Winter Wonderland

Hello everyone,

Winter is upon us although for us today it's rainy but temps are like 56. Shocking for December in New Jersey but we like it; makes for a good work day; no icicles on our crews today.

Anyhow winter is the time when you kind of get to wipe the slate clean and start fresh in a new year. We get to make promises to change things about ourselves personally and professionally. Everyone knows that theses promises usually last about a week maybe two if you have a lot of will power which I have none of. I didn't inherit that gene.

This time of year also keeps us in Wonderland for at least a week or so. I bet you are curious as to what I mean by this and if you're not I'm gonna tell you anyway. Every year we as a company take this time to make changes in the company. We all sit down and go over what has worked well for us and what hasn't. We also get to come up with some creative ways to expand on what we do have and make it better. Sounds great so far right. Well this all usually starts when we get back from our short holiday break this way everyone has a chance to regroup and come back refreshed, ready to spring back into creativeness.

The only thing is until we get back from break we all spend the time prior wondering what will go on, in our land of window cleaning. See we (and yes I mean even me) don't get an inside peek on what THE MAN has in store for any of us until the very last possible second. I'm convinced that he handles it this way because he can't make up his mind until the very last second. I'm sure he comes up with different ways to handle the winter and new year at least 100 times before he presents it to us plus he gets a kick out of leaving us in our state of wonderland.

I hope everyone enjoyed my little blog today. I know I enjoy doing them. Have a great week.

The Appointed One

The Name Game

Good Morning Everyone. I hope your Thanksgiving was great.

I have kind of a weird situation that comes up in spurts here. We service a large area within 3 states and have a pretty common name so I guess this was bound to come up sooner or later.

We get calls from time to time asking if we are either the Septic Company or the Landscaping Company. This is all understandable to a point. However our company name is All County Window Cleaning; the septic company is All County Septic and the landscaping company is All American Landscaping. I can still after pointing out the difference totally see how we can all be confused with each other; Hey it happens to the best of us which is why I love that Bill Engvall. He is the guy who does the redneck comedy with Jeff Foxworthy, He does a bit called "Here's Your Sign" for those of you who don't know who he is. Very Funny Stuff !!

Anyway the one name game I don't like playing all the time is the one where we are confused with another window cleaning company who actually has the same name as us. This is a good thing and bad thing at times. Before I go on I must point out that this other company with the same name services some areas south of us that we don't service BUT he also services a few of the same areas we do as well. Let's start with the downside. We call a potential customer who we have never serviced before trying to gain their business and we are shot down right away because this customer has used All County Window Cleaning and was not happy. The other instance is where they insist that we already service them and we know that we don't. We really want to but we don't. All of this is usually fixable if not right then and there usually within a short period of time.

OK now for the upside. Once we put the knowledge into potential clients brains that we are another company totally separate from the other All County Window Cleaning and we prove what type of services and standards we offer to our customers we end up with the business we wanted to obtain in the first place and even better than that we are able to completely change a persons attitude toward the service industry which helps everyone all around. Plus between you and I making a new relationship with a customer and changing someones idea of us is a personal victory is my eyes. Nothing makes my day at work more than nabbing that big sale or hearing back from a customer how wonderful we were and how they are so glad they gave us the chance to work with them.

That's my story this week. Words of wisdom to go with it... If you have a similar situation out there turn it to your advantage. Offer customers your version of the service, direct them to your website if they appear skeptical of who you really are. Offer to send them literature on your company to spark a recognition and always always offer the perks of your service BUT never never down talk another company. This can and will always come back to bite you later. Karma is wonderful thing trust me.

Until Next Week Have a Prosperous One,
The Appointed One

Holiday Tips

Hello I'm sure everyone is either going nuts trying to get ready for thanksgiving or dying of anticipation for that yummy turkey. I'm the earlier one of those two.


Today I wanted to bring up a subject that comes up alot more this time of year than any other. "Do I have to tip the guys and how much should I tip them" Holidays seem to just bring out the best in people don't they? Anyhow this has always been an awkward question for me. I don't know exactly why but it makes me uncomfortable. I don't like to tell people how much extra they should give especially when they are already paying a good amount for our service. However I did come up with a response that gets me out of committing anyone to any particular amount. "Well that all depends on your comfort level, You are not required to tip them but if you feel comfortable and that they are doing a wonderful job you are welcome to tip them whatever you decide"


This is the best answer I can come up with that is good enough for everyone without appearing to be money hungry people or depriving the techs of any extra they work hard for. I know they would all probably string me up by my toes if they knew I was telling a customer they didn't have to tip them but from a business stand point we need to be fair. Besides you get customers ranging from the little old lady who you know really can't afford our service to begin with all the way up to the customer who has us come in several times a year for a high amount without flinching. You don't want to make anyone feel bad if they can't tip and you certainly don't want to insult anyone who definitely can.


Our techs nine times out of ten do a phenomenal job and are very deserving of tips. They also come back with tips regularly throughout the year. It just seems to be this time of year it comes up more and more. I know from past experiences there are alot of businesses where the employees are not allowed to accept tips or gifts. We are not one of them which is great for the techs seeing as how with some of the customers they deal with residential as well as commercial they are so more than deserving of it.


So that is my holiday tip story of the week. Hopefully this will give some insight on how to politely deal with the tip question to fellow window cleaners and provide an acceptable solution to customers questions as well. I hope everyone enjoys their holidays.


Have a Safe and Wonderful Holiday,
The Appointed One

Collections

Hello window cleaning world,

Is everyone enjoying the weather? It's a bit cold for me and we are almost due for some real snow here.. Times like this I wish I lived on a tropical island and am very grateful that I work indoors.
Anyway today I want to shed some light on the daily frustrations of our very own "Money Bags" We all give her a hard time about being harsh and brutal at times with customers but let's look at it from her point of view for a minute. How many times can you call the same person looking for payment and keep a smile on your face when each time you call they act like it's the first time they have talked to you?! I consider myself a patient person although everyone here thinks I'm a spaz. I manage to keep a cool head when it comes to customers. "Money Bags" on the other hand consistently gets the ones that haven't paid in like 6 months who either dodge the calls or again act like it's the first time they have talked to us, you know the type. "Umm Oh really I thought that was paid, Could you send me a copy of that bill, I sent payment to you already" Now you are sitting here looking at all your notes on this customer which shows 1. It was never paid, 2. You already faxed, mailed and emailed the bill to them and 3. The last bill paid was the service before the one you are trying to collect on.
Believe me I understand the bind everyone is put in especially with the way the economy is right now. We are in a bind as well... my personal theory is that if you don't have the money then don't order the service but at the same time if people don't order the service then we don't have jobs but again if people keep booking appts. and not paying we won't have jobs either.
"Money Bags" handles collections the best way she can. I know she tries to work with customers at times working out payment deals, arranging for us to go in person to pick up payment and even waiving bills at times due to a late complaint on service. There are some instances where customers just flat out refuse to pay us or just keep avoiding us leaving her no choice but to send off to our legal collections guy.
I apologize to any customer who has felt that they were treated in a mean manner that is never our intention. To avoid conflict please find a way to pay us. We are not horrible people we will work with you if you work with us. Window Cleaners I would suggest the same for you always be willing to work with a customer who is willing to work with you. Remember anyone can end up in a bad situation at any time.

Have a great week,
The Appointed One

Undercut Pricing

Hello out there,

This is generally the time of year people call looking for bids on their corporate buildings, schools and communities in an effort to put together budgets. This is great since a window cleaners dream is a large job that can be completed in a good amount of time and is guaranteed to repeat at the very least annually. Sounds all good and fine right? Yea until the bidding process takes place and you realize that quality and standard isn't really a consideration in the acceptance of the bid. Now don't get me wrong I'm not totally bitter or trying to insinuate that our company is superior over all others BUT when you know who your bidding against it makes it hard not to be upset when you don't get the bid and you know this client will be calling around again because they aren't satisfied with the work performed by the guy who undercut us by like half.
I get told all the time by my co workers and my boss that I am a spaz and act like a maniac when things like this come up and I don't disagree; I do however think it's my spasticness and passion that makes me good at what I do. You all know that there is a decent amount of time and effort into placing these large bids. Driving out there, meeting with someone who talks your head off for hours (Mr. Fancy Pants will attest to this), putting together the bid in a professional manner, then following up just to find out that some one man show or a very large company underbid you by half if not more. Please don't take offense and get all personal on me you all know you have felt this way one time or another (IF you haven't yet.. trust me you will)
We are a higher priced company than some others out there BUT we also offer a higher standard of service than some others out there as well. It is this standard that makes me wish companies and schools would consider that in their decisions along with price. Most times we hear "Well we went with the lowest bid" That's fine especially with the economy the way it is. To be honest I do get some satisfaction when I look at the size of the job and know that for the money being charged the guy who got the bid will suffer working ridiculously hard for no money at all because he underbid it so much. (Yea I know go ahead say it.. I'm a mean spiteful witch) Then of course there are the situations where a few weeks or months go by and that same company who laughed at your estimate is calling asking if you could complete the job by like... mmm.. tomorrow. In these cases sometimes I wish I could say No sorry you should have thought about that before... Then reality kicks in and I say sure we can do it no problem because we are the better company at that point. Satisfaction granted..
My words of wisdom for the week.. Bite your tongue when you can, Keep having conversations in your head..(as crazy as that sounds) it's those made up conversations in my head that save my sanity daily and keep the conflict to a minimum. Window Cleaners and Clients please look at more than dollar signs when bidding and accepting jobs.. There should be a code of conduct among us all. Don't laugh I said "SHOULD BE" I'm not that naive.

Have a Great Week,
The Appointed One

Good Guy, Bad Guy You Decide.....

Good Morning,

I have an issue myself this week, it's not a new issue but it's one that come up usually around this time every year and maybe I just take things too personally sometimes but it bugs me. I as the Appointed One don't think I'm a mean person unless I have to be. Don't laugh I'm serious, yea I know I'm a girl so I must be moody and whatever but who isn't sometimes....
Anyway there seems to be this ice dam that goes up between office staff and techs which seems to get worse in the winter. Techs think we (office staff) don't understand what they go through nor do they believe that we work anywhere near as hard as they do. To some extent they are right; I know I personally do not fully understand what they face when they are out in the field. All I do know is that I do the best I can to get the most accurate info from a customer and get their schedules to work out the best possible way I can while making sure there is enough work on the schedule as well.
I do work in the office and yes I do work a pretty set schedule as does the other members of the office staff. The techs do work a variety of hours based on what we get onto the schedule for them. I do get to work inside unexposed to the weather and as they like to point out sit and talk on the phone all day while they are outside getting wet and cold, doing physical labor all day. What they don't see is the battling we do over the phone trying to defend them and keep customers somewhat calm while trying to keep the job on the schedule or get more on.
I am NOT unsympathetic to their situations out in the field when they are at a job where the customer misinformed us during an estimate causing the job to double in size and we get on the phone and offer some "ridiculous" deal to keep the job on instead of letting them just walk off and forget it. However if we did this everytime a job went haywire and it was yucky weather out they would complain that they weren't making enough money or "it wasn't even worth getting out of bed" I look at saving a job or negotiating a better deal for the customer as keeping them working making some money as opposed to not working at all making no money. When this happens which thankfully isn't too too often although it seems that way during the winter months when everyone and everything is freezing the techs take it as we don't care and understand. I wish we could make the techs totally understand what we deal with in the office sometimes. I would rather be out freezing and wet at times than dealing with some people and issues inside.
At the end of the day we all get the work done and go our separate ways and come payday when they are making the bigger bucks they suddenly realize that we are not the enemy. Just like mom sometimes we know best... Now you can all laugh.
Have a great week,
The Appointed One

.....But It's Raining

Hello out there, Hope all is well with the world today. Rain, snow and high winds are pretty much the only three elements that can ruin any window cleaners day. If you have been in the window cleaning business long enough and have employees as great as ours who are willing to tough it out and still show the utmost respect for a customers home; you know windows can be cleaned just as well on a rainy day as a bright, sunny day. Try explaining that concept to a customer who is terrified of spots, dirt and water.
There are a few magic words that can fix this most times. "We offer a RAIN GUARANTEE" IF the customer notices any spots or streaks after the rain stops they can call us back and we will fix it for (ready for the dirty four letter word?) FREE.. Yea I know I'll wash my mouth out with soap later but for now the goal is to keep work on schedule. We don't offer guarantees like this unless we are sure about our competence and ability. Look at it this way either way the customer wins.. the job is either done to perfection the first time or we come back out for free to touch up any spots. If that happens (which it rarely ever does) we lose out the customer still ends up with clean windows and no extra money out of pocket.
Logic tells us that no one would call out of work, expect the coffee shop or the cable guy to shut down because it's raining so why is it so crazy for window cleaners to keep working? Would anyone stop taking care of their families or tolerate anyone doubting your ability to do so because of the weather?? I don't think so.
Window cleaners need to find ways to make customers trust that we know what we are doing and that we can and will complete the job to their satisfaction with the most respect shown at all times despite the weather. If we can't the alternatives are: don't work, sit around singing the "rain, rain go away" song or find out how to do the indian rain dance in reverse. I don't know about you but I don't really know all the words to that song nor do I have any connections in the rain dance department, soo.......

Until next time enjoy the weather and best of luck to you all,
The Appointed One

Excuses

Hello again, Hope everyone out there is doing well all around. We are all starting to take turns getting sick in here but hey tis the season (as stupid and yucky as it is).

Every company in the service industry is feeling the whole economy slump especially right about now when things are usually booking faster than we can enter it. Things are good but slower than usual for this time of year so far and as I mentioned we know what's going on in the economy, we all see what's happening with peoples' jobs, even the banks are making changes which is a little scary BUT what makes and breaks my day are the lame excuses we get over the phone from customers.

We make calls several times a year reminding repeat customers it's time to clean the windows or power wash the home. This time of year we focus on gutter cleaning and our newest rainflow gutter protection. We even offer extra special deals for repeat customers on top of the advertised stuff they get in the mail. In an effort to get you off the phone customers make up the strangest excuses rather than just tell you the truth either they can't afford it, they used someone else, or they just aren't interested which leaves you with one of the following.

Breaking your day: This could be where you call a repeat customer. They have been using you for the last several years and suddenly you are the enemy. They claim that you damaged something or missed something, even did a horrible job. Yet all the notes you have say nothing about any issues and even the follow up call and survey card say "what a wonderful crew, I was so excited after the work was done can't wait to see you again next year" So you ask "Why didn't you let us know when it happened" and they say "Well we didn't want to get anyone in trouble" or "We didn't think you would do anything about it" Of course none of these are the case it just sounds better to them if they have some other reason other than their own decision to turn us away. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying we never have an issue but we always do our best to address them when we are told about it. The only other real scenario that breaks my day is when the answering machine picks up you go through your whole spiel then someone picks up and says "oh they're not home now and hangs up" Please come on now why in the world would they bother to pick up the phone I was just about done with my message..... JEEZ!

Making your day: There are so many excuses that come through that just make you either stop and think for a while about whether you are the crazy one or just flat out crack up. For example when we get a customer on the phone who has used us for several years then took like a two year break. You make your offer and they say " we never used you how did you get our information?" or "I'm on the do not call list it's illegal for you to call me" These leave me scratching my head rechecking the number I dialed and reviewing the customers info. Then I laugh after confirming that I'm not the crazy one. I love the brain teaser excuses which take 2 or 3 other people to figure out what the excuse has to do with the call. Ready for these? "My house was just painted blue last month call me back next year", "No I can't have you come out it's gonna rain" and finally these two are my favorite.. "Who are you, what did we do when, huh I'm sorry I don't understand" and "I'm on my way out (or in a bank even at a funeral) can't talk now" With these calls you generally don't get a chance to say a word after they are done because they hang up. If you think about it though they are hilarious cuz why would you answer the phone if you were running out, for god sake why would you even have your phone on at a funeral especially in this day and age with caller ID and watch out now voicemail.

As funny and frustrating as these calls may be at the end of the day it's making these calls that puts you over the top so please take my advice it will help at least one person out there. Go to the bathroom before you start your calls, keep plugging along don't let anyone get under your skin and don't ever give up! Keep taking the good with the bad; trust me the good will outweigh everything else in the end.

Just a side note for any potential customers reading this please, please just be straight with us. I would much rather hear "Not interested" or "found someone to do it for less" than be strung along to a dead end.

Have a great week everybody,

The Appointed One

Coupons Expire

Good Morning!! Yes it is a good morning, the sun is shining, it's just the right amount of chilly and I managed to squeak by my last blog without getting grounded.Today I need to vent a little bit about coupons and special pricing offers. This stuff is almost always handled by "The Marketeer" she puts together all the advertisements we send out periodically with special offers for loyal customers as well as new customers. Most of our advertising is directed toward a seasonal theme. She puts a lot of time into making each advertisement as appealing as possible. She also tries to ensure that the customer has enough time to take advantage of these specials by spacing the expiration dates out pretty far. When business gets slow on top of these wonderful coupons we make calls from here to offer special limited time offers and again we make sure that the offers are valid usually for at least a month. Do you think people pay attention to these expiration dates; verbal or printed? NO THEY DON'T!

Let's take a little trip down summer '08 memory lane. The Marketeer sent out these fabulous cards at the beginning of August offering long time awaited discounted prices lower than they've been in more than 3 years. (pretty exciting so far huh?)

Everything was to expire August 30, 2008. Then on top of this fabulous card we made our calls offering even more deals on top of the printed offers because let's face it when people are on vacation no one is around to get the windows done or houses power washed. Once again these offers were valid until the end of August. To make things better we even extended all the offers out to September 15, 2008. Do you think this made a difference to our customers? Are you getting excited yet? (I know the suspense is killing you isn't it?). Finally some of the offers were extended even further to September 30, 2008. I bet you're wondering why.

Well here we go fast forwarding to today October 15, 2008. Hope no one got whip lash on that trip. (If you're not laughing you should be). Customers are calling to book appointments for our lowest price ever promotions. What do you think my response is? "Well sorry but that offer is expired" Can you guess what I get back?.... ready here it comes my favorite part.. "How can it be expired I just got the card in the mail" and "Well you didn't run that special very long I just got your message"

So here are my potential reasons for these kind of responses. One the post offices and phone companies have it in for us. The postal service is keeping our mailings hostage until they feel like sending them out in order to sabotage us. The phone company has the same idea so they are internally re-routing our calls to other places until our offers expire then sending them to the right machine. Big Conspiracy to sabotage our business and yours too so be very careful.

Two the most logical reason is the customer is tossing our card aside or hitting the delete button on the machine because they don't want to deal with it without thinking first. Then later on when they actually spend the 2 minutes it takes to look at the windows or the siding of the house causing them to call us with a major case of amnesia; wanting the deals that have expired a month ago. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is the real reason they didn't call for the specials prior to their expiration date.

Lesson of the day would be: Customers please please pay attention to expiration dates and take a minute to listen to our messages... maybe even return the call. We can always book appointments in advance. Fellow window cleaners maybe we can all make more of an effort to make expiration dates clearer, BIGGER, BOLDER.

Have a Great Week,
The Apointed One

Communication

Good Morning ,

"WHATEVER" has been the key word around here all week. As I mentioned previously we function just like a real life family and this is one of those phases where the famous term "whatever" comes into play. You ever get mad at a family member and you guys don't speak about anything even if its important? Well that's kinda what it feels like in here sometimes. There is missing information from a customers file or a new customer is entered then just left incomplete and if you wind up being the last person to have dealt w/ that customer you get the fifty questions as to why when something goes wrong. Then everyone is just like "whatever". This particularly stinks when it's a customer who ends up getting away w/ a scam b/c the "whatever" factor took leaving lots of holes in the line of communication.

For example yesterday I got a call from a prospective customer looking to book work off of a conversation she had previously w/ the marketeer. This customer had stated that she was close to the family and was offered a really good deal b/c of this relationship and b/c she had our closest competitor out to her home. Everything she was telling me made sense and seemed legit based on deals we were running back in the summer. The only problem is all that pricing had ended but again I was told b/c of who she was she could have the deal.. SURPRISE there were no notes at all about this woman so my gut said to just blow her off for now BUT I also didn't want to turn away a job especially considering she was pretty local. I was able to verify that she did have some distant connection to the family. Today however I spoke to the Marketeer who had the original contact w/ this woman and was told that she wasn't gonna do the work at all. So once again the "WHATEVER" factor came into play and another customer gets away w/ a spectacular deal and I'm awaiting the consequences of being the one who booked the work. (I'll probably be grounded for a week.. no t.v. LOL)

This is absolutely hilarious b/c when you think about it it happens so much to everyone where ever you go. Everyone tries to get something for nothing, families fight and make up, but at the end of the day COMMUNICATION is the key to success. So take this lesson we learn daily and use it wisely to get through the obstacles of business as well as life as smoothly as possible.

Have a Great Week.

--
Shannon Horvath
Commercial Sales Manager
All County Window Cleaning
47 Rt. 94
Vernon, NJ 07462
P - 973-827-8311
F - 973-827-8312

Job Estimating

Good Morning, Hope everyone is well and happy today. How many estimates are done per day? Anyone have any idea? Me neither. I know it's more than I can keep track of. The one thing I do know for sure is that some days you have a much better chance of winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning than getting information out of customers on the phone.
We do our free estimates over the phone for residential customers. We try to ask as few questions as possible in the easiest way possible yet we get the sigh right away. You know what I'm talking about.. when you say "I just have a few quick questions for you" and you get the long sigh w/ the following statements.. "I don't know how many windows I have" or "I don't have time for this can't you just send someone out" or my favorite " Ohhhh you do this over the phone"
Well yes of course we do this over the phone.. we don't have someone on staff to just run around counting windows for us. That would cost more money which in turn would cost the customer more money (which they aren't happy about spending in the first place). We have a website with pictures of windows to help w/ the estimating process, plus I think our questions are easy enough to answer.... I mean most customers call about their own house so one would think that we should have some idea of what the windows look like.. right??.
Once in a while you do get the customer who is very old and hard of hearing, the guy who just builds houses, or the couple who buys houses just to flip them leaving them with no clue as to what is actually in the house, not to mention the one customer who just flat out refuses to answer your questions and insists on having an in person estimate or they will use someone else. When this happens we really aren't left with too many options other than send Mr. Fancy Pants out to estimate or tell the customer we don't have anyone to do this so they will have to wait until we are in the area which could be weeks from now; then hope they don't find someone else in the meantime to do the job.
Most times we are able to get the estimate over the phone and we come very very close to the actual count with the exception of the few times that we show up and the job has doubled or is no where near the type of windows we discussed. My recommendation to avoid losing jobs or making anyone mad is: Questions need to be as basic as possible and the customers need to be made aware of any existing policies on estimating up front which is something we do all the time. We even print these policies on our work orders for everyones protection. We have a fairly large service area, offer a high quality service and try to keep prices as in line as we can without sacrificing what counts; so this is the only option I see unless you can and want to employ someone to wait then run around to do in person estimates all day.

Deposits

In our line of work and society deposits have unfortunately become necessary. I can't count how many times we have shown up at a job and either the customer isn't home and never bothered to cancel their appt, or they no longer like the price so they tell us to leave.

At this point we have spent useless time, energy, gas, wear and tear on the trucks and I'm sure at some point made another customer annoyed because we couldn't accommodate their appt request just to be left holding the squeegee. Then there's the part where the Marketeer and myself The Appointed One gets in trouble for not having at least a credit card on file to charge the cancellation fee to.


Deposits and Credit Cards are part of everyday life; yet when we ask for one people act shocked and offended which is not our intention at all. When these same people try to rent a car, book a hotel room or a flight does the deposit or up front cost get waived because they act shocked and offended.... NO it doesn't because it's accepted for those businesses. I think we are better than those businesses in the respect that we will at least apply the deposit to their balance or brace yourself now... ready... actually REFUND the money if the customer cancels with the appropriate 24 hours notice.

Yes I know the shock of using and actually enforcing the "refund" word is a bit vulgar this early in the day but I have to be brutally honest here. These other businesses don't refund your money at all they give you vouchers to be used within a year with them so you can't take your business anywhere else. Some will even deduct a percentage depending on how much notice you give them. All we want to do is give people a little incentive to remember us, t0 call us if you can't keep your appt. Face it window cleaners are not the top priority in everyone's day like the propane guy, or the electric company, hell lets face it window cleaners don't even rank up there with the cable guy. However we are happy to reschedule when needed or even offer other options without penalizing people.

I know there are exceptions to every rule like the 90 year old customer who has used you for the last 50 years of their life and has paid on site each time (and according to the techs tip really really well) may not need to leave a deposit. Either way please just keep in mind that the deposit is for everyone's protection and benefit. Hopefully I have been able to shed a little light on the Deposit/Credit Card issues we all deal with. Have a Great Week.

Hello!

Good Morning,


All County Window Cleaning is a small, family owned and operated company which offers a lot more than just window cleaning. If you have ever been on our site or used our service you know that we offer an array of other services including gutter cleaning and a new gutter protection, power washing, chandelier and other glass surface cleaning as well as one of our newer services scratched glass removal. I'll be here regularly to give you an inside look on how this all works but now for some introductions.


Everyone here is like family even the ones who aren't blood related including myself fit in. We even fight just like real family. There are 7 of us in the office who keep our business running daily. This doesn't count the"Big Guy" who started the whole thing, Our Sales Person or the Go To Guy; I'll get to them a little later.


There's "Money Bags" who handles our collections and payroll, there's "The Marketeer" who handles the mailings and advertising, "The Don" who handles all things schedule related, deals directly with the techs in the field and fixes our mess ups that happen from time to time. "Missy" who handles the end of the day work, helps get work on schedule and fiddles with money from time to time. Then there's me "The Appointed One" who handles commercial accounts, residential scheduling and gets to stick my nose into everyone else's' job whenever I get appointed; which seems to be daily despite the fact they all tell me that I get too worked up about things and tend to act like a maniac at times. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, It's part of what I do and apparently I've been really good at it until now. (We'll see how this blog thing goes over..LOL). Anyhow we all function together for the same goals; to keep all the techs out there working and keeping "The Man" (that's what we'll call the big guy for now) happy.


"The Man" is our boss we all answer to and argue with him on a regular basis. I think he likes the fighting personally to burn off all that energy he puts into himself. "Mr Fancy Pants" handles most of our estimates, gets the commercial accounts in the door and loves to fixate on grammar and spelling (I'm sure he'd have a field day w/ this blog) but he is one of the best sales people to deal with. Finally there is "Negative Nancy" the go to guy who goes out to investigate issues and heads up the really big projects. "Negative Nancy" is one of the best at what he does but gets his kicks off making me nervous saying things can't be done then completing them before the timeline even expires. Please feel free to use this blog as a reference for everyone I refer to in the future... If any names need to change I'll let you know.


For a small window cleaning company we certainly handle some pretty large tasks regularly and the purpose of this blog is to share experiences with the public, customers and competitors included plus it's slightly entertaining. We love feedback good or bad and are always looking to improve things. If you don't believe me ask anyone including "The Man" who changes his mind on things more times than any of us can count. This is a good thing I guess because the reality is being on your toes is a necessity to stay alive in this business as with any.