It’s only a lost leader if it LEADS to additional work.
Don’t forget to network with other guys too, especially window cleaners, who don’t offer power washing…they can send a LOT of work your way (but you gotta reciprocate)
1 Like
What state are you in?
haha you said you don’t like using the service yourself however? reasons?
Don’t turn down a job “out there” until you’ve used the search function in here…everything you need to know about wood care, and lots of other services, can be found in here in an hour or two of searching and reading.
1 Like
Boom! This is an awesome post. What are you doing NOW to get gutter cleaning on the calendar for November is about as beautifully said as it ever could be.
He’s nailed it about August. I keep getting messages about people who signed up for homeadvisor and they haven’t got any leads. They signed up at the slowest time possible and probably hate me, but in September they’ll love me again. Or at least not hate me. Lol
2 Likes
Illinois 
its awful. but there is seriously only one reputable window cleaner power washer in my area and I already have more and better looking equipment than him, and he’s an alcoholic. so I have taken a lot of his customers because he has a horrible attitude. me and him hate each other tho. he tried to tell everyone I had no insurance when they started switching from him to me.
Yeah, they’re a bunch of greedy, dishonest crooks, in my opinion. But they are, SOMETIMES, better than nothing at all. I had to use them a bit during my first full time year, now I refuse to have anything to do with them.
1 Like
Your reputation will soon outweigh anything he can do or say against you…as long as you STAY reformed!!! 
1 Like
yeah I know I felt funny about turning it down. I know enough to know ill have to order chemicals I don’t have, and I want to schedule the people ASAP so I usually just schedule them and tell them we do not do wood restoration at this time. also had a lot of people interested in roof cleaning. there is NOBODY doing roof cleaning in a 50-100 mile radius around me. this is why I get frustrated I feel if I could get the money for equipment I need I could take over this northern Illinois region.
yes its already doing work. if you google me “wallys professional services” you’ll see I’m the only guy around with 5 star reviews or reviews at all for that matter!
so you guys are scheduling gutter cleaning out till November rather than doing it now so youll have work to keep busy during the slow month?
Your website does look good, but it really looks a bit window cleaning “heavy” to me. If you want more power washing work, your site needs to FEATURE it, instead of making it look like an add on service.
yeah I’m actually working with them on editing it. my domain is “dekalbwindowcleaning.com” and I like the window cleaning due to low over head. but now that ive been doing this since febuary I actually would rather do exterior cleaning and not have to worry about being so clean and professional and in someones home. I’m actually contemplating starting a second business. I WANNA DO SO MUCH but I just don’t have the customers to support these changes haha. constant battle of want vs need. building a huge business is my dream. it will happen, I just had no idea it was this hard. and some of you guys (you specifically @atlas1) make it look so easy with your complaints of the phone ringing too much and stuff. I WISH THOSE WERE MY PROBLEMS
What he’s saying is how are you marketing seasonal services to keep things on the calendar. In September we’ll send an email blast to all our customers telling them to book their gutter cleaning appointments now at a discounted rate because if they wait until November when we’re busy with gutters they’re going to pay higher prices. We’ll do it again in October, but we’ll tell them prices have gone up because the calendar is half full. Which should be true. If it’s not true we’ll shorten our work weeks to 4 days so it is true.
That’s not just for November though. In February, you send out house washing specials for April and again in March. If you do residential snow removal send that out in November when you’re cleaning gutters. Stuff like that.
7 Likes
Oh okay that’s awesome. Do you guys use some type of program to send schedualed emails to all of these clients?
hey sorry if I came off rude or anything I wasn’t intending for that at all. I look up to guys like you, I want to have a busy schedule and have the issues that come with that.
Nope. If you’re only working a couple days a week you’ll have an hour to put them all in an address book. Just keep adding new customers to that gmail (or whatever) address book and start sending a basic email outlining what’s coming up. Don’t wait for it to be perfect.
Just make sure you BCC all of them so you’re not sending every customer every other customers email address. If I knew how to record my macbook screen I’d make a video for you.
As you’re adding people to the address book you can upgrade to an HTML picture email from fiverr or something, but any picture you have of you cleaning gutters and big bold font will do the trick.
A good system in action is better than the perfect system collecting dust.
1 Like
John, Hang in there. A lot of good ideas here for you. Sign up for joist, it’s a great app for free and it keeps up with you’re customers. As Squid said, get a gmail account. Has the integrated calendar, great email service and a lot of other features.
I’d hang on to all the window cleaning for a couple of reasons. Indoor work in winter is good, plus it gets you into people’s homes to talk about other services. If you’re in there and doing their windows, easy to say, 'Hey, I noticed your house is kind of dirty or your driveway could stand cleaning, etc. Always be upselling. Hit them up early October for Nov-Dec work. Everyone wants their windows cleaned for the holidays before they put up wreaths, have family over, whatever.
Hang in there. Good luck
6 Likes
Those are wayyyy better than any I’ve ever used. Send me the gutter cleaning one to info@squidskc.com and I’ll send you an email reply with an example.
3 Likes
