A Clean Marketing Idea

“The Cleanest Twitter Account.” Could your window cleaning company come up with a great marketing idea?

Cleaning Product Brand Launches “Cleanest Twitter Account” With Automagically Appearing Images: The brand's feed may look like it's solely tweeting blanks, but clicking reveals surprises and chances to win.

European homecare brand Spontex, with help from Fred & Farid, has launched a French Twitter account — @SpontexFrance — that is being billed as “The Cleanest Twitter Account.” Get it? Cleaning product brand launches clean Twitter account? OK. Moving on.

This “cleanest Twitter account” is clean in the sense that, well, the feed is basically blank white space until, that is, you click on the white space which then expands to an image which delivers witty, secret messages — some showing the brand’s cute hedgehog mascot — all designed to tout the brand’s new Full Action System Broom.

If the lure of finding the secrets behind the white space isn’t enough, the brand will occasionally insert tweets that reward the new product to the first person to favorite them.

The images in the tweets are made from white PNG images which automagically display when the larger Twitter image window opens.

Here’s a video overview of the campaign. It’s in French but you’ll get the idea. 

When Customers Get Angry

What to Do When Customers Get Mean on Social Media: There's a growing army of unhappy, sometimes bitter and angry customers who take to social media to vent their frustrations about a brand's products or services. Sometimes they can get so mean that their feedback is more an attack than a request for customer service. No matter the size of your company, angry customer tirades can damage your reputation online. In my experience, you can encounter at least two types of unsatisfied customers communicating with you over social media:

• A person who was genuinely hoping for a good experience with your product or service, had a bad experience and simply wants to vent and seek acknowledgment or a solution. 
• Someone who actively uses social media to dissuade people from doing business with your company, and probably doesn't care about your reply to his or her claims. This person hopes you do reply so he or she can drag you into a public fight.

Either way, dealing with these types of angry customers should be an opportunity to show the world how your company cares about customer service and that you stand behind your brand. With the right strategy, you can turn foes into fans and win new customers at the same time. Here are five tips for responding to angry customers over social media:

1. Respond quickly. The longer someone waits for a reply the more steamed that person can become. Let the individual know publicly that you have heard his or her frustration or problem and that you're on it.

2. Never show anger or engage in negative banter. Don't stoop to an angry commentor's level, as it can quickly escalate. Taking the high road and not replying with negativity sets you up for the win in the eyes of anyone who's following along.

3. Be personal. The employees who manage your social media should sign their tweets or posts with their names or at least their initials to make the engagement more personable and real. Also be sure to address the customer by his or her name.

4. Work toward a resolution. Let the customer know that you're going to do everything within your power to make the situation right. Don't simply attempt to calm someone down and walk away.

5. Talk offline when necessary. Use direct messages on Twitter or email if the discussion is detailed. At least the initial response should be public, though, to let everyone know that you're on the issue and that you care.

When you do come to a resolution, be sure to post about it. If you don't share the results, no one will know how you resolved the situation. This is your opportunity to show that you deliver top-notch customer service over social media.

If the negative comments persist, the person is most likely pushing you in hopes of seeing you falter publicly. All you can do is be polite, offer assistance and let the person -- as well as everyone else watching -- know that you're doing everything you can. Try offering a free gift as a token of appreciation. Whatever you do, don't engage in a public argument.

To help you cope with difficult shoppers this holiday season, consider these five tips from customer-service experts:

1. Remember: The customer is always right.

 The old "customer is always right" philosophy may still be the best approach for dealing with obnoxious shoppers. Customer service experts have long said that a happy customer tells one or two friends, while an unhappy customer tells several--or in the age of social media, hundreds of his closest strangers. And these statistics can be magnified by the emotions related to holiday shopping.

"Businesses spend so much of their money acquiring customers, yet can lose them over one complaint," says Ken Varga, a marketing strategist in Spring Lake, N.J. After all, he adds, 99 percent of customers will obey the rules, so it's about appeasing that difficult 1 percent. So when someone returns a product beyond the 30-day money back window, for example, you're probably better off giving a refund with a smile. Otherwise, "they can hurt you badly," Varga says, especially by badmouthing you on Facebook and Twitter.

2. Train employees to cope with problem customers.

 Donna Fluss advises her small-business clients to hold staff meetings between the end of October and Thanksgiving to do scenario training and discuss best practices for dealing with nightmare customers. "Give [employees] as many options as possible, especially in a season when people are short on time and short on money," says the founder of DMG Consulting in West Orange, N.J.

Staff members should be trained to be sensitive and make a reasonable effort to solve a customer's problem, Fluss says. "If a customer is over their credit limit, see if you can get them a one-time credit increase. Or if you know you can't get them a gift item in time for Christmas, suggest where else they may be able to find it, even if it's through a competitor."

3. Hire enough holiday help to minimize customer frustration.

 Staffing up adequately during the holidays can prevent a lot of aggravation for both customers and employees. If someone is already upset and then has to wait a long time on line or on hold, this will only add fuel to the fire.

Overworked employees also may mishandle customers. If there aren't enough employees to deal with the increased holiday demand, Varga says, "the individual handling the disgruntled customer will try to rush, and as a result, the outcome won't be good."

4. Don't promise what you can't deliver.

 You may want to appease an angry customer by promising to get a package delivered by Christmas Eve, but resist the temptation if the chances are slim. The last thing you want to do with a disgruntled shopper is make empty promises, says Esteban Kolsky, founder of thinkJar, a Kansas City, Kansas-based firm that focuses on customer service strategies.

"If you say you're going to try to do it and you don't do it, their problem becomes your problem," he says. "They don't use common sense, and then they expect the store or company to perform miracles. You always try to please your customer, but don't give them a reason to heap blame on you."

5. As a last resort, be willing to lose the customer and the sale.

 If you offer your best plan for resolving a problem and the customer is still being difficult, it's okay to part company and refund the purchase price.

Your generosity of spirit should have limits, says Varga, whose rule is: Only one chance to break the rules per customer. "Times are going to get very tough and people will begin to make demands that are unrealistic just to see what they can get away with," he says.

LadderTwins - Ladder Safety for Window Cleaners

LadderTwins: Today we have a new "Give-away" generously supplied by Peter Geraghty (pictured) who developed this product over a number of years, following a very serious accident as a result of a fall from a ladder. Peter says "this product has evolved over the years to what it is today. I believe this is the best ladder stabilizer in the world." That is also the conclusion, through feedback from hundreds of satisfied customers. Laddertwins are covered by patent and have been tested to BS EN131. Peter also advises "I am looking for Distributors in every Country outside Ireland, if interested email me at peterg@laddertwins.com" As always click the pictures to enlarge. For details of the competition go to the bottom of this post & follow the instructions.

LadderTwins are easy to fit to any ladder, taking about 5 seconds to attach or detach, and they will lock into place regardless of the angle the ladder is placed at. LadderTwins are made of high quality, durable materials and contain no moving parts. Buy LadderTwins now for just €29.95!

Ladder Safety: In the UK, an average of 20 people a year die from ladder falls. The number of people injured in domestic accidents involving ladders has soared by over 60% in the last decade.
Statistics show that 48,000 people in the UK now attend Accident and Emergency departments following a ladder accident in and around the house. Injuries can be severe, and include broken bones and damage to the head. Head injuries occurred in about 2,300 cases, but this is reckoned to be an under-estimate because the characteristics of head injuries are that there may be long term effects which are not obvious and may not be reported or recorded, at the time of initial treatment.

New Safety Regulations
How the New Work at Height Regulations 2005 effect ladder users. On April 6th the new Height Regulations 2005 came into effect; they mean your business will have to change the way it uses ladders. Below is an extract from the regulations which details some of the new
Schedule 6, Regulation 8(e),Requirements for Ladders:

5. A portable ladder should be prevented from slipping during use by:

• securing the stiles at or near upper or lower ends
• an effective anti-slip or other effective stability device
• any other arrangements of equivalent effectiveness

In short, if you have to use ladders to carry out your work you must ensure that they are stabilised. LadderTwins is the easiest, most convienent way to ensure your safety!

For a chance to win a set of ladder twins from Peter, all you have to do is use the Multiwidget in the sidebar & either "digg, stumbleupon, twitter, or use delicious" to highlight this blog-post. Once done, just email me your submission link at karl.robinson@telefonica.net to be entered into the competition.

Clients For Window Cleaners Using Twitter

San Diego, CA – While Twitter is still searching for its golden ticket to profitability, the San Diego window cleaning company Busy Broom is hard at work using Twitter to keep in touch with clients and achieve new ones. The company is not seeking to profit directly off of Twitter, but to use Twitter to keep in touch with clients that might need to reschedule an appointment or include more services than previously discussed. Clients become aware of the Twitter feature either by going to the contact page or through speaking with representatives from the company. Their twitter profile can be found at twitter.com/CleanSanDiego.
Busy Broom is a full service San Diego based cleaning company. While they can accomplish every task related to cleaning, they specialize in window washing, house cleaning, pressure washing, and roof cleaning. Tom Bordyczewski of Busy Broom stated: “Twitter will help us keep in contact with our clients and provide easy and simple ways for our clients to make schedule changes, or schedule a new appointment.” While they have not received any appointments yet through Twitter, they are hopeful that the San Francisco based Micro Blogging service will soon help them keep in touch better with clients and provide instantaneous responses for appointments.
Twitter has made the micro blogging site into a powerhouse used by both individuals and businesses. Located in the South of Market district of San Francisco, Twitter is quickly becoming a global phenomenon. Currently the business has been running off of venture capital funds and is not yet making a profit. While the company figures out how to best make money off of their new success, businesses like Busy Broom in San Diego have begun to utilize the site to help their own businesses. Whether it is an ad based solution or a solution based on additional features, Twitter should easily be able to turn a profit if all these other businesses using Twitter can.
The hard part for Twitter is going to be converting to a profit making position while not alienating users. If this is accomplished by them they should be around for a long time to come. Only a few years ago, no one would have suspected that limiting users to 140 characters and creating their own micro blogs would be popular. Since text messaging plans have become cheaper as well as broadband, the stage has been set for Twitter to continue to grow and expand as businesses far and wide begin using it. On the verge of profitability, Twitter is about to undergo a shift form venture capital to revenues.
San Diego Window Cleaning Company Busy Broom is now part of the fabric of Twitter. Just as many other companies now move in to capitalize on its growing success, Busy Broom is excited about the possibilities presented by the use of 140 characters and text messages to help communication between them and their clients. With the economy beginning to pick up again after this long recession, perhaps it is time we all begin to tweet to one another in a show of support for the company that is bringing so many of us together.
Article Written by Michael Latulippe, spokesperson for Busy Broom Cleaning Services and Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Valley based Clear Prominence, INC (BecomeNoticed.com).

Friday Night Window Cleaning News

Mark Strange of "Beautiful View" from Toronto, Canada gives us another installment with a few more unbiased reviews of products in the window cleaners workplace, this week - "the ledger" from Jerry Rigdon of Companion tools.

Computer giant Google last week launched Street View – a map innovation allowing millions from all over the world to take virtual stroll up your street. But, as ANDREW DAGNELL finds out, some people might be surprised by what they see… The picture is just one of a number of amusing, embarrassing and candid shots captured by Google Street View – the new service which allows users to access 360-degree views of roads and homes in 25 British towns and cities, including Cardiff, Barry and Penarth. A couple of window cleaners are also photographed while working in the Canton area. Leisurely leaning against a wall, it’s not clear whether the pair are taking a well-earned rest after working tirelessly for hours on end, or simply skiving off work. The 23 other cities covered by the all-seeing Google Street View programme include London, Belfast, Southampton, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Oxford. And Google eventually plans to have the whole of the UK covered by its 360-degree imaging.

Camp Verde man plunges 18 feet: A man was taken to a trauma center Wednesday afternoon after falling 15 to 18 feet from a ladder. The man was washing windows at a house on Grippen Lane off Quarterhorse Lane in Camp Verde. Camp Verde Fire District spokeswoman Barbara Rice says the unidentified patient suffered traumatic injuries to the lower extremities and possibly other injuries. The injured window washer said he apparently lost his footing before falling. He was flown by medical helicopter to Flagstaff Medical Center.

Ex-window cleaner sells Grantley Hall, North Yorkshire, for £4.75m: Grantley Hall, a 160-room historic pile in North Yorkshire, is on the market for £4.75 million. Derek Pearson, the owner, is relinquishing his dream of turning the late 17th-century mansion into the epitome of the dream family home and relocating to Portugal. The coal miner-turned-property developer and businessmen acquired Grantley Hall just four years ago, paying £3million to North Yorkshire County Council. The estate was being used as an adult education centre, but the authority was unable to make the venture pay. Pearson's working life began with 11 years down the pit at Grimethorpe Colliery - whose band starred in the film Brassed Off - before he discovered a talent for property development, buying a house for £1,000 and selling it for £11,000. “When I was a boy I did a paper round, a window-cleaning round and brought in people's coal. I never had a day off in 30 years and would collapse on the bed after a 16-hour shift.” His property business led him to accumulate a number of building plots on the edge of Yorkshire towns such as Doncaster and Skipton. After selling Grantley, he plans to keep a pied-à-terre in the area and to build a villa in Portugal.

YouTube Gives Twitter Love: Google sprinkled a few extra features on YouTube last night, in a spring cleaning effort to catch up with the ever-popular Twitter. Viewers can now post a video they like on Twitter and users got a few tweaks when managing their content. Everybody is integrating Twitter functionality these days, as the microblogging platform gains more user traction. The most prominent example is Facebook, which redesigned its whole news feed to accommodate the need for real-time updates. And now it's YouTube's turn, but with not so much glory.

Police warn of bogus window cleaner in Okus Road area of Swindon: A BOGUS window cleaner is being sought by police. Swindon police Inspector Bill Giles said the officers had received a complaint about a man in the Okus Road area who told a resident on Wednesday that he had taken over rounds for the previous window cleaner. Although the bogus cleaner got into the woman’s house nothing appears to have been stolen. However, yesterday the original cleaner turned up at the house and said that he had heard about the scam from his other customers. It appears the bogus cleaner is seeking funds for jobs yet to be completed from unsuspecting residents. Anyone with information should call police on 0845 4087000 or Crimestoppers on 0800555111.

ACTOR Dieter Brummer has taken that old showbiz saying of "don't give up your day job" literally. After returning from a 10-year break to play a copper in Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities, the former Home & Away stud has returned to being a "construction maintenance worker", aka window-washer. The occasional actor says he doesn't mind his blue-collar "plan B". "The good part about it is I don't have to deal with people too much," Brummer said. "If I was pulling beers I would have to put up with guys saying: 'Oh you're pulling beers now and you used to be in Underbelly.'"

John Abbott of Whitney Stained Glass Studio Inc. in Cleveland works on renovating one of the 14 panels taken from the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on Public Square. The window work is part of a $2 million project that is nearing a midpoint. One of the panels that is nearly completed is behind Abbott. "The cleaning and repairing really brings the windows back to life, back to the way they would have looked then," said studio employee David Smith who spends about 60 hours on each window.

STUDENT-STAINED GLASS: The residents of Commons 5210 keep a fairly clean house, but they have made it clear: They are not washing any windows. In fall 2007, Gail Baltazar and her roommates upstairs in 5310 painted their sorority letters on their third-story bay window. Soon after, Ari Berkowicz and his roommates followed suit, painting the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet on their window in 5210, 4-feet tall and visible from Van Munching Hall, two parking lots away. But now South Campus Commons says that if the residents of 5210 do not wash their windows, someone else will. After almost two years of inspections with nothing said about the windows, Commons management pulled an abrupt about-face, demanding the residents clean the windows, a makeshift landmark for students navigating campus, by March 27.
If the residents fail to comply, Commons management will charge the residents and send housekeepers to clean the windows, according to an e-mail sent to Berkowicz by Paris Rossiter, the Commons assistant director of operations. Berkowicz said he was told the charge was about $40, split between the four roommates. Baltazar and her roommates wiped their third-floor windows Monday afternoon, saying it was not worth the fight because only two of the current occupants are in the sorority and Baltazar is graduating in May. "Honestly, I'm moving out. I was just like, 'OK, we'll wash it.' If I were staying, we'd definitely fight it," Baltazar said. But Berkowicz and the rest of Room 5210 are not about to give in. "We'd obviously be more understanding if it was something offensive, something more than three letters on a window," Berkowicz said. "It's the Hebrew equivalent of A-B-C."

Support small local businesses: I would like to stress the importance of supporting locally owned businesses in this economically challenging time. Local businesses are run by individuals who are struggling each day, just as you and I are. They are not backed by large corporations, and they make just enough to keep their doors open. We own a local window-cleaning company and know the challenges of keeping 25 people employed. Buying your cup of coffee from a local coffee shop might just be enough for her to keep her doors open. Thinking that your purchase just might make a difference is a good way to decide where to spend your hard-earned dollars.