Offering a service

Mr_futuristic

Is it really a wise move to offer a service I cant provide myself at the moment? I'm thinking of advertising window cleaning services on my flyers, but I don't have a van at the moment, so should I really do this?

I want to, but don't know if I should. Anyone else whose been in this situation? I was thinking, even if I can't provide it myself at the moment, maybe I can outsource it to someone else, and I can get a commission from the sale? But then, that would give them a competitive advantage by gaining the other potential sales in the area which I could benefit from instead by offering the service myself?

Confusedddd

paddyrg

The margin on cleaning a window is not massive, and quality control becomes an issue if you get paid a tenner and the guyy you give £7 to makes a dogs dinner, leaving your name trashed, you're £7 down after refunding the client, etc. Seems a pretty terrible idea to me!

Savvy_Sue

I agree, I think it would be unwise to offer a service you can't provide unless you KNOW who you're going to outsource it to, and KNOW that they will work to the standards you expect. We had our windows cleaned maybe 3 times, by a social enterprise who also offer some other trades, but frankly the windows were so poorly done that we were rather put off.

And if you're thinking of working up to offering this in future, bear in mind that there's an awful lot more to cleaning windows than you anticipate: you can't just chuck the dirty water down the drains these days, and there's working at height etc etc etc.

That's especially true if you're wanting to break into the office market, as I believe you've been talking about. (I originally said 'break into offices', then realised that was an unfortunate turn of phrase ...)

Horace talks a lot about networking, if you knew a good window cleaner you could offer to pass their name on if they'll do the same for anyone asking after a good cleaner.

motorguy

Mr_futuristic wrote: »

I don't have a van at the moment, so should I really do this?

Why would you specifically need a van to do window cleaning?

Horace

If you cannot provide the service then don't offer it. You will look like a twit if someone booked you for windowcleaning and then discovered that you cannot do it and nor can you outsource it because you haven't got your suppliers lined up - you will lose all credability.

Piglic - I think a van is needed because the larger companies use vans with water supplies on them and carry the telescopic brushes to clean windows in flats - the guys my landlord uses has one and they carry their water with them.

OP, stick to office and domestic cleaning and keep away from windows - although one would have thought that you would need a van to transport your cleaning equipment to the homes and offices? There is more money in office/domestic cleaning than there is in cleaning windows. When your company has grown then there is no reason why you can't offer a window cleaning service further down the line but as yet you are not in a position to offer it.