Starting a business, but no experience

[Chris33]

Good for u mate!

Im in first year of business here and went from care to window cleaning. Stay in Fife, your not that far away.

Was supposed to be a partnership for me too but the other guy never started,who was the guy who knew how to clean!

I just kept going and bought an unger starter kit,which was a waste really as wish I'd bought more specific items.

Made plenty mistakes along the way so far,but all I have had is the great advice on here and YouTube for techniques.

Good luck!

 

[sam86ni]

Good for u mate!
Im in first year of business here and went from care to window cleaning. Stay in Fife, your not that far away.

Was supposed to be a partnership for me too but the other guy never started,who was the guy who knew how to clean!

I just kept going and bought an unger starter kit,which was a waste really as wish I'd bought more specific items.

Made plenty mistakes along the way so far,but all I have had is the great advice on here and YouTube for techniques.

Good luck!

I found your thread canvassing blog, amazing information. I meant to send you a message earlier to say thanks for making the blog, but got called away. Thanks! and congratulations for making a success of it.

Thinking of staying and setting it up in angus. This forum is great, there is a huge amount of information throughout it. Your canvassing skills seem to be second to none, very charismatic by the sounds of it.

What are your prices sitting at now? if you don't mind me asking.

 

[Chris33]

Thank you Sami,

Prices are minimum of 7 and heading to 10 for a new build. Obviously more with a conservatory.

If I took an average of all houses apart from mansion's, I'd say 8 quid is about average. This is low compared to the boys down south,but I'm expensive where I am and that's all I can aim for really.

I have about 7 mansions on round that are well priced and scrapped that high street shop front work you may have read about on the blog..they ended up getting in the way.

 

[Chris33]

I ended up stretching myself too wide,and there's a point of warning there.

In fife there is lots of towns as you'll know and I ended up trying to cover them all I think! I didn't have a focus but i had lots of work.

Now Im covering two main towns and two linking villages. 80 houses a week-320 in total,plus mansions. This provides me a good wage and saves tons of fuel/time..and time for add ons if they come up IE gutter cleans

Hard decisions down sizing a bit,but in canvassing I trust so if anyone drops off I'll chap to replace ;-)

 

[sam86ni]

I ended up stretching myself too wide,and there's a point of warning there.
In fife there is lots of towns as you'll know and I ended up trying to cover them all I think! I didn't have a focus but i had lots of work.

Now Im covering two main towns and two linking villages. 80 houses a week-320 in total,plus mansions. This provides me a good wage and saves tons of fuel/time..and time for add ons if they come up IE gutter cleans

Hard decisions down sizing a bit,but in canvassing I trust so if anyone drops off I'll chap to replace ;-)

Wow 320 customers. I seen someone else said around 75% of window cleaning customers get their gutters cleaned as well, probably once or twice a year, there is more money, and then your add on services, solar panel cleaning, power washing and other bits and bobs. You must be taking home a small fortune, compared to the care home anyhow and most jobs out there, especially in this economy. Your brand is well established now as well, and i think your prices are low for the customer service you give, but you must be making 20 an hour since it is compact now, and your first cleans are done.

The pricing is so important, i can imagine pricing someone 10 to 15 in arbroath and swiftly getting the door slammed on my face haha. 7-8 in Scotland for working class seems about right i think. Middle class can pay a bit more, and higher class can reach deep into their pocket; all these brackets usually mean bigger houses anyhow, so win win for prices. But then as far as pricing goes, there are other variables to take into consideration. It is a very interesting business indeed, so much to think about in order to make a profitable small business from it.

It is interesting how you started by just taking work from anywhere, then you consolidated this down, as your customers began to trust you, spreading to neighborhood trust. Can't beat good customer service.

What percentage of your customers would go for an inside clean and would you charge more? I seen on your blog as well that you were going to offer quite a lot of incentives at the start, probably to do with the fact that you are just a nice person. Do you offer any loyalty schemes now for your customers? I personally think rewarding loyalty is important, along with your charisma and professionalism will put you high above any competitors.

 

[Chris33]

Now do zero insides,. Maybe a front window of someone regular. Like I say I've completely channelled into doing certain areas,houses I like and jobs I like..

I cut that many houses I could afford to be choosy I guess

 

[sam86ni]

Now do zero insides,. Maybe a front window of someone regular. Like I say I've completely channelled into doing certain areas,houses I like and jobs I like..
I cut that many houses I could afford to be choosy I guess

What did you say to the customers when you cut them?

 

[Chris33]

Well I sold some work to a local guy,and lettered the first 50 customers yesterday.

He has only lost one,and is due to take them on this week. After that I'll sell him the next batch of due work and so on.

Almost all will still have a window cleaner at current prices and the guy will probs have a full round by the end of this. Happy days all round

 

[sam86ni]

Well I sold some work to a local guy,and lettered the first 50 customers yesterday.
He has only lost one,and is due to take them on this week. After that I'll sell him the next batch of due work and so on.

Almost all will still have a window cleaner at current prices and the guy will probs have a full round by the end of this. Happy days all round /emoticons/smile.png

Nice! You don't lose face with the customer and you have made some money as well.

 

[Dave B]

It's all about shoe leather

Wear enough of it away knocking doors and you will have a big round

Consistently canvassing and getting rid of the muck while replacing with newly canvassed work is the key until you get to the point you can be choosy about what you do

Personally i do insides etc as it is easy money but you can choose what you will and won't do in this game

Chris has done extraordinarily well in a short period of time but that will be down to determination and not giving up the door chapping even on a bad day

Keep it up @Chris33

 

[Chris33]

Aye Sam,I stuck the cash I owed those that had paid for next clean in an envelope attached to the letters.

Got a couple nice texts re that later at night and they all seemed to understand the point of my decision was to focus on work local to me (that particular area was my furthest out work, good priced though :-( )

Cheers Davie,and I'll have more time again this winter to chap to focus my work in even more. It all got a bit overwhelming as work was becoming stretched, I tried a few guys out and their quality was shoddy etc.

Plenty time to expand once I get round the way I want it a bit more,and not before I've learned to walk first lol.

 

[Dave B]

I would spend another year or so constantly compacting my round before i took someone on mate

Makes sure you are in the perfect position then to employ but make a good round of your own also

You may even decide that you don't need the aggro of employing someone once your round is as good as you can get it

 

[sam86ni]

Aye Sam,I stuck the cash I owed those that had paid for next clean in an envelope attached to the letters.
Got a couple nice texts re that later at night and they all seemed to understand the point of my decision was to focus on work local to me (that particular area was my furthest out work, good priced though :-( )

Cheers Davie,and I'll have more time again this winter to chap to focus my work in even more. It all got a bit overwhelming as work was becoming stretched, I tried a few guys out and their quality was shoddy etc.

Plenty time to expand once I get round the way I want it a bit more,and not before I've learned to walk first lol.

In regards to compacting the rounds even further; that means trying to get customers you have previously advertised to, or actually chatted to. Are you just going to ride the waves, see if anyone comes to you whilst you are working, or are you going to directly approach the potential customer again? Maybe try to build a rapport with people in that area as they are out and about, whilst you are cleaning other customers windows?

 

[Dave B]

I do the same thing every few months and start again as near to my house as possible and work outwards canvassing/leafletting

Surprising how much you can pick up where you previously got turned away

Things change. .windies go awol etc

I also think that once people have had your leaflet a few times or been knocked a few times they realise that you are reliable and not just around occasionally which is what people want

 

[Dave B]

Just been looking out the window and i can see 9 customers

5 i could reach with the motor still on my driveway

 

[Chris33]

Sam I'll just chap doors in streets I like,that's it lol

Lots I haven't chapped and as Davie says,others fold anyway.. Especially this point in the year

 

[Clisty1989]

As @daveyboy said, keep knocking the same areas every few months, I'm going to re knock all the roads I already have work on after Christmas. I also ensure I say hello to everyone I see and be happy and polite, get yourself known in the area in a good way and the work will fly in, then you'll become the local windy and the areas locked down.

 

[adamangler]

Theres a lot to be said for making the round as profitable as possible.

Mine has got into a right mess, work spread all over the month just in the process of sorting it out into weeks, i reckon i could do my round in 2- 2.5 days a weeks if it was ll in order!

 

[Adams0211]

Just been looking out the window and i can see 9 customers5 i could reach with the motor still on my driveway

Keep your beady little eyes off my ones mate :rof:

 

[Dave B]

Keep your beady little eyes off my ones mate :rof:

I would have to go round the corner for them lol

Can't see them from my front window

Can from the garden though :rofl:

 

[Dave B]

I can probably reach the back windows from my garden lol