A window cleaning business is guaranteed a short life if it repeatedly commits the 7 cardinal sins of marketing. What exactly is a cardinal sin? The Roman Catholic Church early in its history divided sin into 2 categories. They were venial or minor, and could be forgiven with relative ease, and cardinal or major sins, which required much more church involvement for forgiveness. I am not going to go over what the Catholic Church taught were deadly sins. That way, when you arrive at the gates of heaven to meet Saint Peter, you can always say… I didn’t know!
Here are the 7 cardinal marketing sins in no particular order.
focused on me – A self-focused business will run around telling the public all about their achievements, awards, certificates and ego building activities. Most, if not all people outside the company could care less. They will practically ignore the pounding in your chest and are only concerned with what you can do to solve their problems.
Ignore previous clients – For some reason, companies believe that once a customer has purchased, they will automatically come back for their next purchase. I have had many conversations with business owners and managers about this. They seem to believe that people will return without any effort on their part.
Not finding out what the customer needs. – The biggest mistake I see is that people will start marketing a product or service before they know if there are buyers. For whatever reason, it seems that product or service creation comes before market research. The only way to explain this is to put the horse before the cart.
Most of the resources were spent on pursuing new clients – You will see companies that spend most of their time and money looking for new business. They will treat new customers better than previous customers. Often times, new customers will get the biggest discounts, free offers, and best bonuses.
Don’t differentiate yourself from the competition – Open the yellow pages and look in the window cleaning section. You will find that most of the ads look the same. They have the same 2-3 designs, say the same things and plaster slogans that only have meaning for the business itself.
There’s no reason why – A window cleaning company will not give you any reason why you should do business with them. They do not give any reason for any sale or discount. And forget about asking for a call to action. Don’t let your customer figure out why they should do business with you.
No risk investment – Most customers feel it is risky to do business with a company they have not tried before. They have had bad experiences in the past with companies in many different industries. The client is afraid that something will go wrong and you will not be there to correct it.
The sad part about this is that most companies commit some, if not all, of these sins. That could be one of the main reasons why businesses struggle to provide the lifestyle that owners dreamed a business would provide.
The solution is very simple… do the exact opposite of the 7 previous sins.
Focus on the customer – Recognize your awards and achievements. Make a big fuss and you’ll be rewarded.
Pay attention to previous clients – Focus on getting them to come back to do business with you again and again.
Find out what customers want and need – Ask the client what he wants, and offer him that product or service. They will flock to you. Plus, you’ll never have to guess what would be the best product or service to add next.
Spend most of your time, money, and energy winning back past customers – Your loyal customers will enjoy the rewards, they will be eager to come back and bring their friends. They will almost become evangelists for your company.
Differentiate yourself from the competition – Find out what makes you better and different. It will be easier for customers to recognize your window cleaning company.
Give customers a reason why they should do business with you – It’s as simple as telling them. Tell them why they should call you, why you’re rewarding them with a special discount, and tell them to call today.
reverse the risk – Take the risk of doing business with you and place it squarely on your shoulders. The best way to do this is with an easy-to-understand guarantee.
Take the list above and make it the central focus of your window cleaning business, and take a step back. Because you will start to see amazing things happen in the growth of your business.