An Indepth Review Of Window Cleaning Software Called The Customer Factor

Sep.30, 2008 in Computers

As a Window Cleaner, I’ve been looking for quality software that I can really sink my teeth into which doesn’t take an engineering degree to understand. I found it a few months ago in a window cleaning software called The Customer Factor.

Steve Wright who developed The Customer Factor is actually a former window cleaner, so I had a feeling this software would fit me perfectly.

Here is an outline of some features:

–Full prospect and customer adding, tracking, searching. Sure…other software products allow you to add customers to the database, but I doubt they have the same functionality as The Customer Factor. Immediately when I login, I get sent to a “quick summary” screen that shows me EXACTLY which customers and prospects that I need to contact. This is invaluable. Prior to The Customer Factor, I was constantly having prospects and customers fall through the cracks which means lost income.

–Invoices and invoice customization. I used to use Quickbooks as my accounting software and it did a fine job for that function. But in The Customer Factor, everything is “connected”. This means that with a couple of clicks I can not only create invoices, but also other functions are done automatically behind the scenes. It’s amazing to see it in action. Reading about this window cleaning software on the website doesn’t do it justice. I’m also able to add a logo to the invoice and even some additional text. I use this text to promote other services my company provides. Oh…and there is even a spot on the invoice for a coupon if I want to display a coupon on the invoice that a customer can cut out.

–Reports. There are soooooo many reports available in The Customer Factor. Sure…other software can display reports. But once again, the reports in this window cleaning software are focused on the window cleaning business. I can search for sales by “job type”, by sales by “marketing method” (postcards, door hangers, flyers, etc), or just do an “all” sales search by either specific date or specific period like “last year”, “last quarter”, or “last month”. So come January of this coming year, when I’m looking for info. to fill into my tax return, all I have to do is do a “last year” search for sales info, and bingo. Speaking about taxes though, I can also keep track of my mileage which is really cool. If you file your taxes based on the mileage you drive, this is real handy. And there are P&L reports, expense reports, sales tax collected reports, and a bunch more.

–Reminders. I’ve been looking for window cleaning software product that will “remind” me what needs to be done when. I mentioned above that immediately upon logging in, I get sent to a quick summary screen showing me much needed prospect and customer information. But I can actually choose to receive a daily email
reminder with everything that I need to do. Every single morning when I wake up, there’s the email waiting for me. Steve says he has little gremlins send out these emails every morning at 3am. Ha ha ha.

Some closing notes. The Customer Factor has a personalization feature where I can print personalized letters to prospects and customers with a couple of clicks. This is a monster of a time saver. I love this feature. And although I haven’t done any bulk mailing yet, there is a label option where I can print out labels too.

I can also backup all of my data in my account. This was a major selling point to me because I needed the security of being able to backup and secure my data. So The Customer Factor provides this. Lots of other features are available too, so I’d recommend you check it out. The last time I checked, The Customer Factor still has a 100% 30 day money back guarantee, so it’s a no-risk proposition. Personally though, if you ask for your money back on this software, then you simply don’t “get it”. There is nothing else out there like this.

Cost: $24.95 monthly. Or you can save some bucks if you sign up quarterly. Yes, this is a subscription based program which initially I didn’t care for. But if you think about it, it’s the only way to ensure we’re getting the best software product. Think about it for a minute. If there was a one time charge, would the software be upgraded regularly? Probably not. In the last 6 months alone, Steve has introduced about 20 or so new features into The Customer Factor. So the money he is being paid monthly/quarterly is constantly being reinvested into making the software better. I’ve even suggested a feature and within a couple of weeks, it was built into the program. Mighty neato.

And I’ve spoken to other members who have been using The Customer Factor since it was first launched way back in 2004. The general consensus is that Steve’s goal is to constantly improve it based on member suggestions.

But back to the $24.95 per month subscription issue for a second. I’ve owned software in the past where even though it might ask for an initial payment, that’s never really all I paid. Every time a new feature was introduced or a new version was released for the software, the developers would have their hand out asking for more money. So I much prefer the $24.95 per month (it’s locked in and never goes up) plan because I know exactly what my costs are. There are no additional costs for anything. So through all the new features and upgrades, my costs are still $24.95 per month. Not too shabby at all. I write it off as a business expense each month and off I go.

So that’s it. The above is my review of this window cleaning software called The Customer Factor. I’ve been a member now for 6 months and after seeing what it has done for my window cleaning business, I’ll never use any other software. Ever!