Observing the competition

What I find with storefronts is price is commonly the main factor and these are customers I just don’t want.

An ideal customer for me is one who wants the service I provide and understands there are many companies who offer the servce but know they will not receive quality, safety and professionalism from all.

I seem to find these customers on residential and mid to large commercial.

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Do you service small shops? I know we don’t live in the same place, but what are you getting a window for your services?

I’ve always seen you as a guy who doesn’t mess around with small stuff. Perhaps I’m wrong?

We only provide window cleaning services, no add on services to residential, storefront, mid to large commercial.

I’d estimate 5% storefront, 15% residential and 80% commercial mid to highrise.

Many of our storefronts are thru corporate and we clean all the locations including corporate building. Individual locations cant hire on their own.

Our per window rates are typically $2.75 per side. As many things vary this may too.

We do have minimums even for storefronts.

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Ok so ill be real for a minute.

So you’re trying to acquire some but maybe getting frustrated/discouraged? You probably have more competition than me.

Are you asking for help in general or only from @anon46335951? Sincere question. I don’t want to aggravate you by giving unsolicited advice.

There are many here from all over who have found storefront success who could be of assistance. Just ask.

As for me, believe it or not, I actually want to help. And the content i put out on the channel is there to help. There is a lot of info on getting new storefront customers and keeping them. Numerous people have gotten customers using the suggestions there. Lmk.

I just can’t walk away from a window with it all jacked up. Everyone inside staring at that drip coming off the top seal…I can’t just leave it. But a fish will.

That’s just generalizing and really a ridiculous statement.

With your personal history in the industry I would bet they have much higher profit margins than you do.

No beef, just got to be accountable for your comments.

Your personal history in the industry has been explained by yourself, you’re many experiences, you’re many troubles personally and professionally.

You tell me again how years you’ve been in business and also tell me what you have to show for it.

You put new companies down but seem to not have much going for a seasoned vet in the business.

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Yes, I’m seeking advice from those who are doing storefront. I’d like to build two routes a week.

Again, the ISSUES are
1 No one wants to pay anything a pane. .50 cents to a buck are what I am hearing. I’ve heard three bucks before, tried some bids at and under 2 bucks and was told “too expensive”
2 Most guys coming here are only servicing monthly. I want to service every other week minimally, prefer weekly. We have some small storefronts with just a couple of windows, that I would be ok monthly on those, but by and large I want weekly accounts to keep me busy through the winter. Everyone is used to monthly, and think it’s too much money doing weekly.
3 It seems that everyone doesn’t put much concern with the sloppy work they get, that the other companies are not good about showing up when they are supposed to, or anything else that you would think they would be concerned with. This despite some people openly complaining about it, but unwilling to switch unless you’ll undercut the comp’s prices. I’m NOT going to be the guy that walks up and starts bashing the competition in hopes of getting my foot in the door. What can be said or done to make them pay attention and get the wheels turning?

I won’t do route work unless it pays enough. $20 minimum on stops. I need to find a way to convince people to pay for what the service is worth. I need to find a way to convince them to try me. I’d also prefer to get them into a service contract, to avoid some of the problems that most guys have experienced, but no one is using contracts here.

now thats just funny

That’s the thing with window cleaning. Anyone can do it , but it doesn’t mean they can do it like a pro. Obviously this guy wasn’t . Hence he is the last guy when you give your residential cleaning estimate. That’s why they don’t want him back , but of cource they want the price back. He isn’t making any money , An soon will either have to figure it out
, or he will be broke , or maybe he has a retirement fund ,An just doesn’t need much money, An is happy with his little bit he makes a day.

Also McDonald’s usually always has an in house guy . Maybe that’s who he was the guy that works there, but not a pro window cleaner

What I’ve found with storefront work is … if a owner hasn’t been serviced by a low baller then they are fine with my pricing. If they had a low baller at one time or anither , then it’s hard to convince them on your pricing.
Every time a solicite a new prospect I give my price they take it if they never been around one of these old timers or low ballers.
So if there being serviced by someone who is doing it cheap it’s very hard to tell them I’ll do it better for more.

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Ok gotcha.

  1. Price. Good on the minimum. Stick to it. When i started it was $10 outside min. $10 inside min. Give just the outside price. They’ll ask for inside.

You will find your people but it takes a LOT of canvassing. In person is best but I’ve gotten many accounts over the years from dropping cards in doors. Always with price on back. Saves time but slightly less effective.

  1. Schedule.
    “We offer once a week or every other week.”
    They wont go with once a week but now they are comparing every other against that instead of against once a month. They’ll choose every other.

If they balk, “we have found that every other week is better than monthly to really keep your windows maintained. And window cleaning is all about the maintenance. It’s like your lawn. You don’t wait until the grass is 3 feet tall to cut it. You maintain it.”

If they insist on once a month, raise the price by 5 or 10 bucks depending on the size of the job.

  1. Corporate.
    Here is where it gets fun. All you need is to find that one district manager who cares enough. Corporate is about the relationships. They will preach price but they do care about quality. You just have to find that one door. $45-$55 for a fast food restaurant will probably get you in. Upcharge for drive thrus because you don’t really want to do them.

Sometimes it is a general manager who will advocate for you because THEY care.

Some corporate may want every week too.
Try the , burger king
McDonald’s
pizza huts
firestones
chipotle
wendys
autozones
hardees
church’s
chickens,
in and out burger
Boost mobile
Verizon
Papa johns

Corporate are more likely to sign contacts than mom and pops.

4 National service providers.
bubbleguywc@gmail.com
Email me and I’ll send you a list. This is a way to get into corporate accounts and you might not have to deal with the local mentality so much.

  1. lastly, maybe getting creative. If price is their main concern, speak their language…
  • “We will clean one window right now for free.”
  • $5 first clean if they sign up for every other week at your price.
  • So many cleanings earn a free cleaning.
  • Anniversary free clean.
  • Refer a friend earns a one time discount per referral completed cleaning.

Hope any of that helps. :crazy_face:

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Storefronts routes are the toughest to develope.

You compete against the average citizen who has a bucket and squeegee who does side work and owners who really just dont care as much.

The price per window industry wide is the lowest paying but you must think of it another way. Focus more on what your route makes a day. To get to the point where you have a days worth of work will be painful and time consuming.

Jobs must be grouped in an area to be worth the travel time/wash time.

I’d start with soliciting some larger sized businesses to at least make stops worthwhile until your able to fill in more work in the area.

Restaurants and large retail are usually larger sized and commonly are paying for the service and are good targets.

You will have a respect for the drive companies who focus on storefronts have when you realize the work and scheduling that goes into this type of work.

Billing monthly, quarterly will save you time and allow you to get more stops in a day. Getting paid at time of service can take same amount of time as cleaning at some locations.

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At least call it all out, not selective posts.

Is it classy to call companies out by name and knock them? This is where the comment was derived.

Alex, I’ll call your post out for lack of class at the same time.

Thank you all, for the advice so far.

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The thing I found with my storefront routes is that I had to bend a little bit from my hopes to get it started. As it became a little more concrete, I have been able to weed out the lesser paying ones or the high drama ones. I’ve also found that I have to travel to get to the better parts of town that will allow me to charge more.

I think you are bumping up against what a lot of us do in smaller markets - you’re selling the Bentley of services to a market that only expects the Chevrolet. They don’t want your price and you don’t want to work for what they are used to spending. You may have to change the location of where you are selling your services. There is a reason every small town has a Ford dealership, but not an Audi dealership.

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Here’s what I can say about route work
Take the bad with the good an try to make something out of the bad

Is it going to kill you to take a job for lower than what you want. Start out there that’s what you tell them. Give them your price if they squawk ask them what would make you happy. It it’s some what reasonable them say ok no prob let’s start out there.
Let them see your a pro , them down the road go to them An do your magic.
Ya have to be a little bit of a salesman.

The real truth of your looking to lock done , An area you’ll have to stick with the lower payer. So what !!! What’s it take you to clean a window one plate 30 seconds ?
If it’s more than that you need to work on your skills , or your fetish of making everything perfect.
Yes it’s cheaper per hour than residential , but can someone give me one reason why it shouldn’t be ?

Once they get to know you ,an see how you go about your business if the price is low there will be no problem asking for a raise. In my eyes !! That’s when you make the decision if it’s worth it to stick around

Im leaving to go do my route today. Yes I’m going to make less than what I made the other day with resi, but guess what I won’t break a sweat I won’t work harder than I did he other day.
For resi your overhead is much more An your risk of breaking something g is greater an on an on.

And don’t worry about the morons that do shit for nothing. They haven’t efeedted my busines one bit.

Yes jace a minimum , but don’t be afraid to come off it . Look I have a minimum An it’s usually $15. But I start you at 10 if it gets me the job
How long does a $10 job take 5-10 minutes at the most. Iin 3-6 months rsise it to 15. He won’t say no most don’t. If he turns out to be a jerk off. Then stop servicing him.

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When i first started i wanted a mix of residential and storefronts. i hit storefronts hard and visited pretty much every stop in town. we got about 20 in 3-4 months, then we got another 10 or so from the business we bought, almost all of the stops we had at this point were under priced, i thought that’s what you had to do to get jobs, i thought that’s what the market could bear, i thought the market was buttoned up by other guys.

i stopped soliciting storefronts since we got busy with residential. we started having people ask us for estimates for storefronts and they trickled in at 1-2 per month. the dtore front that asked US for a price tolerated a higher price then when i walked up cold.

we started raising our prices each February, to go into effect each march since that’s when residential starts to pick up (thought that didn’t happen this last march but that’s another story) after 2 years of adjusting storefront prices we are at about 50-55 stops, all of which average more than $60 per man hour (some up over $100 per hour)

once they got used to our quality they didn’t complain about a $2-5 price increase each year.

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No offense meant, but I’m not looking to start routes, to do them unprofitably or race to the bottom. If a price is too low, it’s not worth my time to clean the glass for some period of time, and lose them anyway when I have to raise the price so I can make money on the stop.

I understand the concept of giving a little to gain. But it has to be mutually beneficial to BOTH parties, not just them. Doing 2-3-4 stops in a strip mall can be done cheaper then when you have to set up, tear down, and drive 5 minutes to the next stop.

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i prefer commercial not high rise

i have a few accts that are storefront on those we do well enough but im also there bi weekly.

i’ll probably start going after residential as im currently 95% commercial

No offense taking !!! I didn’t mean to do it for nothing. I dont do anything for nothing.
I want 35 , but I’ll do it for now at 25.
I want a 100 but I’ll do it for now at 75.

That’s what I mean , but everything is about supply an demand.
I want a 100 but I’m still profitable at 75. An if they don’t go to a 100 in a few months. Is the 75 for 3 months going to kill me. Let me answer that no it won’t.
That’s all. Trust me I don’t do things for nothing.

I don’t get offended easily. I’m not offended whe someone tries to tell me it’s to high or can you do it for.
Lol. They can say what they want I jace my price in my head already what I’m willing to do it for
So if my price is 100 an I’m willing to do it for 75 an they say can you do it for 50. No the best I can do is 75. Tske it or leave it. An at that point when they say yes. It’s thats what I’m startong you at
Meaning it will be raised in the near future. But I’m good with 75 for now

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