I had a cancellation yesterday so I took the opportunity to drop door hangers.
I met a man on the sidewalk who was walking his dog. I always take the opportunity to greet people with a hello or a wave when out and about in my logoed shirt - and if they have a dog with them it is so easy to use the opportunity to strike a conversation about their dog and mine. After a few moments he asked me what I was handing out - I used that opportunity to explain door hangers for my window cleaning business. His response was “Oh, I just had mine done last week, let me have one - I live right over there - and I’ll think of you next time.”
GREAT!
But then I got to thinking - why is he not loyal to the one who just did his windows last week? When I land a new customer I want their repeat business as well. I mean after all, I did just take the opportunity to Meet-N-Greet and try to leave an impression of professionalism - and it isn’t that hard to do an excellent job of cleaning windows and screens. What could have happened that inside of a week he was ready to change window cleaners already? Whatever it was I don’t want to follow in that window cleaners footsteps. I’m not even sure I have to have a conversation with the guy of why he dropped the other guy - I just need to be sure that I DO EXCELLENT WORK that is worth repeating for whatever my charge may be!
How many times did I mention “opportunity” here? Every day, every encounter, every job, is an opportunity to build on the next by leaving a good impression.
I commend you for your willingness to take the time to turn that cancellation into a goldmine.
Your post made me reflect on a similar situation when I went door to door last year. A customer told me had a landscape company but I could still do an estimate. I asked him if there was anything that company did that he didn’t like. He shared , they made a mess of several parts of his yard that he told them to handle with specific instructions.
I landed that job because I made sure to be careful with the leaf removal and have since expanded the services he uses to include gutter and window cleaning with my company.
So two things one he could have been willing to drop the other window service but you’re assuming that he was dropping the other window service and interested you. Maybe he just felt pressure to act like he would use you because you were the one standing in front of him. It’s kind of like running into an old friend at the grocery store oh I’ll call you we’ll hang out sometime and then you never hang out. Sometimes people go along in the moment because they feel obligated to not have awkwardness. He could have sensed that you wanted his business and been like hey give me your info knowing he’s not going too
True. And to that, I have had people encounters like that before - curious what I am handing out - and they say “Oh, we already have a window cleaner”. So it can go either way. My point to the post “Leave a good impression”, because you never know. I’m not the only window cleaner in town, but to that guy or the next - he is now familiar with me.
Yah I had a cust cancel last minute on monday, I then took my truck in for service I’ve been putting on the back burner, and while I was there met the facilities manager and was able to get a estimate to do the dealership. Hoping it goes through. It came out to about the same as my service ticket.
