Gloucester help

Hi and thankyou for reading my post as i know the 'startup' posts are numerous on here (after mooching these forums for about a year when i was employed) but ive finally taken the leap but i packed my job in and im going full time on the windows i have a very small round of family and friends (15)  which i have done for the last few years but now im looking to make a real go of it i have a van mounted setup and ive ordered 5000 flyers and uniform im looking forward to getting out there and canvassing my friend runs a window cleaning business about 100 miles from me and he targets mainly commercial windows where as i would like a mix of both im certainly not shy of hard work and am willing to put in the hours to make it work

Sorry about the long post but really looking for any little tips on canvassing and targetting small commercial jobs or any tips basically haha 

Thankyou for reading 

Honestly, there’s not much to it. Let’s say you want to build up a full time round working 9-5 5 days per week. Whenever you aren’t working between those hours, canvass and simply ask “do you need a window cleaner?”. Also put in a but of time early evening, say 5-7pm when people are most likely to be in. If you aren’t canvassing, put leaflets or cards through people’s doors. It’s a numbers games. I always found if I posted 100 leaflets/cards, I might get 1 customer, which doesn’t sound much but it really doesn’t take long to post that many leaflets. Also, that 1 customer offers turns in to 2,3,4 and so on over time through word of mouth. Just rattle on doing the above and you’ll get the work!

Go and introduce yourself to the MD or maintenance manager and tell them what services you offer and would you like a quote , just be aware a lot of commercial jobs will want 5 million public liability , rams and some will require some form of health and safety qualification. 

Personally think you will get established a lot quicker by initially targeting residential work. Once you're making a living then look at getting commercial. 

There's  a huge new residential estate being built just outside of Gloucester, Hunts Grove, so if you're anywhere near there that could be a good starting point

Gloucesterlad said:

Hi and thankyou for reading my post as i know the 'startup' posts are numerous on here (after mooching these forums for about a year when i was employed) but ive finally taken the leap but i packed my job in and im going full time on the windows i have a very small round of family and friends (15)  which i have done for the last few years but now im looking to make a real go of it i have a van mounted setup and ive ordered 5000 flyers and uniform im looking forward to getting out there and canvassing my friend runs a window cleaning business about 100 miles from me and he targets mainly commercial windows where as i would like a mix of both im certainly not shy of hard work and am willing to put in the hours to make it work

Sorry about the long post but really looking for any little tips on canvassing and targetting small commercial jobs or any tips basically haha 

Thankyou for reading 

Click to expand...

Good evening and welcome to the nut House.

I would personally try and focus on domestic residential jobs as commercial work can be a pain to secure.

The bigger companies may require risk assessments, fatter pli policy proof long lengthy invoice to payment process from chasing up accounts departments etc.

I say that as it's what I've personally experienced many years ago.

Also you may require a larger volume of water, longer poles, wider brushes, longer hoses etc.

the residential customer is everywhere and accessible however you need to cover more properties to have a bigger income as opposed to the commercial sector work.

You say you're cleaning around 15 customers for the last few years, is that a rough approximate time frame as I'd expected you to have more customers.

Is this a leap you are willing to take on and stay committed to?

Didn't catch your name? Is it top secret?

Mines Austin

Thanks for replying guys ill take what you said onboard and push on with the residential cleans im excited to start doing in probably ive been offered more customers over the years but my job always took precident my names phil