Upto 50 customers

[Robt100]

My first thing would be if its on a junction it will be seen by drivers. If the drivers are of any standard they wont be spending ages looking at the scenery rather than paying attention to the road. So best make it as short as you can. Id strip out lines 2,3,4 and 5. Company name, number, email. Any more and you wont see it when driving at the junction.
But id say add a background/some colour to it to catch their eye.
You want to get their attention, see who you are and what you do, and how to contact you, all in about 2 seconds max.

You could always put more detail (gutters fascias etc) in smaller print, but not in a way that would shrink the main point.

 

[Davy G]

Being pedantic but you've got windows mentioned 3 times in the 1st 3 lines. I don't know how big the sign is but I'd make the writing larger and remove the second line and windows in the 3rd. Then again I'm no advertising guru. 

I agree. I didn't like to say it but I was also thinking ; too much repetition of the word window. I'm not a fan of everything being in block capitals either.

An excellent opportunity to make a first impression. I'd make full use of it and put some real thought into the sign. Rather than necessarily rush in. I'd be allowing myself a week to think it through and hopefully get it right. Not too long as your mate might change his mind.

If the company logo can be incorporated into it, even better. If it were me I'd want it to bring a smile to my face every time I drove past it. I'd want it look very professional. Some might say I'm too fussy... I can happily live with that label.

A great, and very kind offer from your mate.

Good luck with it. ??

 

[HWCS]

Went to quote aa new customer today, was a few miles (5/6) further than id normally like to go but, the family are well known in the area as developers of million pound deals, they convert Barns, derilict farms etc etc into massive properties and multiple properties.

So went in as professional as i could, really sold it in the quote and went in £10 cheaper than i probably should have.

Within 10 minutes i get a phone call, they'd love to take me up on my quote, they couldnt believe that a window cleaner would produce such a professionally worded quotation, and if my works of a good quality would i be interested in some contract work on a few properties that they are currently renovating in the local area.

Just gotta impress them with my skillz now.

View attachment 20903

Well went and done this job today, couldnt have gone any better, the lady of the house had a couple of friends round for tea and cake while i was cleaning, all 3 in their latw 60s early 70s and all posh very very posh

A little bit of patter and i had them giggling like teenage girls, i made a massive fuss of the dogs (which was huhe for me as i hate dogs), one of the friends asked me to clean her windows in 6 weeks said id pop round and quote her and she said theres no need, just come and clean as they need doing.

The 2nd friend is currently having a 2 bedroom extension added to her 4 bed restored farmhouse and wants me to go in 12 weeks time as her builders are in her words "bloody penises" and are dragging their arses.

And the lady of the house is speaking to her husband when hes home and wants me to do a regular clean on a block they own that has 8,  2 bedroom flats and and a 3 bedroom penthouse apartment in Norwich.

To say im buzzing is an understatement.

Below is a pic of the front of the main house i cleaned today there is also an extension on the side which has a lantern roof and 2 of the biggest sliding doors ive ever seen.

As @Pjj said its the spratts that catxh the mackerel ??

 

[Pjj]

Well went and done this job today, couldnt have gone any better, the lady of the house had a couple of friends round for tea and cake while i was cleaning, all 3 in their latw 60s early 70s and all posh very very posh

A little bit of patter and i had them giggling like teenage girls, i made a massive fuss of the dogs (which was huhe for me as i hate dogs), one of the friends asked me to clean her windows in 6 weeks said id pop round and quote her and she said theres no need, just come and clean as they need doing.

The 2nd friend is currently having a 2 bedroom extension added to her 4 bed restored farmhouse and wants me to go in 12 weeks time as her builders are in her words "bloody penises" and are dragging their arses.

And the lady of the house is speaking to her husband when hes home and wants me to do a regular clean on a block they own that has 8,  2 bedroom flats and and a 3 bedroom penthouse apartment in Norwich.

To say im buzzing is an understatement.

Below is a pic of the front of the main house i cleaned today there is also an extension on the side which has a lantern roof and 2 of the biggest sliding doors ive ever seen.

As @Pjj said its the spratts that catxh the mackerel ??

View attachment 21133

There you go I said it works a treat we get loads of work in a similar way , we’ll done  onwards and upwards ?

 

[HWCS]

Goals for 2020

300 customers by 2021✔

Newer & bigger van✔

Goals for 2021

500 customers by 2022

Thought id give a little update as feeling elated about work this week.

Well ive only bloody gone and done it, 8 months ago (Nov2019) i set myself a couple of targets for 2020 ive only gone n smashed them already.??

1st Goal: newer bigger van by end 2020

My newer bigger van was on the road late January, my hand was forced by a crash that wrote offmy combo, my 06 plate vivaro is now fully kitted, & sign written, 650ltr delivery system, slx18 for everyday use Slx30 for high/long jobs & home made 4ft pole for bungalow days, swift controller, sureflow pump, clabber hose reel, 2gardiner back pack (1new 1 2nd hand for tfr), skyvacAtom everything new except 650lt tank. 

2nd Goal: 300 customer by end 2020

Sat static at around 160 8 months ago, just went through the very wet winter not picking many up, then January hit and i piçked up a care home with 40 residences only picked up 18/20 of them in the end but was a boost, then BANG COVID-19 ?? hit me really hard in March, due to the wife having low immune system i didnt work for 11weeks total & wondered if id have a business left as couldnt get government help but only lost 4/5 customers. So came out of covid with circa 180-200 and it went bonkers, some days felt like i was taking more new calls than cleaning houses. Just had a count up of database today and HELLO 284 customer details now thats not 300 i hear you say!! But 1 is carehome with 18/20 different customers inside, & 1 is a builders who ive just got contract with to do stock plot cleans which could see me working as far away as Ipswich and Cambridge a couple of times a month for a very good hourly rate.

So the magic 300 has been hit ??

I know your all probably fed up with me bigging up myself in this thread, but i genuinely am humbled by the help and support this forum gives and without windowcleaningforums.co.uk i genuinely wouldnt have what i have today. ????

Added 2020 goal: 

Electric reel

Goals for the end 2021

500 customer

Brand new van

2man set up and a part-timer

Launch 'HCS' cleaning holiday homes, EOT cleans etc etc etc (The wife and her aunty are going to work for me as Holt Cleaning Services 'HCS' a sister company to Holt Window Cleaning Services 'HWCS') Anybody with experience in this please feel free to throw me any advice ?

 

[Part Timer]

Make sure you set the 2nd business up correctly as HMRC might view it as avoiding VAT registration. A chat to your Accountant should point you in the right direction.

Well done on your growth.

 

[Davy G]

Good for you . Delighted to hear it's all going very well. Thanks again for the update. ??

 

[CraigC]

Thanks for the update. These kind of topics are inspirational for noobs such as myself to see just how far someone can go in a little over a year if they're prepared to put in the effort.

Personally I started ordering kit to replicate Apw1210's trolley system around the end of May, done many a test run on my own home and feel I'm now ready to start doing it on a professional basis. Got a leaflet designed by a pro with 5,000 ordered and due to arrive on my doorstep within the next few days.

Perhaps I'll start my own journey thread in the coming weeks. We'll see.

 

[HWCS]

Thanks for the update. These kind of topics are inspirational for noobs such as myself to see just how far someone can go in a little over a year if they're prepared to put in the effort.

Personally I started ordering kit to replicate Apw1210's trolley system around the end of May, done many a test run on my own home and feel I'm now ready to start doing it on a professional basis. Got a leaflet designed by a pro with 5,000 ordered and due to arrive on my doorstep within the next few days.

Perhaps I'll start my own journey thread in the coming weeks. We'll see.

Do it mate ??

 

[Robt100]

Great sucess story there!
I started in February (yep, great timing I know!) and have struggled a bit to get going given all the uncertainty. But looking at maybe starting with flyers/leaftlet dropping. How sucessful was it on a 'customer per amount of leaflets' kind of ratio? I'm just working out how much to invest into it.

I'm also trying to not get into the "northern prices" mantra. Currently renting a round which is about 50-100% underpriced and keep forgetting to charge proper prices when I do get an enquiry! No other services are cheaper 'up north' so why should our work be?

Think im going to have to read through this thread again to get some tips @HWCS. So glad you have kept a record on here!

 

[HWCS]

Great sucess story there!
I started in February (yep, great timing I know!) and have struggled a bit to get going given all the uncertainty. But looking at maybe starting with flyers/leaftlet dropping. How sucessful was it on a 'customer per amount of leaflets' kind of ratio? I'm just working out how much to invest into it.

I'm also trying to not get into the "northern prices" mantra. Currently renting a round which is about 50-100% underpriced and keep forgetting to charge proper prices when I do get an enquiry! No other services are cheaper 'up north' so why should our work be?

Think im going to have to read through this thread again to get some tips @HWCS. So glad you have kept a record on here!

Thanks @Robt100 my flyers were a massive sucess, but to be fair i am in what id call an untouched area, there a few windys but they are not overly proactive, i think they are all nearing retirement or just plodding along for pin money, accept 1 lad that im now good mates with, but we are fair enough apart with a decent sized town between us to not step on each others toes.

I think the key to flyering is get them all out quick, no good doing a cpl hunderd then doing a few more a cpl weeks later and so on and so on, i think the key is to flood the area you want hard and fast, if youve got 5000 get 5000 delivered no good having them sitting indoors as they aint earning sat under the stairs.

The advice on here is 2nd to none, i am a member of a big facebook group but tbf its full of 'billy big b*lls' all giving it the £500 a day, brand new vans, fully fitted systems but no pot to p*ss in when it comes to a day off, so id take any advice on them grouos with a pinch of salt.

 

[CraigC]

As someone who has distributed leaflets as a sideline for years you can probably expect 90% + to end up going straight in the bin/recycling without even being looked at.

Leafleting is a pure numbers game, the more you put out, the better. I'm personally expecting 2% - 5% of the leaflets I put out to generate leads but with 5000 leaflets to start even with a response that low it's potentially 100 - 250 leads.

I personally paid £30 for a full colour, 2 sided design and £48 for 5,000 A5 130gsm leaflets so that's 1.5p per household. Less than a penny for subsequent runs as the design is already done.

Just be careful of dogs if delivering yourself. It's not the ones that bark as you approach that are the problem, it's the one's who wait silently behind the letterbox. Maybe consider pinching a spatula from the kitchen draw to push your leaflet through. ?

 

[NoName]

The spatula is a great call - dog's or no dog's makes getting the flyer thru draft excluder 'flap' inside in one piece (rather than a crumpled mess) much more likely - just wrap the flyer over the end, like letter a C and poke the spatula/card in the middle of the C thru the flap - all fingers present and correct . I've got a two inch scar from a dog when leafleting and tetanus jab to boot...glad i don't need to run that gauntlet again...

 

[CraigC]

Yeah been bitten a couple of times myself over the course of 5 years. Both times the draught excluder and back flap were missing so it's a direct line to a silently waiting dog's mouth.

The last one was a 1.5 inch tear to my middle fingertip which even penetrated the finger nail and caused nerve damage that still makes it uncomfortable to put pressure on that fingertip 2 years on.

Unfortunately irresponsible dog owners exist although such events are rare.

As you say, delivering a single leaflet in of itself is tough, with a spatula it won't crumple in addition to protecting your fingers.

 

[steve garwood]

I threw a ball for my dog today.

Bit extravagant I know, but it was his eighteenth birthday ??

 

[wezza13]

Good stuff mate.

Next target : Electric Reel. You'll wonder how you did without it ?

 

[HWCS]

 1 is a builders who ive just got contract with to do stock plot cleans which could see me working as far away as Ipswich and Cambridge a couple of times a month for a very good hourly rate

Today was the first work for the building developer, did 8 stock plots

1x 3bed bungalow 

3x 4bed detatched houses

4x 5bed detatched houses

Only moved van twice

Total of £175 took me 2hrs, sent the invoice by email at 3pm, money in the bank by 4.30pm.

 

[ks789]

Today was the first work for the building developer, did 8 stock plots

1x 3bed bungalow 

3x 4bed detatched houses

4x 5bed detatched houses

Only moved van twice

Total of £175 took me 2hrs, sent the invoice by email at 3pm, money in the bank by 4.30pm.

cor you got better result than me mate. I did some new homes on new site for hopkins homes but took eons to get paid. Mind you, it wasnt hopkins but an agency that were paying for that etc so i guess hopkins pass that onto agency.

 

[HWCS]

cor you got better result than me mate. I did some new homes on new site for hopkins homes but took eons to get paid. Mind you, it wasnt hopkins but an agency that were paying for that etc so i guess hopkins pass that onto agency.

Theres a new Hopkins development here aswell, i do alot of houses on the estate, the site manager hates me coz i keep pointing out to my customers faults in their windows, the quality of the windows that hopkins use are awful compared to the ones i do for lovells

Are you doing Builders cleans or stock plot cleans?

 

[ks789]

Theres a new Hopkins development here aswell, i do alot of houses on the estate, the site manager hates me coz i keep pointing out to my customers faults in their windows, the quality of the windows that hopkins use are awful compared to the ones i do for lovells

Are you doing Builders cleans or stock plot cleans?

This was a big estate in saxmundham, I hadnt heard stock plot cleans but reckon what i did must have been as they didnt seem filthy like youd expect from a builders clean. yeh there were a few terrible bits on some of the sills though, stuff that didnt seem to budge so i kept quite about that. This was in all that wet weather and the back gardens were deep mud. I never seen my hose so covered in mud. Reckon they get through cleaners as they stopped using at least one before me and then they didnt get back to me either, but the agency dealing with that were very evasive about payment etc, they were from sudbury.

 

[HWCS]

This was a big estate in saxmundham, I hadnt heard stock plot cleans but reckon what i did must have been as they didnt seem filthy like youd expect from a builders clean. yeh there were a few terrible bits on some of the sills though, stuff that didnt seem to budge so i kept quite about that. This was in all that wet weather and the back gardens were deep mud. I never seen my hose so covered in mud. Reckon they get through cleaners as they stopped using at least one before me and then they didnt get back to me either, but the agency dealing with that were very evasive about payment etc, they were from sudbury.

I deal directly with Lovells and we have an agreement for a monthly clean on their site where i live, 2 new sites that are starting at the end of the year one a 5yr build site and 1 a 4year build site, and possibly 2 ither sites that have 3yrs of building left.

Each site can be anywhere between 1 and 15 plots per month,