Looking for work everywhere you go....

Made an appointment with one of our local dentists. I need major dental work, as my teeth have been bad since I was a kid.

Now I am at the point of full extraction and replacement with dentures.

As I walked in, MAN that lobby glass just looks TERRIBLE. And these guys are paying a window cleaner from an hour South of me, to do the work. Matter of fact it wasn't even a week ago the glass was cleaned.

It looked like the foggiest, swirliest, streakiest, CRAP job, you could imagine. Seriously, I am not exaggerating. It looked that bad.

I asked the receptionist, if they had a window cleaner (knowing they did) and she sad yes, and that they were there a few days ago, but she thought the glass looked terrible.

I handed her a card, and said if you want another LOCAL company that does great work, here is my card.

She said thank you very much, and she would pass it along to the office manager.

I knew these "other guys" were kinda clowns and half assers, but that was just unacceptable and uncalled for. Maybe I need to get around to more places, and just hand them a card. If this is the example of the work "the other guys do", it should be like taking candy from a baby.

Magnetic cards.....drive around and slap them on the places you like. Seems to be doing well for me right now.

Sorry to hear about the dental work, I hate the dentist office personally. Every time I go in for something the problem ends up becoming worse than before.

There is just something wrong about a profession that sticks a metal pick into you to see if it causes pain.

I haven't had enamel on my teeth since I was a little kid. I've had dentists try to pacify me and tell me they can fix it. None of them are going to "fix" it. Hell, he tried getting me to get a partial on the bottom, which would have been cheaper.

I declined as I told him, I'm DONE with tooth aches. Nothing short of yanking them all will make sure I am done with tooth aches. Worst pain in the world.
So, I am prepping to dish out 6 grand.

I have not tried the magnetic business cards. Those I sometimes give to new clients, but almost all of them have me scratch them in on the calendar to call them again for the next service.

Truth be told, if the Dentist doesn't call me, then I wouldn't want them as a client to begin with. Those windows looked absolutely gross. If they care that little, I can only imagine it's all about "cheap" with them.

Let me guess, as a child you used to brush for a long time....maybe in front of the tv?

That is what I did as a child. Brush while watching the Johnny Carson show, sometimes for 15-20 minutes. My enamel is very thin as well and has caused me nothing, but trouble my adult life.

Dentists now tell me that you should never brush for more than 2 minutes or this can happen. A little late there doc.

Actually, no. I was born with next to no enamel. I've always had problems with my teeth. They have always been hot/cold sensitive and prone to cavities and decay.

It didn't come from extended brushing. Though I have heard of that.

Interesting....I know that sensitivity all too well. Even a cleaning leaves me in a puddle of sweat from the pain.

Would it be cheaper to cover them in a veneer?

In my experience they usually won't call.
How many times have you gotten a call from credit card merchant services or insurance people or chemical people trying to get you to switch to them ? I know I got tons of them, but I just don't have the time needed to switch, I know in your case it's just a matter of 2 phone calls, one to fire the old window cleaner and 1 to schedule with you, but for them that's 2 phone calls that they don't have to make.
I couldn't agree more though about your theory of them using cheap stuffs if they are being cheap, fire away bruh

I agree with Dp in that they will probably not call, but mostly because very few people like confrontations and they would need to tell the other guy that they are changing companies.

I think they definitely would rather have you doing the job, but they will still be too gutless to fire the other cleaner. Now, if that cleaner were to take themselves out of the equation by not showing up or something, then you will get the call.

Well, I am going to follow up with them this week anyway. You guys are likely right as rain, because generally, if someone is interested in my services, they contact me within 48 hours of a face to face.

I'm going to try to leverage the issue a little bit, with them. Since I am willing to pay a premium for better service, maybe they should consider me at least, or what does that say about what they offer.....

I have a few estimates on the schedule to do anyway, and I'm thinking of hitting up more commercial. Our local strip malls have lawyers and all kinds of professional suites. I'm going to avoid restaurants like the plague.

Funny how "restaurants" and "plague" ended up in the same sentence.

The strip malls sound like a great idea...that dental office will be calling you once the contract ends with the other cleaner. Until then, tag the others.

I stopped into the dentist's office today. The lady at the front desk got me the general managers card. She said to call her, and that she thought she was interested.

We'll see where it goes.

I also dropped some business cards at businesses I want to work with. I have to drop off an estimate tomorrow for an insurance company.

One place I would like to land, is a "ready med" type facility. Lots of glass in that place.

I like the approach, targeting the exact places that you want to land instead of trying to get an area to call.

Wishing you luck!

Just did an estimate for a lady I met at a benefit for the local animal shelter.

HUGE estimate. This would likely be an all day job. Over 100 windows and 60+ screens.

Total estimate? 1350.00 We'll see if she bites or faints.

100 Windows!!! Does she live in a school house?

Good luck with the bid Freemind. Did you throw a little teaser in there like 10% off the next cleaning if cleaned within 1 year etc

milspec6 wrote:100 Windows!!!  Does she live in a school house?

Nope, just a VERY LARGE house in the sticks. Way more house then two people need, IMO. But certainly more windows then they can clean.

Mo wrote:Good luck with the bid Freemind. Did you throw a little teaser in there like 10% off the next cleaning if cleaned within 1 year etc

No, and for this house, I probably won't. I bid it on the cheap side so I don't want to offer a discount. It will take two people at least 8 hours to complete this job.

The top half of all windows are cut ups. I did not charge a higher price for the cut ups.

Just 2 people? I never could understand that, huge homes and only 2 people living in it. I cleaned a house in June that had 7 bedrooms, 6 baths, and only a single person living there....never married and no kids.

People are weird. Sounds like a good way to spend the day to me, out in the sticks and earning money the whole time.

Some days, the people's stupidity, just HONK you off.

Go to do an estimate for a retail storefront. They explain to me they want a new window guy. The last few never show up like they are suppose to, drip water on the floors, etc.

I price the store front out at $50 buck in/out bi monthly. She says "Oh, that's too expensive. We have been paying 20 bucks".

I looked her right in the eye and tell her:
"You can see what 20 bucks is getting you. I run a business, and I have to make money to stay in business, just like you. If you can't pay for a better service, better stick with the one you don't like because that's all you can afford. Like anything else, better service has a price that reflects that. You can't buy a new Denali for the price of a rusted out Escort. "

I don't think she liked that very well, but people are dumb as hell sometimes. You don't like your guy(s), and you have been tossing them crumbs. What do you really think the service will be like? How can any company make money, when you have 40 bucks in billed work, in an hour. You provide a wage, tools, and a truck, with all the overheads. I couldn't make it myself doing it at 40 bucks an hour with 2 hours drive time involved.

Even if the guys work the whole day in down, I don't see how it works for them. Too much driving around making zero. And their guys are SLOW and sloppy.

Classic example of a customer will little understanding / education of what the process consists of. They just assume that all cleaners are the same and that price is the only difference.

Sometimes I wish that I could take them on a ride-along for a day and see what they think afterwards.

Yeah, you're right. It just irritates me to no end, how people act about price sometimes.

This is why I don't chase the store front much. Unless I am willing to work for peanut CRUMBS that is. I know it can be the same thing with carpets.

Tomorrow I go into the dentist to give them an estimate for windows. I have made up my mind if they don't value a clean look of their facilities, I'm taking my business somewhere else.

I don't have a problem with someone charging a good price for their products/services, as long as they are not busy telling everyone else they aren't worth a fair price too. If they feel they have to devalue others and their stuff, then they are not the type I want to do business with.

This ordeal with this particular yo-yo I quoted earlier today has just upset me to the point I am going to change completely how I do business locally. To shed some light on the situation:
This was a check into cash. It is one of those "payday loan" places. They charge like 400% interest for short term loans. They are not hurting for money. I see all the people that are in and out of there every day. It's like a damn McDonalds drive thru there.

These Yo-yo's make that kind of money, and their monthly budget is 40 measly bucks? I don't think you can get a payday loan for that.

Anyway, I'm done with dumb people. I'll no longer spend a dime someplace that devalues us that provide services.

I know it can it can be frustrating dealing with businesses or people that don't value you service. Don't take is personally its just business.

What you don't want to do is get upset and burn bridges. You never know some may change their tune down the road and you want to be the person they call

I agree with you to an extent Mo.

But here's the thing. There have been more than one, fly by night, crap service window company that comes here to do cheap, fly by night service. They are not local, they do not give good service. They are just cheap.

There is always going to be someone that is cheaper than you, no matter the type of work you do. Unless I become willing to actually lower my prices to meet or beat their price, people like above, will never buy my services or for very long anyway. It doesn't matter that the cheap guys can never beat my value, I will never beat their cheap price.

If the truth made that lady upset, GOOD. Because there is no way I could have beat down the price of her service prices. It's a take it or leave it situation. You think my dentist is any different? My dentist expects me to pay his price based on the quality of care and service he is presenting. I expect the same from my clients.

If that burns the bridge, then I guess neither of us were very valuable to the other. The fact remains the dentist needs someone to clean their windows. He is already paying someone that makes his glass look very bad. If he refuses to pay someone a higher price to actually have CLEAN, gleaming glass, then he is an idiot. He is throwing his money away, literally, now. If they won't pay to actually receive a good service, then bully for them.

Maybe I am approaching this all wrong, but it's the way I am going to run my business. I refuse to be submissive to people who think they own me somehow. And that is exactly how I look at people that devalue me and my service.

In a small town, you can't afford to ever burn a bridge as it will haunt you every single day.....even if you were in the right.

Larger cities? Let it burn, plenty of more options out there.

Yeah she's probably the type of person that will put up with the guy showing up when ever he wants doing sloppy work as long as she doesn't have to pay more than 20 bucks.

Normally what ill say to people like that is " I,m sorry we couldn't do business. Give me a call if anything changes ". 

That's if they don't piss me off lol