A shout out to Sean!

A Shout Out To Sean
 
Sean is the Salesman for Window Cleaning Resource - of which my blog is posted on the forum. Thanks Chris and Alex.

Sean is a very successful businessman, and has helped WCR to acquire much of their commercial work.

I watched Sean's video today about his new approach to pricing. I must say I'm impressed. He's not going to lowball his prices anymore to win accounts - and he will charge what is good for him - working on commision, and high enough for the guys who work at WCR and Chris and Alex.

I too don't believe in charging lower than I want for an account simply to match local competition or get a client.

My belief in pricing is too charge at a rate/hour that you want, and a rate that you know the majority of your desired clients will accept.

I would rather charge too high and not get a business, than charge too low, and kick myself later, and find myself over time with a lot of underpriced work.

My pricing philosophy is always changing, based on what I think I can charge, what high prices others have charged, and when I find out that I'm not charging what others do.

The most current change I have made to my pricing is to not treat all glass the same.

Before, even when cleaning a large piece of glass, I would charge what a small piece of glass would cost. Most customers understand that they will pay more if they have a store with big glass than if their store had small windows.

If I need to just clean windows with one method, cleaning with just a squeegee and applicator I will charge a basic rate per window. If I have to use a pole (I'm tall - 6 feet 2) than I will charge up to double that rate.

I would advise all of you to not treat all glass the same. Let's say you charge $1/per outside pane) for a regular pane that requires no polling. For one that requires polling, or is much larger charge $2/per pane.

Your pricing philosophy can change, be willing to accept new ideas and make adjustments where necesary.

Are you in the Toronto area and want a quote for window cleaning? Call the Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144 or visit my webiste at http://mmwindowcleaners.com

Damn! It's cold!

Damn It's Cold

Today, was a freezing day. The windows were whipping up, and the windchill was making it feel like -20.

For some reason, the windchill factor seems to have an effect on the water. Even though the windchill factor was designed to show how cold it feels for a human. Windy days tend to make the water freeze at the windchill temperature, not the actual temperature.

On cold days like this I dress warm. When it's below -10 (14 Fahrenheit) I wear snowboarding pants, or snowpants. I wear a thermal shirt, a solar fleece, a heavy goose down jacket, a touque, and for hand protection, I use snowboarding mitts (Kidd by Eskimo). I wear very warm boots.

I have been having problems with my boots. Although I spend a lot of money, on apparently good quality boots, I still tend to get a little bit of water in my boots. Which should never happen.

To keep the water from freezing, I use Methyl Hydrate (AKA, Methyl Alcohol). Using this product I can work at levels of lower windchills, then windshield washer fluid. I also don't like the soap in WWF, and I think I spend less money usning methyl hydrate than wwf.

I encounter a problem with working on these extremely cold days. It's hard to squeegee with a lot of methyl hydrate because the liquid is thinner, no matter how much soap is added, it can't soften the water so it's easier to squeegee. My water seemed when applied to the windows not to be even, heavy to squeegee too. Perhaps I'll have to add some softener or easy squeegee solution.

On days like this people wonder why you are cleaning the windows. But of course, on days like this, with snow on the ground, and sidewalks oversalted the windows are just filthy.

Word of advice - invest in boots. Make sure - that you get waterproof, warm boots if you live in a cold climate. Before I got these boots, I had very cheap boots, that made my feet freeze. As soon as your feet feel cold, you simply can't work, simple as that. Invest in boots.

I tend to go with very bulky warm clothes, instead of layering. However, I've reduced the amount of cotton I wear (T-Shirts, undershirts etc) I wear, since I found that I either feel overdressed, or it stiffles me.

What a winter it's been.

Accounts Payable

One of the most pressing problems in running a small business is getting paid promptly. In a business like Window Cleaning there are a number of customers that pay immediately. And when your focus is on cleaning houses, you might get paid right away nearly all the time.

However, my business while including residential, has its main focus on cleaning businesses. Many of these are billed and mail a cheque to my office.

How do you get your customers to pay in a reasonable amount of time? Many business suffer, while they are doing a lot of work, a lot of their money is tied up in accounts payable, and people taking weeks or months to pay. That really drains your business, and could stop you from running a profitable business.

Let me share a couple ways that I keep my accounts payable under control. Perhaps you can implement these suggestions for your business.

State Terms

It is important to state at the beginning what you expect in terms of payment. The time that you expect payment, for example, on receipt, or 30 days. Be clear, state upfront what you expect in regards to how and when you get paid.

For our company, I always say due on receipt. I expect payment promptly and I don't automatically give them 30 days to pay. I expect them to take my invoice, and on the day that they usually write cheques, within a few days they will write the cheque and mail it to my office.


Keep Good Records

There are many programs that permit you to keep your business organized and to create invoices and monitor accounts payable.

I use Quickbooks Easy Start for my small business. It keeps everything organized for me, my banking, invoicing, payment, and accounts receivable. With the click of a mouse I can see how much overdue an invoice is, I can easily email reminders, copies of the invoice and so forth. If you aren't organized you can't easily catch those who are taking too long to pay.

Remind them

After 14 days I remind the customer by email that we haven't received payment. I don't at that point say it's overdue, but I say in a nice, kindly written email that we haven't received payment and we are reminding them. I write down the invoice number and date too, and email them another copy of the invoice.

After 30 days, I email them, saying the invoice is overdue, that our terms are payment due upon receipt, and ask them to mail the cheque immediately.

If we still don't receive payment, I call them personally, in the rare instance that that doesn't work, I pay a personal visit.

Give Lattitude

You do however have to be reasonable. One of my customers is Burger King, and the cheque comes from Miami, which is far away from Toronto, ON. So I realize that it will take time for my invoice to go from the managers hands in the mail to Miami, thru Miami back to my office. I give that customer 30 days before I remind them.

Does this work?

My experience with this payment system that I implemented in the spring has been very positive. I have only three customers that take more than 14 days to pay, namely that Burger King, a dealership that has gone bankrupt, which I'm not even sure I'll get paid, and one other company.

All others pay within a week to 14 days. One customer actually pays us through electronic payment, which is incredibly fast.

Remember, it's your money. It's not rude to ask for your money to be paid to your business in a timely manner. By all means be reasonable and kind when reminding customers, but as the saying goes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, if you are not asking for your money, you may be the last business to get paid.


Thanks for reading my blog.

If you are in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned, call me, The Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144

setting pricing

Pricing is one of the most important factors in your business. And in business, pricing is one of the 4 types of marketing. Pricing is vital if you wish to stay afloat, and thrive in business.

Of course in different parts of North America pricing the price of the cost of living varies. In big cities like Toronto, one needs to price higher, and window cleaning companies in general may price higher in big cities like this. In Toronto the cost of housing is high (although housing prices are expected to be flat or drop). An average house here costs $370,000. Rent goes for about $1000/mth for a two bedroom, and the price of gas is about $1.10/litre. Prices in general are a little higher here than in some small towns.

So when setting pricing, you may charge a little higher in a bigger town like here than in the boonies.

However, one thing that seems to be similar everywhere is competition. There are tons of window cleaners in Toronto.

When setting your prices it is better to go from a high point, and then gradually lower the price you are offering if you are not breaking through. When starting out you would want to target larger places if possible, so that your route can grow faster, and you may have customers that take the window cleaning more seriously.

Before starting out, you might want to consider not quitting your day job, or having your spouse work more, so that you are not under extreme financial pressure. It's good to be hungry for work, but if you start in a desperate look for work, you may be tempted to price very low at the beginning which causes problems down the road.

A reasonable price is very important. Consider this, you have ordinary expenses to pay to run a business, gas, insurance, equipment, depreciation, and taxes. You also have unpaid labour you do for your business, canvassing, bookkeeping, meeting with the accountant. In addition you start out in business as an investor, hoping to have a good return on your investment in money and time. So don't feel like you are pricing too high if you are targeting $60, $70, or $80/hr (averaged over the day's work). You are an investor, you work tireless unpaid for long hours, and you have bills to pay. You are not an employee, who merely works 8 hours, only does a minimum of unpaid lobour, and has benefits like workers comp, unemployment insurance, and an employer paying into your old age pension (in Canada at least). You are the owner of a company, an investor, and a tireless unpaid labourer.

If you start out pricing too low, you will find it hard to raise prices later on, you may struggle, as many have working many hours, but not seeing a lot of profit. You may be working hard, but find it hard to hire an employee, because you can't pay him a decent wage. Or you may find expenses so high, that you feel you must cut corners by doing shoddy work, skipping windows (that are dirty), skimping on equipment, having a beatup car, an not being able to take a decent vacation. The worst thing is to feel like a slave of your business.

As an example, I've been able to secure many contracts with big stores, charging about $1 or $1.25/per window/per side.

You may worry that pricing at a higher level will make you lose a lot of jobs, when someone cheaper comes along. Well, I've been window cleaning for six years, and that has rarely happened. When someone is happy, and you maintain a good relationship with them, and you do quality work, they won't look for someone else. Think about it, if they quit with you, who they trust, they have to risk having a bad window cleaner take over that they regret using. People aren't as attached to price as you may think.

And no, I don't work in a dream, or pie in the sky market, Toronto is ultra competitive. In Toronto which is a large city of 5 million people. The window cleaners run the gambit, there are bums who clean windows for alcohol, drugs, who are very unreliable. There are window cleaners on bike, usually not very good, but there have been a few good bike cleaners, there are those who have been window cleaning for years and never raise their price, they skip windows, skip cleans just keep things going. They usually have a beat up car, work like a dog, and don't really see the fruits of their labour. And there are some window cleaners who price decently, do good work, and are picking up new jobs regularly, while holding onto their existing clients. A friend of mine did a search of all listed companies in the Toronto area and counted 350, and I'm sure there is many more than that.

Toronto is doing ok economically, there is no subprime market mess here, but the economy here is sorta lukewarm, unemployment here is higher than the rest of Canada, business in the core, find it hard with high business taxes, and there is high competition so there is no pie in the sky dream market.

Pricing at a higher level enables you to have a leverageable business, you can hire and keep good employees paying them well, you can enjoy vacations or whatever you do to refresh yourself, you can earn dividends on the good investment your window cleaning makes as you sell route, have employees or sell franchises. Plus all the hard work you did at the beginning of the business you get paid back for.

Of course pricing takes a certain amount of experimentation. You may start out a bit too high, or realize you are not charging enough. It is useful to learn more about your market, your cost of living and what others charge. But in the end, look at what you want to make.

But remember don't price like you are the employee because you are not.

Price at a high level, and work from there, target larger jobs, be persistent, and make changes where necessary.

negativity

Negativity is something that you should not listen to too closely in establishing your business. It is a corrosive influence that stops you from pursuing your dreams, establishing a business, or pursuing a direction in your business.

All around the world, in every business there are people saying that something cannot be done. That you can't make money doing something. That a certain venture is unimportant, or all prospective customers are price shoppers who will dump you when someone less expensive comes along.

Of course, when weighing a particular venture, you cannot go in with rose coloured glasses, you must weigh the positives and negatives, but be careful who you are listening to. If you are listening to a person who is unsuccessful (in other ventures too), or didn't try hard enough, then why are you listening? If you are listening to someone who tried every possible method and failed and perhaps is very successful at something else, then he may be worth listening too. Often though, you got to give something a try, and learn from your mistakes. It has often been said that successful entrepreneurs make mistakes.

Why am I saying all this? Well, I have pursued commercial and storefront window cleaning for 6 years, and have been successful both as a franchisee and the initial success I'm enjoying as a independent, incorporated business. Yet over and over again, people say you can't make money at storefront, the customers are price choppers, and they don't care about their windows being cleaned.

If you listen to the crowd, you will never try this lucrative work. So if you want to learn more about pursuing this endeavour ask me, or whatever new venture you are getting into, ask those who know, don't ask those who gave it a half hearted try, or are just repeating what others say.

If one listens to the negative voices, we would never fly, go to the moon, or run space missions. There are always those who say something cannot be done.

What separates a great entrepreneur from a failure. Persistence. Sometimes things don't work out right away, a particular method you are using is failing, or you are pursuing the wrong market. A successful entrepreneur keeps trying before giving up, whereas the negative voices often try a little bit then give up.

Are you in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned? Call Mike the Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144

The trap of being busy

Are you busy? How's business? These questions are like the how do you like the weather questions for business people.

They are good conversation starters, and are an enjoyable start to a discussion. However in those words lie a trap.

like alcohol for an alcoholic, being busy is like the alcohol for a business person. Being busy often makes us forget, or not realize that our business is floundering or not established properly.

It feels good to be busy, it makes us think that we are successful, because we have work, we have customers, we get paid, and it seems like we are building our business. But therin lies a trap. Often business people who work very hard, feel that they are successful, that they have built a good window cleaning route, or other business. However, they may be fooling themselves.

I know how good it feels to be busy. When establishing my business, it was scary. It was extremely worrying and frustrating to spend days canvassing, and not get any clients. I doubted myself, I wondered am I pricing to high? Am I targeting the wrong clientele? Is there too much competition? It was scary.

However, as I got some new clients, and as I cleaned windows, I felt good, I felt like business was rolling in, that my business principles were sound, and I was targeting the right people and pricing well. Being busy made me feel good. Because let's face it, men especially, need to work, and window cleaning for me fills that need for work.

However, when you look out in the world of small business and especially window cleaners. The busiest window cleaners are often slaving. They price too low, they wonder why they find it hard to make ends meet, they start cutting corners, feeling frustrated in not having good help they don't take vacations, they might leave their jobs for a few weeks to take the vacation. Being busy hides the flaws of their business, and lets face it, one of the biggest flaw is pricing. Often they have so much work because there prices are very low. But yet, pity them, they can't make ends meet, they cut corners, causing problems with their customers, they miss doing jobs because they are too busy, they work out of a beat up car that is always in the shop, they don't take vacations and get needed rest, and they might take chances with the equipment they use. But they don't know, they are so busy they think they are succesful. They might also fear raising prices, but their busy ness is the main problem, clouding their judgment, hiding the problems.

Most people equate busy ness with success. If you say that you only work a little bit each week, people think you are strange, and unsuccessful. They worry about you, even though your business is unfolding the way it should, and you are building a good well established business. You might look at a store, and if they are not busy assume they are going out of business. Most people equate busy ness with success. That is not true.

You can build a successful business through pricing with good margins, you wouldn't need to work as much, you don't need to cut corners, you don't need to skimp on equipment, you can take nice vacations, and hire help, and get away from being a technician, just working on running your business.

Stop looking at how much you are making, and look at how much you are charging. One of the biggest factors in your success is looking at your profit margin, making it as big as you can given market conditions and then marketing it to the appropriate parties.

Stop worrying about busyness, worry about profit margins instead.

Are you in the Toronto area and want your windows cleaned? Call Mike, the Toronto Window Cleaner at 647-409-8144