[adge]

done some follow up knocking today and gained only 9 customers from 100 leaflets, is this normal?.......will it get better!!!

[mickeyfat]

you mean you posted 100 leaflets and went home and 9  people rang you...this sounds ok to me..i have been known to knock all nite 5-8 and only get 9 customers and thats cold calling on the ones that are in and leaflets for the ones that are out...my best is about 40 £6.00 houses in one street..(fluke of the year) and my worst is one front and one bungallow when is was p""""""g down

[adge]

no i posted the leaflets the previous day and followed up the next with a "knock". I just wasnt sure whether this was the accepted norm % response or whether i'm just poo @ canvassing?!!!!

[mickeyfat]

depends on areas , but hey you cant moan at 9 new cusomers...if you did that each nite youd be laughing....by the way i found i get just as many without the leaflets..i just knock with my uniform and clipoard...my m8 says 1st clean free he gets lots and lots but im to sure about that ..he seems to work alot for nowt

[pdhanson]

Don't be downhearted at that, thats good!

9 Customers from one nights follow up canvassing is good going.

Say they're each worth £10, thats £90 a month.  

Do it 3 times a week for a month and you'll have nearly £13,000 a year.  
Do it for 2 months and its £26,000 a year.  How long would you work in an office before they paid you that?  2 months? I don't think so.

You're doing well, don't give up - it just takes time.

Silly

[adge]

thankd for the tips mate, will keep you posted on my progress

[exterioruk]

I would say that 9 is fine, i started at the begining of the year and have fliers and knocking, i have found that a flier saying clean me , and put it in your window if you wan them cleaned works best, im getting around 12 per 100, but it just saves knocking and geting no custom, this way the customers you knock have alreadyu let you know they want a cleaner your just going round to sort the price, let me know how u get along, message me is you need ideas for clean me flier.

dan

[windows_chepstow]

Nine is really good!  Just get cleaning them.  They're probably scattered all over the place, as mine were and it always seems to be ladders on the car - ladders off.

Over time people will grab you in the street and the quality of your round will improve.

Do a good job and you'll end up cleaning their relations houses.  

Over a ten month period, purely from leafleting, I've got 267 houses and a handfull of shops/pubs for weekly/fortnightly cleans.

Don't price too cheap too.  What happens is.... you're desperate for work so price cheap.  Then the neighbor says "can you do mine" and you do hers for the same price.  The next thing you know, you're doing ten houses for £5.50 when you should be charging £7.50 per house.

I've got whole streets like this, but will be putting the prices up closer to the summer.

Oh, other tips:

    As I take on a house next to where I clean; I pass on a 'drive-between' to a fellow window cleaner.

   Don't clean any houses in the married quarter estate in Beachley Barracks, Chepstow.  The window cleaner there threatens your family with violence.

[mickeyfat]

i agree fully..apart from the bully bit...f*** him

[adge]

thanks for the reassurance everyone, i'll keep you all posted of my progress

[Londoner]

This is not the best time of year to go canvassing because people are not really all that fussed about their windows being dirty and are probably a bit skint as well.

Nine is good, but don't start keeping score. It doesn't work like that
Think of canvassing as being a something you will always be doing not just something you are doing now to get started.
You always lose customers over a period of time and some you drop so you need to keep adding good replacements to improve your book.

[andy]

HI EDGE!

9 is very good, it dosent take that long to leaflet 100 houses and go round knocking.

I give you a bit of advice, you dont like the score that you have at the moment. employe someone to help you for 2 hours per night, at the rate your getting the customers you wll easly cover your costs.

ANDY1

[Mikey Warner]

Hi

9 is great mate, i had the luck when i first went out canvassing I had my w/c mate who knew what area needed a cleaner and i cleaned up (excuce the pun)

from that 9 you'll end up with more once you start cleaning them, when people see you up the ladder you'll get asked by others in the street.

Keep it up!!

Mikey

[stevekennedy]

Hi Adge,

You've done pretty well   I would be happy with that for a first try. Did you keep a note of the ones that weren't in? You should try these ones again on another day/ time of day. The chances are the other window cleaners haven't got them in either. I find the take-up rate is significantly higher with the ones that are out a lot.

SteveK

[paul]

your find as people see you around more often and here of the good job your doing more and more people will want your service and with spring round the corner get ready for the busy season

[Kenny_Dobson]

Im not a window cleaner but what's a drive between?

[WavieDavie]

As I take on a house next to where I clean; I pass on a 'drive-between' to a fellow window cleaner.

I'm assuming that it's a single job on the road between two "blocks" of work. "Blocks" are much better, because you're not travelling between jobs and so wasting time travelling, (i.e., not earning) and also spending money on fuel for the motor.

Eventually, of course, the other window cleaner's total of "drive-betweens" will add up to a whole new block  

[Kenny_Dobson]

All Makes sense now

[Sunshine]

Hey....9 is OK!!!

When we did 500 we only got 9 so you have done v well.

Just do the 9 on a regular basis, do a good job and the work will start to flood in. We now do people who told us that they were not interested when we first went round.

We are now at the stage where we dont advertise any more.

Just make sure that you keep pluging away at it.

[Duke]

absolutely...although I think door knocking in the evening is the fastest way to build a round (but I use fliers too sometimes)....in the end, if you end up like us...customers will be stopping you in the street, just take their details and get back to them and price them up later....or if you have time , do them there and then..make sure you get their name , address and telephone number.....you can work out price and frequency later..