Pressure Wash News April issue

TheGreat
TREND #3:
BUSINESSES
THAT MEASURE
THEIR MARKETING
EFFORTS WILL SEE
THE MOST GROWTH
In our survey, 80% of respondents said
they get new clients through word of mouth.
Other responses included:
✔ Google My Business (35%)
✔ Direct Mail, Flyers and Lawn Signs (35%)
✔ Website (30%)
✔ Facebook (25%)
✔ HomeAdvisor (10%)
Word of mouth will always be an important
marketing channel for service businesses,
but word of mouth alone won’t help
you scale or reach new markets.
In 2020, we expect to see window cleaning
and pressure washing pros double down
on measurable marketing channels to win
more business.
“The top channels I recommend for attracting new
clients in 2020 are Google Local Services Ads and
Amazon Home Services. When you set up marketing
systems instead of one-off marketing tactics, your
business will grow no matter what you’re doing.”
– Keith Kalfas, Kalfas Professional Services
“The best strategy for getting new leads has been
Google Ads and consistently posting content to our
Google My Business. We receive about ten leads per
day, and five of them heard about us from Google.”
– Dave Moerman, Revive Washing
“The most important thing for small businesses
when it comes to marketing is being found where
people want to find you. You need to make sure you
cover your basics: a Facebook page with the location
info filled in and a Google My Business account
with local information and service areas filled in.
It’s getting harder and harder to be found, and those
are the basics. If you don’t have the basics covered,
you don’t need to do anything else. Don’t hire anyone
to do SEO on your site. Don’t hire anyone to do
paid ads. Start with the basics.”
– Nick Keyko, Director of Marketing, Jobber
TREND #4:
HIRING REMAINS
A CHALLENGE
Hiring the right employees was named
the number one challenge across all industries
in our 2020 home services trends report.
For window cleaning and pressure washing
businesses in particular, two main issues
are hiring out of desperation and poor company
culture.
Because employees often come for the
money and stay for the culture, businesses
need to focus on creating a great culture. This
starts with owners relinquishing some control
and realizing they don’t have to go at it alone.
“A lot of service business owners think they are the
best and have to do all the work. This is a very
limiting mindset and will cap the growth and size
of your business. Hire people who are better at
certain tasks and activities than you are.”
– Dave Moerman, Revive Washing
You also need to make sure you’re hiring
the right employees in the first place.
One way to hire the right staff is to set standards
when you interview.
“You’re only as good as your weakest link. When
we interview, we stress that we want team players.
I used to hear people saying, ‘I don’t want to work
with this guy. I don’t want to work with that
guy.’ I don’t accept that anymore…We set certain
standards that we need our teams to meet, and we
stick to them. I will not tolerate not showing up,
not calling. That’s not even an option anymore.”
– Fred Hodge, Clearview LLC
Another way is to implement a hiring
process.
“We take steps to weed out those who aren’t going
to be a good fit. First, we take resumes and have
an initial phone meeting where I ask them a set
of scripted questions. If they get past me, then I
schedule a face-to-face with Fred. From there, we
go into employee manual training as well as field
training, where they’re out with the crews. This
is something we did not do before, but it’s very
surprising to see how much success we’ve had in
now finding the right people for us.”
– Christine Hodge, Clearview Washing LLC
PRICING
STRATEGIES
FOR SERVICE
BUSINESSES:
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
What are the different pricing strategies for service businesses? How do you
choose the one that’s right for you? Read on to learn almost everything you need
to know with this comprehensive service pricing strategies guide.
There’s more to pricing strategies than simply offering the lowest price to
beat your competitors. In fact, that may be one of the most dangerous pricing
strategies for service businesses, as it almost guarantees lost profits.
The right pricing strategy has to align with your business goals, whether these
are to maximize profitability, ensure your business’ longevity, or grow your customer
base.
■ The Challenges of Choosing
the Right Service Pricing Strategy
Selecting the right pricing strategy for your service business and ultimately
pricing your services is notoriously hard for several reasons:
The sheer number of pricing strategies for service businesses is overwhelming.
How do you know which one is right for your business?
No one job is the same. There are many nuances involved—like the travel
distance to clients, job complexities, etc.— which makes it hard to create accurate
estimates. As a result, you often only know what to charge as the service unfolds.
You have to manage your own insecurities, which may cause you to set low
prices in the hopes of winning the business
■ You Can Overcome Your Pricing Fears
and Get Comfortable with Service Pricing
Strategies
Pricing, like window cleaning, landscaping, or even marketing, is just another
skill you can master with time. So, instead of feeling intimidated or overwhelmed,
arm yourself with the right information from the start and you’ll soon
be a skilled pricing professional.
continued ...
6 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 2, NO. 2 | SPRING 2020