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My canvassing blog!

ECLM
WCF

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where abouts are you @Chris33

its the same in my area, lots of low prices and i could have double my customer base if i had dropped prices but youve got to think long term, i dont want to have a full round slogging my guts out all day trying to turn over £100. I ll leave that to the rest of em

 
I'm Fife Scotland Adam, so central belt. What about you? Tomorrow is my first ever job, see how I go for time but hope to do a couple houses after this gym clean.

 
I believe in the mix. You got to have a bit of everything IMO. Online presence in the form of a website so you're found on Google, @boarcity says it matters not how good your fliers look they aren't doing you any good sat in the box at home. I have just had 5000 new ones printed and last week managed to drop 2500 of them so far and am on target to get the rest done this week. I have had 16 sign ups so far and have another 4 on the note pad to go and quote.

Canvass: Still my personal fav but now incorporated with leaflet drop. If I can see they are a minger I will knock and dish out the patter. Straight to the point. 'Hi, sorry to disturb you, I clean the windows for some of your neighbors and see you don't currently seem to have a regular window cleaner, can I add you to our rounds?' I get around 60% of what I knock.

When knocking and no answer I note the mingers on my pad so when I am back on that street I know who to knock right away.

A side note on leaflets: I have a 'menu' on mine,

Prices from:

Semi - £12

Detached 3 bed - £15

Town house - £18

Conservatory add - £5

Garage door add - £2

(Just a sample for you not extensive)

What I have found this run is that people already know roughly how much when calling up - you don't get the messers expecting a £4 clean.

Van and shirts - I have been approached in the supermarket and pub even just in the street for having a tshirt that says 'Window Cleaner' big and bold on the back. I reckon 2 or 3 per month from the T-Shirt. I ordered signage off ebay for £45 at Christmas for my van. Since then it has paid for itself ten times over already.

Freebies? HELL YES! I do freebies every single month for my customers, I include the frames sills and doors for FREE and make sure they know it. It even says so on my flyers. Many are still of the old school trad mind set where the frames and sills never got touched.

It is not as simple as advertise and you're done, it is (if you want success) a relentless ongoing war. Every possible second you're not cleaning glass needs to be taken up with promotions.

8am till 4pm like any other job. Only got jobs booked in till 12 noon today? Well then it's two hours leaflet drops followed by two hours internet promoting. If you got the discipline the success will follow.

Good luck.

As for those mentioned in this post.... yep even I can still be taught the odd trick /emoticons/smile.png)

 
Thanks very much Green,got the clothing sorted and Google maps helped price that ten pound job yesterday. Websites made up by Gav too. Van signage would be ace,but currently using my corsa for work. Perhaps I'll get a rear window advert soon.

Fliers are needed badly! Been using my own ink and orange paper purchased online,this was a very counter productive idea as the cost of ink is very high per sheet. Ordering online fliers and business cards today. Like your idea with regard to price guide. Cheers ☺

 
Thanks Green,designed my own there just now on power point and sent off for 5000 too.

Cheapestprintstore.co.uk are £50 delivering that amount and hope they look good. Was easier for me to crop my own design there than on vista's site.That's a5 btw mate.

 
Thanks Green,designed my own there just now on power point and sent off for 5000 too.
Cheapestprintstore.co.uk are £50 delivering that amount and hope they look good. Was easier for me to crop my own design there than on vista's site.That's a5 btw mate.
Click to expand...
I hope they offered the 3rd order free.:rolleyes:

I jest. Stop offering free stuff though mate, just advertise, work, and get paid. Simple.

 
That's really cheap Adam, I'll look into that next time.

Well today was first day cleaning after my water containers not arriving on time (couldn't source used ones locally though did try garages/car washes).

Today was one gym and five houses completed but could have really done with a waterfed system on one town house..will need to look into that asap.

Have 14 domestic customers and three commercial so far,after seeking business on local high Street. Been using buy and sell sites tonight and will post 2 x daily on the six of those sites.

Awaiting I.D badge and business cards/proper fliers for door to door chapping of areas already leafleted.

 
Just a bit of advice from someone who started up a little while ago.

Try not to let those 1st Cleans build up buddy. There lot of graft and you don't want to have days of 5+ first cleans.

Try and knock them out in 3 - 4 a day depending on size obviously. If it's 2 windows then probably 15 but if these are all decent sized semis etc plan your work out.

Just my 2 pence anyway.

Good luck.

 
I think this free clean thing comes from a similar tactic to companies that offer a regular service - Sky, T mobile, etc. The only difference being they get you into a contract, you don't get a customer into any contract. They're freebie always pays off. Ours wouldn't. Hence not worth it in the long run, or short for that matter.

 
Well the freebies were removed from the main fliers I now have coming, but I did get about 12 customers direct from the third clean free fliers. That was from just over 750 of those cheap fliers I'd sent out.

Yesterday two shop fronts cleaned and three houses. One new customer who texted late on, and I chapped first ever door (next to one of those shop fronts I cleaned), she agreed to 4 weekly clean.

Still awaiting business cards and fliers before I do some real door chapping.

 
I believe in the mix. You got to have a bit of everything IMO. Online presence in the form of a website so you're found on Google, @boarcity says it matters not how good your fliers look they aren't doing you any good sat in the box at home. I have just had 5000 new ones printed and last week managed to drop 2500 of them so far and am on target to get the rest done this week. I have had 16 sign ups so far and have another 4 on the note pad to go and quote.
Canvass: Still my personal fav but now incorporated with leaflet drop. If I can see they are a minger I will knock and dish out the patter. Straight to the point. 'Hi, sorry to disturb you, I clean the windows for some of your neighbors and see you don't currently seem to have a regular window cleaner, can I add you to our rounds?' I get around 60% of what I knock.

When knocking and no answer I note the mingers on my pad so when I am back on that street I know who to knock right away.

A side note on leaflets: I have a 'menu' on mine,

Prices from:

Semi - £12

Detached 3 bed - £15

Town house - £18

Conservatory add - £5

Garage door add - £2

(Just a sample for you not extensive)

What I have found this run is that people already know roughly how much when calling up - you don't get the messers expecting a £4 clean.

Van and shirts - I have been approached in the supermarket and pub even just in the street for having a tshirt that says 'Window Cleaner' big and bold on the back. I reckon 2 or 3 per month from the T-Shirt. I ordered signage off ebay for £45 at Christmas for my van. Since then it has paid for itself ten times over already.

Freebies? HELL YES! I do freebies every single month for my customers, I include the frames sills and doors for FREE and make sure they know it. It even says so on my flyers. Many are still of the old school trad mind set where the frames and sills never got touched.

It is not as simple as advertise and you're done, it is (if you want success) a relentless ongoing war. Every possible second you're not cleaning glass needs to be taken up with promotions.

8am till 4pm like any other job. Only got jobs booked in till 12 noon today? Well then it's two hours leaflet drops followed by two hours internet promoting. If you got the discipline the success will follow.

Good luck.

As for those mentioned in this post.... yep even I can still be taught the odd trick /emoticons/smile.png)
Click to expand...
Do you have your number on the back of the t shirt as well Green? Or just window cleaner?

 
shop window advertising can be very lucrative and very cheap.your local newsagent etc,dont think about the money bang it in for 4 months.go for little shops in the middle of big estates where people go when they need a loaf of bread etc.one tip go back and make sure they put it up.some take the proverbial

 
How hard is this, trying to balance a boring full time job with this window cleaning fun!

Three houses done before on shift today, then picked up an additional new customer through a relative, another whos just sacked a windy and a potential third who ain't happy with current windy.

Big boy backpack ordered and have my tds metre from the supplier kindly mentioned on my other post (five miles from my house it was!)

 
I believe in the mix. You got to have a bit of everything IMO. Online presence in the form of a website so you're found on Google, @boarcity says it matters not how good your fliers look they aren't doing you any good sat in the box at home. I have just had 5000 new ones printed and last week managed to drop 2500 of them so far and am on target to get the rest done this week. I have had 16 sign ups so far and have another 4 on the note pad to go and quote.
Canvass: Still my personal fav but now incorporated with leaflet drop. If I can see they are a minger I will knock and dish out the patter. Straight to the point. 'Hi, sorry to disturb you, I clean the windows for some of your neighbors and see you don't currently seem to have a regular window cleaner, can I add you to our rounds?' I get around 60% of what I knock.

When knocking and no answer I note the mingers on my pad so when I am back on that street I know who to knock right away.

A side note on leaflets: I have a 'menu' on mine,

Prices from:

Semi - £12

Detached 3 bed - £15

Town house - £18

Conservatory add - £5

Garage door add - £2

(Just a sample for you not extensive)

What I have found this run is that people already know roughly how much when calling up - you don't get the messers expecting a £4 clean.

Van and shirts - I have been approached in the supermarket and pub even just in the street for having a tshirt that says 'Window Cleaner' big and bold on the back. I reckon 2 or 3 per month from the T-Shirt. I ordered signage off ebay for £45 at Christmas for my van. Since then it has paid for itself ten times over already.

Freebies? HELL YES! I do freebies every single month for my customers, I include the frames sills and doors for FREE and make sure they know it. It even says so on my flyers. Many are still of the old school trad mind set where the frames and sills never got touched.

It is not as simple as advertise and you're done, it is (if you want success) a relentless ongoing war. Every possible second you're not cleaning glass needs to be taken up with promotions.

8am till 4pm like any other job. Only got jobs booked in till 12 noon today? Well then it's two hours leaflet drops followed by two hours internet promoting. If you got the discipline the success will follow.

Good luck.

As for those mentioned in this post.... yep even I can still be taught the odd trick /emoticons/smile.png)
Click to expand...

What sort of communities groups do you post in I post in buy sell but never thought about community but what sort of pages am I looking for ? Cheers

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums app

 
These Facebook selling groups are handy,this has given me maybe 10 /15 customers in a week.

Spread over a very large area granted,but it helps me highlight gaps (ie three of these new customers have indicated there is no windy in their area at all-as I'm always asking if they have seen any at the point of them pming me, to then get a feel for areas worth checking first)

 

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