Best way to gain new customers ?

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

Sounds like a very strange and non cost effect way to get good quality customers to me , but each to their own

But we’re looking at it from our point of view. But if you’re just starting out and time rich but cash poor, it might work really well.

 

[Pjj]

But we’re looking at it from our point of view. But if you’re just starting out and time rich but cash poor, it might work really well.

Just feel it will attract the free loaders and those who want a one off rather that a quality regular clean , and they certainly won’t want to be paying a decent price

 

[Countphil]

and they certainly won’t want to be paying a decent price

You know this from experience?

 

[Pjj]

You know this from experience?

When I started out I had no idea how to price stuff up there was only one other window cleaner in town , he was very unreliable and did a very poor job so I decided to charge a pound per house more than him as I was reliable and did a good job , surprisingly a lot stuck with him despite this as they didn’t want to pay more , looking back he and I were far to cheap , but yes the type of customer he attracted was not the type you want , it took me a while to work out that this type of customer was a skin flint and not the ones I wanted either since realising this and changing my target customers I have found ones that appreciate a good reliable service are prepared to pay for it , and are loyal to you rather than looking for a cheap deal with any Tom dick or harry ,

 

[Jaygti]

If I didn’t want a window cleaner, 1st clean at half price wouldn’t tempt me.

If I wanted one , I’d get one wether they offered half price or not.

Waste of time for me.
Avoid gimmicks, just get on with it.

 

[ashley1337]

If I didn’t want a window cleaner, 1st clean at half price wouldn’t tempt me.

If I wanted one , I’d get one wether they offered half price or not.

Waste of time for me.
Avoid gimmicks, just get on with it.

Mans point of view, woman love a good bargain lol. I'd say 90% of my customers I've gone through the female half.

But I do think if you have great reviews etc that'll help with higher prices etc

 

[Power Clean External Serv]

I would do exactly the opposite charge more for the first clean you don’t suddenly want 20-30 first cleans to do at half price , but that’s just me , if ones don’t want to charge extra then I get that but doing first clean half price is shear madness and will definitely be attractive to all the one off and other pita customers that you don’t want .

I agree. Start as you mean to go on,free and half price cleans is a race to the bottom imo. I have built my business up slowly over a few years. This works for me and I can keep control my workload. I appreciate it does not work for everyone but it works for me

 

[Elliott randall]

I would do exactly the opposite charge more for the first clean you don’t suddenly want 20-30 first cleans to do at half price , but that’s just me , if ones don’t want to charge extra then I get that but doing first clean half price is shear madness and will definitely be attractive to all the one off and other pita customers that you don’t want .

Completely agree

 

[Elliott randall]

Iv said this a thousand times before to allot of people. Nothing really beats knocking doors. We have picked up 25 houses on our best days. Even iff 5 drop off which is very rare we are left with 20 who we have spoke to in person and they are reliable. In my experience nothing works better

 

[rafterys2003]

Iv said this a thousand times before to allot of people. Nothing really beats knocking doors. We have picked up 25 houses on our best days. Even iff 5 drop off which is very rare we are left with 20 who we have spoke to in person and they are reliable. In my experience nothing works better

You may be right however doing this I have experienced quite a high drop off rate personally. I put that down to 4 week cleans though whereas now I also offer an 8 week service.

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions it's been very helpful.

 

[spruce]

There are some neighbourhoods in our local area we stay away from as they generally (not all) house people who would rather spend money on booze, cigarettes and other entertainment.

We did a lot of door to door knocking in the early days which worked well for us. Later when we became established I asked for referrals from our customers which snowballed. Any new customers these days are recommendations and the occasional walk-ups who have watched us clean their neighbours over the years.

One customer who left her husband didn't have my contact details. She asked on Facebook if anyone knew me. She was unindated with offers from other windies, but one of my customers rang me and asked if I knew her and could she pass my details on.

So it would appear that Facebook in our area is a way of attracting customers. If it wasn't then windies would not be looking on there for work.