Forget which soap lets talk the harder parts of business

So you go give a residential quote and don’t hear back?

Me if I don’t hear back they have my information and that is that. How does everyone else do it? Do you call them 3 days after the estimate, when you feel like it, do you send them an email asking what they thought of the quote or thanking them for their time. Does your secretary do this, your wife, you, how do you follow up? Do you call and ask if there is a problem with price and start a negotiation because some money is better than none? How do you or don’t you follow up with quotes?

Follow up with commercial quotes?
Same thing, how do you follow up without seeming desperate while also being the squeaky wheel that gets the oil?

Receipts for write offs?
Do you have January through December folders you put receipts in every Friday and take to an accountant quarterly? Do you keep them in something in your vehicle and upload them to quick books once a month? Does your secretary do this? How do you physically keep receipts and document all of your outgoing expenses

Invoicing customers?
Do you do it right on the spot in the kitchen from the phone, take the check, cash or card and invoice to email right there? What if they don’t use email how do you invoice them? What if you have employees? Do they see how much every job is or do you tell the customer you will bill them and not to hand money to your staff? Do you collect checks in a money bag and mark them off paid every friday from a computer? I find my invoicing is a cluster. Sometimes I get paid and and invoice the customer from my phone and sometimes I forget and can’t remember who has paid and who hasnt.

Estimates? Do you do estimates at any available times or on specific days and times?

Advertising? How do you budget for this? Currently I will just start paying for whatever sounds cool with no measurement of what percentage of my incoming dollars that was. Wanna do a facebook boost, I just log in and click? How do you track how much you will spend on advertising with your gross being different every month?

How do you follow up with customers? So I am a very highly reviewed window cleaner in my city and my return rate is now what it should be based upon how happy customers say they are when I am done. Do you call them every 90 days and give a pitch about how you have openings or want their business again. Do you lick hundreds or thousands of postcards spring and fall? Do you have a loyalty program and from day one they sign a contract accepting a certain number of cleanings? How are you getting customers to come back time and time again.

Get the book:
Read it cover to cover.
https://profitfirstbook.com/

Sit down with a councilor from your local S.C.O.R.E. (It’s FREE!):
These questions and more will be answered.

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Leads : Definitely follow up, it’s a MUST! Unless of course you just don’t want more business. It doesn’t mater who does it, your wife, you, your mother - in -law, or an automatic email reply. Don’t assume there is a problem, just ask if they would like to schedule (assume they will).
With commercial I usually wait a little longer but ask the same question “are you ready to schedule?”
Receipts: IRS says “if we come knockin, you better have proof of all that shit you claim as business expenses”. So yes, keep it all. Keep track however you need, digitally or hard copy. Do it weekly or it gets out of control.
Invoices: I do email when they are needed. 99% of jobs are C.O.D. so no invoice needed. Most of my customers don’t even ask for a receipt.
Estimates: I fit them in as I can. I try to do most over the phone.
Advertising: Just pick an amount you want to spend and go with that until you want to do more or less.
Follow up: I send postcards every 6 months as a reminder. Most of my customers are once and twice a year, qurterlies are just a handful or so. No contracts for me, though a few customers schedule six months or a year out each time I clean. Yep I lick them stamps, but it’s monthly so not that many at a time.

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@TheWindowCleanse
$600/hr has really unique valuable ideas, the marketing blue print wasn’t valuable to me in the least which isn’t a dis Chris because he is a freaking Genius to build the business that he did, the valuable things (or secrets) I was hoping to come across in the book though just weren’t there. It’s nothing more you can’t get online for free. But I think I paid like $25 for the book or something.

So you’re saying he didn’t really share his genius in the book? Held back?

Well when you put it that way. Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, Chris is freaking smart. What I think is all speculation, but if I were in his shoes I would have done the same thing.