Hey Friends!
Here is a hypothetical for you guys(gals). What do you think would be the fastest way to gain 200 new residential customers? Price isn't an object.... Radio, Print, Massive flier campaign? Have at it. Just wondering your thoughs.
P.S. I’m not considering buying out another business an option though.
Thanks!
Can you handle the increased volume of 200 new residential customers?
If you are looking for quality customers that can afford your prices then I’d say direct mailing to very specific demographic every month. Each mailing should go the same group each month as well.
The purpose of this question is mainly just for a “lighthearted” fun exchange of ideas.
Although, I am going to market like a freak this year. My theory is increase dealflow first, then hire some extra window cleaners quickly to fullfill demand. I know there are risks with this technique, such as quality control being lost, but there are benefits too…like rapid growth.
What are your thoughts?
If money is no issue, my vote would go towards mass direct mail.
you can grow by 200 customers very easily…
be absolutely RELENTLESS… never say no… take every job you can get your hands on… work weekends, even sundays… be everything to everyone… work from 6am until its time to go to bed. make a goal to reach at least 500,000 households with some great marketing pieces
and here is tip for everyone… lower your target demographic, slightly… be more concerned about reaching people with a higher household value than income, i did this past fall and the results were ridiculous. in my area people might live in a nice big house but might not make the “target” demographic income… they still have 70-80 windows, 3 kids and need help with things around the house that they dont have time to do… this is especially helpful when it comes to gutter season…
hmm… after re-reading this do you want to grow by 200 customers this season or 1,000? 
Brilliant!
And true. I find inserts in small hometown newspapers and church bulletins work wonders. Direct mailers seems to be a bit costly, and a vast majority end up in the trash. $50 will land you an ad spot in a small rag, and the returns are very good.
Awesome! Great insight. Good post. 1,000 wouldn’t suck… lol
[I]Join my private window cleaning marketing forum for 30 days for free, and bounce a new flier design off the WCMM community…[/I]
Finalize the flier design, and create 3 versions of it.
Split-test the 3 versions to 100 different homes each, and track the results. Choose the “winning” one, and pass it out to all 300 homes one more time 7 days later, and if it gets even more results, send it a third time another 7 days later.
Multiply distribution by the appropriate number of homes, to achieve the desired response.
If you wish, repeat with well-designed flier number 2, 3, 4, and 5, until you reach 200 customers.
That should do it.
In all seriousness, actually.
You should reach 200 new customers in a year with a solo operation if you are in a big city. I would say direct mail to a middle class audience would be the best thing and take every job. It would also depend on the competition as well. Here in San Diego we probably have around 1,000 window cleaning companies.
Buy eggs - Find rich neighborhood - Release eggs - Wait two days - Give flyer - repeat 200 times!
Lol. Nice Prizm. I remember seeing a comic in the paper once of a guy standing in his living room in front of his smashed out front window. He looked down and there was a brick laying there with a note attached that said “Broken window? Call 555-1234” It was funny.
Hey Kevin. I will literally do what you said. I’ll be like a little experiment for you. I do have one concern, that is the fact that in the township and county where I live, it is a $500 fine for passing out fliers. Now this is one of those things that probably wont be enforced, but it is on my mind. Could I do the exact same thing, but with direct mail? Whatever you say to do I will do. and I’ll join your forum this week too.
P.S. I live in a fairly rural area. My towns poulation is only like 12,000 people. My entire window cleaning market that I service has more like 200,000 people probably.
Wow.
It is ILLEGAL to pass out fliers?
You [U]have[/U] to use the post office, then?
With your clever name of your company u should have no problem reaching 200 customers:)
Just make sure your available full time and work sat. always and even sundays if you have to.
And market your business like your life depended on it. Test, track, repeat and do it consistently.
Whether you do direct mail or door to door sales the key is consistency and delivering the right message to your target demographic.
+1
I lived in a very small town and if I didn’t have to work another full time job and had the means of supporting myself without another job as a backburner, I could of easily built it to 200 by myself. I did get 70 customers and made $20,000 which isn’t that bad IMO. (worked very little hours in window cleaning, even though I was set up to do full time )
I looked at your website and really liked how it was designed. Maybe lead some of your clients there. Get some advice from Kevin on marketing. Implement these strategies and you should do just fine.
Can you purchase a permit?
good point.
I believe in parts of las vegas you can purchase a permit for like $75.
Everything here is expensive. but i guess it does weed out the unprofessional ones.
I am pretty sure it even costs money to put magnets on your vehicle here but i could be mistaken.
Probably more than that depending on what you consider a company.
I live right by Cal State San Marcos, and theres always alot of college students who give window cleaning a try and litter all the upscale neighborhoods with flyers.
It’s nuts, last time I put out fliers I counted 5 other window cleaning flyers on one homes porch (foreclosed home)!
It is not ILLEGAL in the sense that your going to get into trouble outside of the fine. It is a misdemeanor. the twonship AND city I live in both told me than they don’t offer permits… bummer
However, the principles should be the exact same (if not better right?) with direct mail.
Heres my question then. Do I go with the glossy, and flashy, full color oversized postcard? (expensive) Or maybe a black and white regular sized postcard printed on colored paper? (very cheap) Also maybe putting a super simple message on the cheap one like “Professional Window Cleaning, coupons online @ Michigan’s Trusted Source For Professional Window And Gutter Cleaning! or call 810-629-2000 for a free estimate”.
Do overly simple postcards actually help? Seems like it might catch the eye in a world of flashy, glossy stuff…Hmmmm???
My advice would be to use all of the above and more. Also, if you don’t already have one, draft an actual marketing plan. It really doesn’t take that long and helps with your vision and goals. You need multiple marketing avenues. Start off with direct mail. Then print off a crap load of flyers as well and when your in a neighborhood doing work, flyer the whole neighborhood before you leave. You also don’t want to forget about your free advertising like Craigslist. I use Craigslist-Poster.com and it auto-posts my ad for me every 48 hours for 7 dollars a month per ad. Believe it or not, I get a lot of customers from Craigslist. It depends on your market. Try Angies list (50 bucks a month). Get a website and get your SEO up to par for your target keywords. Use Google Adwords and try to get your quality score up to 8 or 10 to increase your ROI. Possibly use pay-per-click advertising on Facebook. Tweak your website to make it your ultimate sales funnel. Point all of your marketing materials to your website and have the website make the customer think they would be an idiot if they didn’t buy your services over your competition.
