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strugling to find new customers

Kleenwell

Active member
Messages
124
Location
Weston super mare
hi all

i am fairly new to the game.

i have been up and running for about 2 months.

i used pro green for lead generation which got me a few regular cleans and a few one off's.

i have had one walk up and one recommendation from that walkup.

but i am struggling to get by.  luckily i have a weekend job in a mates shop to keep me going.

i have a facebook page and a website.   the site is currently undergoing seo modification.

i have google ads and facebook ads   all being paid for.   but i am getting very little traffic to them.

no calls, no messages.    im not sure what im doing wrong.

i also post on every for sale page in my area. 

i have dropped about 1500 flyers and about 400 business cards.

i walk around town wearing my work hoodie saying "window cleaner" on the back.

i know everyone says to go knocking doors, but my anxiety seriously prevents me from doing that. 

i did this for n power for a few months.  i hated it   i was a wreck.

could anyone suggest anything else i can do?

even if i had just 1 customer per day, i would be happy as i wouldnt be sat at home stairing at the phone waiting for it to ring

 
I'm in a similar position to you, I have 5 customers at the moment. I have posted around 300 business cards, less than a week of a Facebook ad and gone canvassing. The first time I did the canvassing I was very anxious, so much so that I didn't want to do it again. I even got a customer on the first house I knocked on and still didn't want to do it. A few days later however I gave it another go, and to my surprise it felt so much easier. I'm still having days when I don't want to knock on doors so I do something else productive toward growing my business. My point is, don't totally rule out canvassing just yet. Some days you may feel less worried about doing it than others. I built it up way too much in my head, but I think I had to go through that initial amount of anxiety to overcome it and see that the world wasn't going to end. Good luck with it all. You seem to be putting in the effort which is the most important thing.

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Also, with things like Facebook ads, try and get in the mindset of what process the customer will have to go through until they're paying you money to clean there windows. Make your ad as obvious and simple as possible. My call to action was to send a message, I had the area I cover in the add picture so it was noticeable, and maybe think about how visual your ad is in relation to window cleaning.

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My Facebook ad car is connect in messenger      The picture is a window with my brush on it.   In action.     

The google ad comes at the very top of the search with a link to my website.   As yet, my website itself doesn’t come tops of the organic searches.  But that shouldn’t be the case once the seo is sorted

 
I post on sale groups 4 times a week.  Normally around 6pm

uniform worm most places

im new to the area so don’t know many people here.  But the people I do know, know what I do

 
If you don’t mind me asking pal how many customers have you got? I started fully last week just doing leaflet dropping so far I’ve got 11 custys


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Get ‘windows’ capitalised.

Change that image to a nice soapy window. ‘But I only do trad ground...’ doesn’t matter. A lot of folk won’t know what that is in your image. But they do know what a soapy window means.

have it say something like ‘Local window cleaner. We include your frames and doors! Contact today for a quote’. 

I haven’t really advertised online much so this is my opinion, not any rules, though non of it will cost you money, lol!

 
I know how you feel. I tried to set of on my own years ago was so hard. I still only work it now part time. Sounds like your doing everything you can.

Just maybe once your out cleaning maybe knock the neighbors.

I’ve posted hundreds of leaflets and I think they bring in next to nothing your lucky to get 1 out of 20. You ever thought about getting a Canvisor in? Or a family member to go out knocking for you on a Saturday morning?


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I can’t really offer any advice because I’m new to the game all I can do is explain what I’m doing.

My leaflets have a space that I write my price on and instruct customers to leave in their windows and I’ll call round. (Watch green pros video on YouTube he explains the leaflet I’ll send you mine if you want) I find by doing it this way it stops all the price shoppers the customer knows the price so the sell isn’t hard when you visit them and it’s convenient for the customer.

I drive around the estates a day or two later looking for the leaflets, people then spot my sign written van on their road.

I also found the best time to deliver leaflets is on a Sunday. As most people are sat inside and get curious when they see you walking down their drive. (Plus leaflet doesn’t get mixed up with all the post and other leaflets)

I’ve not tried door knocking yet but I’ve just got my work gear with logos etc so I’ll be out trying it tonight.

I’ve set a goal of how much I want to be earning by March and I’ve shared that with my friends and family so that is driving me on otherwise I’ll look like a tool.

Best advice is to treat it like a 9-5 job. I can’t do that during the week cos I’ve got a 1 year old and have her from 3pm whilst the Mrs is in work otherwise I’d be out until 7 at night.

See if you can stick a large leaflet or poster on a notice board in a supermarket. My mum does this for domestic cleaning and gets a lot of enquiries from it.

All of us new starters are in the same boat pal just keep plugging away plenty of work out their for all of us.


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Not read the reply’s but your new to the game so something you could think of, I wouldn’t get someone to clean my windows if they can’t spell clean, I know it’s a play on words but it doesn’t look good, your initials would be better?! I started up with my initials and door knocked...

 
Just a thought.   The advert comes across as being a bit internet advert franchise looking, maybe you could change it to make it look more friendly and localised.  Also if you glance at it quickly it could easily be an advert for new window frames, the name 'kleenwell windows' does not have the word clean or cleaning, so in a split second they might just thing it's an advert for new windows as the picture is not a close up shot of water on a window with a brush.  'Kleenwell Window Cleaning' would probably be better.

I'd also emphasise that you don't just clean the glass, you clean the frames etc.

 
all good advice   thankyou

yes  the name is a play on my partners name.

her surname is keedwell.   so i went with kleenwell.   easier to say than stockleys windows  

my work wear has window cleaner in large letters on the back.

i will implement as many changes as i can as soon as i can

 
I'm old school @Kleenwell and as far as I'm concerned the only sure way to get customers is to knock on doors. These modern social media advertising methods are too complex for me. I know the Facebook add works for KentKleen in Redcar as he attributes this to his business growth, so its not without its merits.

TBH when canvassing, there is nothing a householder is going to do to you to hurt you when they open the door after you knock. They won't hit you, they might say something rude (never experienced that ourselves when canvassing tbh) but that's about all. You are there to ask a simple question which you learn off by heart and you can ask with feeling and confidence. Havng your missus accompany you also helps as it makes people feel less threatened or possibily more relaxed.

"Hello sir/madam, sorry to trouble you. We are local window cleaners wanting to expand our customer base and I would like to ask if you would like a free quote to clean your windows."

"I already have a window cleaner."

"Thank you for your time I appreciate it. Goodbye."  As you turn to leave you then pull a Columbo on the 'crowd'. "Sorry sir/Madam, one more question if I may. What's your window cleaner's name?"

Mostly they don't know but if they say "John" then thank them and leave. If you keep a record of the address of each person you canvass then you should get an idea of where John works. In time to come you might hear that John has retired or given up. It then gives you a list of people to recanvass. You are looking at both the short term and the long term results when canvassing.

You aren't working for N Power. You don't have to tell lies to sell a gas/electric contract.

Of course not all people's doors you knock on will be interested in your service. And that's fine, because the more No's you get the closer you will get to a Yes. We had a salesman once who worked out that he got 11 no's before a yes. So he looked forward to each no because he knew what was coming.

If you have a happy customer you already clean (hopefully they are all happy) then ask them if any of their local friends need a reliable window cleaner they could recommend you to. We have a customer who got us 15 new customers and some of those additional 15 got us more customers. In fact the majority of our customer base has come from recommendations.

In the early days we did canvass. I can remember going for several evening with nothing. Then we hit the proverbial jackpot. You have got to eat, drink and sleep window cleaning when you first start up. Forget the latest football scores. If you are driving down the road and see someone cleaning their own windows, stop the car and ask them for their business. I've done that and it works.

Ask the neighbours next to the homes you are cleaning. "Hello, we clean the windows of Mr Gibson next door and wonder if you would like us to quote to clean your windows." You can also ask them for a recommendation of someone they know on the strength of the fact that you clean windows for their next door neighbour.

You need to be presentable when you canvass, so smart casual is what I would suggest you wear.

.

 
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Add in the words, "local, friendly and reliable" this will help. Also get some pictures of you working, even if it's your own house it doesn't matter it will put a face to your business which helps. More and more leaflets treat your day like its work, start at 8, do the cleans you have then go and leaflet until 4 or whenever you finish. Don't get in the mindset that because you're self employed you can go home. Set goals you should be able to achieve 100 cards per hour on an average estate so go and smash it..

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I would change the name to "Window Kleening" which tells the public what you do with a twist, which makes a good talking point. Don't put prices on flyers because you want them to call you or give an estimate. I have only 2 customers on a street and knew the old cleaner was giving up, so I leafleted the street and I got another 2 customers. When I clean the 4 customers I will be looking out for more. That's how it goes, slowly but surely you pick them up.

 
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