Re: [World] Volume window cleaning
shawn
It sounds like you are on the right track now, most of us have gone thru
growing pains of one sort or another and will continue to do so as long as
we are growing both professionally and personally. When you stop make
mistakes then you have stopped growing.
Thanks for sharing
Bill Thomas
N.I.W. Service
McHenry IL
----- Original Message -----
From: "SHAWN & BOBBIE BANACH" <WINDOW.MAN@MINDSPRING.COM>
To: <World@wcmail.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: [World] Volume window cleaning
> Mark,
> I will have to admit I used to be one of those
> high volume window cleaners. As some of you
> already know that in the Atl area I had the Arbys
> Waffle Houses and a franchise of McDonalds,
> Food Depots etc etc. You are correct by asking
> yourself where your company is going.
> Here is the problem (Took me two years to figure
> it out! LOL) Help, Help and more Help. You
> cannot afford to pay someone on the clock because of all the travel time.
> Paying pecentage
> doesnt work either because legit subs look at
> supposed to be $25 Waffle House that you are
> getting $15 for. They think you are crazy. So what
> the sub does is skim glass making your company
> look bad. So what happens. Your back to slingin
> that squegge again so you dont lose customers
> and a bad name for yourself. YOU CANT GROW!
> The company doesnt go anywhere. You dont have
> time to do estimates on houses and cant even
> afford a day to yourself because your accounts will
> fall behind.
> I have managed to free myself of this problem by
> selling half of my routes. 25% is being handled
> by a one man sub and the other 25% is only 8hrs
> of routework a week. I went through a period where I raised prices by 20
> and 25% on what had
> not been sold. Some went with another service but
> a few months later called back. I now only clean
> stores paying over $20.00 and even these are a
> hassle. I wish for those two hard years of busting
> my butt for the pennies I would have spent more
> time focusing on the residential and gotten into
> the pressure cleaning alot sooner. I'm still very
> much in business but definatly learned the hard
> way. Hope this helps some of the newer guys.
>
> Shawn Banach
> Quality Window & Pressure Cleaning
> Atlanta GA
> window.man@mindspring.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Award Window" <awardwin@iserv.net>
> To: <World@wcmail.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 10:39 PM
> Subject: RE: [World] Volume window cleaning
>
>
> >
> > Hello Terri,
> >
> > As for the Pennies adding up to dollars and dollars
> > adding up to thousands - yes that can be true - but
> > Mark - if you were a one man operation - would you
> > really want to work 80 hours a week to take care of
> > your family?<<<<< Terri from Clark Window Cleaning
> >
> >
> > Please do not misunderstand my Posting.
> >
> > Scott said, " This to me makes no sense. In my opinion, when it comes to
> > store fronts, there is no such thing as volume."
> > <<<<<< Scott from C&S Window cleaning said
> >
> > I was helping him make cents. I don't think cutting prices by 1/2 will
> make
> > him money. But how volume can make cents $
> >
> > I was a one man operation that is how I got started 11 years ago. Yes I
> did
> > work 80 hrs a week some times(wanting to or not) that is what I had to
do
> to
> > reach my goals. I had and still have big plans and goals still working
60
> > hrs a week. I worked on weekends and holidays. I even worked last week
> end.
> > The question you should ask yourself is do I want to be a one man
> operation?
> > Can I make a good living and stay a one man operation? Will there be any
> > retirement money for me? I know of a few brother window cleaners that
have
> > said yes to my questions, and they have a plan. So do I. But dose this
> mean
> > that volume window cleaning doesn't make cents. I am not saying to cut
> your
> > self short. I am saying that it can work with the right marketing. We
are
> > considered the higher priced company here. How ever it seems that Volume
> is
> > a marketing tool that used in the right way can make some cents. I see
> > lowballers as a short term problem.
> >
> > This is from a post I read today on "add on services". A very good post
at
> > that. I wish I could use words like Christopher Chapman. This is the
last
> > paragraph of the post I would recommend reading the whole thing.
> >
> > So I figure the most important revelation in this dialogue of add-on
> > services is for each company owner to confront for themselves. Ask
> yourself
> > " Where is it that I want to take my company?" and " How am I going to
get
> > there?" The answers that you come up with to these questions will give
you
> a
> > good start on where you should be heading, and whether expanding your
> > company through add on services fits these aims.<<<<< Christopher
Chapman
> > from Insight Direct, Inc said
> >
> > Good luck to all. Keep the rubber to the glass. Just my two cents worth.
> >
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > -Mark Reinhart
> > Mark S. Reinhart
> > President
> > Award Window Cleaning Services, Inc.
> > awardwindow@net-sentry.net
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: World-owner@wcmail.net [mailto:World-owner@wcmail.net] On Behalf
Of
> > Clark Window Cleaning
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 10:43 AM
> > To: World@wcmail.net
> > Subject: RE: [World] Volume window cleaning
> >
> > I will agree that if you are doing just a few stores
> > in a strip mall - your costs are higher than if you
> > are doing the entire strip mall.
> >
> > But I do not think any of us are in this business to
> > make pennies or dimes for a full days work.
> >
> > If the guy Scott is referring to is a small 1-4 man
> > operation there is no reasonable way that he can offer
> > the same quality service for 1/2 the price.
> >
> > We offer the "McDonalds of the world" a price break
> > too - because we can have our crew do them 1 full day
> > each month - but that is different than offering a
> > discount to 1 location store fronts - esspecially when
> > you consider drive time.
> >
> > We do not lower our rates for fighting competition -
> > if they do not want to make a decent living - let them
> > starve.
> >
> > Large operations can get away with offering discounts
> > -but smaller companies can not - unless we are
> > jeopardizing our own fair rate of pay.
> >
> > Call me crazy - but this is hard work - and I think we
> > all deserve to get paid well for doing it - as long as
> > we provide a good quality service.
> >
> >
> >
> > Terri Hunter
> > Clark Window Cleaning
> > Cedar Rapids, IA
> >
> >
> > --- Award Window <awardwin@iserv.net> wrote:
> > > Hello Scott,
> > >
> > > This to me makes no sense. In my opinion, when it
> > > comes to store fronts,
> > > there is no such thing as volume.
> > > <<<<<< Scott from C&S Window cleaning said
> > >
> > > Better get use to it. We have lost over 60k of work
> > > this year to a new
> > > company, under bidding us by half. These are big
> > > buildings this other
> > > company is planing volume too. However volume works
> > > in store fronts too. I
> > > have over 500 route locations I do for Less and make
> > > good money on. If you
> > > are only doing store fronts, you will lose lots of
> > > work when the
> > > unemployment ratings are high. When they go back
> > > down again u will gain more
> > > work. There are a few things you could do to make
> > > your customers stay with
> > > your service. Get personal, find out what they like
> > > to do, If you are
> > > sending out employees to do the work follow up with
> > > phone calls, go and
> > > inspect job sites make sure the person you deal with
> > > sees you there checking
> > > to make sure the work was done right, bring a rag
> > > and touch up the work ,
> > > offer extra services, clean a dirty partition window
> > > you noticed was dirty
> > > for free. Educate them, give them idea for hanging
> > > signage in windows. All
> > > these things creates job security.
> > >
> > > I base a lot of work on volume. If a store front
> > > calls and has one store
> > > they get a fair rate. If a companies calls and has
> > > 32 locations they want
> > > cleaned they get a better break per store. How do u
> > > think McDonalds make
> > > their money? Think of it this way. How many
> > > hamburgers do McDonalds sell in
> > > a day? Lets say just for fun they sell 100,000 a
> > > day they clear a dime in
> > > profit for each hamburger. How much did they make in
> > > profit? It would be
> > > $10,000.00. Volume worked for them. Why not us? Lets
> > > do pennies one penny of
> > > profit on a gallon of gas. Think about it. How many
> > > gallons of gas dose your
> > > corner gas station sell a day? Then think about all
> > > the gallons of gas in
> > > your state are sold in a day. That's a lot of
> > > pennies to add up.
> > >
> > > I hope this makes some cents for you now. The more
> > > you do the better rate
> > > you can give. You get more work and get more profits
> > > based on the
> > > Volume.$$$$$$$$
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Sincerely,
> > > -Mark Reinhart
> > > Mark S. Reinhart
> > > President
> > > Award Window Cleaning Services, Inc.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: World-owner@wcmail.net
> > > [mailto:World-owner@wcmail.net]On Behalf Of
> > > CSWINDOWCLN@aol.com
> > > Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 7:15 AM
> > > To: World@wcmail.net
> > > Subject: [World] Volume window cleaning
> > >
> > >
> > > I had a fellow window cleaner over to my house
> > > last week, and he was
> > > talking about how he lost all these jobs, because
> > > someone came in and under
> > > cut him by half. He called up the company and asked
> > > them why there prices
> > > are so low, and they said volume. This to me makes
> > > no sense. In my opinion,
> > > when it comes to store fronts, there is no such
> > > thing as volume. Volume
> > > window cleaning is doing a building that is nothing
> > > but glass. It can be
> > > cheaper because you can get a rhythm going and make
> > > good time because
> > > everything is the same. You'll also make the same
> > > amount of money at the
> > > discounted rate.
> > > I think that it is wiser to have a marketing
> > > strategy. Know what kind of
> > > window cleaning you want to get into, study there
> > > needs and make a solid
> > > advertising campaign to go after it. I have seen
> > > plenty of companies take
> > > everything they can get, but soon they'll find there
> > > all over the board, and
> > > loose the ability to plan ahead and also have a huge
> > > amount of money
> > > invested in equipment.
> > > Any other opinions on this?
> > >
> > >
> > > SCOTT GRANDSARD
> > > C & S WINDOW CLEANING
> > > CARPENTERSVILLE IL
> > > CSWINDOWCLN@ AOL.COM
> > >
> >
> >
> > =====
> > Thank you for choosing Clark Window Cleaning
> >
> > We Clean More Than The Glass - we clean the entire window!
> > Window Cleaning, Interior and Exterior.
> > Screens & Sills
> > Power washing
> > Gutter cleaning & more!!!
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
> > Window Cleaning Network and WCmail Groups Sponsored by:
> > Pulex Cleaning Equipment - http://www.pulex.it
> >
> > (Picnic - July 27 www.window-cleaning.net)
>
>
> Window Cleaning Network and WCmail Groups Sponsored by:
> Pulex Cleaning Equipment - http://www.pulex.it
>
> (Picnic - July 27 www.window-cleaning.net)
>
Window Cleaning Network and WCmail Groups Sponsored by:
Pulex Cleaning Equipment - http://www.pulex.it
(Picnic - July 27 www.window-cleaning.net)
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- RE: [World] Volume window cleaning, (continued)