How to get that competitive advantage? (pictures inside)

Marketing
1

From the yellow pages google and paper - it seems there is are about 5 other cleaning companies serving my area - 600k people.

How do you differentiate yourself?

It a very apparent that alot of HO’s love the lowest price around here.

I know i’m new to WC but I don’t get how some of my competirors (owner operators) are charging 3-5 per window. Some of them have been cleaning since the early 90’s but it seems their prices seem to be stuck there also.

I know alot of it in the sales pitch. and I this I have heard many of times “Seth, you seem to be a very honest and nice young man, but we are going to go with XXX he came in X cheaper”

holla

2

Hey Seth-
Good question. Kevin Dubrosky just made a good post about that very subject. Here’s his take on it: windowcleaningbusinesscoach.com/coach/archives/1123

-Sorry for no link :slight_smile:
Alex

3

What Kevin will probably say (although he will say it better of course) is that you need to create a percieved value. You need to be different. How? Get creative. Read all of his posts and you will get some great ideas. Visit his site windowcleaningbusinesscoach.com and check it out.

4

There’s no doubt that people love price…low prices to be exact. I mean why pay more than you have to…right? But then again most people are penny wise and pound foolish. For example - I landed four homes (all neighbors) simply because we remove screens when washing them. This is the only reason from what I could gather from the HO. She actually told me that their other window washer never removed the screens - so it was time to get someone new. None of the neighbors even quibbled pver my price, and I get beat by a lot of lowballers around here.

But if you are battling strictly price shoppers, then you need to refocus elsewhere, onto another demographic. I would say that the good customers are few and far between, but once you have them and treat them well, they’ll take care of you. The price shoppers in between are usually one timers, get their windows cleaned every 6 years or so…not worth the loss of sleep. Hope this helps a little…

5

Well Out of my demographics I have landed 50 new jobs/clients this season. But that’s out of 90 new calls this season. And I can tell you the other 40 Jobs were based on price EVERY time…

I understand that value for a need is required, but half of the jobs I bid The people feel that they are more than capable of cleaning their windows (prob just as good as a pro) so they dont feel its a “skillset” and thus thinking how can someone charge that much for something that i can do?

Kevins Post about the placebo effect I have read, and have learned about in some of my marketing courses, but I would say its kind of hard to correlate with such a service as window cleaning. Like I stated earlier, HO’s normally pay WC to clean their windows because they don’t feel like it, and not because they think they can’t and we posses an outrages skill set (well im sure some of us do on here, but not in the eyes of others) thus, its hard for them to perceive paying more for something that seems so ordinary?

I have been working on my “sales presentation” giving demonstration, adding a few extra freebies, sills etc… and always started some type of “relationship” from the get go. But like i Said… CHEAP CHEAP… wins over half the time.

I didn’t care earlier this season about the jobs I didn’t get due to price, but now things are starting to sloww down, just gives me more time to think about some things.

this is all based on $8 For DH and $5 for Casements

6

Some people just are price sensitive however we sell quality not price.

7

try offering different add-ons. how about soft pressure washing and gutter cleaning. then you could offer a packaged deal. i think home owner would love the idea of going through one company for all their cleaning needs.

8

That is almost right- you sell the experience (emotionally) they will get from the service.

As to Seth’s situation… I would not focus on price even if you think the market does (which
is almost always wrong).

Most don’t know what a good price is. If you advertise correctly you allow very little price
shopping… depend on the Yellow pages and Google and you are in for a fight.

If the consumer sees no difference with any of the companies, there is only price.

You need to add value, and I would not mention a price at all (I actually just talked about
it here)

If people seem price resistent than they are not convinced it is worth it. That is a something
I avoid. Build up value by laying out all the great benefits your service will give them (even
if your competitors do the same things, they likely don’t advertise it).

Also, do we want to fight for cheap customers? What’s the upside? I never had a good cheap
customer.

It is okay if they are budget minded or they want a “deal”. A deal does not always mean
price. Make your service sound like it’s worth more… a lot more. (without numbers)

Most of us do not know what we offer or what the consumer wants.

Now, if you want to blow the doors off of your competition in the YP or other head to
head medium, do what carpet cleaning marketing guru Joe Polish did:

“The Most Thorough Window Cleaning You Ever Had or You Don’t Pay a Dime”

He used carpet, but you get it. At last time I heard I believe he crushed his competiton
into a fine dust and made millions of dollars.

Never follow or you become a lesser version of the leader. Bad positioning.

Hope that helps a little

Paul

9

That is almost right- you sell the experience (emotionally) they will get from the service.

As to Seth’s situation… I would not focus on price even if you think the market does (which
is almost always wrong).

Most don’t know what a good price is. If you advertise correctly you allow very little price
shopping… depend on the Yellow pages and Google and you are in for a fight.

If the consumer sees no difference with any of the companies, there is only price.

You need to add value, and I would not mention a price at all (I actually just talked about
it here)

If people seem price resistent than they are not convinced it is worth it. That is a something
I avoid. Build up value by laying out all the great benefits your service will give them (even
if your competitors do the same things, they likely don’t advertise it).

Also, do we want to fight for cheap customers? What’s the upside? I never had a good cheap
customer.

It is okay if they are budget minded or they want a “deal”. A deal does not always mean
price. Make your service sound like it’s worth more… a lot more. (without numbers)

Most of us do not know what we offer or what the consumer wants.

Now, if you want to blow the doors off of your competition in the YP or other head to
head medium, do what carpet cleaning marketing guru Joe Polish did:

“The Most Thorough Window Cleaning You Ever Had or You Don’t Pay a Dime”

He used carpet, but you get it. At last time I heard I believe he crushed his competiton
into a fine dust and made millions of dollars.

Never follow or you become a lesser version of the leader. Bad positioning.

Hope that helps a little

Paul

10

Seth, I feel your pain. Really, I do. What I have been doing this year is guaging my price on how much work I have at the time of the bid. If I’m booked solid for 2 weeks out, I charge a little more. If I don’t have anything scheduled, I charge less because I need them to say yes. I always do a follow up with them after the bid within the next 1 to 2 business days at the most. I always call at night because that is the best time to get ahold of someone. Ask if they have gotten any other quotes. See why they are hesitant. I ask questions about us being professional and what not, but it usually comes down to price. I then ask something like “Mrs. Brown, is this just a little out of your budget”? “Yes Kurt, it is a little higher than I anticipated” So you say, “Ok, well if we can fit this into your budget, is there any reason that we can’t get you on the schedule for this week?” Then maybe take off screen cleaning, do glass only, something like that to reduce the price. If you have to, take 10% off. Lately I have been giving all of my customers 2 service packages to choose from so they don’t have to go anywhere else to shop. I give them a “Glass Only” price and a “Glass, Screens, Sills and Frames” Price. If I give them a quote, then do a follow up but they don’t answer or return my call, I wait a few days and call and leave a message saying that we need to fill up a couple spots in the schedule next week and would take 10 to 20% off to get them scheduled. It seems to work pretty good. The way I’m thinking this first year is that I need to get as many jobs scheduled as I can. I try to get the most money at first, but if I have to shave off a little to get work, I do. Can’t be too stingy your first year in business.