buy at home depot. Soap them up, scrub and rinse with DI and hang to dry. That’s how we do it anyway. We only wash metal or plastic blids, wood blinds would probably warp with this method.
Wayne
Yup , great philosophy. Definitely the truth. I was just blowing off some steam after having that guy laugh at me.
Thanks for the wisdom
Dammit Wayne, stop answering questions for me!
Hows everything going? Is your guy back to work?
Yeah just a good sized piece of astro turf, a telescoping soft bristle brush, a bucket, some simple green. Washing them is pretty easy, check out the blind cleaning video on WCR for that. We use the really short black rubber bungees to hang them to dry. This takes some creativity sometimes. Usually just hang them on the customers garage door(have them open the door and hang off the metal along the bottom of the door).Or whatever you can find that will support the weight of the blinds and that theyre not touching the ground.I dont like doing them at all but its a great add on considering the miniscule tool investment.
This year has been a little weird for me. I am busier than last year, but my business is still growing. I find that I am getting the same type of customers from my advertising that I always have. The type that has a 3000-3500sqft home, probably makes over $150K but less than $300K, drives a nice lexus or big chevy SUV. But I have also had a lot of the $125K homes with <$85K incomes having us do work for them. I like it better this way because we’re busy, but I still think it is weird.
Mark is right though. There will always be those types that have all the money they need, but still try to talk you down on price. They don’t all get rich by giving their money away.
He is also correct about there always being companies out there that will do it cheaper than you. I know this quite well. Most of us do in the current economic situation. I see start-ups all over my area. Most of them are folks that have lost their jobs and think that this is easy money and there for the picking, but only realize that when they get down to the nut-cutting, they can’t survive through it always.
For those type of customers that are looking for a price that is the cheapest, I can usually smell them a mile a way. I tell them point blank, “I am not the cheapest window cleaner in town”. Hell I even say it on my website. And I’m not the cheapest. I tell customers daily that you get what you pay for. “Yeah maybe the last guy did your job for $250, but my price is $329. I am insured. I know what the hell I am doing, and I guarantee the work.” Those statements usually ****es off the price seakers and cements the deal with customers looking for quality service.
Thanks for the comment. Yeah everybody’s different. Clean windows are not everyones priority when it comes to their $300.00 I understand that for sure. I need to be a little better on my selling strategy though.
Exactly, Colm. Mark said this well, too, that some just don’t value having clean windows that highly.
I like cognac but wouldn’t buy Louis XIII even if I had millions of $$$
I like pasta, but I’ll never order it in a restaurant, EVER, because I resent the profit margins on it…[SIZE=“1”]yes, I have issues with pasta :)[/SIZE]
I love cars, but wouldn’t spend the $400,000 on an Aston Martin vanquish, even if I could easily afford it.
I have a closet full of nice suits, dress shirts, cuff links, and ties, but have never spent and will never spend more than $20 on a tie, from anywhere.
It comes down to personal, perceived value. It has little to do with being cheapskates, or with even affordability. People spend money they don’t have - or that they shouldn’t be spending - all the time.
It’s just a matter of perception.
Kevin is exactly right. People will either make room for what they can’t afford by saving and shuffling their budgets. They will also put it on the Credit Card or borrow money from the bank. Maybe not all of this to clean windows, but for others things for sure. That leads us to perceived value as Kevin mentioned.
I think, and I try to, that making your services seem really valuable to the customer is one for sure way to get return business as well as convince those “fence-sitters” that you are worth paying big money for your time and services.
For example, I took some of Kevins advice from his book and changed the wording on some of my direct mailers as well as my website to say something about our “Exclusive Residential Schedule”. When I made the schedule seem like it was only available for certain folks, I had a tremendous response to that and suddenly my calendar was truely booked. I did it by just putting a feeling of importance (perceived value) in my advertising. Was my schedule really exclusive then NO, but it is now? Yes. I am still booked through the middle of June. IF you want you windows cleaned now before the middle of June, you get the Rush Fee of $49.
People in big houses will die to pay an extra $49 if they feel like they are receiving preferred treatment. It is called perceived value.
That’s awesome Bert, I’m doing ok I guess, cannot complain, my first year and around 6 months doing the actual cleaning. But I’m never booked more than a week ahead, and sometimes I find myself calling customers trying to fill the next day with work.
What I’ve found lately is that several “loyal” customers are just asking me to call next month when I call, or not right now, or the freaking rain or whatever excuse. Every now and then you come across someone honest that tells you “No, we cannot afford that right now”.
Right now I’m just glad that I don’t have employees and I can still get enough to bring the money that I need on a monthly basis.
don’t worry about those cheapo’s.
You’re worth what you think you’re worth.
I second what Kevin and Burt said, among others.
Thanks to everyone for the words. Kc Power hit it on the nose. We have to work for what we think we’re worth. The service,quality and care that we provide is worth what we decide it’s worth(realistically thinking of course!)Just spoke to a friend about the guy who laughed at my estimate. He said “You shouldve given him your card and said “call me when youre ready to have your windows cleaned professionally” and walked away”.Classic.
I deal with this everyday. Everyday man. I have targeted a new location in one of my counties that has these type of homes. There are ways to land them. 1st and formost, DO NOT TALK TO THE HUSBAND HE IS THE ONE PROVIDING THE $$$$ MOST OF THE TIME AND SHE IS SPENDING IT. IN HIS EYES SHE CAN EITHER CLEAN THEM OR HAVE THE HOUSE CLEANERS DO IT. NO NEED FOR A PRO…
Now with that said, they are a cheap bunch, very cheap. But there are some things they look for when hiring.
- You have to be clean and well groomed. If you dress sloppy, they will think they can sloppy price you.
- Know their product as best you can. In form them of the condition of the glass.
- The last two are nice but the main thing they are going to be concerned about is the price. They are not scared to spend the money but in most cases don’t know what they are getting for the price. Walk them to a window, open it and show they everything you clean. Explain to them your price and what they are getting for the money. I don’t offer an demo for them. I think it takes too much time. I show them what they are going to get and explain how long the job will take with how many helpers. Only then do they start to get the idea. I also explain that someone needs to be home all day as we will be cleaning for most of it.
These people are some of the hardest to land. Not the super wealthy and not middle class or upper middle for that matter. They are a limbo class. They have enough for one family to live very well and the husband and wife retire. But they don’t have money where as their kids can globe trot for 4 generations. They are trying to get there and very much price hunters. I have a few of them and they are great customers once you get them. But getting them over the price shock is hard. The last guy in the area was charging a flat rate of $500.00 per house. It was ok I guess for him, but my prices are double that. I land maybe 1 out of 5 on these types of people. Give them the price and move on to the next one.
bottom line is this …
some guy before you put out a flyer and did these peoples homes for very cheap … they now cant find the guy b/c hes out of business and are calling you … they still howeve expect you to provide them with the same price the prev guy did… you are getting screwed by the guy who screwed himself…
this guy probally did theier glass 3 years ago for 150 and now 3 years later they would like you a professional company (not just some fly by night) to provide the same for them…
be realistic with them tell them lets compare apples to apples… and if they are so richy richy they should at least expect an increase of close to 9% from the last time they had there windows cleaned if it was 3 years ago …9dud inflatation 3% per year times 3 years is 9%… there new price for 2009 should be 163.50 for all glass inside and out … now call them back and let them know the great special your running… its called if you want the recessionto end give me 350 dollars to clean your windows… were the small business that keeps america running every day special …
good luck
Often I have home owners call 4 an estimate, think that it’s 2 high, and higher some1 else. Cool by me man. Then they call me back a year later, explain they asked 4 an estimate but hired some1 else 2 wash their windows, they weren’t happy w/ the results, and would like me 2 now wash them. One lady then referred me 2 her neighbor across the street, got the job, she was plkeased w/ the results, wants me twice a year, and guess what? There is a group of 16 home owners on this street who email back and forth in regards to contractors they have used and are either pleased with or ****ed at. I might need 2 buy a home on that street 
sorry 4 the double post
is really that much convenient to go to the numeric part of your keyboard to type a “2” instead of keep flowing with the letters and type “to” ? j/k
