I'm with everyone above, all good stuff.
But if i'm honest, I don't know! I have no idea what the competition offer, so I don't know If i'm any better or worse.
I don't know if they clean better or worse than me, if their poles are longer than mine, if they're polite and personable, if they do insides etc etc...no idea. So therefore I can't really compare.
I see guys driving around in nice new vans that look great. I also see guys driving around in old vans. I buy my water, so I meet a lot of these guys in old vans and they are top blokes. Really nice genuine guys.
I also see (yes we've all seen it) an old van, 3 guys jump out, trad a place in 2 mins and jump back in the van. Perhaps on that occasion we may have some kind of measure. But for £6 per house, we may not. We're back to 'square one'.
So there's lots going on. We're all doing the same thing but in lots of different ways.
Your initial post sounds very confusing and i'm not sure what you're trying to achieve, but this is what I do.
Separate my business into 2 different areas.
1. Marketing
So what is marketing? There's a billion explanations, i'm old school and you can argue this until the 'cows come home' but i'm going to run with this...
'Marketing is your business from your CUSTOMERS' point of view.'
So it's EVERYTHING your customer comes into contact with, regarding YOU.
It's the way you answer your phone (or perhaps you let it ring and go to voicemail).
How polite you are on the phone.
Do you provide a quote over the phone or pop round the same day to quote.
Once the customer has put the phone down, what opinion do they have of you?
You can go on and on and on and on!
It's a story... and it starts when the customer sees your advertising (we'll come to that next) and phones you, right through to when you finish the job and the customer pays you. In marketing terms, the whole thing is a journey which YOU can change and improve. So this is about YOU. What you offer, how you work, in fact everything.
Try and put yourself in your customers' shoes and think what do I really want.
Let's have some examples:
A - I picked up a new customer because the guys were swearing! He said they did a great job but he didn't like the language.
That's marketing, that's the way the customer sees you.
B - My friend Dan is starting out and he gets all my crap work. I give the enquiry his number and he deals with it. But he never answers his phone! In addition it takes ages to go to voicemail. I wonder how many enquiries he's lost because he didn't answer his phone? I always answer my phone and I always say this:
"Sorry to interrupt but i'm just up a ladder at the moment, can I call you back in 20 minutes?"
I'm never up a ladder! but it buys me time, so I can carry on cleaning and the enquiry is more than happy to prevent me 'having a non existent fall'!
Now I am being a bit specific here and perhaps a bit up my own backside, but this is marketing and that window cleaner has lost a good customer (£15 for 15 minutes).
Now i'm not saying any of the above is right or wrong, it's just what works for me.
So, if I look at the service I offer... FROM A CUSTOMERS' POINT OF VIEW and i'm honest with myself, perhaps I can improve a few things.
Having said all that, most of us just do this stuff naturally anyway, without even thinking about it.
The bigger the business, the more this stuff really makes a difference.
Number 2 - Advertising.
So what is advertising? Again you can argue this all day long but i'm going to run with:
'Advertising is the means, by which you make known, that which you have to buy or sell.'
Remember we also advertise to buy stuff 'Wanted cheap sofa' etc, as well as selling.
I think some of the first adverts were in Roman times; advertising gladiatorial combat in the colosseums.
They simply used to write on the walls.
So where do I advertise? that's the million dollar question!
Unfortunately you won't like the answer.
The answer is:
Different things work for different businesses in different areas.
We've all heard it.
Some people swear by canvassing.
Some say leaflets are the way forward. Others say leaflets are a waste of time.
Some have had great results from Facebook, others says the leads are a waste of time.
So who's right. They all are.
The trick is to try a nibble of everything and see what gets the best results FOR YOU.
The problem at the moment is there are so many options on where to advertise it can get daunting, especially with the rise of social media.
I can't say what works for you but I:
Did leaflet drops of 10,000 at a time, worked very well.
Had a friend out canvassing - also worked well.
Google adwords - expensive and not so good for me.
Website - always good.
Google my business - exceptionally good.
Recommendation - lots of those.
Magazine advertising - good but too many elderly customers (sorry)!
Facebook - never done it.
Next door - never done it.
So how do I rate if it's good or not?
How much did I spend? How much did I get back?
You're looking for the formula of where you get the best return for your money.
In general, this is what you look for.
Not always true though!
I am doing some advertising in a little local magazine (it's dirt cheap and I design my own ads).
However, it is read by old people, so I am picking up a few new elderly customers every week.
Unfortunately the word 'old' and 'hospital' go together. So as much as these new customers are lovely customers, I am not sure they are great for streamlining and building my business.
But you have to try these things to know if it works or not.
Let's take this a step further:
I offer roof cleaning at £700 a pop. (I don't but let's pretend).
So where do I advertise?
How about Tescos?
You can put up a nice looking stand showing before and after pictures in their foyer.
It's not cheap (we're back to return on investment) but how many customers would you get over 3 days?
So, to go back to the original question:
What can I do better than the competition?
I think this is an 'open question' because we honestly don't know about the competition.
I think a better question would be:
'What does the customer actually want'?
It's not such a silly question, when you think about it.
e.g.
I clean some council estates and their main focus is price. Plain and simple.
Yes they want a nice guy to come round who is decent and honest but it's fundamentally price driven.
I could gear up my marketing plan for that: in and out for 12 quid each, a focus on 'low cost' advertising and away we go.
I am generalising here (to make a point) so there are some exceptions.
As you move to more affluent areas then (in my experience) it's more about
Who's coming onto my property?
Are they honest and decent?
Do they do a good job?
Price is important, but not so much the deciding factor.
Then we get to the massive houses with electric gates and all the trimmings.
I find these people are looking for a quality job but more about convenience.
You have to fit in with their schedule.
I also find these people are again, price conscious.
In my opinion, a lot of these customers spend a fortune on maintaining these houses and begrudge spending any money,
They also think that anyone asking for £70 to clean their windows is trying to rip them off.
Personally, I stay clear of these and stick to smaller, simpler, houses.
But again, this is just me.
So where are we at?
I wasn't actually sure what the OP was looking for so I've tried to show how I simplify things.
Or probably made it all much more confusing!
Firstly don't get jumbled up in this marketing, advertising mumbo jumbo confusing, where do I start crap.
Window cleaning is a very simple business so don't make it complicated.
Look at your business as 2 different sections.
1. Marketing - The way your customer sees you. It's everything, the way you look, the service you offer, the quality of your clean...everything from complete start to finish.
2. Advertising - The way you sell your business to others.
If you look at it in 2 different ways, you can separate one area from another and hopefully focus more easily on what you're trying to achieve.
Can I just add here that advertising is a part of marketing. Marketing is the whole thing and advertising is a part of it.
The more services you offer, the more complicated this can get. Also, the bigger your business, the more complicated it can get.
Having said all of the above, marketing is a lot of common sense stuff. It's more about being honest with yourself and your business. To come back to what I said earlier, I picked up a customer because the previous guys swore a lot.
You could say, they are just having a bit of banter, doesn't hurt anyone.
You could say, actually I've lost 6 customers this month where these guys are working.
I would say to the OP, if you have a sizeable business and are looking to move forward then perhaps look at doing a marketing course. This should give you many of the answers you need to help move your business forward.
Sorry if I've waffled on, but hopefully some bits on here will be of interest.
Personally, I've enjoyed a few hours on my own, Mrs Window Cleaner is out at Aquafit, and I am enjoying a fairly decent Merlot, practising my typing skills.
