Are you afraid of people with money?
If you are going to do residential window cleaning, one of the first things you will probably realize is that you cannot make money selling it to your neighbors. Unless you live in a gated community with $400K homes, you will probably have to reach out of your modest, working class neighborhood. That’s because people like you and I, and our neighbors, are not used to calling service people to our homes until all avenues of doing it yourself are exhausted. Yes, I used to call the plumber ONLY after I was in trouble, with water spraying out of stripped connections and tools scattered all over the kitchen. It was a last resort!
The people you are looking for, that you want to be your clients, are used to calling in the pros and writing checks for the work. For someone who makes a six-figure income, it simply is not worth the trouble to try to be good at all the household chores. And if you are dealing with a two-income family, they are too tired to mess with it.
What I have described are two totally different kinds of people: the haves and the have-mores. I say that because we live in America, and that makes you a HAVE compared to the vast majority of the world. But your good fortune, your glorious accident of birth, does not keep you from being resentful toward Mrs. Have-more. Don’t lie to me! I have listened to my fellow toilers in the land of dirty work sneer at the “frivolous” expenditures of those who have more; those who drive $60,000 cars and have a golf cart in their garage. This contempt, though hidden in your heart while you are being polite, keeps you from cultivating relationships with those who could help you the most.
You see, these ill feelings are usually a one way street. My experience with people in the upper middle class and upper class has actually proven to me that they do not harbor the same bad feelings about YOU. They are looking for someone they can trust, and they are elated when they take a chance on you and you don’t let them down! (Yes, I know there are exceptions, but they usually wear it on their sleeves so you can avoid them.)
It is very important that you get over your unease about dealing with people who have more education and more money than you do. They have their own trials and their 0wn suffering that they prefer to hide. I had to call the police one time because the pricey house across the street had an obvious domestic disturbance going on. Someone was getting a good beating in there, and I would want someone to do the same if they heard that coming from MY house! I’ve shown up on doorsteps while a teenage daughter was screaming curses at her mother, and everybody had to get it together before opening the door. They go through bad times that no amount of money can take away.
Don’t look at these homes as places to “score” and hope they call back so you can nail them again. Do good work. Set them at ease. Be friendly. Make sure it was a good experience for them and ask them when they would like you to call them back. This is the beginning of a long relationship, and you don’t have long relationships with people you resent or despise. Get to know them, and let them get to know you. That is what makes them most likely to give your name to their friends. And their friends have big houses and a budget for cleaning, too. Thank God for them!
