How To Get More Window Cleaning Leads and Clients(without going door to door)

Like many small business owners, you might have thought that the whole marketing and lead generation thing was going to be easy.

Or at least easier.

I know I did.

Partly because there always seems to be that guy in every window cleaning group who says he’s taking home more than six figures without spending a dollar on advertising.

“Just do good work and people will call. Word of mouth is best” he says…

But you can’t sit around waiting for people to talk…

And if it’s not that guy you’ve probably heard plenty of others sharing advice like:

• Spend thousands on an amazing website (and hope that people will find it…somehow)
• Post on social media 22 times a day (hoping that people will start using Twitter to find window cleaning…)
• Go door-to-door every day (and if you don’t, then you must not want it bad enough, right?)
• Etc, etc, etc…

The problem with this type of advice is it’s usually only half right.

Putting out content (like your website, tweets or a blog post) of any kind without making sure that people actually see it is a waste of time.

But you also need to make sure that you’re getting front of the right people.

As in, they actually need window cleaning.

When you combine these two things (content and the right people) great things happen.

You’ll start generating more window cleaning leads, more clients and more revenue.

Sounds simple enough, right?

But how can we do this effectively?

How To Get People To See Your Business (and how to make sure they’re the right ones)

Before we get any further, we have to make sure we know who actually needs window cleaning.

And this is where a lot of people can get distracted.

Let’s take display marketing for example. When it comes to mediums like Facebook or magazines you’ve probably heard things like:

• Your Facebook ad will only be shown to married couples with an income greater than $100,000 a year that own a home…
• Our golf magazine has a circulation of 1,500 people and will be seen by homeowners in the area over the next month.
• Etc.

What’s the big problem here?

We don’t actually know if any of these people need window cleaning.

We’re trying to reach them while they’re checking up on grandma or learning about the latest putter without knowing anything about what they need.

But what if instead of asking them if they’re interested…

They just tell you, “Hey, I need a window cleaning company!”

That’s where search marketing comes in using the Google Ads platform.

You can show up the moment someone needs your service. That means instead of asking them they’re raising their hand and saying, “I need what you’ve got. Now convince me to pick you”.

And that’s really powerful.

So How Do Google Ads work?

Google Ads is a complex platform but here’s a quick overview of the basics:

• You select keywords or search phrases that you want to show up for along with the ones you don’t. For example, you might want to show up for “window cleaning” but not “window cleaning tools”.
• You decide how much you want to pay per click (this is your cost per click or CPC).
• You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and goes to your website.

While that seems pretty simple, there’s more to running a successful campaign than just checking off a few boxes and sitting back.

In fact, you’ve probably heard plenty of folks tell you that Google Ads doesn’t work, costs too much or is just a plain rip off.

If you don’t know what you’re doing then it will certainly feel that way.

But here’s what it looks like when you do know what you’re doing:

We’re looking at the results over 5 days (Monday through Friday) with a tight budget. There were 8 leads generated (conversions) at a cost of $29.90 per lead.

That’s on the high end of lead costs for window cleaning as this area is quite competitive with a high cost per click.

Should you expect to get these results on day one for your first campaign (on your own)?

Probably not.

Does that mean Google Ads is horrible?

Absolutely not.

As with everything in business, there’s a learning curve and if you don’t know what you’re doing it’s going to cost you something.

Sometimes time, sometimes money but often both.

Think about the first time you cleaned a window or dealt with a difficult customer. Probably wasn’t very smooth right?

But you got better.

Also like most things, you really have two options:

• Spend the time and money to learn how things work or
• Spend the money, save the time and pay a professional

But we will talk more about that later.

So why, exactly, isn’t everyone getting results like this?

It usually comes down to one of four things…

Problem #1: They’re using Google Ads Express

The Google Ads Platform can be intimidating.

To make things easier, Google has introduced Ads Express. However, what you gain in ease of use you pay for with inefficiency.

Here’s how one person put it:

The man has a point.

While you can get ads up and running in a few minutes using Ads Express, you end up with a very watered down campaign that leaks money all over the place.

One of the main problems is the lack of negative keywords (which we’re going to cover in the next section) but Express also limits your ad text and which search terms you can show up for.

I’ve spoken to many people who have completely written off Google Ads when they’ve only actually used the Express version.

So the next time you hear someone saying that Google Ads is horrible…ask “Did you just use Google Ads Express?”

Up to you if you want to bring in the crackhead comparison.

Problem #2: They’re Getting Too Many Bad Clicks (not using negative keywords effectively)

Within Google Ads, you have keywords and negative keywords. Simply put, keywords are the ones you want to show up for and negative keywords are the ones you don’t want to show up for.

For example, if you want to show up anytime someone types “window cleaning” you’re going to have to include words like tools and jobs in your negative keyword list.

That way you will show up for:

• Window cleaning Portland
• Window cleaning company

And not searches like:

• Tools for window cleaning
• Window cleaning jobs in Colorado

There’s a very good chance that if you type in “window cleaning tools” or “window cleaning kit” right now, you’re going to find someone wasting money with Google Ads.

Hopefully, it isn’t you.

Problem #3: They’re Not Getting Any Clicks (or just a few)

So you’ve heard guys tell you, “I tried Google Ads and I didn’t get a single click.”

Google hates this.

Why?

Because if you have ugly ads that no one is clicking then Google doesn’t get paid.

Google doesn’t like that very much.

If your ad looks like this, you’ve got problems:

Compare that to something like this (which also makes use of site extensions):

You can see why the second ad is going to have more clicks.

If you’ve got an ugly ad not only are losing the beauty contest for clicks, you’re also not going to get any leads.

But getting a click is only half the battle. Once they visit your page they actually need to pick up the phone and call you.

Which leads us to our next problem.

Problem #4: They Don’t Get Any Conversions (aka leads)

Many have made it to the point of getting good clicks but then no one picks up the phone to call them.

They’ve got a conversion problem which is usually a result of a poorly designed site.

Don’t get lost in this- you don’t need a pretty, fancy or high-tech website to get conversions.

Ease of use and clear messaging are the most important.

I’ve seen too many window cleaning companies paying to get traffic and then their site doesn’t even have a clear phone number for people to call.

You’ve got to make things easy for people. Attention spans are short and if you can’t get someone’s attention quickly you can’t get paid.

For the most part, you should be able to convert about 20 to 25% of visitors to leads.

Will Google Ads Work For Me?

The short answer?

Yes, Google Ads will work for your window cleaning business.

The long answer?

You’ve got to know your numbers before you can believe.

Let’s look at our 5-day example again:

We’ve got 8 leads at $29.90 per lead. Let’s say we keep that pace for the month and generate 24 leads for a total ad spend cost of $717.60.

Now we need to consider your close rate.

How many leads do you convert into new clients? For this example, let’s go with 40%.

But if you can answer the phone (missed calls are the profit killer) and you consider that these people are actively looking for window cleaning you could probably close at a higher rate.

24 leads and a 40% close rate means you picked up 9.6 new clients.

Now let’s say your average one-time value is about $325. Some are going to be higher, some lower but many of these leads are looking for pressure washing and gutter cleaning on top window cleaning.

Here’s an example from that week:

Back to the math…

That means you’re paying $716.6 (24 leads @ $29.90) to bring in $3,120 ($325 * 9.6 new clients).

That’s a 330% return on investment.

But that doesn’t include the revenue brought in by repeat jobs from the new clients which can quickly double or triple your ROI.

That’s why it’s so important to know your lifetime value per client. You have to know your numbers or else you won’t be able to evaluate any marketing strategy.

So yes, Google Ads can work for your business.

Recap

Getting new window cleaning clients doesn’t have to be complicated.

But it isn’t as easy as sitting back and waiting for folks to talk.

If you want to get your business in front of the right people, Google Ads can do that.

Even though Google Ads doesn’t always get the best press from the window cleaning community, most of it is unjustified.

Because at the end of the day…Google Ads isn’t bad or good.

The numbers either work or they don’t and usually when the numbers aren’t working it’s a problem with the user and not the platform.

While it’s easier to blame the platform, I’d rather learn and make money.

Since you’ve made this far, I’m guessing you agree.

Just by reading this, you’ve got a major leg up on most of the competition. You know:

• What’s possible with a good campaign
• How to avoid traps like Ads Express
• The importance of negative keywords
• Why you need to send your traffic to an easy to use page
• Why ugly ads don’t work

Now it’s up to you.

You have two options and either way it’s going to require a marketing budget.

You can spend money learning, testing and building your Google Ads account while continuing to learn.

Or spend money to pay a professional to do the work for you and leverage their experience to quickly start getting leads.

If you’re interested in the second option, I can help. Click here to schedule a call with me and we can find out if we’re a good fit for each other.

-Logan