How To Start Your Own Successful Window Washing Service

Here's a business that, almost more than any other with equalpotential for real wealth, meets the most stringent requirementsof just about any skeptic. In fact, there's so much in favor ofthe "little guy" with this business, it's a real mystery why morepeople don't choose this one as the vehicle for their ultimateindependence and financial security.
This is a business that can make you rich very quickly...It's akind of service business that can can very profitably be operatedby one person--male or female..The basic knowledge needed forsuccess is simple and easy to learn..Very little monetaryinvestment is needed for equipment--usually less than$100...There are virtually no storage space requirements...Youcan operate out of your home for virtually as long as you like;and yet, there's a real demand for this type of businesseverywhere...
The success potential for window washing services is present inthe smallest of towns as well as the largest metropolitan areas.Your risks will be minimal, while your rewards can far surpasseven your wildest dreams. Generally, a one man operation in acity of 50,000 can expect to gross $4,000 or more per month after90 days. Operating expenses for one person operations grossingthis amount should be less than $1,000 per month.
Ideally, your plan should be to solicit new accounts, do thework yourself and establish a regular customer route. Once you'veestablished such a service route, and you're beginning to realizea good profit, you should hire part-time help to do the workwhile you solicit new accounts and establish more regularcustomer routes.
You should concentrate on providing regular window washingservices for all the one and two story office buildings andstorefronts in your area. Start with those closest to your homeand expand your efforts outward. Choose a busy thoroughfaresleading into your city's downtown area. Select the one closest toyour home and begin calling on business owners and store managersall along the street into the downtown area.
Usually, you won't have to do much more than introduce yourself,briefly explain your services, and leave your business card. Wedid this regularly on a once-a-week basis, and after 6 weeks, wehad enough business to keep one man busy--6hours a day, 5 days aweek.
Until you become well established, don't even bother solicitingwork on windows higher than the second story. However, it's bestto call on every business, one after the other as you make yourway to the downtown area. Later on, you can call upon churches,private schools, businesses located on side streets branching offthe main thoroughfares, and even homes if you'd like to try thatmarket. Generally though, you'll find the residential market tootime-consuming to make your efforts really profitable, plus thefact that you simply won't be able to charge enough to make itworthwhile in comparison to your commercial customers. Apartmenthouses and condominiums are quite a different story however,particularly when you can land several customers in the samebuilding.
As mentioned earlier, you can headquarter in and operatecompletely out of your home. You can store your cleaningequipment and supplies in a corner of your garage. Yourbookkeping and other paperwork can be taken care of at thekitchen table, with whatever office supplies your need, easilystored in a dresser drawer.
Speaking of office supplies, you should have a supply ofbusiness cards--and an adequate supply of billing statements withyour business name and address, plus mailing envelopes and returnreply envelopes. You can get away with rubber-stamping yourbusiness name and address on your statements and envelopes, butyour business will grow faster--you'll probably save time andmoney as well--by going with printed supplies from the beginning.
There are nor "real reasons" not to list your home address asyour business address, but listing a post office box number--ifyou prefer--wil not really harm your image. Te important thing ispersonal contact--someone from your company regularly callingupon prospective customers.
Talk with them. Listen to them. Get to know them. Find outwho's currently doing their windows for them, if they have anycomplaints and how you can offer them a better deal. When you'veactually investigated the service they're contracted for, andyou're certain you can offer them a better deal, put your ideasinto the form of a written proposal and give it to them. Don't beafraid to submit a proposal for a better deal, remember when youdo, your proposal should offer more than just a price break.Under-cutting a competitor's price usually means less profit foryou, and an overall deterioration of your reputation. It maytemporarily result in more work for you, but you're in businessto attain wealth--not work yourself into an early grave.
If your spouse is home during the day, she can answer the phonefor you and generally set up appointments for you, while you'reout making sales calls. She can also type out your monthlystatements, see that they're sent out on time, and pretty muchhandle your bookkeeping for you. Should it not be feasible, orfor some reason inconvenient for your wife to handle yourincoming calls for you, look around until you find a good,dependable Telephone Answering Service. Many of these telephoneanswering services handle typing jobs as well, so if you'relacking someone to handle these chores for you, chances are youcan find all the services you need without much of a search.
It's important with this type of business that you have a"live" voice answering your calls. selecting the right people tohandle your calls, and spending the extra time necessary to trainthem according to your desires--even paying a little more to havethings done the way you want them done--is almost always wellworth the time and added expense. Remember, this is a servicebusiness with your growth dependent upon the personal contact youand your representatives have with prospective clients. Work onit, develop it, and cultivate your personal contact transactions.
As the size of your company increases and you hire crews ofpeople to handle work assignments, you can usually get youranswering service to take on the added duties of job assignmentsnotification or dispatcher. All of this simply points up thepossibilities of operating your business out of your homeindefinitely, should you choose to do so.
If someone along the line you decide to set up an office in alocation other than your home, you might want to make an offer orotherwise induce one or two of the people from your telephoninganswering service. Regardless of how large your work forcebecomes, it's always best if you supply the window washingequipment and supplies.
Employees should be allowed to take the equipment home withthem, and required to use their own vehicles for transportationto each job site. By all means, spend the extra money to supplyyour workers with uniforms. Matching shirts and trousers with abig patch on the back of the shirts, listing your company nameand phone number, is not only impressive in projecting image,it's also one of the cheapest and best advertising methods.
Once you've hire people to do the actual window washing foryou, get a couple of magnetic signs showing your company name andtelephone number. Be sure to "wear" these signs on your car asyou make your sales calls and spot check on the progress of yourwork crews. Later on, you can get similar signs for your crewchiefs. If you should opt for company-owned vehicles, you'll findvans to be the most convenient and serve your needs mostefficiently. Be sure to have your company name, phone number andlogo painted on each side of these vehicles--and allow your crewchiefs to drive them home at night--all of which benefits youwith practically free advertising.
The kind of equipment you'll need to professionally washwindows is relatively simple...A12 or 18 inch window brush,aluminum telescopic brush handle...6 inch, 10 inch and 18 inchsqueegees with replacement rubber blades...A couple of plastic orgalvanized water pails, one 2 gallon and the other 5 gallon...Andan 8-foot step ladder, plus maybe a 16 foot straight ladder...
Your start-up should include 5 gallons of liquid soap..a goodsupply of clean rags, towels and chamois..And a sharp razor bladescraper...
This entire list of supplies and equipment should total no morethan $250 in cost. You'll need to add to your equipment only asyour business grows and you have need to hire more personnel...
Some professional window washers are proclaiming an alternativeor "better method" than with the use of window brushes andsqueegees. They're advocating the use of "strip washers." Theseare 3/4 inch pieces of aluminum pipe covered with a nylon sleevethat fits the pipe. These are similar in appearance to the handydo-it-yourself paint rollers, and are used in much the samemanner. These strip washers reportedly work very well on all butthe dirtiest of windows.
Another alternative is an extension pole and brush device.Water is pumped thru the handle and out the brush in arinse-wash-rinse cycle. Most professionals claim this device isideal for second story windows, but for best quality workmanship,they still prefer the basic brush and squeegee approach.
Still another alternative is a hose-water-fed brush thatutilizes de-ionized water where ladders aren't feasible.De-ionized water is a kind of water from which all minerals andforeign elements have been removed. Using this kind of waterassures the window washer an easier and faster job with noworries about streaking or water drops.
Your prices should range between $20 and $25 per hour. Pay forhired help should start at $5 per hour. It's important that youdo some homework on the various glass treatments in vogue thesedays. Many of these coatings and coverings require specialtreatment such as the use of soft towels instead of brushes thatmight scratch the surface of the window coating.
The professional technique for washing windows cleanly and inthe least amount of time is as follows: A few drops of cleaningsolution in your bucket of water. remember, too many soap sudsare detrimental to quality work. Wet your brush from the bucketand then scrub the window. Take your squeegee and make one wipingpass across the top of the window. Be sure to keep the end of thesqueegee pressed firmly against the molding or top sill of thewindow frame. Wipe the squeegee, and then do the same thing downeach side of the window. from this point on, it's just a matterof wiping the window clean with one continuous stroke. You dothis by arching and looping your wiping strokes across the windowpane, back and forth, never stopping or lifting the squeegeeblade from the glass. With this in method, you can wipe even thelargest window clean in just a matter of seconds. Practice athome on your own windows and those of your neighbors. You'llquickly develop a knack for this method and wonder why you neverdiscovered it before.
When you've finished with the squeegee, take a chamois andcarefully "blot-wipe" any excess water that may have not havebeen picked up along the sides and bottom of the window frame. Inreality, that's all there is to it.
You'll find the spring and summer months to be the busiest, butbecause of the increasing popularity of painting holiday scenesand special sale announcements on business windows, be alert foryear 'round opportunities along these lines as well. Keepplugging away and offering your services to businesses throughoutyour area, particularly along those busy thoroughfares wheremoving traffic contributes to the build-up of dirt & grime onwindows.
When you're ready to hire helpers or people to do the work foryou, a simple ad in your local newspaper's "help Wanted" columnshould bring you more applicants than you'll ever use. Afteryou've hired the one or the ones you want, keep a record of theones you liked but didn't hire, and check with them when you wantto add onto your crew of workers again.
Bulletin Board notices will also bring in a surprising numberof applicants. Another good idea is to spread the word thatyou're looking for part-time help, amongst your local firemen,policemen and teachers. depending on your area's pay scale, youcan do pretty well by contacting the temporary help services inyour area.
About the only regular advertising you'll need to do is amedium to large display ad in the yellow pages. This is a mustbecause once you're established you'll find at least
50% of your business coming from having seen your ad in theyellow pages. An "insider's" trick to advertising in the yellowpages--Try to name your business with the very first letter ofyour business name beginning with A-B-C, or X-Y-Z. Statistics andsurveys tend to prove that when people look for a service in theyellow pages, they invariably pick from either the top or bottomof the alphabet.
Aside from the yellow pages, your next best advertising will bethe "reminder" kind, such as note pads with your company nameimprinted on them, special calendars or holders, special date orappointment books, and/or sports caps with your companyname/emblem on them. However, as this kind of advertising isquite expensive, it's good to keep in mind, but best to hold offuntil you can well afford it.
Any radio, television, newspaper and/or direct mail advertisingefforts will cost you much more than any business you receivefrom it, so don't even consider this type of advertising.However, do think about, and submit "press release" material tothese media as often as you can, because any publicity coveragethey give will surely be well worthwhile.
Telephone soliciting for business works well, but you shouldhave a list of businesses and their telephone numbers, plottedout according to new routes you're trying to build. Time spenttravelling between jobs will cost you money, just as time spentlooking up telephone numbers along a certain planned route willseemingly take forever. If and when you decide to drum up newbusiness by phone, you'll have much greater success if you canoffer some sort of promotional gimmick to get them to try yourservice.
We had great success one time by offering to do windows forfree if they'd let us put a sign in the window--These windowscleaned by AAA Window Cleaning Service--666-5824... Another time,we did the windows for half price as an introductory offer..Andstill another time, we joined with our telephone answeringservice--on a combined promotion...half price on three months oftelephone answering service just for trying our window washingservice...The ideas, gimmicks and promotions you can use arelimited only by your imagination...
Later on, we hired some good-looking college girls--on acommission basis--to call on businesses along the new routes weare trying to develop. They just introduced themselves asrepresentatives of our firm, explained our services and offered ahalf priced introductory service. They ended up selling betterthan 60% of the business they called upon.
During one summer, we even tried a crew of these young ladiesas window washers--they weren't the best...We dresses them insnappy red & white suspender-type short-shorts and drew quite acrowd on each job. It was good advertising for us--we got freenewspaper and television coverage, and an untold number of newbusiness leads--but the glamour of the whole thing grew old veryquickly. But it was a gimmick that brought in new business,caused a lot of people to recognize that we were in the windowcleaning business, and made our selling job easier.
Truly, this is an easy business to start...and with just a bitof imagination on your part, as well as persistence and qualityworkmanship, you can easily become financially secure as youwant...And it takes is action on your part, so reach for it andmay you always enjoy the fruits of a bountiful success!