The 3 Ways to Immediately Charge More For Your Window Cleaning
January 13, 2009 – 11:25 pmOkay, here’s another quick lesson on pricing, and how to avoid doing this the completely wrong way.
First things first: There is no such thing as the correct price.
I know that you’ve heard me say that before, so let’s reiterate that right away.
That being said, the only price that you should be interested in as a window cleaning business owner looking to achieve rapid, profitable revenue growth is as HIGH a price as possible.
Would you rather earn $60/hr or $100/hr? Obviously, the latter. Well, you can only achieve that by doing one of the three following things:
- Working Faster.
- Charging More.
- Working Faster & Charging More.
So, which one will it be for you?
I recommend the third option, or the second option, but not necessarily the first option on its own.
So, how can you pull off charging more?
What’s the first step you should take to achieve that?
Here it is: Price your services based on User-Side Value (USV), not Supply-Side Costs (SSC).
Here’s an example to illustrate the vast potential difference between USV and SSC:
Let’s say that a potential client requests an estimate to clean their exterior windows only, and so you pop by their house to take a look. Once you arrive, you quickly realize that you’ll be able to complete this window cleaning job in approximately 1.5 hours, and since you want to earn a healthy $60/hr, some quick math brings you to a price of $90.
Sound familiar? That is the SSC pricing formula.
If you’re like 95% of window cleaning business owners, this is the formula you use to create your pricing structure, and while it will produce a healthy, solid revenue stream (who can say that $60/hr isn’t a great wage!?), it is probably leaving money on the table.
Here’s why: USV has nothing to do with SSC economics. No correlation whatsoever.
Just because your time is worth $60/hr to you, and you’ll only take 1.5 hours to complete this job, this has nothing to do with how much value the homeowner places on your services, and the amount of money that they would be willing to pay for you to do this cleaning for them.
For instance, if they had to do this cleaning themselves, how annoying would it be for them to haul out the ladders, get their dirty work clothes on, feel scared the whole time, use tools that work poorly, and create a very poor result? And now think of what else they are missing out on because they have to spend hours of their free time on the weekend, when they could be with their friends at the game, relaxing with a pint, taking a catnap, or playing with their kids…
Doing mental exercises like this helps you to calculate the approximate USV, and extends a vastly further reaching, completely different, liberating pricing parameter around your services. (yes, that is a very long sentence that simply means ‘you’ll be able to charge WAY more this way’).
So, try it next time you are invited to bid on a new contract. Instead of simply using the old-standby SSC formula, crunch a quick USV formula too, and go with that number instead.
I guarantee that you’ll be delighted by the results.
Incidentally, if you can charge even 20% more than what you’re charging right now, by using this formula, you can work one day a week less in 2009, and make the same money you made in 2008.
Not bad for looking at pricing the RIGHT way from now on. 
Kevin
P.S. Of course, there are limits to how far you can go, but I would not be surprised to hear that you can charge 50%-100% more right away, simply by asking for it, and looking people straight in the face when you give them your higher price, without flinching.
And this is also assuming that you’re not doing anything else special for them, which I wouldn’t recommend. Kick up your marketing, make them feel good about giving you their money, and you’ll get away with charging 100%-200+% in 2009.
I’m not kidding. Do it.
P.S.S. Of course, if you’d like to learn more about window cleaning marketing and how to really supercharge it, this will help.
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