Getting a good price when starting out is hard

I’m doing jobs but I can’t seem to break into the game to make enough money. If I canvas shops they have someone who’s dose them cheap. And I have taken jobs off people that are doing them regular and are now continue to get me to do them for about 4 shop windows plus dors inside and out. From 20-30 is the most I can get. I tried asking 75 the other day but they get them done around 30$ it is ok if you do 3-5 jobs a day.
Dose anyone have any good strategy tips for me. I seen your YouTube video yesterday Luke that was good quoting and good advice.
Rhianna is good at cleaning Windows.

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You need to push your point of difference mate. Why you are worth your money. Cheap skates will fail soon enough, it happens to me once or twice a year I lose a job or two but they always call back.

Try update your picture, talk about your equipment and experience.

Thanks mate

I always found store fronts to be tricky. When your’e a new business, you simply have to get your foot in the door. Which may mean being a little cheaper than the other guy. Although you don’t want to be so cheap that you hate yourself later.
Keep at it, pick up some residential work while your’e growing the store front business to keep the bills paid.
:+1:

Good advice.
Thanks

If you can get a read on the storefront owner and their situation, you can determine pricing a little bit better. Let me give you 3 sample situations.

On a storefront owner that is very skeptical and does not even want to take a chance on spending money until they can believe what you do, offer to do the store for free the first time, no catch. Sometimes I joke it’s the “Get rid of me special”, which usually gets a good laugh. (Rarely and I mean rarely do people turn down free cleanings, it has happened to me before). After you clean, give your price. They are not obligated to sign on but now you leveraged yourself in a way where they realize they can get your service and want it as well. If you have time to spend, you have nothing to lose. You can use this on any size store but if you want a bunch of stores quick, Do this for small enough stores as well, and if you can do inside AND outside of the glass. About half of my stores signed on this way. Its effective but you need to be brave and just bite the bullet. You have to not get paid once, might as well be the first time, that way you can get paid for a long time.

The second situation would be someone who needs the store cleaned TODAY, QUICK, and they have extreme urgency. These are great because you can charge more than you normally would and more often than not, they will pay to get it done. Make sure you do well with these stores. If they form a rebuttal here, they don’t see the value in your service. Agree with them, “I understand its expensive, you wanted it done today. By the time another cleaner shows up, it will already be next year. You have more important things to worry about and this shouldn’t occupy your whole day. I’m here ready to go, lets do this.” Don’t forget to sign them on for regular service.

The third situation would be someone who is willing to hear you and they called you up or sent you an email or Facebook message, but is not sure what kind of service they need. Identify the storefront needs. Is it food service related, car showroom, a donation center, a clothing store, financial firm, antique shop? Start asking questions, even if they are obvious. “You get a lot of traffic through here?” “You get kids that put their hands on the glass with handprints?” Then start asking harder and more uncomfortable questions, “What made you decide to get window cleaning today?” “Why me?” “Why now?” Start finding their motives, it could be they are trying to impress someone from their corporate office, or they may have a special event coming up. Maybe they are just sick of not seeing the sun. When you find their motive state the following, “So in order to keep this up to date to meet your needs, I suggest this service.” Then show them one service for cleaning. But then state “We also have these options available, but the first one I think would be the best for you in my professional opinion.” Show those other options. If they ask for a product that you didn’t suggest, honor it. Outside pricing only, Outside and Inside pricing, maybe you do outside only and clean the inside every other 2-3 months. Maybe its a quarterly or biyearly clean. If they are undecided, offer a 10-15% discount on the spot but tell them once you step out of the door even if you drag me back in, I will not be able to honor it.

Hope this helps.

That sounds like a really good strategy.
Thanks for the advice I will giv it a try.

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I don’t want to know anyone’s Buisness or income. But what kind of money/turnover should we be taking home per day? At the end of a days work
mixing it up doing residential and store front?

Everyone has access to money, honestly there’s no shortage of it or the paper its printed on either. Someone once told me if you took all the money in the world and everyone had the same amount, we would have millions of dollars each. The tale of poverty is just that, a tale. Honestly my belief is anyone can get what they want in this life. I don’t try to qualify people or ask how much they have. Its a big mistake. I believe if someone wants something bad enough, they will find a way to make it theirs.

Set your prices per job. You deserve to make a living. You are a professional, you need to be treated as such. The better your skill, the better your natural speed. Forcing speed without the skill in place leaves a poor product as a result. I’m trying to compensate my business about 60/hour before taxes (I put 30% away for that) and expenses for storefronts and 100/hour for houses. This gives me enough profit margin where I do not need to rush. DO NOT RUSH if you are starting out. Get the skill down. If you don’t have a legit business yet and you need to make cash quick, I started out about 40/hour for storefronts and about 80/hour for houses. Its reasonable enough where you don’t feel rushed, if you can get a 20 dollar job done in 30 minutes starting out, great. Eventually you could do it in minutes when the skill is in place. I have had commercial jobs that are 60/month that take 40 minutes to do inside and out. Sometimes you get a really hard store where you might have to do more than you bargained for and you might walk out with 20-30 per hour.

I have had days where I am not busy at all, walked away with 100 dollars for storefronts in a day, sometimes slightly more or less. (I almost always have work, not enough storefronts yet.) Some days I walk away with 5-7 times that amount with houses and some stores. Don’t concern yourself with money yet, just focus on getting in front of the decision maker, and be hell bent on cleaning their glass, just pray you can clean for ANYTHING to start. Before you know it, everyone will start learning about you.

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Great advice. Thanks man I appreciate it.

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No problem. You have to go in with the attitude of a problem solver. You are not a snake oil salesman, and you aren’t there to cause problems. You are only there to fix problems. Don’t even think about the money either, that will come naturally. The minute you think about money during the conversation, UNLESS ASKED, you will start losing credibility, trust and respect. Listen and read your future customers with care.

This is awesome advice.
Thanks bro appreciate it very much.

The biggest thing is to get it into your mind that you’re a professional. You’re not doing it for beer money.

Storefronts for me are usually $50 or less with a $20 minimum and about $2-3 per pane inside and out. It’s about getting them on a two or four week schedule and building a tight route.

Also, learn to answer objections. “We already have someone” well would you like a comparison quote?

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Thanks that’s great advice

Solid advice @JaredAI !

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When canvassing for route work ask the manager: “do you have a window cleaner?”
If they say yes, ask if they are happy with their window cleaner?
if they say no to either of those questions you are on your way…

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Image is everything. If you have a uniform and have a neat and tidy image that goes along way. the client will surmise that if your image isn’t good how will you be able to improve theirs?

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Adding to that, dressing in your uniform is fine for storefront owners. When pitching to homeowners, dress like you can afford your ow services. If it’s 1000 dollar service, you need to dress yourself in something that looks like 1000 dollars, not 10.

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Hi everyone!!! For your experience… How much would you guys price this car dealership?? In and out. And how would it be the better way to do the interior?? I got this pic from the internet by the way!!!audi

At least $3.00 per pane in and out. That’s a ton of pole work and some larger windows.

How often?