Catching Up With The Window Cleaning Coach

Why should you consider attending a WC industry EVENT? 1. You get to meet people who are actually DOING stuff with the information you keep telling yourself you already know.
2. You get to hear about how real human beings are USING all this top secret marketing strategy and research, to make more money and work even less.
3. You get to ask people one-on-one what is working for them and what is holding them back.
4. You are reminded that this marketing stuff is not just about words on paper, and books and reports, and case studies, but actually intimately depends on the world’s most precious resource: people. Read more..

Are you smarter than Tiger Woods? Tiger is a pretty sweet golfer. The man is deadly with a 5 iron. And yet he is a student. Tiger has learned that the more you know, the more you understand that you know less than you thought. Tiger Woods won eight championships and THEN felt that his swing needed to be reworked, so he got on it. That’s the right attitude. That’s the way it should be. That’s reality. Embrace it. Love it. Realize that it means you can always do better. You can always improve in your window cleaning marketing efforts...read more...

3 Ways To Sabotage Your Window Cleaning Marketing: 1. Assume that because everyone else is doing it this way, it must work.
Everyone uses the yellow pages.
Everyone pays for the BBB logo.
Everyone’s company name should be front and center at the top of the flier.
Everyone knows that “getting fancy” with marketing is a waste of time. Don’t make me tell you the Lemmings story. Read more...

What to Compete On If Your Competitors Are Waging a Price War! Are you getting squeezed by competitors who are willing to do window cleaning work for far less you would charge, day in and day out? Instead of getting frustrated, learn a lesson from the Walmart-killers of the retail world: When the competition is obsessed with price, change the rules, so that price matters less to the customers. As John Jantsch puts it, “compete on emotion“. If they are pounding the price card, don’t even try to compete. Trump their price with your “super-friendly” card, or your “so easy-going” card, or your “absolute risk-removal, if you don’t love it then we’ll come over and rub your feet” card. Read more..

The Power of Advertising by Windex

There's just something about these guys. You have to watch them. What if they drop it? How are they going to get around that corner? What if one of the suction cups gives? Wherever men are moving a big sheet of glass, folks just naturally stop to watch. And that's what they did one day on Chicago's busy Michigan Avenue late last year as two men, their hands gripping suction cups, struggled with a large piece of glass, by the looks of it perhaps 8 feet long and 4 or more feet high. Maybe it was for a store window. But there was something odd about this glass, as people up close noticed. It was amazingly clear. In fact, two men in white uniforms weren't carrying a piece of glass at all. They were actors, and the whole thing was a stunt. The giveaway was on the back of their uniforms. "Windex glass cleaner. Glass so clean it’s invisible."
The stunt was the idea from the creative minds at Windex’s agency Draftfcb Chicago. "It’s funny, it started off when we were sitting in my office talking about Windex and the proposition ‘glass so clear it’s invisible,’" says Rob Sherlock, chief creative officer. "Then one of the creative directors said, ‘I’ve had this thought about movers moving glass, but there’s actually no glass.’ Often these things get said and people say, ‘Hey, that’d be nice,’ but then nothing happens. But we decided we have to make this happen." For the men to carry the piece of glass that wasn't, the agency turned to Second City Chicago, the theater company that has produced the likes of John Belushi, Mike Myers, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner. The men were then outfitted in the white uniforms and suctions cups and off they went to play their parts.
Video of the stunt later popped up on YouTube and a number of ad blogs, and Sherlock says its success has caused Windex to consider rolling out similar stunts in other markets later this year. As an alternative campaign, the stunt worked on all the important levels. It was eye-catching, long on imagination and short on cost. "These are simple little initiatives that aren’t expensive and resonate massively," says Sherlock. "All you need are some actors and some suction cups."

More Clever Marketing....
SC Johnson Alleviates 'Window Washing Avoidance Syndrome' Across America: A recent study reveals that 80 percent of homeowners avoid cleaning their outdoor windows - a behavior SC Johnson has identified as Window Washing Avoidance Syndrome (WWAS). The most common WWAS symptom is "window pain," which includes moving outdoor window washing to the bottom of the to-do list because of the time, energy and hassle required to get the job done, combined with lackluster results. The Symptoms Speak for Themselves:
Prior to the development of treatment options, homeowners spoke out about their WWAS symptoms in the Windex(R) Outdoor All-in-One Glass Cleaning Tool Survey. Maybe Next Year - While 72 percent of homeowners think that windows should be cleaned at least a few times per year, only 42 percent say they actually do clean their windows that often. I'd Rather Be... - Almost half of homeowners (48 percent) would rather clean the toilet or shower than clean the outdoor windows. Feeling the Pain - While there are many excuses in the book, 38 percent of homeowners admit they avoid outdoor window cleaning altogether due to the time and effort required. Now, homeowners can enjoy neighborhood bragging rights for the cleanest windows and still have time to lounge by the pool or play with the kids.

AUWC East Coast Regional

Today live, taking place & already posted up on FlixWagon is todays AUWC seminar posted up by Window Cleaning Resources for your enjoyment. The quality is slightly dodgy due to all the footage is taken on a mobile phone. Chris's (of WCR) hand must be aching! I will be posting them up as they come in! The first video by clicking the picture below is the seminar on fabrication debris & scratched glass. The following segments can be seen by clicking to the next video to the left of the one you are watching once you reach the page destination.

Kevin the window cleaning coach talking at the AUWC East Coast Regional in Rhode Island about "The Hidden Secrets to Rapid, Profitable Revenue Growth.

"Get the fog out. " De-fogging double glazed units, a quick presentation:
In 2002, Crystal Clear Window Works (CCWW) secured the exclusive, worldwide patent rights to a process for removing moisture and condensation from failed insulating glass units.
CCWW then proved and commercialized the business of DeFogging windows using its own proprietary window restoration and defogging techniques that include specialized tools, environmentally safe solutions, business systems and unique venting and valving technologies to remove fog, chemical fogging, moisture and residue from failed thermal pane windows.

Alex & Bill of Window Cleaning Resources show scratch restoration on glass with the SRP.
The SRP Glass Restoration System quickly, easily, and neatly, removes scratches from Plate, Tempered, Laminated, Mirrored, or Curved Glass. Unlike other scratch removal products, the SRP Scratch Removal System can remove Damage and Graffiti from glass…even if made by Carbide Scribes or other Glass Cutting Tools!

Window Cleaning Marketing

3 Ways To Grow Your Business Without Finding New Customers by Keith Goodrum:
Whenever I hear window cleaners talk about ways to grow their business it’s usually focused on finding new customers. Unfortunately that is the least profitable way to grow a business.
Increase prices - Talk about raising prices can strike fear in the biggest baddest window cleaner on the block. The fear is that the customer will flip out, and not ever hire them again. So, a window cleaner will put off increasing prices… allowing inflation to eat away at their profits. The truth is you need to raise prices at least enough to maintain your standard of living. I feared raising prices, and was shocked by my customers reaction. One told me it was about time. My income went up, and nobody complained. Increase frequency - In most cases a residential window cleaning customer will get their windows cleaned once a year. And I found that by keeping in contact with them year round I could get more to move up to 2 times a year. The benefits include; increased efficiency, less dirt on windows and higher dollars per hour. You need less customers to for the same amount of income, less marketing costs and less paperwork. You increase your profits.
Increase transaction size - There are many ways to increase transaction size at each house. Two of the best ways are screen cleaning & sill cleaning. You have to remove the screen to get to the window most of the time. So why not clean them while they are down, and make some extra money. This is a win-win situation. You are happy because you are making extra money, and the is happy because your are providing added value.

Lance Winslow: Do you own a window cleaning and weekly washing service? Are your crews operating at a maximum? Do you have spaces in your schedule on certain days? Would you like to add crews and do more business? There are significant customers who currently are not using your services; do you want them to start using your window cleaning services? There is a way you know? How so you ask?
A robust yet inexpensive marketing and advertising program might do the trick. Let me explain; you see, direct mail and direct-mail marketing coupon packages for window washing and window cleaning services makes sense to attract new customers and build up your scheduled routes. It is recommended that you send out direct-mail marketing to zip codes within a 15-mile radius of the area you wish to service.
It is smart to concentrate on zip codes that have high net worth individuals and businesses. These direct-mail marketing packages should be sent out three to four times per year. It is unwise to send them out every month as you will be over saturating the area and perhaps even cause concern with current customers who are paying full-price?

Steve Wright: Marketing to the Extreme - For those of you know who know me, you know that I'm a huge fan of using a multitude of marketing angles to attract prospects to our window washing businesses. I guess it stems from never putting all of our eggs into one basket, so my belief is that it's important to spread yourself out. And the most successful window washers I know are people who do the same. This means incorporating flyers, postcards, business organizations, networking, targeting service businesses, yellow pages, and more into the marketing mix on a regular basis.
I know there are folks out there who own window washing businesses who only want to do a house or two a week, or maybe they love their full time job so much, that they don't want to leave it yet and do window washing full time, so this article focuses mostly on window washers who want to grow, grow, grow! Due to the "time factor", I realize it can be difficult to juggle so many different marketing avenues but the results truly are phenominal.
I spoke to a window washer the other day who gets 2 to 4 phone calls PER DAY from interested prospects due to the many different marketing techniques he employs, so the pay-off is certainly well worth the initial effort of hustle and bustle.
Here's the recommended marketing attack: Flyers, Postcards, Service businesses, Business organization, Yellow pages - read the detail here.

Dave the window cleaner: I feel canvassing is probably the worst part of the job, but it is absolutely neccessary in accquiring new customers. There are other methods however. Other Methods of Getting Customers: -
Leaflets: These can work but you will need to drop a very large number of them and with leaflets you don't get a feel for the area.
Advertising: I wouldn't recommend this until you're established because it costs money to advertise. With advertising you may get calls off customers whose houses are very awkward to clean and have been missed out by other window cleaners for a reason. Also if you advertise in your local paper you will be getting calls from all over the place, you really need your round to be compact, if you're spending half your time driving from customer to customer then you're wasting your time.
Turn Your Car Into a Billboard: A cheap way of advertising that may help you get a couple of new customers but I wouldn't count on it to get you a lot.
Recommendation: Once you get a few customers you may find they recommend you to their friends and family who live close by, especially if you do a good job like me. This is a great way of getting customers.
Being Spotted: While cleaning a customers windows you may find other people come up to you and ask if you will do there's as well. This obviously is another great and easy way of getting customers. It's sometimes a good idea to occassionally work on a weekend to help this process occur because people who are out in the week at work may never see you. You will find you get spotted more on the weekends, but personally I hate working on them so I try to avoid doing that where possible.
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You may want to check out the Window Cleaning Resources Forum, where a dedicated page is usually updated most days on the subject of marketing. Don't forget thet Kevin, the window cleaning business coach is always on hand with his web-site & free book giveaway. I'll leave you with a video - where you may learn that the small changes make the greatest difference...