[ScrimShady]

i was wondering if anyone coul give me some advise on getting comercial contracts, i have lots of domestic customers and want to expand to get more money coming,
if anyone could give me advice on letters to send them or anything similiar would be gratefully received.
thanks
ScrimShady

[steve k]

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=10544.0

[Sarah Sarill]

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=14799.0

This is the direct link to the letter contained in the above link Steve left.

Hope it helps,

Sarah

[Sir Squeaky]

Oh dear, that's called poaching. (that letter)

Doesn't matter if you offer a safer way of doing it, it's still prising away someone else's livelyhood.

I do hope no-one around here would be so underhanded.

[Sarah Sarill]

Hiya Rog,

POACHING !!

Well that depends on what your intention is.   I agree that if you intentionally start out to undercut and take accounts off your compeitiors then 'yes' that would be true.

Poaching was of course a rather strong way of describing what you think this letter was written to do , I would personally call 'poaching' the way of getting work in an underhand way. It certainly isn't poaching to get your name out there, or to send out leaflets advertising what you do and looking for new business.  In fact the dictionary definition of the word Poach is :- 

to take and use for yourself unfairly or dishonestly something, usually an idea, that belongs to someone else:


When I originally put together this letter (with extracts from Poleman and The WindowCleaner1 ) I had no intention of undercutting my competitors - there would be only one winner then - the customer !!!.  We wanted  to pick up new business based on the fact we perceived  ourselves to be a reliable, honest and professional w/c company  .  Most of all I want to convey that in all aspects of our industry I conform to any legal guidelines and am therefore a front runner WHEN a customer is looking to emloy a w/c.

I think it would be difficult to poach commercial work purely on price if the current window cleaners have built up a half-decent rapport with their customer and provide at least a half-decent service, and if you could get the contract; purely on price; how long would you last before someone else chanced their arm?

Why is this letter any different to any leaflet dropped through a door or given to a business. ?  After all when you send any type of flyer out to get new business it could be called poaching if its intention is the wrong one.

I take my hat off to any w/c who can survive in this aggressively expanding industry and can replace lost accounts with new ones without the need for a marketing campaign.  I will never stop protecting our livelyhood and will continue to canvass for quality, well priced new business and keep away from the undercutting tactics of some of the above types of w/c.

I too hope that there a no w/c's  on this forum who would use it to intentionally undercut jobs and like I said above the only winner would be  the customer !!!

I take it you wont be using it then Rog 

Sarah

[Ben Walker]

XXXXXXX Golf Club
XXXXXXX

Dear XXXXXXX

As a local window cleaner and part of the window cleaning fraturnity I am writing to ask if you would kindly make hints or positive suggestions to your present window cleaner to get his arse in gear and go and get a wfp. The truth of the matter is, working in such a capacity on a public or commercial site will no longer be feasable with the new WAHD, and so its a bit, well, do or die really (well, when i say die, i mean...) Anyway, I am in no way trying to poach his business as I have the upmost respect and tender-heartedness for my fellow window cleaners, but If he doesn't, well, erm, you have my number.  

KIND regards

[Sarah Sarill]

XXXXXXX Golf Club
XXXXXXX

Dear XXXXXXX

As a local window cleaner and part of the window cleaning fraturnity I am writing to ask if you would kindly make hints or positive suggestions to your present window cleaner to get his arse in gear and go and get a wfp. The truth of the matter is, working in such a capacity on a public or commercial site will no longer be feasable with the new WAHD, and so its a bit, well, do or die really (well, when i say die, i mean...) Anyway, I am in no way trying to poach his business as I have the upmost respect and tender-heartedness for my fellow window cleaners, but If he doesn't, well, erm, you have my number.  

KIND regards

 :

[Sir Squeaky]

No, I never said anything about undercutting price-wise.

What I meant was, that telling a company that their current w/c isn't as good(safe), so you should kick him out and use us instead is underhand.

That is an cheeky way of operating.
Doesn't matter if the current guy swings from the roof on a rope.
It's his account and he can do it as he wants, the company chose him to do it.

To say "we're better cos we use wfp" is unfair on someone else who may being doing a perfectly good(probably better) job.

I'd flip if someone tried to get any of my work by approaching my customers with a different method, and if they're honest everyone else here would too.

Rog.

[Sarah Sarill]

I'm afraid we are going to have to agree to dis-agree on this one Rog & Ben.

I feel very comfortable using this letter and trust others will make up their own minds on its suitability for their own business image.

I respect your opinion on how you perceive its content.

Enough from me 

Sarah


 

[Ben Walker]

 :

it was meant to be a tongue in cheek play on your letter (not very good)as i have to agree pretty much with Rog.
Its a clever, law on my side, good way to get business kinda poaching if you ask me, and if it is an aggressively expanding business then its because businesses are expanding aggressively! I'm sure you're not too much   Don't let a Europeon directive become your best friend. I think the letter can be seen to be dishonest (and therefore poaching) because it seems to be making out that you are doing it for moral reasons (conforming, safety, saving lives! etc) but really its for the cash. Its not about under cutting because business will have to employ a wfp opperator who could therefore and quite easily charge more ("sorry sir, prices are more because of the price of the eqpt")

  ben



 

[Ben Walker]

actually, sorry, re-reading again it i don't think its as bad as i made out. I don't think it plays on the morals that much, but i'm pretty sure many an aggressive business will.  :

[D woods]

Hi Sarah
have you or any of the other members of this forum had much
success with this letter

[DP]

Sales letters are often contentious and will always attract critical opinions, be they good or bad. The truth is somebody will always have said it different if they were writing it.

The problem is not so much the writer its the reader, everybody will read a sales letter differently whatever the words actually say and many "SPEED READ" grabbing just key words and skipping whole sentences that link them together. The more words the worse it gets.

Interpretation is the mother of confusion and critical opinions based on glance reading are the most important because that’s all your client will do glance read once.

The only important thing about the content is that it gets people to pick up the phone and if it doesn’t then you need to re-write the letter again and again until it does.

Re the moral issue:
All sales letters are immoral as are adverts, flyers, sales calls and any other form of communication used to gain work from somebody else, which happens to be the very essence of business. If we all waited for natural erosion, commerce would simply collapse. Likewise everybody has a mortgage and family to keep so its very difficult to judge who’s right and who’s wrong.

Ideal’s are wonderful things to have, providing you can afford them!

[KJG]

The Holy Grail of window cleaning - commercial work!


The best success I've had picking up comm work is this:

Drive round an area with nice looking jobs and jot down just their names and area. When I've got a page full, I'll go home and do a search for them on the web. This way, I get a full postal address and contact details. Then I just send them an intro letter and wait. This intro letter must look very professional and be SHORT with absolutely no BULLpoop - like slagging off their current wc if they have one etc. Just say who you are and what YOU are offering. I always finish with, "If not interested at present, please feel free to keep this letter for future reference". It's not guaranteed by any means but at least you're in!

You can also get a free listing at yell.com. I don't know whether it's a mistake but I got into the local Yellow Pages for free too. Haven't got anything from it yet though.

In my opinion, door knocking is a definite no-no for, for want of a better word, proper businesses; office blocks and factories etc. Shops are OK with it though.

[Sarah Sarill]

Hi Sarah
have you or any of the other members of this forum had much
success with this letter

I have sent out approx 25 ish letters so far and got 2 monthly commercial jobs from it.  A nursing home at £60 and Funeral Director at £30.

For the cost of the 2nd class stamps (approx £7)  it has generated over £1k of additional business in the next year.

Sarah

actually, sorry, re-reading again it i don't think its as bad as i made out. I don't think it plays on the morals that much, but i'm pretty sure many an aggressive business will. :

 

Ben, 

I am happy with the use of wording I used and feel it is gauged at the right level for commercial work.  Business customers should know what failing to comply with regulations will result in, and felt it appropriate to use the wording I eventually used.

That having been said i most certainly would not use the same context for residential - it would scare the pants off them and have the oposite effect to my desired outcome (being that they would be too scared to employ a w/c at all if they could be sued).

The written word in any context can be taken the wrong way and I took great care to pitch it at the right level.  Unfortunately as DP said above its all about interpretation so everyones opinion is right in their own eyes.

Finally KJG, I agree that directly slagging off a know competitor is wrong, but profiling your own services forms the basis of all business and I dont think my letter has slagged off anyone - its just highlights the method we use and does not decry the professionalism or work quality of any other type of method.

Nice thread though 

Sarah

[windows_chepstow]

Oh dear, that's called poaching. (that letter)

Doesn't matter if you offer a safer way of doing it, it's still prising away someone else's livelyhood.

I do hope no-one around here would be so underhanded.

Roger,

are you still doing those shops you 'poached'; sorry; took from Simon G?

[KJG]

....

Finally KJG, I agree that directly slagging off a know competitor is wrong, but profiling your own services forms the basis of all business and I dont think my letter has slagged off anyone - its just highlights the method we use and does not decry the professionalism or work quality of any other type of method.

Nice thread though 

Sarah

Sarah, I didn't read your letter or any of the other posts. I just replied to ScrimShady's original question

[Sir Squeaky]

Roger,

are you still doing those shops you 'poached'; sorry; took from Simon G?

Yes Tosh I am.

I'll admit to that, because I was approached by a dissatisfied customer.

What I didn't do is stroll into his shops saying I can do it better and he's no good for them.
That's the difference.

Rog.

[Sarah Sarill]

Oh dear,

Now its getting way too serious.  We have stopped using nice smilies and thats not good.

Its only a letter - yeh I know.
Its only Sarah - yeh I know
You sound pis**ed off - yeh I know
You are offended - Yeh I know
What letter do you want then - I want Sarah's one  - LOL 


Group Hugs

Sarah

[windows_chepstow]

Roger,

are you still doing those shops you 'poached'; sorry; took from Simon G?

Yes Tosh I am.

I'll admit to that, because I was approached by a dissatisfied customer.

What I didn't do is stroll into his shops saying I can do it better and he's no good for them.
That's the difference.

Rog.

Good point Rog,

I guess they were disatisfied with the standard of cleaning.  But as we all know there's more to a clean window than 'a clean window'.

There's rules, regulations, and liability; particularly with commercial properties.  Some companies, I believe, now have a complete ladder ban.

However, I would never ever poach work from a window cleaner who I knew and liked.  No matter which tools he used, how much he charged, or what standard of work he did.  Remember, I was asked to quote for one of your jobs (The Bridge Inn) which I never did; even though I would've liked the account.

Also, about a year ago I was approached by two customers who wanted me to clean their windows because they didn't like them cleaned with a WFP.  I refused and said they should complain to their current window cleaner in the first instance.  I also explained how the pure water works to them.

I assumed it was our Ian_Giles.  I warned him off; but it wasn't him.

So I called back and took the accounts.

Nor would I undercut to get work.  That's for mugs and doesn't help anyone.

Everything else is fair game.  In the Spring, I will be sending a version of Sarah's letter to various commercial accounts.  I'll also leaflet and canvass some residential areas; pushing WFP.  (None of them yours though; no worries, mate).

If a full time ladder-user who didn't know me 'poached' one of my accounts, then it's 'tough-titty' on me; no hard feelings.  It's the same vise-versa too.