All the Windows in Your Home Cleaned- $50

Have you ever looked through craigslist at "companies" screaming how they are cheaper than everyone. How they will beat any price. I'll tell you what, I see legitimate companies having a fire sale every now and then too.

This trend is nothing new and has been around forever. When we don't realize the value of what we are selling we can only look at how to cheapen it.

I have never really seen the "we'll beat anyone's price" work well in this business. Sure there are people out there looking to get their windows cleaned on the cheap, there are also Priests molesting children.

To try and win over a market of people that are void of finding true value and look for cheapest price; is business suicide. We are not selling products made in a third world country, we are selling our time and expertise.

Do you want a bunch of under-priced customers? How would you feel about your service after time? You must not be thinking it is worth very much which will lead to problems.

Most times we hit slow periods because of poor advertising. Some like to blame the seasons or economics or the planets alignment... maybe the ads suck. Maybe you are not putting out enough. I run a business cleaning windows in Minnesota and somehow got a 4% response on a flyer in January. Don't give me "it's winter". You just need more effort.

Most hate advertising as they associate it with ads that got no return. You will have flyers and postcards that stink. Insurance companies spend millions on campaigns that bomb, do you see them stopping? Do you see them going broke?

Start adding true value to your service instead of sucking it out. You can't possibly get away with "cheapest price, best quality". That does not exist and everyone knows it.

Raise your standards, build value, raise awareness and raise your price.

Go get some


Paul

Don't Make Me Cut You

When it comes to advertising most businesses have their head up their ass. I had my head so far up mine I noticed I needed two cavities filled.

What happens is we do not realize that we need to create an interest in our service. We actually think the service sells itself. After all everyone gets dirty windows, dirty carpets and dirty houses right?

Most are lucky if they create ads that have prospects say "that looks like a good service". The problem is that is where it usually stops.

What you want people to say is "wow, I have to have that!"

There is a big difference between "looks good" and "gotta have it". We forget we are salesman and need to push our prospects, more so with a service that can cost them hundreds of dollars.

If I told you how many business owners come to me with "people say my flyer looked great"...

Both people? I truly believe that these guys will feel a little disheartened if they quadrupled their response but had less back slapping for their flyer. Advertising's sole purpose is to make money. If you feel you need a reach around for your creative abilities, join an art class.

Most flyers, postcards or any ad usually mimics a business card. It is more like a "here we are, buy some!". We know the quality of our service. Maybe we know/think we are much better than the competition. We feel if we raise the flag they will salute...

All of your flyers and postcards are your sales force, not business cards. Business owners always tell me "too many words in an ad turns people off". Horse droppings!

Too many or too little meaningless words kill an ad.

If you were going door to door to sell your service would you read off 12 words? Good salesman cut the crap and overwhelm people with benefit driven sales speak. Your ads need to be conversational in order to keep interest. It is vital to remember that if you keep spiking their interest you will garner more psychological presence. (which repeated exposure can ignite branding)

**A little side note about branding- Most think that branding is due to repeated exposure to a company name. We all sort information and file it away for quick reference. In these files we add meaningful content to associate with the company name. If you think that a business card style ad is pounding your brand into people, you're wrong. They may file the name but what would they tie to your name? You need to make sure you are the company that can help them_______**

The other guys are just plastering their name everywhere while you are working the prospect from the inside. It is far, FAR more profitable to give people good reasons to use your service.

Don't follow inline with your competitors; use smart and well planned tactics.

Start separating yourself right now! Go to your biggest competitors websites and write down what makes you different or, redefine something ordinary to sound extraordinary. Emphasize something meaningful that everyone does but does not talk about.

If you are just another window cleaning company, you are nothing.

Go get some


Paul

So Many Money Making Scams.

Over the past year I have got a lot of business owners asking me about products or services out there by other marketers. Usually they mention the other guys name. Most times I have not heard of the other person/product so I need to look into it.

As with most industries there are a lot of "make $1000 a week" products in the window cleaning niche. I have had people send me stuff they bought from these con men and I am beside myself. I have seen products that really don't go beyond "make a good flyer", or "design nice looking postcards"... are you kidding?

I have participated in marketing that has generated over $500,000 over the past year and a half. Telling people to go make a pretty flyer is like telling someone who is hungry to go eat. Sure you can make a flyer and get business. What these products don't talk about is actual success or accountability.

I have seen examples of terrible flyers and postcards in these products. I have contacted them to ask how these did and they would not tell me! (I was contacting them as a window cleaner, not Onslaught)

If you have a flyer that kicks butt and you slap it in a product you sell for $100, shouldn't the results of their experience be included? Most of these slack-asses Photoshop up a few flyers just for their product. Most of these ads have never been tried! So you are buying nothing. You are just as well looking at junk mail, at least there is some science behind why it looks and is written the way it is.... and it is FREE!

Guess what else, I have participated in ads that have tanked. There is no magic wand and nobody can produce great ads constantly. The key is in your target market. Once you figure out what your desired customer wants, you give it to them. What works for me in Minnesota may not work in Alabama.

The one piece of advice I give is to research the product developer. Has this person been successful in marketing? If he has/had a successful window cleaning business that does not mean anything. It could mean a great market with poor competition. I have a small company but helped others make over $500,000 in sales.

You want to make more money, don't allow that to blind you when looking for help. Also, look outside of your industry as that is where breakthroughs occur. If you just copy what similar companies are doing you just become a clone.

Until you find the help you need, DO SOMETHING! Create a flyer or postcard. Get your website optimized, both for SEO and for consumers visiting it. Being ranked #1 will not do you any good if your landing page is uninformative or hard to navigate.

Always keep track of your results!

Go get some

Paul

Star Trek, X-Men and Window Cleaning?...

Hype, there is nothing quite like it. It is a superstition that hype is evil and that is obviously a crock of sh-t.

Star Trek and X-Men have been pretty hyped up. Luckily these movies are good so they live up to the hype (however X-Men let me down a little). These movies will continue to generate massive amounts of money on screen and in DVD.

In the case of these blockbusters the hype was a planned and thought out endeavor. Hype usually starts at the source. Sure we have a rare instance like The Blaire Witch Project, but that is not very often. The Blaire Witch Project generated hype from the audience (customers). Star Trek and X-Men started from millions of dollars, then by the audience.

What does this have to do with you? Likely you do not have or do not want to spend a relative version of millions of dollars on advertising. For some of you $500 is like a million dollars.

You are likely focused on postcards, flyers and web presence. You do have the ability to utilize your own subsidized version of hype- Testimonials

Just like The Blaire Witch Project where they had next to no advertising dollars, you can create some hype from what customers you have. A bad movie with big advertising will have one good weekend and be dead by bad hype the next.

Let's say you have 10 testimonials on your website telling how great you are. People read these and feel very secure hiring you, it is subconscious. Then you show up and leave streaks, water on the floor and you were gassy. What do you think happens then? A spark over a haystack that's what. Enough sparks and the haystack is ablaze... along with your rep.

I have seen angry customers start blogs about bad service! How would you like to find a blog about your company and you can't do a thing about it? I have seen people rant on craigslist MANY times about bad service.

The key is to have continuity with your service. Find what works and do it exactly the same for every customer. Mcdonalds became the juggernaut they are from continuity.

Now let's say your company does a great job all the time. It is possible you will not get many testimonials even if the customers are happy. You need to ask for them. Whether it be in an email after the service (for me this works incredibly), or sending them a response card.

Response cards will not work as well, so if you happen to have their email I advise that.

Testimonials a lot of the time get screwed up. Companies love to not use the full name of the customer. They feel the customer will get pissed. Why do you think they gave you a testimonial, to tuck under your pillow? Use their first and last name or do nothing at all.

Right now I have testimonials on EVERYTHING. I have 5 on my flyers, 5 or 6 on my site... I put them everywhere I can. I have received enough comments about "I seen what others said about you're service..."

Testimonials are free. All you need to do is supply a great service and then ASK for their hype. Never and I mean never stop asking for more. Ideally you want a variety of comments. You do not want them all to sound the same.

I have testimonials where people commented on how I put things back after moving them. I have people that commented on how careful and clean I was. I like to mix up the testimonials to cover as much ground as possible.

Likely you will get testimonials that have multiple accolades, I like to whittle them down if they hit on something I do not have yet:

"Thanks for the great job! My windows are so shiny they look like brand new. I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back"

The first 2 sentences will be on many of my testimonials so they are useless, but I do not have that last comment so this is how I would shrink it down-

"Thanks for the great job! I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back"

If you have a lot of "thanks for the great job" type of openers, I do this-

".... I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back!"

Of course all have the first and last name attached.

Long testimonials are not your friend if you have too many. Do not have 5 huge blocks of text that say the same thing as it may cause boredom. You could cause a disconnect with them and they subconsciously lose interest and leave.

I always hear about how everyone loves word of mouth advertising, I do too! The problem is that it is uncontrollable and even if we do a great job it may not happen. Be proactive and take what you have and spread it around rather then wait and see.

Those who wait end up old with regrets wishing they did more...

Go get some


Paul

Marketing Hoopla

You love you some you and your reasoning skills may be paralyzed

It is naturally inherent to be in love with our business. For us to start our own company is a big deal and there is a sense of pride that comes with that.

There is nothing wrong with our passionate love affair with our business, but it can be used against us. There are thousands of advertisers out there looking to offer us their addictive crack like candy. They feed on our drive to create an image... whether the image helps or not. They feed our ego.

How many times have we all heard the famed "get your name out there", or "get in front of people". That is what ego crazed businesses and advertisers love to say.

While it is vital to get in front of the right people, it is a little more complex than to slap your ad across a baseball jersey for little league team. Do you know what your logo on a jersey does? Makes you feel good. It is a very poor way to market your company and I will explain why. Surely you will think that parents will go find a pen and paper to jot down your number... sure they will.

As discussed in an earlier blog I talked about advertising and marketing being different from each other. Advertising for most companies is usually terrible. Since they use that heavily as marketing and they waste more than they gain. Most ads leech off of the profits but are usually lost in a marketing mix that is not being accounted for.

Most times we have 5 to 20 different types of marketing devices in play, rarely do most small companies keep solid records. Add denial too because we do love seeing our names.

A name on a jersey, a sign, a vehicle, a postcard or whatever means nothing to no one (but us). There are literally tens of thousands of names being shown to us daily. Awareness and image advertising is something a small business should avoid like the plague. (or I guess the Swine Flu these days...)

Your name is not a marketing device unless it's selling-

4 Rooms Cleaned for $98 Inc

While we could sit here and try to figure out descriptive names, let's worry about our current name.

I really get freaked out when I hear "well, it is only $500 to...."

Only $500!? How many "it's only" ads do we have? If you guys want to throw money away please send me an email to get my mailing address.

Ads should have a singular purpose- to make a sale. That is it. No bs image building or awareness goals. If your ads have a purpose that hits a nerve with people, guess what? You build awareness and make money. If your ads have meaning you will create an image.

Take a look at this and let me know what gets your attention more:

Onslaught Marketing
763-444-5555

or

Double Your Customer Base in 1 year- GUARANTEED!
Call now: 763-444-5555

Of course you adjust your ad to whatever you find out is important to your best prospects. There is NO universal solution. You can't appeal to everyone who has windows or carpets. Quality leads are what you want, nothing else.

Am I saying that you should not have your name on trucks, shirts, ads? hell no. But your name is the least important part. What you can do for the reader is all important. Why should they remember or write down your name and number, just because?

I use emotional triggers all the time. My highly praised and hugely successful ebook is proof of that (see my ad here). I walk the talk and I do this on all of my ads for window cleaning as well.

Most "marketing experts" are full of crap. Most write books and have blogs and have no home runs of their own. They have no data backing the latest article they read and manipulate to make themselves sound smart.

Nothing is more important than facts. Facts hurt as our beloved ego ads would need to be cut or redone to work. We start to fall out of love with ads that do not have our name blazing acrossed it. Most will sacrifice converting sales just to feel better.

Put your name out there, just make sure you attach meaning to it.

Go get some

Paul

The Curse of the Crappy Flyer

If you are like majority of service businesses you have made your share of flyers. Flyers are a wonderful vehicle for inexpensively getting your message out there.

I am not sure if we just like to copy what we see others doing or if it is genetic, but most flyers have the same layout.

• Company name
• Possibly a worthless tag line (i.e. we don't cut corners, we clean them)
  
• A long list of services (to make the ad confusing)
  
• Maybe the habitual and horrid 10% off
• Name again and phone number

Rarely and I mean rarely does anyone give a reason to use their service. The reason is usually 10% off. It is important to realize how non motivating that is. It is VERY important to realize that because there is no price to base the percentage on it becomes worthless.

Percentage off is really a retail ploy. It is very easy to pick up a shirt at Macy's look at the price and take 50% off. It is all right there. You either think it is worth it or not. Now your flyer does not give them the comparison. Just 10% off.

Let's go back to Macy's for a minute. You pick up a shirt on a 30% off rack and the tag is missing, what do you do? Put it back and move on. Sure there is a select few interested enough to bring it to the cashier to figure it out but 100 others picked it up and set it down.

The point is there was interest and it was squashed. Most people will not run to the phone to try and find out how much 10% off would be for them. You will get some, but what about the other 100?

Now if you say "Take $20 off!" people understand that. If you add something like free screen cleaning make sure you put a value to it:

FREE Screen Cleaning ($50 value)

Be sure to give value to whatever upgrade or service you are throwing in the deal. If you do not give it value you cannot expect them to.

Never start out a flyer with your company name. View your flier as a magazine on a rack at the grocery store. You are next to People, Vogue, National Enquirer, Time. How do you get the attention of the steady stream of people scanning the covers?

Most magazines are impulse buys which means they do not have a strong relationship with their readers. People see something on the cover that made them toss it in their cart. Some of these magazines pay over $100,000 for copywriters to come up with headlines that stop people in their tracks.

They do not pay them that much because it does not work.

You are selling the invisible. You are selling something that does not have real value. You need to give it value and the more value you give it the more people will want it.

Your company name at the top will destroy a huge part of the readership. You may get calls but you would have got those calls PLUS many others if done right. Sometimes you need to keep in mind how many prospects you are losing as well as how many you got.

I have seen flyers build million dollar service companies. Flyers can be the most lucrative and cost efficient forms of advertising you do, take it seriously.

Your flyer layout should look like this:

• Headline
• Reason
• Offer (to include deadline)
• Restate reason (optional, but adds power)
• name/CALL NOW!/number

I get bombarded by people wanting me to look over their flyer. Sometimes I find myself saying "didn't you show me this already?" No they did not, it just looks like the 100 others I looked at.

Keep in mind all these people are not having me look over their flyer because it was working.

Don't be afraid to have some personality in your ads. Everyone tries so hard to be professional they make their company cold and disconnected. Flyers can be fun to play around with and a great way to experiment inexpensively.

Have fun with it


Paul