Scaling a window cleaning company

[Subsonic]

Can't you just make window cleaning recurring?

I though about that however most people in germany only do windows at most 4 times a year.
I am looking for something I can do every month. The thing I though about is offering window cleaning as a free bonus to my mrr cleaning package. I enjoy cleaning window cleaning to some degree and its the most valuable thing.

I literally just thought of this but that will be my offer:

Free window cleaning when you sign up for our monthly cleaning package. Now I need to find the correct avatar to offer this to.

 

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[Andy Black]

I though about that however most people in germany only do windows at most 4 times a year.
I am looking for something I can do every month. The thing I though about is offering window cleaning as a free bonus to my mrr cleaning package. I enjoy cleaning window cleaning to some degree and its the most valuable thing.

I literally just thought of this but that will be my offer:

Free window cleaning when you sign up for our monthly cleaning package. Now I need to find the correct avatar to offer this to.

What about shops? Would they want windows cleaned more regularly than homes?

 

[Subsonic]

What about shops? Would they want windows cleaned more regularly than homes?

I am working with a car shop and they want to have them cleaned 3x per year.

 

[savefox]

I though about that however most people in germany only do windows at most 4 times a year.
I am looking for something I can do every month. The thing I though about is offering window cleaning as a free bonus to my mrr cleaning package. I enjoy cleaning window cleaning to some degree and its the most valuable thing.

I literally just thought of this but that will be my offer:

Free window cleaning when you sign up for our monthly cleaning package. Now I need to find the correct avatar to offer this to.

I think you can more money as a professional window cleaning company than just a regular cleaner. You just need to find better customers and reinvest into your business to build a better brand so you could charge more for your services. You can easily charge $1000 to clean windows for someone with a big house like MJ's. What if you do it 4 times a year? That's like $400 monthly for 20 hours of work a year. How much can you charge for cleaning some office?

 

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[savefox]

Are you giving up on Facebook after the first ban? My account got banned like 5 times. Just create a new one and try again. Verify your business on Facebook business manager and run ads through FBM, not your personal account.

 

[Subsonic]

I think you can more money as a professional window cleaning company than just a regular cleaner. You just need to find better customers and reinvest into your business to build a better brand so you could charge more for your services. You can easily charge $1000 to clean windows for someone with a big house like MJ's. What if you do it 4 times a year? That's like $400 monthly for 20 hours of work a year. How much can you charge for cleaning some office?

Well, different industry in germany.

My experience so far has been that regular house owners frown at the idea of paying more than 80€ for window cleaning. That one car dealership that would take 8 hours for 3 people got a offer for less than 600 by another company.
Yes I can squeeze a bit more money out of window cleaning with a good brand etc. and get up to like 200 for regular houses and I will absolutly do that. My big revenue thing however is going to come from regular cleaning jobs. I can charge about 100 for 2 hours of cleaning for 2 people. Since this kind of job occurs way more often (and is for monthly contracts) it allows me to hire people way quicker and scale more.

Are you giving up on Facebook after the first ban? My account got banned like 5 times. Just create a new one and try again. Verify your business on Facebook business manager and run ads through FBM, not your personal account.

Ill sort out google ads today and then get back to facebook this week.
Honestly I didnt know that one can just make new accounts. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Fasted]

I though about that however most people in germany only do windows at most 4 times a year.
I am looking for something I can do every month. The thing I though about is offering window cleaning as a free bonus to my mrr cleaning package. I enjoy cleaning window cleaning to some degree and its the most valuable thing.

I literally just thought of this but that will be my offer:

Free window cleaning when you sign up for our monthly cleaning package. Now I need to find the correct avatar to offer this to.

I think you need to pick one. It's either general cleaning of domestic or commercial premises OR window cleaning. Free window cleaning when signing up won't get a prospect over the line that's on the fence. They're too different and customers know this. You have cleaning companies and then you have window cleaning companies.

 

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[jclean]

Well, different industry in germany.

My experience so far has been that regular house owners frown at the idea of paying more than 80€ for window cleaning. That one car dealership that would take 8 hours for 3 people got a offer for less than 600 by another company.
Yes I can squeeze a bit more money out of window cleaning with a good brand etc. and get up to like 200 for regular houses and I will absolutly do that. My big revenue thing however is going to come from regular cleaning jobs. I can charge about 100 for 2 hours of cleaning for 2 people. Since this kind of job occurs way more often (and is for monthly contracts) it allows me to hire people way quicker and scale more.



Ill sort out google ads today and then get back to facebook this week.
Honestly I didnt know that one can just make new accounts. Thanks for pointing that out.

Hello, i have a window cleaning company in Belgium +- 10 people full time. Started in 2013. This year we will do close to 1M in revenue still a small company but i learned a lot along the way and i am more then happy to help

My thoughts:

(NUMBER 1 today is SPEED)

1) you need to find bigger houses in rich neighborhoods if your customers frown at 80€ ( 80€ for us is a small / normal size home)

2) learn how to sell and be honest ( people can smell it if your just starting your business) always ask them what is important for them.

3) focus on B2B ( or schools or big appartments...) we work a lot for companies that manage big appartmentcomplexes 2k+ jobs

4) require a minimal of 4x per year for homeowners. Our customers are mostly monthly or bi monthly

5) get an automated scheduling / invoicing tool

6) dont fall in the general cleaning trap this soon. You can grow general cleaning much quicker and bigger
But the margins are smaller and the hours are more demanding. (I know owners that do 10M a year in revenue under 10 years in business with general cleaning) but it is very labour intensive.

 

[Subsonic]

Hello, i have a window cleaning company in Belgium +- 10 people full time. Started in 2013. This year we will do close to 1M in revenue still a small company but i learned a lot along the way and i am more then happy to help

My thoughts:

(NUMBER 1 today is SPEED)

1) you need to find bigger houses in rich neighborhoods if your customers frown at 80€ ( 80€ for us is a small / normal size home)

2) learn how to sell and be honest ( people can smell it if your just starting your business) always ask them what is important for them.

3) focus on B2B ( or schools or big appartments...) we work a lot for companies that manage big appartmentcomplexes 2k+ jobs

4) require a minimal of 4x per year for homeowners. Our customers are mostly monthly or bi monthly

5) get an automated scheduling / invoicing tool

6) dont fall in the general cleaning trap this soon. You can grow general cleaning much quicker and bigger
But the margins are smaller and the hours are more demanding. (I know owners that do 10M a year in revenue under 10 years in business with general cleaning) but it is very labour intensive.

Thanks so much for this post.
I always love hearing others doing well.

I never really thought of requiring customers to order several times a year but it makes sense. Also you calling general cleaning a "trap" makes me reconsider if it is going to be worth it.

My goal is to make an offer/cleaning package so valuable that I stop being a commodity in the market.

 

[savefox]

Thanks so much for this post.
I always love hearing others doing well.

I never really thought of requiring customers to order several times a year but it makes sense. Also you calling general cleaning a "trap" makes me reconsider if it is going to be worth it.

My goal is to make an offer/cleaning package so valuable that I stop being a commodity in the market.

Dude get a pressure washer and do the whole exterior of the house + driveways. Here's your package. You'll be making $500-1000 per house easily

 

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[savefox]

You don't even have to use a pressure washer. You can do soft washing. Use customer's water

 

[jclean]

Thanks so much for this post.
I always love hearing others doing well.

I never really thought of requiring customers to order several times a year but it makes sense. Also you calling general cleaning a "trap" makes me reconsider if it is going to be worth it.

My goal is to make an offer/cleaning package so valuable that I stop being a commodity in the market.

Requiring this will make your scheduling much easier in the future when you have many customers.
What we do is give our customers a thank you card with the next date of service = reduces phone calls / emails of customers. + the weather doesnt play that much of a role when you operate like this. Otherwise customers are going to call you when the sun is shining.
When its raining you dont have any work to do.

Cleaning will always be a commodity but if you communicate very well, deliver a great service and keep the promises you make. You only keep growing.

 

[jclean]

Dude get a pressure washer and do the whole exterior of the house + driveways. Here's your package. You'll be making $500-1000 per house easily

True, a roof cleaning job pays 1500/2000€

 

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[Subsonic]

Small update again.
Google ads are approved and running. Budget is set to 6 per day x2. So 12 per day.

I have one search campaign and one smart campaign. Why the smart one? Because the search one is getting no impressions.
The smart one has been doing fine so far, 10% ctr and average 30ct cpc.

I need to really go and market harder because it's been a bit since I got a new customer.

 

[savefox]

Small update again.
Google ads are approved and running. Budget is set to 6 per day x2. So 12 per day.

I have one search campaign and one smart campaign. Why the smart one? Because the search one is getting no impressions.
The smart one has been doing fine so far, 10% ctr and average 30ct cpc.

I need to really go and market harder because it's been a bit since I got a new customer.

Maybe your cpc is too low and that's why no impressions? I'm paying $10 per click

 

[Subsonic]

I am really starting to question what I am doing wrong.
1. On my search campaign I still get simply no impressions. That is because in my local area the best search keywords get like 20 searches a month.
2. On the smart campaign I am getting impressions somehow but even after 100 clicks no leads. It could be that there is something wrong with my site or with the ad.

 

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[savefox]

Stop the smart campaign, you're not gonna get profitable with it. It's probably showing your ads to people in other cities and countries who are looking for wine glasses, or shit like that and google thinks it's relevant. What bidding mode are you using and what are your maximum bids? You these keywords in phrase match and bid at least $1 per click. Here's what your competitors are paying for their ads and if you're paying less than that, google won't show your ads.

 

[Subsonic]

Stop the smart campaign, you're not gonna get profitable with it. It's probably showing your ads to people in other cities and countries who are looking for wine glasses, or shit like that and google thinks it's relevant. What bidding mode are you using and what are your maximum bids? You these keywords in phrase match and bid at least $1 per click. Here's what your competitors are paying for their ads and if you're paying less than that, google won't show your ads. View attachment 48835

Well those are country wide tho, right?
I'll go check it out but if that's country wide it does not really make sense for me to bid on those because I won't drive 4 hours x2 for a 200€ Job

 

[savefox]

Well those are country wide tho, right?
I'll go check it out but if that's country wide it does not really make sense for me to bid on those because I won't drive 4 hours x2 for a 200€ Job

I chose Frankfurt as geo for those. What do you mean country wide? Are you only bidding on windowcleaning+cityname keywords?

 

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[Subsonic]

I chose Frankfurt as geo for those. What do you mean country wide? Are you only bidding on windowcleaning+cityname keywords?

I thought you checked those keywords Germany wide.
If it's just frankfurt then that's amazing and I should be able to fix my things and get profitable ads.

Thanks a lot man.

 

[savefox]

I thought you checked those keywords Germany wide.
If it's just frankfurt then that's amazing and I should be able to fix my things and get profitable ads.

Thanks a lot man.

Yes, and even if you have to aquire customers at break even for a while, that's okay. It takes time to dial it in and make it profitable. You just need to raise your average ticket, so even if you spend like $200 to get a sale you're still making a profit

 

[Dockid]

I thought you checked those keywords Germany wide.
If it's just frankfurt then that's amazing and I should be able to fix my things and get profitable ads.

Thanks a lot man.

Have you checked the search volume of all the keywords you are targeting? Maybe your targeting terms people simply don't use. Does your Ad headline reflect the search term people are looking for?

Does your website have different landing pages to provide exactly what people are looking for? Example 'Window Cleaning in X'. Do you have a clear CTA on your landing page? Does your page work on mobiles?

Any one of these could be the reason your ads might not be working.

 

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[savefox]

It's crazy that google ads is 10 times more expensive in my area. I'm paying like $10 per click

 

[Subsonic]

Have you checked the search volume of all the keywords you are targeting? Maybe your targeting terms people simply don't use. Does your Ad headline reflect the search term people are looking for?

Does your website have different landing pages to provide exactly what people are looking for? Example 'Window Cleaning in X'. Do you have a clear CTA on your landing page? Does your page work on mobiles?

Any one of these could be the reason your ads might not be working.

Yeah the volume was the issue.
In the are I was targeting, the keywords for window cleaning, even on broad match had so little volume that Google deemed them not eligible.
Changing area is probably going to solve that issue to some degree.

Landing page is alright for now but thats honestly my lowest priority. Higher is stuff like my websites sql certificate working, having a good offer etc.
I could make landing pages for each area and that will probably help yet those 20% improvements won't help me when they improve 0. Currently there is a much bigger problem I need to fix.

Average visitor time is 1 second. That means people click the link and then get kicked from the site or get a error message etc. It's tough to troubleshoot because when searching the url, it works fine.
(Btw, this can't be people just not being interested in my site. It takes you at least 5 seconds to check the site and see that your not interested and then leave the site.)

 

[savefox]

It takes you at least 5 seconds to check the site and see that your not interested and then leave the site.)

Do you have a big headline above the fold? Something like "Window cleaning in <city>"? It takes 1 second to leave if your site is not relevant to what they're looking for

 

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[Subsonic]

@savefox I implemented your tips and also incorperated some of andys google ads stuff and now its actually working. Traffic is kinda low (11 impressions a day) but I got a lead and probably customer the just today when the campain started running.

 

[savefox]

@savefox I implemented your tips and also incorperated some of andys google ads stuff and now its actually working. Traffic is kinda low (11 impressions a day) but I got a lead and probably customer the just today when the campain started running.

You might need to find more keywords. Or broaden your geo. You need 100-500 impressions per day at least

 

[Subsonic]

You might need to find more keywords. Or broaden your geo. You need 100-500 impressions per day at least

Man I am already getting more leads than I can handle haha.

If I wasn't in school then maybe but for now I am really limited to about 4 Customers a week at most.

 

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[savefox]

Man I am already getting more leads than I can handle haha.

If I wasn't in school then maybe but for now I am really limited to about 4 Customers a week at most.

Well you won't get many leads from 11 impressions per day long term

 

[Subsonic]

Well you won't get many leads from 11 impressions per day long term

It did go up to 100 today to be fair.