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Canvassing Help

Joshyouare

Active member
Messages
201
Location
Leeds
Hi again guys, since last time I posted I've been out knocking doors a few times, and got 2 customers which were both cleaned yesterday, seemed to go all well and got my money fine, one is signed up on go cardless for 4 weekly and the other will be v soon - so yeah, not been awful I guess.

However both times i've gone out knocking doors, a few hours each time, everyone seems to have a window cleaner. One of the ones I got had a window cleaner and not sure about the other one (im guessing not). So today was one of those times when I went out, and a few things to ask:

1) When you've done like 10 houses and they all say they have a window cleaner do you move on to a different area?

2) When they open the doors i'm saying "Hi there, sorry to bother you, I'm a window cleaner and i'm doing a few houses in the local area - was just wondering if you wanted a free quote for yours". Is that OK?

I can't really say i've put maximum effort in but everyone seems to have a window cleaner which is making it difficult.

When something like greens lead generation is financially possible it will be something I look into however it's flyers and door knocking at the minute.

Had no response from flyers yet either.

 
Keep going mate... what you could find is they’re maybe busy for whatever reason (having a brew with friend, have a baby indoors etc etc) so maybe fobbing you off. Obviously that’s not every house so possibly try gage as approaching the property if infact it looks like they’ve got a window cleaner.. maybe leave a card with a follow up line of “if they ever let you down please feel free to contact me”.... that way you’re not being too pushy, you’re planting a seed if they don’t have a window cleaner or maybe they may look at think that you’re worth taking the time out to quote.

I wouldn’t get down hearted by the lack of replies from fliers, just get them out there... I said on a post the other week that I honestly got a call off an old lady the other month who had kept my first flier from when I started 7 years ago, it was a blast from the past but it changed my perspective when maybe the calls don’t come in straight away.

All the best
Dane


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When knocking doors have a look at the windows, if the frames are grubby and glass is dirty it's a good sign. However if they are stinking and green/spotless your more likely to get a no. It's a numbers game, every no is one closer to a yes

 
I'm in a very similar position to you mate, I even say something similar to you when they answer the door. I had a few today that were short with me when I was canvassing. They basically said I should mind my own business when I asked how much their current window cleaner charges. It's made me realise that I don't even need to ask this question, as it wouldn't change my quote anyway. I have been moving on to a new street if I find that every other house that answers has a window cleaner. I probably shouldn't but it does get disheartening.

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I'm in a very similar position to you mate, I even say something similar to you when they answer the door. I had a few today that were short with me when I was canvassing. They basically said I should mind my own business when I asked how much their current window cleaner charges. It's made me realise that I don't even need to ask this question, as it wouldn't change my quote anyway. I have been moving on to a new street if I find that every other house that answers has a window cleaner. I probably shouldn't but it does get disheartening.

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Yeah does get a bit disheartening but when I got my 2, it felt great, and if I got 1 an hour for the rest of the time I'm canvassing I'd be happy tbh. Doing a 5 hour ish canvassing day tomorrow so i'll update on how it goes. Fairly big houses too.

I've had a few negative reactions - one opened a door and just goes in an angry tone "Ive got a sleeping baby in there, so i'm not interested". I simply went, okay, have a nice day and walked off and got her neighbors so she'll be seeing more of me in the future! :)

Yeah I wouldn't ask how much their window cleaner charges. For the sake of a few pounds they won't bother changing. I've also found that people around me seem to be on very low prices.

 
I'm in a very similar position to you mate, I even say something similar to you when they answer the door. I had a few today that were short with me when I was canvassing. They basically said I should mind my own business when I asked how much their current window cleaner charges. It's made me realise that I don't even need to ask this question, as it wouldn't change my quote anyway. I have been moving on to a new street if I find that every other house that answers has a window cleaner. I probably shouldn't but it does get disheartening.

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Whether you mean to or not, asking how much the other windy charges makes it look like your trying to undercut. Almost as bad as the 'I'll charge a £1 less' technique. Instead, like you said, just quote what you want to do it for. One thing I'll say is when I started out I was quoting higher as I was basing it on how long it would take me and it was taking me longer as I was new. That had pros and cons. Cons, I picked up less work as I overpriced stuff. Pro, I know have some very well priced jobs! ?

 
Whether you mean to or not, asking how much the other windy charges makes it look like your trying to undercut. Almost as bad as the 'I'll charge a £1 less' technique. Instead, like you said, just quote what you want to do it for. One thing I'll say is when I started out I was quoting higher as I was basing it on how long it would take me and it was taking me longer as I was new. That had pros and cons. Cons, I picked up less work as I overpriced stuff. Pro, I know have some very well priced jobs! ?
How long did it take you to get a decent round if you don't mind me asking? :)

I understand it's different for everyone haha

 
@Joshyouare i'll give you a bit of advice. 

You got two customers today.  Wasn't that hard was it? 

Get another 2 tomorrow.

Then another two the next day. 

Do that for a week and there's 10 customers. 

Do it again for the next three weeks and there's 40 customers for month. 

Keep it up for a year and that's 480 customers a month. 

Charge a minimum of £12 and there's round worth £69'120 by the end of year one!

The biggest mistake anyone makes is thinking rounds can be built overnight. They can't. If you're on a low budget to start you got to invest your time. If you want to go big day one you got to invest your money. 

Building rounds is what I do for the most part. And yes there are others. No we aren't super cheap and why would we be when we're providing a sustainable business moving forward? Weather it's old school or new school canvassing or lead gen it all comes at a cost. That's just the reality of it i'm afraid so don't be disheartened when you 'only got 2 customers' today. In a year that's a  £69'120 business you have. 

How long did it take you to get a decent round if you don't mind me asking? ?

I understand it's different for everyone haha


A lot quicker now @Master Jedi Alejandro uses us! ??? Sorry Alex. 

 
How long did it take you to get a decent round if you don't mind me asking? ?

I understand it's different for everyone haha
It depends what you consider 'decent'. I'm still building at the moment. I canvassed like a madman when I started then stupidly had a lull during summer (when I should have canvassed even more). I also only canvassed new builds by and large when I should of been canvassing everywhere. This month I started using @Green Pro Clean Ltd lead gen service and that helped pull in tons of work very quickly, but you have to have the money to invest in that. So I'd recommend that if you have some spare cash (I had been saving to buy a round). 

 
Whether you mean to or not, asking how much the other windy charges makes it look like your trying to undercut. Almost as bad as the 'I'll charge a £1 less' technique. Instead, like you said, just quote what you want to do it for. One thing I'll say is when I started out I was quoting higher as I was basing it on how long it would take me and it was taking me longer as I was new. That had pros and cons. Cons, I picked up less work as I overpriced stuff. Pro, I know have some very well priced jobs! [emoji23]
Yeah, I've learnt my lesson now on that one. I won't be asking it again. I see what you mean about over charging initially. I'm actually doing the opposite. I'm charging what I think will earn me roughly £30 ph in the future, but as I'm new and therefore slow, I'm undercharging right now. At the moment it's taking me 90 minutes for a £24 first clean. Hopefully it will take me half that time when I get fully efficient.

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A lot quicker now @Master Jedi Alejandro uses us! ??? Sorry Alex. 
True, the only downside is I need to spend 10 minutes convincing each new customer a Englishman isn't coming to their house! ?

Yeah, I've learnt my lesson now on that one. I won't be asking it again. I see what you mean about over charging initially. I'm actually doing the opposite. I'm charging what I think will earn me roughly £30 ph in the future, but as I'm new and therefore slow, I'm undercharging right now. At the moment it's taking me 90 minutes for a £24 first clean. Hopefully it will take me half that time when I get fully efficient.

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You'll get quicker but honestly first cleans always take a lot longer. I remember when I started I was disheartened by how long each clean was taking me, not considering the fact that every clean I was doing was a first clean. By month two I had figure it out. ?

 
Just got back from a bit of local canvassing, knocked roughly 150 doors, took 3 hours and 0 new customers, few business cards handed out and maybe 5 quotes.

 
Just got back from a bit of local canvassing, knocked roughly 150 doors, took 3 hours and 0 new customers, few business cards handed out and maybe 5 quotes.
This just means you're that bit closer to your next customer. I posted on a few local Facebook pages last night which lead to a new customer today. I've just finished it and it was really awkward. My pole wasn't long enough and some of the upstairs windows were recessed around 15ft, if that makes sense. So my pole was at an almost horizontal angle. I charged £36 and it took me 2.5 hours [emoji15]. It is going to be £18 every 4 weeks though.

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This just means you're that bit closer to your next customer. I posted on a few local Facebook pages last night which lead to a new customer today. I've just finished it and it was really awkward. My pole wasn't long enough and some of the upstairs windows were recessed around 15ft, if that makes sense. So my pole was at an almost horizontal angle. I charged £36 and it took me 2.5 hours
emoji15.png
. It is going to be £18 every 4 weeks though.

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Nice one, well done mate. Honestly, I wouldn't even be upset with 14 quid + an hour at the minute. I don't have a wfp pole yet so there are definitely some windows which are going to be tough for me! What sort of facebook pages are you posting on?

 
Nice one, well done mate. Honestly, I wouldn't even be upset with 14 quid + an hour at the minute. I don't have a wfp pole yet so there are definitely some windows which are going to be tough for me! What sort of facebook pages are you posting on?
Cheers. I just joined as many local buy, sell, swap pages as possible. I got interest from several people straight away. The majority lead to nothing but I managed that one good paying customer out of it. She was made up I accepted direct debit (GoCardless) too, were as I'm finding a lot of people in my area assume I will just take cash. I'm off to my part time job now, £8.50 p/h, so I shouldn't moan about it taking so long really.

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Cheers. I just joined as many local buy, sell, swap pages as possible. I got interest from several people straight away. The majority lead to nothing but I managed that one good paying customer out of it. She was made up I accepted direct debit (GoCardless) too, were as I'm finding a lot of people in my area assume I will just take cash. I'm off to my part time job now, £8.50 p/h, so I shouldn't moan about it taking so long really.

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I'll take a look at some of the pages then, thanks. Haha my part time job is 8 something an hour too so when I did my first 2 cleans at like 15 an hour I wasn't bothered at all.

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I think you have to be careful with the words that you use.  If I said 'don't think about pink flying pigs' then you will most likely think about pink flying pigs.  If you say 'sorry to bother you' what do you think the person will think?  will they think this person is bothering me?  Yes you know you are bothering them, they know it but is it really necessary to say it?

I've not started my canvassing as I've not got the equipment yet (been ill the last few weeks) but when I do I will be using a tactic known on the internet as A and B testing.  You basically use the exact same sales pitch for say 200 houses and make note of all the responses, then you change the sales pitch for the next 200 and compare the results.  Over time you modify it and tweek it to get you the perfect sales pitch.

I'll be most likely canvassing at the start of December, probably a bad time to start but I think I'll be offering a special one off clean and I'll be highlighting that if they are putting pretty lights up in their windows then those pretty lights will look nice and sparkly in freshly cleaned windows.  Don't know if it will work but you have to focus on the positives not the negatives.

 
I think you have to be careful with the words that you use.  If I said 'don't think about pink flying pigs' then you will most likely think about pink flying pigs.  If you say 'sorry to bother you' what do you think the person will think?  will they think this person is bothering me?  Yes you know you are bothering them, they know it but is it really necessary to say it?

I've not started my canvassing as I've not got the equipment yet (been ill the last few weeks) but when I do I will be using a tactic known on the internet as A and B testing.  You basically use the exact same sales pitch for say 200 houses and make note of all the responses, then you change the sales pitch for the next 200 and compare the results.  Over time you modify it and tweek it to get you the perfect sales pitch.

I'll be most likely canvassing at the start of December, probably a bad time to start but I think I'll be offering a special one off clean and I'll be highlighting that if they are putting pretty lights up in their windows then those pretty lights will look nice and sparkly in freshly cleaned windows.  Don't know if it will work but you have to focus on the positives not the negatives.
Yeah used to work in sales myself actually. When I started canvassing I wasn't saying sorry to bother you etc. But it does seem to actually help a bit as you're respecting them a bit more. When someone says they already have a window cleaner, unless they say "yeah but feel free to give me a quote anyway", then they either don't want you there or do have a window cleaner and won't change for the sake of a few quid.

If I can see that a customer has fairly clean windows then I'll usually offer a first clean free of charge (so just charge them a maintenance clean - not completely free haha).

 
When you start a conversation with an apology it puts people on the back foot and likely to listen.

If they say they have a window cleaning, let them know you do a lot of jobs window cleaners dont have time to do i.e. gutter cleaning, fascia, conny, pressure wash.... If you do them.

 
When you start a conversation with an apology it puts people on the back foot and likely to listen.

If they say they have a window cleaning, let them know you do a lot of jobs window cleaners dont have time to do i.e. gutter cleaning, fascia, conny, pressure wash.... If you do them.
Yeah got asked if I do add on services once in my few days of canvassing, gutter cleaning for example. I had to say it's not something I do at the minute but i'm looking at starting up the service because I had no idea whatsoever if I needed anything else for gutter clearing etc.

 
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