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First Day Canvassing 8 customers and a threat :-)

D

dejo

Soooo, I decided to become a window cleaner, did my research, printed out some flyers and dived right in. Today was my first day of canvassing and after working up the courage to knock on strangers doors i found the vast majority very pleasant and in need of a window cleaner. After being out for only half an hour I had 8 cleans arranged for Friday and another 5 who were going to 'get back to me' (they sounded posistive...)

As i was getting told by one gentleman that there hadn't been a window cleaner in the area for a year or two another window cleaner turned up and starting threatening to 'run me out of business' evidently he had seen my flyers and was not happy. I told him i was going nowhere and he should rethink his ideas, he backed down pretty sharply and made a few ***ue threats and that was that.

Decided to call it a day then and made my way home.

All in all a successful first day for an hours canvassing.

WHY HAVENT I FOUND THIS SOONER LOL

Could anyone offer any tips on how i can avoid getting into future confrontations with other cleaners? i have previous run ins with police so it wouldnt look good if things degenerated into fisticuffs lol

 
Thats good mate, just be casual... Go with the flow and just say to him when he makes a threat... Threatening me isnt gonna get u no wer buddy. Act more smarter and dont be scared, ask him things such as how long u been window cleaning for? Also try and get his name..if he says dave Then call him by his name if you call him by his name its like u kind of know him, this does work ,when u see him next shout over to him and say oryt dave how ya doin, and talk abowt the nyc weather or the terrible weather, thats al u gta do just be smart and control the convo in a nyc manner

 
I wouldn't bother with that sort mate, fortunately they are not all the same. If you were working on the same building as me, doing a bottom flat while I was doing another, you would get nothing but a polite nod and a bit of friendly chit chat from me and the lads that work for me.

I would never even consider going up to someone else and telling them where they can and cant work, I cant imagine what these plonkers have running through there head.

I think you have did the best thing though. Stand up to them, don't back down, and let them know there scare tactics wont work and they wont bother you.


Get back out there tomorrow mate and keep at it, let us know how you get on.

 
Welcome to the forum mate ,

I can not understand people like that you did the right thing and stood up to him , there are a few window cleaners around my way and apart from one i get on well with all of them there know need for it .As for your first day on canvasing very good result

 
remarkably good advice from haruhn there !!! sadly you cant always avoid ppl like that but if yr calm & pleasant whatever they are like then your the winner in the end

 
Theres idiots around everywhere . Cant understand why they think they own a particular patch its bloody stupid if you ask me .

Just ignore him i would .

 
Happy days out canvassing! I haven't had any confrontations in 5 years. If they are not doing them then it is their fault, you are out trying to make a living and no one should have the right to say this is my street your not cleaning in it. There are too many cleaners today to get on like that.. If you want the work get out and get it before someone else does!

 
i had some one come up to me and say this is my patch i clean round here when i turned round and said this is my house and i clean my own windows thanks he then proceeded to tell me which numbers he cleans as he said each number i named the people who live there and told him i know 90% of the people down this street and i could take everyone of them off him if i wanted he soon shut up and a couple of month on he asks me to help him out n go partners with him so like big H said just staycalm and talk nice as soon as they realise your not out to undercut them or take work off them they seem to be ok

 
You always get one, he gets The Sopranos box set for his birthday and before you know it he's standing in front of the mirror practicing over and over again in his best Al Pacino accent "this is my patch" Unless you wake up with a horses head in your bed usually there's nothing to worry about.The turds usually float away and never bother you again.

 
ah good, hopefully he was just a one off. i was hoping it wasnt going to be an everyday thing, that would be more tiring than cleaning the windows! other than that one fellow im very very happy with how the canvassing went, hopefully if it keeos up at this rate i'll be all set within a month!

thanks for the advice guys and the very quick responses

 
You keep going mate. Stuff him. They wind me up thinking they own the place. I've had windies leafleting on "my" patch but don't bother me. If I do a good job and am regular my visited won't change. If they do & go for the cheaper option then they ain't worth having anyway. You keep going mate.

 
I think if your viciously going after his work then just step off his patch, sometimes being new and enthusiastic can get you into trouble unknowingly.

To be fair thou you had 8 jobs prob none of them are his, personally I would of fronted him up and said its a big area I only want drop ons and if he stepped into my personal space I would drop him and walk (reasonable force) no issues he would probably feel too embarrassed to report it.

Or heres another option say this "Oh you work here ..... hoping Id see you, look have you been doing this a while here ........ ah ok you ever thought about selling your round Id give you good money for it"

Generally if someone thinks they might get money of you they couldnt be nicer.

 
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