That pitch don’t look too bad. But the pitch on some of those other condos in the back. Heck no lol. It’s funny you mention that everyone thinks this armpit we call home is all city life. Some people would freak out if they saw some of the beaches I live by. That’s the best thing about this place. Just about everything you would want to do in life can be done here within a 1 or 2 hour drive. Want beach, camping, city, skiing, watersports etc. It’s all here and it’s all close. But I have to laugh cause were you live, we consider that the sticks, but if you took a guy from west virgina he would laugh at what we consider wooded, mountain locations. lol.
I have some red Unger 18" microfiber washer sleeves.
I interviewed an old employee from fish and he informed me that they offer a maintenance package. This consists of showing up on a regular schedule, checking the windows, and simply spot cleaning the areas that look bad to them. They do not clean all the windows and at times, may only clean 1 or 2 windows out of 40 if the cleaner thinks that the rest of the windows look ok. He also told me that the customers generally don’t realize that they are paying for them to clean JUST the windows that THEY think are dirty. Shortcuts and bait & switch type technigues will eventually lead to there demise.
I went to the dentist recently and had one cavity. I only paid to have the one filled.
I see the value in selling what the clients wants/needs in times like we are experiencing now.
On one hand, why sell cleaning every window IF it is not dirty? On the other, who determines if they are/are not dirty?
There is something to be said for the approach. But maybe not the omitting.
If the customer is paying or thinks they are paying for all the windows to be cleaned it’s wrong. Around here we call it skinning to skip windows you are being paid to clean and don’t.
That’s screwed up. If I owned the home, once I figured out what was going on. Everyday before they were to show up to my house. I would put dirt on my windows, every pane 1 swipe of mud. lol
Thats my thought. A lot of people lose jobs to Fish because the customer isn’t informed of exactly what they are doing. I bid a job at $50 , I bid it for the complete job, done correctly, no skimming. Then someone comes along at qoutes $10. knowing that they are skimming, and we lose the bid because the customer thinks that we are WAY too high. The other company doesn’t take the time to explain what they are doing , so the customer goes with them thinking that we quoted the same work. I have yet to have a customer tell me to just come out and clean the windows that I think are dirty.
Hey deeper clean, I see what you are saying. But lets put it this way, you only had 1 cavity. Lets say the dentist charges $60 for a cleaning. You go in to get your teeth cleaned, and pay $60. Would you be upset if the dentist informed you that he only cleaned 1 tooth because the rest weren’t dirty?
Oh for sure!
I might have missed something though. MY point is this: Marketing the service differently might not be all that bad.
I do a small hamburger joint weekly. The outsides are always dirty from top down. Both sides of both doors are too.
BUT the insides are often still clean except here and there and even then only on the bottom third of the window where kids put their little fingers.
I do NOT do every window entirely. BUT I sold it that way too. However, I have a rotation where over a 6 week cycle, every window is cleaned in complete.
I have never shared this before. I may regret it too. But…I sell free time. Not clean windows. I also have to meet budgets that I never got to help set.
I have other clients who are done quarterly. Complete waste of money. I do the entire bank chains windows in/out every three months! They are clean for what…a week or two MAYBE!
I have yet another client with stupid tall windows. They were done inside outside every 3 months. By the time of my return the property looked rude dirty. So, I reduced the price, increased to monthly and do exterior only monthly and touch-up insides. He can call me when the insides need to be ‘cleaned’ and we’ll charge him then, for that.
So the concept may be new…but not to me. It works. It is NOT for everyone. I am in business to make a profit…not clean windows.
It is called skimming when you cheat. You guys may be assuming Fish is cheating.
I agree Phil. I have some accounts that are like these, they are either weekly or bi-weekly. The owners/managers are aware that every window may not be cleaned inside everytime, that’s how we arrived on a price that would fit his budget.
I agree with what your saying. you are bidding the work that way and it does make sense and it is a budget wise decision for everyone. But your customers and you have an agreement and you bid the job that way. The company by us passes their quote off as being a complete cleaning and then only doing some of the work. The business is being dishonest and it just gets frustrating when losing accounts to this type of dishonesty.
If you are sure that is true, easy enough to fix.
I am not calling you a liar here…but…be sure what you describe is accurate. The Red Shirt guys are members here too.
BTW: I dig your Avatar. Is that also your logo? If so, I think it is cool.
Thanks Deeper, yes it is my logo. It looks better in color but i was unable to load it because of the size of the file. I would never say that i’m 100% sure about what i wrote, its just what I’ve been told by 2 ex redshirts that applied with my company ( 1 I hired) and also from one of my customers that used them and dropped them because of this reason. I can’t say the entire fish family acts this way, just the local one in my area. I have actually met a few fish guys at the conventions and they seem to be nice guys. I just wonder how they are trained to price jobs. I don’t think I am the only person who feels this way. Most of the threads on here about lowballing mention “fish”, the “redshirts” etc. Anyway, I’m tired of talking about fish. I respect them as a fellow corporation in our industry and hope that all the things i hear out in the field and on these forums is not true. Thank you for the complement on my logo. I’m starting my 2nd company in February in SC. I’ll attempt to upload my new company logo as soon as i get a chance.
Where’s your company going to be located in SC, Uncle Squeegee? I’m in the Upstate - Greenville, Anderson, Easley, Clemson areas.
I will be in the Charleston Area ( Mt.pleasant,daniels island,summerville, goose creek etc) how far is that from you? I’m in Michigan now and I have had enough of the cold. Uncle Squeegee’s can run itself without me being there everyday, so I’m ready to take on a 2nd venture. Looking forward to being small again ( me and just 1 or 2 employees)
Hi guys…
I used to be one of the guys in the red shirts, and i have to say that not all franchisees are that way.
I do know that some who did start their own franchise with Fish, start with only 2 weeks experience in window cleaning.
Now we all have to start somewhere right?
but to me its just sad that they have to pay a certain percentage of each job they clean to Fish in order to keep using the name FISH. Now i haven nothing against them i really just think its really a waist of money buying the name where if they use the same energy to start up thier own business like us folks here in WCR then they would be more profitable and less stressful.
Believe me when i say that cause i saw the stress when i was working for them. They are having trouble keeping guys to stay with them Why?? Cause they only pay (starting) 30% of each job. That is the reason why i left although i gave it a 4 month try to see if its worth staying or not. I couldn’t live on that type of low income, in fact my wife and I sadly are living with some family members cause we couldn’t afford to even live in an apartment.
That is why i just recently started my own business so hopefully in several months we would live on our own and for fish, they were not providing that.
The only reason i decide to work for fish is cause on their site it mention benefits which its very important to me, but unfortunately the franchisee that i work for (which the owners are Awesome people , don’t get me wrong) didn’t provide any, so i thought it would be best to be on my own.
This type of business ethic makes no sense, whatsoever!
Charge LESS and do CrApPy work :eek:
Not the standards of the way, we do business here …
Why would you want to pay royalties to have the privelege of using their name ( which in our industry is known for low quality, and low ball pricing)?
I have seen many come to their defense saying that all of their franchises are not that way, but only a select few. I would say that it is probrably the majority of them. Otherwise, how could they get such a bad reputation throughout the entire country if it was only a few? I have heard that a lot of them are selling or going out of business. This is just hearsay since i don’t know of any of it being fact, but it would not surprise me.
In closing, I think everyone should charge what they are worth. Be honest, do a good job, don’t gouge the customers, and do what you say you are going to do. Then you will do well. Low balling and undercutting the industry will get you nowhere. If you only charge peanuts, then that must be all you think your are worth. Good Luck making a living on peanuts!
OH YEAH, Fish bashing…matanza!
As much as I hate em, they are doing something right. They wouldnt be in business if they werent. By right, I dont mean cleaning windows. But, like the post that Noble put up about someone going after him in marketing against him, the same thing can be done against anyone once you expose their weakness. I am all about not stepping on toes, and yes its all business. But when you start to lose business because of the things mentioned it is time to take off the gloves and go after the jugular- market against them by shining the light on dirty windows.
