So I spent a few hours putting out a couple hundred flyers in nicer neighbourhoods offering $99 for the first 20 windows in and out (about $2.50/pane/side), offer expiring on the 31st. Also ran the same ad on the local classifieds sites. Haven’t got a single call yet.
Then I spent a couple hours chatting to store owners and managers and landed 2 jobs at $4/pane/side. No special offer, no waiting for the phone to ring, no carrying ladders around, no flower beds to avoid etc.
…and they say residential is so lucrative?
To make the same $$$/hour I figure I’d have to charge at least $10/pane/side for residential to account for the added difficulty. But people aren’t calling at $2.50/pane/side as it is!
I have done somthing similar and also have more luck with commercial. Try reaching out to realestate agents with a special offer this has landed me continuous residential.
Thanks for the inspiration. But I think I’m going to focus all of my energy on storefront for the next 4 weeks and take on any residential that’s referred through that. Then I’ll try flyers again and see if it’s true for my market that there’s a big fall rush for residential work. If not I’ll just keep at storefront and take on whatever residential referrals happen to come my way, but man, they’re going to have pay pretty well to drag me away from stores! Maybe I’ll make it a rule that I only do FULL cleans for residential, i.e. in/out/screens/tracks/frames. That way at least if I have to make less per hour I’m making a decent chunk of cash at a single stop.
Whats the going rate in your location? Could be a perception of crap work. Pricing gets to a point were when it’s so cheap people are leary. Also what’s the economy like there. In Jersey it’s picking up a little and to be honest I really did not see much of a bad economy here. But I live in a location where there are millions of people so, we (companys in jersey) know there are customers out there who will spend regardless of the economy. But again what’s it like were you are at? $2.50 per side in res work is low even on a national price structure. The lowest I have ever heard someone state for their res work was $7 per window not including screens. Try tossin out the $10 charge and see what happens. Look at it like this. For every 1 you land with the $10 charge, that’s 2 you would have to clean at your current rate. I would rather have 100 customers at $1000.00 each then 1000 customers at $100.00 each. Less work, more money.
What you did was, you put out a flyer targeting price shoppers. The Walmart crowd, coupon clippers. Guess what, these aren’t the lucrative clients we’ve been talking about. The last time I heard someone posting on here for the 20 windows in/out deal, the price was around $200 and that was probably a couple of years ago. Maybe change you price and target client.
Hmm, I hadn’t thought about that Mark. Maybe I’ll try upping the price and making it clear this is a royal treatment type of service.
Ray, the ‘going rate’ is a little hard to track down. There aren’t many professional window cleaning companies to get estimates from. And I know of a few guys that do it on a very part-time basis (no company vehicle, no uniform, no advertising…only word of mouth). The prices I’ve heard some people are paying range from $2/window [B]in[/B]cluding screens and tracks to $8/window [B]ex[/B]cluding screens and tracks. So I figured at $5/window with screens and tracks extra I was somewhere in the middle.
This is the global headquarters of Research in Motion so they just laid off about 2,000 people here. But other than that our economy is good. Average house price is around $350,000. Average income $50-60,000.
One woman I know had 30% of her department laid off so she’s holding her breath. But most of the people I know who work for RIM are still ok (for now at least). Everybody around here has been saying for the last few years: “If anything happens to RIM…” but we still have all the insurance companies and the universities are growing all the time so we should be ok.
Really. Your offer is 20 windows inside and out for only $99. The reason you are not gettiing calls is because no one is taking you serious. Thoses prices are not for a “Nicer” nieghborhood them are crack head prices.
Being fairly new to this game. Is it typically harder to get residential work? Since April I have done between 8 to 12 homes. I advertise as a PowerWasher but window cleaning is on my business cards & on my vehicle. Next spring I’m gonna take out a seperate add for window cleaning & hope & pray for the best since I do enjoy the work. Any sugestions or constructive critisim is welcome. Thank you in advance
I would go with the highest # I can. If there are companys out there charging the $8 per then use that price. Sell to the others bad points. IE professional service, quality, uniforms etc. When people call and bark at the price (an they will) point out some of the bad things about the other guys. We have people call and say we cost too much. We explain to them that we are a professional company and what we charge is what ensures we will be around next year and the year after, providing the same high quality they deserve. We then point out little things that mean a lot to customers, we are bonded, all employess have background checks, we wear bootys, we wear uniforms, we treat them and their homes with respect etc. When it’s a really tough customer will will toss out some simple numbers. You have 10 windows, you were quoted $5 per window by xzy window cleaning. They are based out of xzy location, it will take them 30 minutes to get to your house 1 1/2 hours to clean correctly. With gas, insurance, taxes etc. If your lucky to get the owner maybe, just maybe the quality will be spot on, but odds are you will get employees because at those prices the company is basing it’s income on volume. One man companys can only do so much and at those rates, one man can never live in NJ. What type of quality do you think those employees will give you knowing they have 10 other homes to complete that day? On that note think about what type of employee that company is hiring. In most cases you will be calling us next year for service. We get a good amount of calls every year from people who thought we were too costly last year. The nightmares we hear from them about the other companys helps us justify our price and know we are right on track with it. Just something to keep in mind.
It’s the perception of what the people are getting that matters when it comes to price. Not your perception, but theirs. As Kevin once said, there are people out there who can buy a honda, but choose to buy a benz. Both get you from point A to point B and one is much more cheaper and better on gas. But the guy who bought the benz believes he got a better car when in fact the honda would most likely outlast the benz in the long run. My bro used to rant and rave about his rolex. I used to bust his stones when someone asked for the time. I would say to him, cost you 12 grand to know the time and it cost me 35 bucks looking at my timex and I dont have to worry about someone trying to knife me for my watch.
Try the larger numbers, believe you deserve it and your customers will too.
…and they say residential is so lucrative?
