I have been in business for 5 years now and i have found that i am lucky if we clean 15 homes from jan 1 until mid march. Of course i live in pennsylvania which does expierence winter weather… However most of the time conditions are fine to clean. My commercial accounts are steady and go all year round. Does anyone have any creative marketing ideas to stir up some residential business for the winter months. I have never really done any advertising in the winter before so anything is better then nothing.
We market a monthly clean for our resi clients. We currently have approx 25 homes that are on a monthly schedule. We offer to do some or all their outside windows. Of course it’s at a lower then standard per pane price much along the lines of commercial work due to the frequency. I’ve found that many of those customers have also increased the frequency of interior cleanings because they have grown accustomed to clean windows.
tony dont you think that is alot of work for a little but of money plus extra charges such as , gas, mileage, wear and tear , products and salaries… what tyoe of cost are you charging for a monthly service and how does it compare to you one time or 2 time service
Almost half of these customers are in one neighborhood so driving expense isn’t an issue. Of course I live about 30-45 minutes from my main servicea area anyway. I charge about 2/3 of my regular per pane price on these jobs and when you figure I wouldn’t have the work in the winter w/out them it’s money in hand not lost revenue. During the summer ther is enought daylight I can do all of them in one day. In the winter it takes 2 days because of the reduced light. As I said it also encourages more frequent interior cleanings and that improves my revenue. The amount of referrals I get from these customers is also about 50% higher than from my standard resi clients because they see me more frequently and we’ve developed a closer relationship than those I see only once or twice a year.
i agree with you … the set up has to be almost perfeect… when you get involved with monthly resi customers they have to have no screens on, esp if ext only is being done … taking screens off putting them on is a half hour in it self… depending on what type of window it is…also it just seems like alot of work taking ladders off truck… putting them on all for a hundred dollars just doesnt seeem profitable to me .
I’m interested in your strategy Tony, I’m new at this and even considering that I already want to take my business to the next level, I also consider that everything takes time and I don’t wanna rush it.
I’d rather go out and make $100 than sitting at home, SPECIALLY on winter.
My wife quit her job to come with me, that puts me in your same situation, WC’ing money is the only source of income, so it better produce something !
Please explain it to me or PM, whatever is better for you.
In this area people are used to once or twice yearly cleans. In marketing the once a month cleans I have increased the local frequencies and the revenue on these jobs. I also have 2 customers that have their outs done quarterly. Remember part of this is developing a strong relationship w/ my customers and getting high quality refferals from them. Most of those refferals just tell me come do the job w/out a bid. They pay what I charge and are happy to find someone they can trust. Plus I’m in that area every month w/ my company logo and contact number displayed. I am beginning to saturate that area and am spreading out into the surrounding areas thanks to those loyal customers showing off my work at their parties and social events. The quality work at what I consider a reasonable price is to me a high ROI marketing campaign. I’m getting paid to market.
I’m w/ you Carlos. Around here we don’t have the climate that allows for normal operations in the winter. We have to find additional sources of revenue. If you can get 2/3 of your per pane price at 4 to 6 times the normal frequency of cleanings then your actually money ahead. Remember if you increase frequency the windows require much less attention so are easier and quicker to clean. The prices range anywhere from $25 to $55 per house. The $25 house has 15 windows (normally I’d charge $37.50 at standard prices) and takes 15 minutes. It’s across the street from another customer and next door to another. I can park the van and do 6 houses, then move the van and do 3 more. It’s easy and productive since the wife and I have it down to a science after doing some of these jobs for 4 years now.
Find out which of your customers have what they consider view windows and offer to clean them monthly. You’ll be suprised how many customers are happy to know you offer this service and that they will have to tell their friends about it.
Just out of curiousity Dougg how many people live in your service area? WE have about 300,000 in ours of course now that I think about it my service area would bring a few more wcers into the mix as I’m in a crossover area for YP books. I estimate about 24 in the YP and another 20-24 not listed.
I agree an disagree. picking up NEW resi customers is tough. HOWEVER, in July and August when I set them up for semi-annual cleaning, and I make sure to carefully explain to them WHY it’s fine to get your windows cleaned in Jan and Feb even though it’s “rainy season”, in fact it’s a great time because your windows will already be dirtied up by then and the rain will thrash them, but if they are CLEAN,the rain won’t mess 'em up. This makes sense to about 80% of people from my experience.
So repeat resi customers are totally possible in Jan and Feb, but picking up new ones is not quite so easy, cuz as Doug said Californians are afraid of the rain… real afraid.
Seems to be that my area/market is different - I don’t have any small house, no one - For that 15 windows house normally I’d charge $99 and my service area is really wide, I do have customers that live next door to each other, but just a few - It won’t be a bad idea to use those as guinea pigs and see if they bite, but I’d have to crunch some numbers first to see if is profitable.
Completely understand your move there, and I applaud you for think a little beyond the rest, since you’re modifying your customer’s way of thinking, subconsciously make them want to have clean windows all the time, altering old habits (frequency)
The house I refer to isn’t small I simply do those few windows on the back of the house because those are the ones the customer wanted to have done monthly. Being flexible is another way to sell this service. When the customer understands they can have the windows they look out the most done they really seem to like the idea. Some just want the first floor done. Others start w/ the view windows and then decide they don’t like having just some of the windows cleaned and increase the job.
