Picking up customers

[A.K WINDOWS]

Them ionics logos are just too common think of your own logo   , thing is half the people in the street don’t even k ow what it is ?

 

[PureShine]

@spruce I created this design from scratch in photoshop but you do make a very good point in that some people may not be happy about it. The way I see it is we have all been at the stage of trying to get the new customers in, struggling to be ok, or just trying to better what we already have. Everyone on here helps each other in one way or another. I cant knock anyone for having a go. I hope the leaflets give a good return for the guy..... i will collect my royalties at the end of the year ? only joking

 

[DeLaCruz]

I have a new window cleaning business - i think having a good well designed card / logo / instagram / facebook page is worth so much value - pretty much my entire business is built on facebook advertising, and i use the fb page manager app to make sure i never miss a message,a nd reply quickly will give you a higher rating on there.  I get at least a few new enquires every week.

Post pictures of you doing things other cleaners wouldn't include in their service - for example on the new build estates near me i make a point of using a small set of steps to wipe down by hand the small new wooden porches on the properties i clean. The place is surrounded by building sites so these get dirty quickly - I made this a advertising subject with several pictures and descriptions shared among several local groups and picked up a bunch of new clients. Its takes me an extra few mins per clean but also i charge a little more than any of the other competitors around me on these estates but people don't give a toss about an extra few quid if they think they're getting a great product.

Also i try to offer a complete service - upvc, windows, gutters and soon softwashing. This way you never have to passs on work to other people + it keeps the work interesting bc your doing different things and learning new things daily. Plus also there a bunch of money in some of the more niche exterior cleaning avenues, and when you have a client ask you about the mould on their wall its an opportunity and you already have their trust from the window cleaning you've been doing. 

I also door to door canvas occasionally and make a point of chatting to potential customers to try and strike up some kind of common ground - make sure if they say they already have someone you still make an effort to speak with them even if its only 30 seconds (provided they aren't one of the angry face people you occasionally come across) + leave them a card.

 

[spruce]

@spruce I created this design from scratch in photoshop but you do make a very good point in that some people may not be happy about it. The way I see it is we have all been at the stage of trying to get the new customers in, struggling to be ok, or just trying to better what we already have. Everyone on here helps each other in one way or another. I cant knock anyone for having a go. I hope the leaflets give a good return for the guy..... i will collect my royalties at the end of the year ? only joking

Of course had @Williams_Window_Cleaning been in the same area then you could well look at that differently.

Good for you helping him by taking the stance you have. ?

 

[spruce]

I have a new window cleaning business - i think having a good well designed card / logo / instagram / facebook page is worth so much value - pretty much my entire business is built on facebook advertising, and i use the fb page manager app to make sure i never miss a message,a nd reply quickly will give you a higher rating on there.  I get at least a few new enquires every week.

Post pictures of you doing things other cleaners wouldn't include in their service - for example on the new build estates near me i make a point of using a small set of steps to wipe down by hand the small new wooden porches on the properties i clean. The place is surrounded by building sites so these get dirty quickly - I made this a advertising subject with several pictures and descriptions shared among several local groups and picked up a bunch of new clients. Its takes me an extra few mins per clean but also i charge a little more than any of the other competitors around me on these estates but people don't give a toss about an extra few quid if they think they're getting a great product.

Also i try to offer a complete service - upvc, windows, gutters and soon softwashing. This way you never have to passs on work to other people + it keeps the work interesting bc your doing different things and learning new things daily. Plus also there a bunch of money in some of the more niche exterior cleaning avenues, and when you have a client ask you about the mould on their wall its an opportunity and you already have their trust from the window cleaning you've been doing. 

I also door to door canvas occasionally and make a point of chatting to potential customers to try and strike up some kind of common ground - make sure if they say they already have someone you still make an effort to speak with them even if its only 30 seconds (provided they aren't one of the angry face people you occasionally come across) + leave them a card.

When door knocking we also used to ask the customer the name of their window cleaner. In those days we detailed every door we knocked on. If the windie's name was John we got a good idea of who his customer's were. If John gave up we had a list of his old customers to knock.

We did this. One of the windies doing an area packed it in and we canvassed the whole estate. We got loads of his old custies.

But we found the most lucrative was asking each customer for a referral. Some really got stuck in and helped us out even although we didn't offer them any incentive. Most didn't bother.

One customer got us about 20 new customers and his wife got us another 10. That snow balled as we asked these new referred customer for referrals as well after we cleaned their homes a few times. I can honestly say that our round grew massively because of that couple.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

It can end up like a ponzi scheme with referrals. I'm fully booked this month after today getting a big powerwash and softwash job. The new customer see-saw can tip the other way when you go over 100, that's what I'm noticing.

 

[Williams_Window_Cleaning]

@spruce I created this design from scratch in photoshop but you do make a very good point in that some people may not be happy about it. The way I see it is we have all been at the stage of trying to get the new customers in, struggling to be ok, or just trying to better what we already have. Everyone on here helps each other in one way or another. I cant knock anyone for having a go. I hope the leaflets give a good return for the guy..... i will collect my royalties at the end of the year ? only joking

I really appreciate the stance you're taking @PureShine honestly I had no idea we had the same leaflets ? I'll pay your royalties if I get any ?

 

[Williams_Window_Cleaning]

I have a new window cleaning business - i think having a good well designed card / logo / instagram / facebook page is worth so much value - pretty much my entire business is built on facebook advertising, and i use the fb page manager app to make sure i never miss a message,a nd reply quickly will give you a higher rating on there.  I get at least a few new enquires every week.

Post pictures of you doing things other cleaners wouldn't include in their service - for example on the new build estates near me i make a point of using a small set of steps to wipe down by hand the small new wooden porches on the properties i clean. The place is surrounded by building sites so these get dirty quickly - I made this a advertising subject with several pictures and descriptions shared among several local groups and picked up a bunch of new clients. Its takes me an extra few mins per clean but also i charge a little more than any of the other competitors around me on these estates but people don't give a toss about an extra few quid if they think they're getting a great product.

Also i try to offer a complete service - upvc, windows, gutters and soon softwashing. This way you never have to passs on work to other people + it keeps the work interesting bc your doing different things and learning new things daily. Plus also there a bunch of money in some of the more niche exterior cleaning avenues, and when you have a client ask you about the mould on their wall its an opportunity and you already have their trust from the window cleaning you've been doing. 

I also door to door canvas occasionally and make a point of chatting to potential customers to try and strike up some kind of common ground - make sure if they say they already have someone you still make an effort to speak with them even if its only 30 seconds (provided they aren't one of the angry face people you occasionally come across) + leave them a card.

I tried the whole fb thing I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I dont know how to do it properly. I did a couple of ads but i didnt have a large advertising budget to put into it so that's also a problem.

If you have any tips or advice on how to gain customers this way I'd really appreciate anything you have to say.

 

[DeLaCruz]

I did a couple of ads but i didnt have a large advertising budget to put into it so that's also a problem.

I have never paid to advertise on facebook - i know that's an option but not something i have tried yet - the local groups towns have have 20K+ members in my area - the county one has 5x+ that - when i run an advert i only a couple people to see it / forward it to their friends to get new clients - from what i see i am the most active at using these groups on the regular

 

[Iron Giant]

I tried the whole fb thing I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I dont know how to do it properly. I did a couple of ads but i didnt have a large advertising budget to put into it so that's also a problem.

If you have any tips or advice on how to gain customers this way I'd really appreciate anything you have to say.

If you don't have a website, FB is still very good for building up an online presence, just don't forget to ask client's to leave reviews you can build up a good reputation which will gain you work. 

 

[harunh]

If your struggling to pick up new customers then you clearly are not putting yourself out there enough, and the last thing u should be doing is comparing yourself to your friend, i suggest you try door knocking 2 hours per day over 5/6 days per week, 2-3 days you may pick up 0 customers but the the other 2-3 days you may pick up 11-13 customers ? its all a hit and miss game, when you miss it it can put your down but when you hit it it can certainly lift you.

Good luck

 

[A.K WINDOWS]

@Haz just out of interest mate , what payment methods do you get people on say if you bang on doors ? I’d like every single person on GC but door work is hard for this ..phones calls easy work .

 

[harunh]

@Haz just out of interest mate , what payment methods do you get people on say if you bang on doors ? I’d like every single person on GC but door work is hard for this ..phones calls easy work .

If you bang on doors you book them in and say you pay online , all my customers pay me by BACS transfer , 1/10 customers will say to me they dont do online , i will then put them down as cash , but a lot of people are online now but a lot of old people dont go online so they cant really pay online.

u ALSO Get the odd few customers who do not like the idea of paying online lol but when u quote the job just tell them it will be this amount ££__  and we will call around once a month and then u can make payment by paying in to our account.
 

 

[mike007]

If you bang on doors you book them in and say you pay online , all my customers pay me by BACS transfer , 1/10 customers will say to me they dont do online , i will then put them down as cash , but a lot of people are online now but a lot of old people dont go online so they cant really pay online.

u ALSO Get the odd few customers who do not like the idea of paying online lol but when u quote the job just tell them it will be this amount ££__  and we will call around once a month and then u can make payment by paying in to our account.
 

BACS, Go Cardless are OK if customer is not in when you clean, but if they are then cash is no problem whatsoever, or left in a safe place, then just once a week visit to the Bank (do the shopping at same time).

 

[A.K WINDOWS]

If you bang on doors you book them in and say you pay online , all my customers pay me by BACS transfer , 1/10 customers will say to me they dont do online , i will then put them down as cash , but a lot of people are online now but a lot of old people dont go online so they cant really pay online.

u ALSO Get the odd few customers who do not like the idea of paying online lol but when u quote the job just tell them it will be this amount ££__  and we will call around once a month and then u can make payment by paying in to our account.
 

That's all good if bank trans work for you , i only take on GC now and cash ,bank trans cost me a lot time and stress. So i wont offer it anymore hence not door knocking as its hard to get them to sign up to this on the door.

 

[harunh]

That's all good if bank trans work for you , i only take on GC now and cash ,bank trans cost me a lot time and stress. So i wont offer it anymore hence not door knocking as its hard to get them to sign up to this on the door.

We text customers each week reminding them about the money owed, and we do pretty well of it, this also keeps us in touch with our customers all year round through texts , u will get many replys such as -  sorry have been busy etc , the admin side gets bigger and bigger for me as we grow. It is hard work and stressful but it is what it is lol

 

[Chris34]

Anyone else find it hard to pick up new customers? I go knocking doors and either none is in or they "already have a window cleaner".

Granted I probably dont go out as much as I should canvassing but my friend only does leaflet drops of 1000 and he picks up 10 or 15 customers each time it's crazy!

I'll post a picture of my leaflets I had a friend design them so they're pretty professional looking see what you think.

View attachment 18827

You need to put your name and address on the leaflet.  I've had plenty on people call me because they said they had seen my address on the leaflet and noticed I was local.  They said when there is no address then they suspect it's a traveller.