How many of you advertise to them directly and what kind of response do you normal
get? It seems like it would be a good avenue to advertise to them to get more high end work
or is my thought pattern wrong?
It has been my experience that real estate agents (around here) look for the rock bottom price.
All though it could give you more potential clients as people buy these homes.
I have a love/hate relationship with real estate agents. yes they can get you work but they are so last minute. Ie: call you Monday and tell you their clients open house is Wednesday, YIKES and during peak spring season. My first contact With an agent I like to train them to call me a soon as they think they may need my services, then I pencil them in on the calendar. As it gets closer to the date I get a confirmed yes/no then proceed.
Some agents sell a package to the client which covers selling the property and any staging including cleaning while others get me to bill the home owners. hey it’s work like any other but not necessarily a goldmine.
We are on and off with real-estate agents… Seems like they go through phases of off and on use…
In my area the agents tell the homeowner what they need to do in order to sell the place asap, and that usually includes a window cleaning. Trouble is most homeowners in that position want the cheapest deal possible, often going around the house choosing which windows need a clean and which don’t. It is seen as a business expense by many, not a quality of life expense, an expense that they themselves never wanted to incur. Plus, you will never see them again. Money can be made, just expect to work hard for it.
yes, very true. because window cleaning is about the final thing that gets done before selling, the home owner has often spent a lot of money up until this point.
steve, i havent had much luck w/real estate agents…I use to be one so I know a lot of the agents around here…Ive done a few of their offices, but never any of the homes theyve had for sale…
Thanks everybody(Ryan,Mark,Chris,Jay & Sharen) for your input…
Well I guess I’ll see how it goes…I’m just looking for more ways to increase
biz this year, its been real flat…(No increase in the customer base not sure why?)
I have the same consent customers, but not getting anything new??
I have done larger mailings this year,more face to face,Web and Radio Ads. But
it still slow, I’m just a little confused??
Steve,
Have you ever tried talking to any local maid companies? We have a great relationship with two and get a lot of work from them. One is a national franchise, the other a mom and pop company. As you know, window cleaning requires a bit more than just a rag and Windex, so partnering with one of them might be helpful for both of you.
Send me a PM and I can be more specific and show you what’s worked for us.
I’d guess that real estate agents get hit hard with mailers and solicitations from every company that services homes. I would think you would have to spend some time developing a relationship with them or have a really stand out mailer or offer. Not to say that it might not be worth it, but it might be a lot of effort with very little reward.
move out east somewhere! they’re all growing by leaps and bounds! (from previous threads)
:rolleyes:
Nice idea, most agents are only listing a couple homes at a time, so it’s almost 1 to 1 effort
perhaps get in at an office with many agents, then it’s one to many effort
Hey Steve,
Not all real estate agents/companies sell higher end homes. You could become a slave to an agent cleaning smaller homes/apartments waiting for the larger ones. Which is fine in itself when you need work, I am just replying to your high end homes reference. Hope it works out for you either way.
Thanks, I’ll test the water and see what floats to the top!!
My experience has been that most agents are concerned with selling houses not necessarily having the windows on the house cleaned. It seems like a lot of window cleaning comes down to personal preference. If the realtor loves clean windows and thinks it is important, you have a much better shot at doing some of their homes they are listing.
Interesting thread
Hey folks thanks for all the input I really appreciate the help and advice…
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TODAY’S A NEW DAY!![/I][/B]
check out money magazine… they had a survey and window cleaning increased the chance of selling homes by like 700% or something crazy. wish i could be more specific of where to find it … just look it up on the website or google. put that on a flyer and you might be good.
