Narrowing down a canvassing area

[RealKidJoker]

Hi guys,

I introduced myself last April with the intention of starting up a Window cleaning business the same year after losing my job. I've been following the forum daily since then but haven't commented on any topics. Anyway, to cut a long story short, this hasn't materialised yet - i did business management for a year at college, 1st child was born, death in the family etc. I'm now at the point where this new Window cleaning venture will be starting early in the new year.

I know the 1st step is to get customers, with canvassing being the best option. I've thought long and hard about the best way to go about this and came up with a process which i think will help. Ideally you could do with an excel/spreadsheet based computer programme. The next step is to go to a website called www.proviser.com/regional/towns/dumfries/street_maps/

I'm from Dumfries so obviously you would search for the town/City you're from. This site gives you a list of all the streets in that particular town/City in alphabetical order. What i did next was copy these streets into excel and went onto the Royal Mail postcode finder http://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode

Start to type in each address and it will show you how many houses are on that particular street. You can then add this information to your spreadsheet giving you totals for each street in that town.

What i did was create a Tab for each letter of the alphabet and you can then sort the list showing you the streets with the most houses on it if you were looking to target a specific area(s)

This can be quite time consuming but it's unreal how many houses are in a specific town/city from the data gathered, even just the streets that begin with A or B.

Hopefully this helps people looking to start their canvassing.

 

[Smurf]

That seems a hell of alot of messing about as most door knockers just get a pencil and right down the street name they are in and new customer details they pick up in a pocket book.

 

[WWC]

I would think it better to simply target the streets that have the types of properties that suit you. I.e. suit the equipment you are using, the market you want to serve etc. You do that by walking the streets and looking at the properties. Does this street have what I want? Yes - start knocking, no - walk to the next street.

Once you start getting customers, then try to get other streets nearby so you are not driving about too much on your run. Also, if you pick up a custy on a new street, canvas the rest of that street.

 

[boarcity]

i buy local streetmaps,paper version, then colour in each street with a hi-lighter pen after iv canvassed it . local streetmaps are usually drawn up and made locally,if you are lucky they are up to date and might do as a series maps of other nearby towns ,

sometimes sold in WH SMITHS or tourist information shops, an absoliute goldmine of streets info , i refer to mine often

 

[SolarPanelCleaning]

Good idea amigo! Don't have streets out here though. Might try a local town soon just out of curiosity.

I drive around the lanes with an ordnance survey app on me phone. Catch all the hidden properties down drives and tracks. Rich milf.

 

[Dave B]

I go out with my notebook and pocket of business cards and knock on every door i see

When it gets too late go home and repeat tomorrow

Nothing else too it

No methods or systems just knock and ask do you need a windy