[COLOR=Blue]This is inspired by another thread that I didn’t want to hijack. I know Chris has some any size house promos. Does anyone else ever advertise “any size house” and what results do you get? What do you do for instance if you ran a “gutter cleaning, any size house, $129.00” and someone called with a 3 story house and 400 ft of gutters?
I am really wanting to try this but don’t want to loose my shirt either.
Thanks for the help,
S.S.[/COLOR]
Im not sure if Chris is or was doing that? I know for a fact i wouldn’t!
Too many variables & yes you will shoot yourself in the foot on pretty much any service with those terms. At least thats what i’ve witnessed from others who have tried.
Better yet…most who do have a “catch” like a 99.00 special on windows when they get there above a certain amount price goes up,extra large sliders 8’ (for example) more then a standard 6’ and so on!
My belief is…get what your worth or dont do the gig!!
I’d be curious to know how Chris did his specials. Did he have clauses that made them more profitable? Was it w/ a package deal? I, like Craig, don’t run these kind of specials. I just can’t see how they would be profitable.
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Hi Craig, I was basing that on a photo that Chris posted showing a yard sign advertising a power wash “any size house” special. That’s what peaked my curiosity.
PS- good luck on the IWCA position, I really hope that you get it. I am tempted to join just to vote for you!
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Hey Steve…in a case like that pressure washing you could probably do a pretty good size house for 225.00 in good enough time where your still making decent money.Just today i did a 4000 sq ft house for 280.00 took me 2 1/4 hrs. + i got them on exterior glass too boosting it up another 120.00 total time on the gig 3 1/4 hours(got to love that WFP)
Appreciate the kudo’s on the IWCA position we’ll see!
How do you bid you PW jobs, do you charge a certain amount per sq ft, or do you do it some other way.
I rarely every charge per Sq.Ft. only in a few cases with flat work cleaning.I try and get a decent hourly as opposed to an Sq.Ft rate.
Normally from 65.00 up on pressure washing per hr.My case was more or less gaged towards PW’ing,now…on other specials like window cleaning,gutter clean-outs etc. I firmly dont believe it can be done successfully without eventually shooting yourself in the foot unless…you know the area and all the houses are similar or…you’ve done enough to know.
Where i believe it gets tricky is on cold calls no way of really telling what you up against so…thats where the risk factor of “losing money” would come into play.
This house i used for example big but…straight up water front home with 2 decks.One thing i will say about PW’ing is its much easier to use a cobweb brush prior too washing because NOTHING works on webs all you wind up doing is flattening them out which in turn mashes them. On a lighter type of wash i usually dont have to use a web brush but…in this case it was a BIG time saver on the actual washing time.
Steve I run an any size home special for communities, where there are 3 to 5 models of the homes. I went into the sales office and got a brochure that gave me the layout of all the models with window counts. I averaged them all out and came up with a price. The ad works very well, but the only thing I need to fix for next year is a question I get asked all the time. “Does the price include my enclosed back porch?” For me this ad works great but I could never run it out to the public. There would have to be restrictions. I had an issue with something close to this. I gave out a free window cleaning for a fundrasier. I did not place any restrictions on the service and ended up getting a home that was huge and took 2 days to complete. I was upset with myself for running the thing without a restriction. Mainly cause I figured at most 1 day worth of work to give to the fundrasier, but two days was tough to eat. But then if you run an ad that states “Any size home x amount. restrictions apply” then you are really not running a special. Some may think you are running a scam.
I have been doing the $199 or $225 “any size” house wash special for 3 or 4 years now. It works great. Yes you will lose on some… but you will win on some to. For the most part it all balances out. I tried this special out when I was just getting things rolling… I wanted an easy way to price with out having to run around looking at a bunch of different jobs. It worked so I stuck with it. We power wash roughly a hundred houses a week in peak season.
I would never use a special like this for Window Cleaning. To many variables for me. I find with power washing it works well. Its a nice cheap way for a customer to experience our service. Once the power washing’s done everyone needs a Window Cleaning!
That sounds like a great idea. Im gonna try that next year.
[COLOR=Blue]OK I’m taking the plunge.
Need some advice on my gutter cleaning special. Would you price an any size house at $149, $199, $225, or some other price?
Also on the banner would you say [I][B]"$199 (or less)"[/B][/I], or just stick with a single price?[/COLOR]
Thats a tuff one. Do you know what your market will bare? For some prospective there is a guy or a company rather in my area that will do any size house gutter cleaning for $35 - $55. They have over a hundred trucks, and bought a old middle school to house there offices. Our average price for gutter cleaning usually comes out to around the $125 range.
Include a little ‘map’ of the area that the offer applies to, and roll it out!
Of course, you will attract the big homes, who will be getting the best deal out of it, but you may get a lot more too. Try up-selling or cross-selling them to increase your transaction size.
So much to do…so little time…
And it sounds better to say “from only $149”, instead of “only $199 or less”
[COLOR=Blue]The reason that I am thinking $149 is because it will attract those with larger homes who will (rightfully) think it’s a bargain. Those will be my best up sell candidates for window cleaning etc…
I don’t really know, I’m just going to try it and if I take a beating, I’ll pull the banner and say the special is over.
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Better idea:
Instead of lowering the minimum price, have a small ‘cut-away’ coupon on the bottom with an even stronger offer, with an even further price reduction, and extremely short deadline with a clear call to action…
“[INDENT][B]Can we buy you and your 3 best friends a Caramel Machiatto? Reserve your eaves cleaning before Friday, Nov 30th, and receive a $20 Starbucks gift card absolutely free! The bad news is that we only have 10 of them, so don’t miss out! Pick up your phone and call us now![/B][/INDENT]”
Something like that. Feeling it? You can do SO much more, too, but that’s a solid start.
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That’s bad to the bone my friend! I thought of doing something just like that for building my commercial route this winter, only using a $10 gift card from Office Depot or Staples or something like that with every signed 6 month contract.
So would you use this on a flier, or some other means of marketing?
Thanks![/COLOR]
Thx man.
Its all about [I]implementing intelligent marketing strategies[/I], and that’s why this section of the forum is worth far more than any other categories on here.
I’m personally big on the postcard deal, since you can get tons for cheap.
5000 for $500, for something that they cant throw away as easily because it STANDS out. Gotta get peoples attention. And I would put a coupon ‘cut-off-here-look’ to the bottom, with the offer.
Or you could do the flier, its still a good idea, but it wont be as effective.
And I wouldn’t offer the $10 Staples card, but would still go with Starbucks, or similar, something more fun and lifestyle oriented, but mainstream.
[INDENT][B]Lesson: People want to have fun. Make doing business with YOU fun, and they’ll respond, and talk about you with all their friends.[/B][/INDENT]
[COLOR=Blue]What about an insert in the newspaper? I live in a relatively small town and can get out about 6000 fliers inserted for $400. Do you think that would fly as I’m on a limited budget for this…[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]OK, I ordered the banner for the side of the van and I am going to start promoting my gutter cleaning special “any size house.” I’ll let you know how it goes. [/COLOR]
Paneless - We spoke a few months back over the phone. I’d still like to get some samples of your postcards. Call me…614-499-0632. Thanks
