Below is an excerpt from my Tutorial which I include in my Franchising Package for people who have never cleaned windows before. I offer it here completely for free 
6. Door knocking
By far the most cost effective and time efficient method! There are two basic approaches:
(a) Cold calling. This entails knocking on doors completely ‘cold’. You have to engage the prospect immediately they answer the door (having first ascertained they are the householder, there’s nothing worse than going through your spiel, only to be told “It’s not my house”). I can do it, hour after hour but it’s not everyones idea of fun. You will need to knock on hundreds of doors but the success rate is better than simple leaflet drop. You should achieve about 1 in 50 positive responses.
(b) Leaflet drop followed by door knock. This is much easier! First ‘prime’ the area by delivering enough leaflets for you to canvass over in about 2-3 hours. (Between 150 and 300). Wait a day or so then follow up by knocking on the doors. The best time is after 5.30 pm when people are returning from work etc. Earlier than that and you will find at least half are out – a waste of your time.
Only do this in daylight, if you want to canvass in the winter do it at weekends during the day. People feel intimidated by knocks on the door after dark.
Wear your uniform, clean shoes, shave and look tidy. Have a clip board or folder with several pockets. Paste a leaflet on the front. Stand facing sideways at the door – again people will feel intimidated if the open the door and you are staring straight at them. As they open the door, let them see you’re looking away, then turn to face them and SMILE. Hold up your folder so they can see the leaflet and say: “Good evening, my name is ................. and I put one of these through your door a couple of days ago.”
In most cases the reaction will be “Oh, no thank you.” Say, “Thank you, sorry to have troubled you”, and turn away. Quick, simple and no need to launch into your speil.
Another response is “Sorry, I didn’t see it”. People will chuck away ‘junk mail’ without looking. Don’t despair – draw their attention to your leaflet and say “I represent ............window cleaning company and we are expanding throughout the area. Would you like a quotation?” Again the response may be “No, thank you”. Give them another leaflet anyway, they might just change their mind!
Every so often you will get a response like: “Oh yes, I remember it” You’re in!! Say the line above (“I represent......) Even if their next words are “but I’m sorry I’ve already got a window cleaner” they still took notice and may contact you in the future. Every 50 or so knocks the response will be “Oh, yes, I was going to give you a call” or something similar. Music to your ears!! Say something like “I’m glad I saved you the trouble, now I’m here I can give you a quotation”. The next part is critical, copy it out and learn it. This or a very close version is what you do and say to book a customer!
You: “Do you have a conservatory or extension?”
Customer: “Yes” or “No” – (it doesn’t make a lot of difference.)
You: “I will need to see all round, is the back way open?”
Customer: (again) “Yes” or “No” – they will then offer to go unlock the gate, or invite you to come through the house – MAKE A PRODUCTION OF WIPING YOUR FEET – it shows respect.
Before you go through, or round, look at the front and get a price in your head so you can add it on to the rest of the house. Comment on how nice the house is, what a friendly dog, pretty child etc, but don’t overdo it. Count the windows and note any awkward ones like over conservatories, dormer windows etc. Tell them you can do those – it makes a good impression as their previous ladder man couldn’t. When you have a price in mind, remember it and start your sales pitch.
Most important: Don’t rush or ‘gabble’. Relax, speak slowly and give them time to hear what you’re saying. If you talk in a friendly fashion it will relax them, make them more likely to absorb what you’re saying and be much more likely to trust you. It should go something like this:
“Ok, Mrs Jones, I’ve had a good look round. As I said the dormer and the one over the conservatory aren’t a problem. Our claim is “If we can see it, we can clean it” – I’ve never come across one we couldn’t!
We are a professional company, we have full insurance and you always know where to find us, we don’t hide behind first names and mobile numbers. (Pause –give her time to remember she never knew who her previous window cleaner was! ) We wash everything (pause again) the frames, sills, plastic doors, panels in your conservatory and on the conservatory we wash all the frames, sills and glass, up to and including (short pause) the outside of the conservatory gutter, after all, it’s no good having a nice clean conservatory if it’s got a dirty gutter round the top of it!
You may not have heard of Water Fed Pole?” (pause and look questioningly at her) whether she says yes or no, give a quick description: “We bring our own purified water with us in big tanks in the vans, it’s not tap water – that would leave smears and spots if we used it. We wash everything” (emphasis again) “giving it a thorough but gentle scrub with a soft brush. When all the dirt is free from the surface we hold the brush away and rinse with a constant gentle flow of pure water. This washes all the dirt down the surface and away, just leaving the absolutely pure water behind”. (pause)
“Then we leave it wet” (pause again, let this sink in – people have trouble believing this) “and because the water is purified, it dries away clean. Having said that, everything is guaranteed, if after it’s dried up it isn’t right, pick up the phone and tell us and we’ll come back and do it again”. (pause)
“All we ask is that you give us a chance – on the first visit we are going to be disturbing dirt in all the nooks and crannies where it hasn’t seen the light of day for years. You may get the odd dribble here and there the first time once it’s dried up, please bear with us, after we’ve done it a time or two it comes up looking like new and then we keep it like that!” Pause again and take a breath.
“Ok Mrs Jones, we do all that, all the way round once every 4 weeks for £...” When you say the price do it with a downward inflexion in your voice. If you’ve got your presentation right, they’re going to be expecting a high price because of all the benefits you’ve been emphasising, when you say the price, not only is it less than they were expecting, your voice makes it sound a positive bargain.
The response is going to be either: (a) “Oh, that sounds OK” or (b) “I need to talk it over with my husband/wife/cat etc...”
(b) Isn’t necessarily a refusal – she may genuinely need to consult her partner or maybe she’s just a bit nervous about making a commitment. Write out her quote and ask her for her phone number and say you will call her in a day or so. Give her the quote. She may well come back and confirm, but if she thinks you are going to call, she’ll make up her mind in the meantime ready for when you call.
(a) Means she’s happy with the quote and she wants to come on board. Write out the quote (You should always do this on a printed quote form and give it to her - see ‘Useful forms’) Now you need to know if she keeps her back gate locked – ask for her phone number and tell her you will ring the evening before to ensure you have access if she goes out. She will probably ask when you’re coming for the first time, make sure you have the answer ready. In my case I say that I run my business as a franchise, and all my men run their own businesses and arrange their own schedules, but I will pass all (Mrs Jones’) details on to the man who will be doing her windows and he will contact her in a day or so to let her know roughly when the first visit will be, and that he will call her the evening before the actual visit as promised.
She will want to know how to pay. Even if she doesn’t ask, tell her: “Pay the man when he cleans them, if you’re here and it’s convenient, or he will leave a ticket saying he’s cleaned the windows and will call back for the money on a particular evening, or he will leave a stamped addressed envelope for you to send a cheque, or – and this is our preferred method – you can pay by bank transfer....” and then explain how this works – she needs to have an on-line account for this, but most people do these days.
Right, now the deal is done, you make a note of all necessary details, thank her for her order and say goodbye. Off to the next one!
It is important that you try to enjoy yourself. Don’t be afraid to have a joke, even if they don’t want the service – it makes you feel better and it puts them at ease. If you are too serious, or come across as trying too hard it will make you seem desperate. You may well be – but don’t let them see it!!
Keep a record of all the doors you knock on, and whether there was anyone in or not. Where there was no-one in, put a ‘Canvassing missed you’ slip through the letter box – it may jog their memory if they saw your leaflet and intended to call you. See ‘Useful Forms’ – you can print them off on your computer – nice and cheap but effective! If you’ve kept a record you can return and knock where there was no reply the first time. I like to have a definitive ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from every house in an area I am canvassing, as far as possible. Canvassing Record Sheet – ‘Useful Forms’.
When you go canvassing, set yourself realistic targets. 4-5 new jobs is good going. Even if you only get one, that’s one more than you had to start with. I have often gone canvassing and not picked up a single job. It’s a numbers game – the more you knock, the more you will get but they could be spread very thinly. Never lose heart. The jobs are out there, there are millions of buildings and you only need about 350 or so for a ‘full’ round. Don’t give up, keep knocking – door after door. As your business grows it gets easier.
