Big boy 2

[Yogi1872]

The best and quickest way imo is finding someone who's selling work near you. If you don't have cash there to buy it then still give him a phone and tell him what you can do. Don't be unrealistic and tell them £2000 a month because the round takes that in. Give them a number that you can comfortably afford each week that's not putting you under pressure to get it.

If you have some cash then do what I do, il never hand over anymore than half of what the persons asking. They get the other half once I've done the run to make sure everything is how it's been sold. When people are selling the house that stopped paying them 9 months ago gets sold into the run to bump up the price, I then take things like that off the final price, if they have told me it's all due and was done 4 weeks ago and I turn up and there filthy and he's not been for 4 months that then gets taken into account when paying what's left of the run.

 

[Pjj]

I think people think gaining customers is easy, so they think they will be earning decent money within a couple of months. Also doing first cleans will take twice as long as a maintenance clean so at the beginning you will be working a lot for very little money.
There is a great thread on here, I think it's called something like upto 50 customers (Upto 50 customers) . It's a few years old but quite a good read. I think @HWCS started trad and quickly switched to wfp, and upped his prices fairly quickly. On the flip side there are probably 2 'new starter'/'thinking of becoming a windy' threads every week, most end up with single digit post counts and don't come back after a few days! Don't take that the wrong way, as people on here are megga helpful but have a search for stuff first then ask. I have only been going for 2 years (2 years this week I think) and I only use leaflets, plus I do have a website. I'm not full yet and I'm not aiming at earning much really as I don't have a mortgage and have low outgoings. So it does take a long time to build up a decent round and get good customers - you will get messers who will say they want regular cleaning but only want a one off or just wont pay!

I am not trying to put you off, I don't think anyone on here would, but trying to ensure you have a good overview of startup.

Depending ware you are picking up customers is easy ime regularly turning down dozens of jobs per month as we don't need or want any more work this isn’t being big headed or boasting but is a simple fact due to lack of reliable decent cleaners I know several in my area that are bursting at the seams with work and a couple of them are on here after 15-18 months they don’t need anymore work and it’s customers chasing them not the other way round , but in some areas it might be hard to get a foot in the door , try and offer a better service than the competition look smart , nice sign written clean van and uniform be polite and talk to people whilst working brings in loads of work , and that’s without advertising I have 25 emails to reply to tonight all will be told the same thanks for your enquiry but at this time we are fully booked and unable to take on more work .

 

[Yogi1872]

Depending ware you are picking up customers is easy ime regularly turning down dozens of jobs per month as we don't need or want any more work this isn’t being big headed or boasting but is a simple fact due to lack of reliable decent cleaners I know several in my area that are bursting at the seams with work and a couple of them are on here after 15-18 months they don’t need anymore work and it’s customers chasing them not the other way round , but in some areas it might be hard to get a foot in the door , try and offer a better service than the competition look smart , nice sign written clean van and uniform be polite and talk to people whilst working brings in loads of work , and that’s without advertising I have 25 emails to reply to tonight all will be told the same thanks for your enquiry but at this time we are fully booked and unable to take on more work .

That's true and not true in a way, the more work you have the more your seen so that comes with more enquiries, starting off people aren't getting noticed. To get to a point where you have a full compact run without buying, or getting lucky where someone just packs in and doesn't go back is very hard. I don't know how everyone else works but in and out the van all day doesn't interest me. I smoke aswell so I'd end up smoking about 200 fags over the course of the day.

 

[spruce]

My take on why some window cleaners fail @Happy home

As has been stated by others is that some expect customers to come to them with very little effort on the window cleaners part. You have to:
Eat,
Sleep,
Talk window cleaning,
Repeat.

As humans one of our greatest fears is rejection. What's the worst thing a home owner is going to tell you? No. They aren't going to shoot you for asking if they need your services.

Pricing too low is another reason some fail. We had a local lad cleaning for a few years but gave up to go back to working in his trade. He quoted some 2 story houses we clean at £8 including the garage door. Our price was £15 and didn't include the garage door. He was also on a water meter.
He told me he couldn't earn enough window cleaning. He asked me to quote on his house. He got a shock when I quoted £15.
"The price I would quote was £8."
"Yes I know, that's why you couldn't earn a living from window cleaning."

I'm old sales trained school. If you want business you have to go and knock on doors. You have to be proactive.
Once you get a small round going, then ask your new customer's about friends and family living nearby who could do with your services. We found networking this way worked well for us. Most of our customers from 20 years ago are still with us.

Yes, we did buy a trad round, but the majority of our customers came from networking. One customer and his wife got us around 20 new customers. We networked those and got plenty more.

Having a website and perhaps joining your local Facebook group are things you could try. Having a lettered van is also a good advertising board.

If you are driving past a house and see the owner cleaning their own windows, stop and ask them for their business. I got one customer from that. We cleaned his windows for years before he sold up and moved away.
I did that 4 times and got that one customer.

If you clean the Gibsons at number 23, knock the neighbours. " We clean the Gibsons at no23 and wondered if you would like us to quote to clean your windows."

In the beginning we worked Saturdays. Saturdays was when we got the most walk ups asking us to quote their house, so it helps you as Saturdays will be one of your working days.

My recommendation is to practice cleaning your own windows, perhaps a dozen times a day. With practice you will get comfortable with the pole and look as though you have cleaned windows for years. I failed to do this and looked like a clown to begin with. Please learn for my mistake.

These are just my experiences.

 

[Iron Giant]

Thanks for the advice with the pole! Easy mistake I was ready to make lol!

in terms of water I have a spotless local to me I’m going to use.

Any other tips or advice would be handy?

Yes, use the search bar and read all previous posts,

We don't intend to put newbies off but they all want handed to them on a plate after 10 years of every spring and summer of an influx of newbies us old timers get a bit fatigued

 

[Part Timer]

Thanks for the advice with the pole! Easy mistake I was ready to make lol!

in terms of water I have a spotless local to me I’m going to use.

Any other tips or advice would be handy?

Which Spotless, we use quite a few on our travels so if I'm in your area come and watch / have a chat when we're down

 

[Yogi1872]

Solution for people with back packs. Free of charge from your local coop shop

 

[Pjj]

Solution for people with back packs. Free of charge from your local coop shop

So as well as recommending illegal burning of plastics you are now encouraging theft from your local supermarket???

 

[Yogi1872]

So as well as recommending illegal burning of plastics you are now encouraging theft from your local supermarket???

Have you seen the prices in coop ? I'd call it more leveling up. Dont be telling your police buddies about my criminal activity or il have special branch tailing me.

 

[Pjj]

Have you seen the prices in coop ? I'd call it more leveling up. Dont be telling your police buddies about my criminal activity or il have special branch tailing me.

What do you think it says to customers seeing it ?? Doesn’t look professional using something that’s been stolen from a supermarket does it ? I would be thinking if he’s nicked that from the coop what might he take from my property

 

[Yogi1872]

What do you think it says to customers seeing it ?? Doesn’t look professional using something that’s been stolen from a supermarket does it ? I would be thinking if he’s nicked that from the coop what might he take from my property

The thing is I'd tell the customers exactly where I got it, I'm honest about everything when customers ask me stuff, unlike yourself who signs them up on things without telling them the full detail. because someone's taken a trolley from a supermarket doesn't mean people will automatically think to lock things down incase I steal them after a decade of them having me in their garden. I can even show examples to them of my honesty in giving refunds to customers who overpay, sometimes alot of money. I've fixed every bit of damage caused over the years, at tines when even insuramce wouldn't see me at fault so it's good will by me. Any sane person wouldn't think the window cleaner who they have had for over a decade is going to start robbing there house based on he took a trolley from a shop. Maybe rockets like yourself would, normal people wouldn't though.


Have you ever say had a big company like sky etc muck up your bill or Vodafone where they have made a mistake and it means you have paid less ? 99% of people in that situation isn't phoning them to say they have made a mistake that month and they charged you less. Does that then mean automatically that there going to turn into career criminals ?

Out of the 2 of us, there's only one who's honest with there customers and that's certainly not you. If you were to poll every one of both of our customers and they had a choice between someone who doesn't tell you the full details of what your signing up for or someone took a basket from the shop but doesn't hide anything from them. I think I know what most logical people would pick out the 2.

 

[Yogi1872]

Oh and you can buy them online for £30. So if I liked to hide things from customers like yourself then I could just say I bought it. Unlike yourself though I prefer transparity so I'd just tell them the truth.

 

[Pjj]

The thing is I'd tell the customers exactly where I got it, I'm honest about everything when customers ask me stuff, unlike yourself who signs them up on things without telling them the full detail. because someone's taken a trolley from a supermarket doesn't mean people will automatically think to lock things down incase I steal them after a decade of them having me in their garden. I can even show examples to them of my honesty in giving refunds to customers who overpay, sometimes alot of money. I've fixed every bit of damage caused over the years, at tines when even insuramce wouldn't see me at fault so it's good will by me. Any sane person wouldn't think the window cleaner who they have had for over a decade is going to start robbing there house based on he took a trolley from a shop. Maybe rockets like yourself would, normal people wouldn't though.


Have you ever say had a big company like sky etc muck up your bill or Vodafone where they have made a mistake and it means you have paid less ? 99% of people in that situation isn't phoning them to say they have made a mistake that month and they charged you less. Does that then mean automatically that there going to turn into career criminals ?

Out of the 2 of us, there's only one who's honest with there customers and that's certainly not you. If you were to poll every one of both of our customers and they had a choice between someone who doesn't tell you the full details of what your signing up for or someone took a basket from the shop but doesn't hide anything from them. I think I know what most logical people would pick out the 2.

So what exactly don’t I tell customers?? You are talking a load of rubbish I think over 4,600 monthley customers says it all ???

 

[Yogi1872]

I've told the majority of my customers that I canceled my public liability insurance and aslo that I stopped renewing my window cleaning license when it was to be renewed last year. Zero people canceled when I told them that. I've absolutely no problem being 100% open and honest with customers.

Pity all window cleaners weren't like that eh.

 

[Pjj]

I've told the majority of my customers that I canceled my public liability insurance and aslo that I stopped renewing my window cleaning license when it was to be renewed last year. Zero people canceled when I told them that. I've absolutely no problem being 100% open and honest with customers.

Pity all window cleaners weren't like that eh.

I’ll put it to you again what haven’t I told customers and how have I lied or been dishonest???

 

[Part Timer]

I’ll put it to you again what haven’t I told customers and how have I lied or been dishonest???

I assume that he think's you're using Gocardless, but he might mean something different

 

[Pjj]

I assume that he think's you're using Gocardless, but he might mean something different

no idea how he would get that idea never have used it and never will , just dont like my honesty being questioned

 

[Iron Giant]

no idea how he would get that idea never have used it and never will , just dont like my honesty being questioned

As the old saying goes, "There is one in every village" I think we now all know who that is

 

[Deleted member 5762]

I think people think gaining customers is easy, so they think they will be earning decent money within a couple of months. Also doing first cleans will take twice as long as a maintenance clean so at the beginning you will be working a lot for very little money.
There is a great thread on here, I think it's called something like upto 50 customers (Upto 50 customers) . It's a few years old but quite a good read. I think @HWCS started trad and quickly switched to wfp, and upped his prices fairly quickly. On the flip side there are probably 2 'new starter'/'thinking of becoming a windy' threads every week, most end up with single digit post counts and don't come back after a few days! Don't take that the wrong way, as people on here are megga helpful but have a search for stuff first then ask. I have only been going for 2 years (2 years this week I think) and I only use leaflets, plus I do have a website. I'm not full yet and I'm not aiming at earning much really as I don't have a mortgage and have low outgoings. So it does take a long time to build up a decent round and get good customers - you will get messers who will say they want regular cleaning but only want a one off or just wont pay!

I am not trying to put you off, I don't think anyone on here would, but trying to ensure you have a good overview of startup.

Late to the party on this thread but this post from @ched999uk is absolutely spot on.

 

[Happy home]

My take on why some window cleaners fail @Happy home

As has been stated by others is that some expect customers to come to them with very little effort on the window cleaners part. You have to:
Eat,
Sleep,
Talk window cleaning,
Repeat.

As humans one of our greatest fears is rejection. What's the worst thing a home owner is going to tell you? No. They aren't going to shoot you for asking if they need your services.

Pricing too low is another reason some fail. We had a local lad cleaning for a few years but gave up to go back to working in his trade. He quoted some 2 story houses we clean at £8 including the garage door. Our price was £15 and didn't include the garage door. He was also on a water meter.
He told me he couldn't earn enough window cleaning. He asked me to quote on his house. He got a shock when I quoted £15.
"The price I would quote was £8."
"Yes I know, that's why you couldn't earn a living from window cleaning."

I'm old sales trained school. If you want business you have to go and knock on doors. You have to be proactive.
Once you get a small round going, then ask your new customer's about friends and family living nearby who could do with your services. We found networking this way worked well for us. Most of our customers from 20 years ago are still with us.

Yes, we did buy a trad round, but the majority of our customers came from networking. One customer and his wife got us around 20 new customers. We networked those and got plenty more.

Having a website and perhaps joining your local Facebook group are things you could try. Having a lettered van is also a good advertising board.

If you are driving past a house and see the owner cleaning their own windows, stop and ask them for their business. I got one customer from that. We cleaned his windows for years before he sold up and moved away.
I did that 4 times and got that one customer.

If you clean the Gibsons at number 23, knock the neighbours. " We clean the Gibsons at no23 and wondered if you would like us to quote to clean your windows."

In the beginning we worked Saturdays. Saturdays was when we got the most walk ups asking us to quote their house, so it helps you as Saturdays will be one of your working days.

My recommendation is to practice cleaning your own windows, perhaps a dozen times a day. With practice you will get comfortable with the pole and look as though you have cleaned windows for years. I failed to do this and looked like a clown to begin with. Please learn for my mistake.

These are just my experiences.

This is the best reply yet. Love to see it and great bit of information.

Hopefully this’ll help not just me but anyone else being put off