Crystal-clear

  • Posts: 3029
Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« on: October 25, 2018, 09:49:57 am »
It's always small to medium sized window cleaners that might use them. There's a new company now elite canvassing 3 clean guarantee confirming work everything sounds great. The only thing that goes through my mind is if that service worked and you really had a 3 clean guarantee the likes of Lee Pryor and others would fully booked them up for life and they would not need to advertise ever again.

These guarantees never really work out to what they are  not to say though perhaps this eleite companys methods work. The only thing is I've never ever heard a success story where someone has paid 3 or 4 cleans a real person that we know from the forum and is ecstatic and has managed to put multiple vans on the road.

Perfect Windows

  • Posts: 4121
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2018, 09:53:40 am »
It's always small to medium sized window cleaners that might use them. There's a new company now elite canvassing 3 clean guarantee confirming work everything sounds great. The only thing that goes through my mind is if that service worked and you really had a 3 clean guarantee the likes of Lee Pryor and others would fully booked them up for life and they would not need to advertise ever again.

These guarantees never really work out to what they are  not to say though perhaps this eleite companys methods work. The only thing is I've never ever heard a success story where someone has paid 3 or 4 cleans a real person that we know from the forum and is ecstatic and has managed to put multiple vans on the road.

It's a matter of cost. 3 cleans is worth paying when you're desperate for quick growth, i.e. when you'll starve without customers. It's a mad price to pay when you don't have to.

Vin

Smudger

  • Posts: 13248
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2018, 09:59:13 am »
Canvassers are an expensive way to get customers - we used one and he wasn’t too bad but he struggled to get understand our pricing structure and certainly didn’t allow for the rank first cleans he picked up long term it worked but there were points of friction like he would do terraced roads and council stuff when we wanted detached and village stuff.

Darran
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

www.oddbodscleaning.co.uk

Shrek

  • Posts: 3931
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2018, 10:02:22 am »
I suppose when your at a certain size , your company grows anyway without canvassing & leafleting so it’s a cost that you can do without.

Stoots

  • Posts: 6060
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2018, 10:27:02 am »
Here's another thing though

All the big boys (ok not all)

But the vast majority of guys on here who are building big businesses with leaflets live down south.

The return on leaflets should be about the same all across the country i.e percentage wise.

However if you are paying £60 per 1000 and get 3 jobs averaging £20 this is much better r.o.i than if you are in an area charging £10 average.

I've tried leaflets and I don't get the return I need.

Canvassers charge 3x so whether you are getting a £10 job or £20 job it's the same r.o.i

Also with canvassing you are getting what you pay for up front, you hand over 3 grand you get 1000 of work, with leaflets you hand over 3k and the return could be anything at all, more of a lottery.

Having said that, canvassing is much more hassle, much more Messer's and by the time you factor in non payers and time wasters the r.o.i is pretty similar.

Another point though is canvassing produce more compact work, so would you rather blanket a whole city or hone in on one village and canvass it over and over again to make it really compact.

Now having said all that, both leafletting and canvassing does not come anywhere near the return that online marketing does. (Unless you are canvassing yourself and even then you have your time to factor in)

My finding personally

Canvassing... charge 3x but in reality once you factor retention rate in it works out at 6x however over time canvassed work will be more profitable as it's more compact. My best days are from canvassed work.

Leaflets...royal mail is about £60 per thousand so 10k £600 plus cost of leaflets which could be anything from £100 upwards. From 10k I would expect 20 calls and convert maybe 15 which is about  5-6x very roughly but like I say figures vary widely from one campaign to the next.

Online marketing...personally I pay between £3-5 per lead on average with and average conversion rate of 50% so i generally pay 1x clean value for customers gained this way. Now imagine if I had an average clean value of £20 the return gets even better... The downside is it's more spread out than canvassing.

Personally I now use a combination of online and canvassing, canvassing to get a foothold or a days work in a particular area then add that are to your online marketing to keep topped up in the area.

I wouldnt use a leaflet again, however I'm up north I can't get the return of the big boys down south.


Shrek

  • Posts: 3931
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2018, 11:35:36 am »
I personally don’t like canvassing or canvassers coming to my door. I canvassed to begin with and hated it , also never had so many messers . Maybe they weren’t messers but because I was at their door, they felt under pressure to say yes just to get rid of me, also felt like I was going round begging for work and price it cheap because of this.

Lee Pryor

  • Posts: 2286
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2018, 01:55:25 pm »
I will just say that nothing has ever beaten my ROI with leaflets. Nothing. I would never use a canvasser or purchase an existing round from another cleaner. I want customers that chose us, our price, our way of doing things and pay by direct debit.

The quality of canvassed work is terrible. The only time this is a good form of marketing is when your doing it yourself as I used to do when we were a lot smaller.

We have a new idea to try next year (not telling) but we will still be doing our leaflet campaigns.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Martin Lane

  • Posts: 164
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2018, 02:17:37 pm »
We currently work for about 30 property management companies so we always have a steady flow of new blocks of flats coming in,

Martin

NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2018, 02:50:07 pm »
Everyone I know that’s used canvassing or a canvasser has said the same thing the work was terrible,they are getting 3x the clean on average so they try and pick up anything. Usually the first stop is an estate house after house to leaflet more. The guy I know kept about 20% of the work he purchased overall,he said he wouldn’t bother using 1 again.

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 23683
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2018, 04:42:22 pm »
I will just say that nothing has ever beaten my ROI with leaflets. Nothing. I would never use a canvasser or purchase an existing round from another cleaner. I want customers that chose us, our price, our way of doing things and pay by direct debit.

The quality of canvassed work is terrible. The only time this is a good form of marketing is when your doing it yourself as I used to do when we were a lot smaller.

We have a new idea to try next year (not telling) but we will still be doing our leaflet campaigns.

I guess it is a biplane with a banner.
It's a game of three halves!

Crystal-clear

  • Posts: 3029
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2018, 04:54:49 pm »
I will just say that nothing has ever beaten my ROI with leaflets. Nothing. I would never use a canvasser or purchase an existing round from another cleaner. I want customers that chose us, our price, our way of doing things and pay by direct debit.

The quality of canvassed work is terrible. The only time this is a good form of marketing is when your doing it yourself as I used to do when we were a lot smaller.

We have a new idea to try next year (not telling) but we will still be doing our leaflet campaigns.

pretty much sum it up mate.. basically if you and some others knew you were getting it how you liked it canvassers wouldn't ever need to advertise again.

Crystal-clear

  • Posts: 3029
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2018, 04:57:12 pm »
Here's another thing though

All the big boys (ok not all)

But the vast majority of guys on here who are building big businesses with leaflets live down south.

The return on leaflets should be about the same all across the country i.e percentage wise.

However if you are paying £60 per 1000 and get 3 jobs averaging £20 this is much better r.o.i than if you are in an area charging £10 average.

I've tried leaflets and I don't get the return I need.

Canvassers charge 3x so whether you are getting a £10 job or £20 job it's the same r.o.i

Also with canvassing you are getting what you pay for up front, you hand over 3 grand you get 1000 of work, with leaflets you hand over 3k and the return could be anything at all, more of a lottery.

Having said that, canvassing is much more hassle, much more Messer's and by the time you factor in non payers and time wasters the r.o.i is pretty similar.

Another point though is canvassing produce more compact work, so would you rather blanket a whole city or hone in on one village and canvass it over and over again to make it really compact.

Now having said all that, both leafletting and canvassing does not come anywhere near the return that online marketing does. (Unless you are canvassing yourself and even then you have your time to factor in)

My finding personally

Canvassing... charge 3x but in reality once you factor retention rate in it works out at 6x however over time canvassed work will be more profitable as it's more compact. My best days are from canvassed work.

Leaflets...royal mail is about £60 per thousand so 10k £600 plus cost of leaflets which could be anything from £100 upwards. From 10k I would expect 20 calls and convert maybe 15 which is about  5-6x very roughly but like I say figures vary widely from one campaign to the next.

Online marketing...personally I pay between £3-5 per lead on average with and average conversion rate of 50% so i generally pay 1x clean value for customers gained this way. Now imagine if I had an average clean value of £20 the return gets even better... The downside is it's more spread out than canvassing.

Personally I now use a combination of online and canvassing, canvassing to get a foothold or a days work in a particular area then add that are to your online marketing to keep topped up in the area.

I wouldn't use a leaflet again, however I'm up north I can't get the return of the big boys down south.

a very detailed broken down response here indeed. yea good points of course on a small scale i know canvassing works like you say alot more messers etc .and i see youre point when its a £10 average clean canvassing may just work out better then down south when you can have a £20 or more average clean to return ratio.

Soupy

  • Posts: 19540
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2018, 06:10:21 pm »
Here's another thing though

All the big boys (ok not all)

But the vast majority of guys on here who are building big businesses with leaflets live down south.

The return on leaflets should be about the same all across the country i.e percentage wise.

However if you are paying £60 per 1000 and get 3 jobs averaging £20 this is much better r.o.i than if you are in an area charging £10 average.

I've tried leaflets and I don't get the return I need.

Canvassers charge 3x so whether you are getting a £10 job or £20 job it's the same r.o.i

Also with canvassing you are getting what you pay for up front, you hand over 3 grand you get 1000 of work, with leaflets you hand over 3k and the return could be anything at all, more of a lottery.

Having said that, canvassing is much more hassle, much more Messer's and by the time you factor in non payers and time wasters the r.o.i is pretty similar.

Another point though is canvassing produce more compact work, so would you rather blanket a whole city or hone in on one village and canvass it over and over again to make it really compact.

Now having said all that, both leafletting and canvassing does not come anywhere near the return that online marketing does. (Unless you are canvassing yourself and even then you have your time to factor in)

My finding personally

Canvassing... charge 3x but in reality once you factor retention rate in it works out at 6x however over time canvassed work will be more profitable as it's more compact. My best days are from canvassed work.

Leaflets...royal mail is about £60 per thousand so 10k £600 plus cost of leaflets which could be anything from £100 upwards. From 10k I would expect 20 calls and convert maybe 15 which is about  5-6x very roughly but like I say figures vary widely from one campaign to the next.

Online marketing...personally I pay between £3-5 per lead on average with and average conversion rate of 50% so i generally pay 1x clean value for customers gained this way. Now imagine if I had an average clean value of £20 the return gets even better... The downside is it's more spread out than canvassing.

Personally I now use a combination of online and canvassing, canvassing to get a foothold or a days work in a particular area then add that are to your online marketing to keep topped up in the area.

I wouldnt use a leaflet again, however I'm up north I can't get the return of the big boys down south.

Tl;dr but I'm up north and I only use leaflets. Works just fine
Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it - George Orwell

Susan Dean (1stclean)

  • Posts: 2064
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #13 on: October 25, 2018, 08:59:00 pm »
not true as the biggest boy of them all as two full time door knockers on his books and onw part time one with over 21 vans out daily i guess he knows a thing or two about pulling work in

Crystal-clear

  • Posts: 3029
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2018, 09:12:37 pm »
not true as the biggest boy of them all as two full time door knockers on his books and onw part time one with over 21 vans out daily i guess he knows a thing or two about pulling work in

i bet he aint paying 3-4 cleans tho
i think canvassing works if the canvassers are realistic

Lee Pryor

  • Posts: 2286
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #15 on: October 25, 2018, 09:21:27 pm »
not true as the biggest boy of them all as two full time door knockers on his books and onw part time one with over 21 vans out daily i guess he knows a thing or two about pulling work in

Name the company please. I need to call them for advice on their employed canvssers. I have directly employed my own canvassers in the past and it still wasnt any good.

Doesnt matter how many vans you have out its how much they do each day that matters.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Stoots

  • Posts: 6060
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #16 on: October 25, 2018, 09:25:49 pm »
Here's another thing though

All the big boys (ok not all)

But the vast majority of guys on here who are building big businesses with leaflets live down south.

The return on leaflets should be about the same all across the country i.e percentage wise.

However if you are paying £60 per 1000 and get 3 jobs averaging £20 this is much better r.o.i than if you are in an area charging £10 average.

I've tried leaflets and I don't get the return I need.

Canvassers charge 3x so whether you are getting a £10 job or £20 job it's the same r.o.i

Also with canvassing you are getting what you pay for up front, you hand over 3 grand you get 1000 of work, with leaflets you hand over 3k and the return could be anything at all, more of a lottery.

Having said that, canvassing is much more hassle, much more Messer's and by the time you factor in non payers and time wasters the r.o.i is pretty similar.

Another point though is canvassing produce more compact work, so would you rather blanket a whole city or hone in on one village and canvass it over and over again to make it really compact.

Now having said all that, both leafletting and canvassing does not come anywhere near the return that online marketing does. (Unless you are canvassing yourself and even then you have your time to factor in)

My finding personally

Canvassing... charge 3x but in reality once you factor retention rate in it works out at 6x however over time canvassed work will be more profitable as it's more compact. My best days are from canvassed work.

Leaflets...royal mail is about £60 per thousand so 10k £600 plus cost of leaflets which could be anything from £100 upwards. From 10k I would expect 20 calls and convert maybe 15 which is about  5-6x very roughly but like I say figures vary widely from one campaign to the next.

Online marketing...personally I pay between £3-5 per lead on average with and average conversion rate of 50% so i generally pay 1x clean value for customers gained this way. Now imagine if I had an average clean value of £20 the return gets even better... The downside is it's more spread out than canvassing.

Personally I now use a combination of online and canvassing, canvassing to get a foothold or a days work in a particular area then add that are to your online marketing to keep topped up in the area.

I wouldnt use a leaflet again, however I'm up north I can't get the return of the big boys down south.

Tl;dr but I'm up north and I only use leaflets. Works just fine

Yeh perhaps using a north/south example is a generalisation.

What I meant is if one person has an average price double that of another then all things being equal as in % calls from leaflets the guy who charges more is going to have a better return on investment.

But it's all about finding what works for you, be that canvassing, leaflets or anything else.

There's no right or wrong only our own experiences.

Susan Dean (1stclean)

  • Posts: 2064
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #17 on: October 25, 2018, 09:33:29 pm »
not true as the biggest boy of them all as two full time door knockers on his books and onw part time one with over 21 vans out daily i guess he knows a thing or two about pulling work in

Name the company please. I need to call them for advice on their employed canvssers. I have directly employed my own canvassers in the past and it still wasnt any good.

Doesnt matter how many vans you have out its how much they do each day that matters.

i am sure he will be along any minute i know he watches these pages  but rarely posts  ,  just look out for  tlc lee nice bloke  but doesnt suffer fools gladly and keeps everything close to his chest you only find things out from ex employees last i heard 25 vans out daily along with three firms cars not sure you will get much from him as his patch is ever get closer to yours by the day

Lee Pryor

  • Posts: 2286
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #18 on: October 25, 2018, 09:54:33 pm »
so name the company............................. why the mystery?

How many vans someone has does not impress me. Could be 25 people up ladders doing front only council terraced houses all day long for £5. Van number means nothing
The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Tom-01

  • Posts: 1348
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #19 on: October 25, 2018, 09:58:50 pm »
Same as turnover

Tom-01

  • Posts: 1348
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #20 on: October 25, 2018, 09:59:34 pm »
so name the company............................. why the mystery?

How many vans someone has does not impress me. Could be 25 people up ladders doing front only council terraced houses all day long for £5. Van number means nothing
Lee you said you've got 10 vans out now is that correct?

Lee Pryor

  • Posts: 2286
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #21 on: October 25, 2018, 10:01:13 pm »
thats right. my point above is I know people with more vans and staff than I have that do less money, so van number isnt a true indicator of very much
The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Tom-01

  • Posts: 1348
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #22 on: October 25, 2018, 10:02:28 pm »
thats right

Two years ago you had 11 on the road? Just wondered if you scaled back, got rid of dead wood to move forward?

Lee Pryor

  • Posts: 2286
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #23 on: October 25, 2018, 10:04:49 pm »
no we didnt.

We had 11 for some time before they were all out working.  1 was a spare which got written off and we are about to replace that. So right now we dont have a spare.  next year we will buy 2 more with the end goal of 12 out 1 spare
The best way to predict the future is to create it.

John Mart


Tom-01

  • Posts: 1348

Tom-01

  • Posts: 1348
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #26 on: October 26, 2018, 10:10:08 am »
Here's another thing though

All the big boys (ok not all)

But the vast majority of guys on here who are building big businesses with leaflets live down south.

The return on leaflets should be about the same all across the country i.e percentage wise.

However if you are paying £60 per 1000 and get 3 jobs averaging £20 this is much better r.o.i than if you are in an area charging £10 average.

I've tried leaflets and I don't get the return I need.

Canvassers charge 3x so whether you are getting a £10 job or £20 job it's the same r.o.i

Also with canvassing you are getting what you pay for up front, you hand over 3 grand you get 1000 of work, with leaflets you hand over 3k and the return could be anything at all, more of a lottery.

Having said that, canvassing is much more hassle, much more Messer's and by the time you factor in non payers and time wasters the r.o.i is pretty similar.

Another point though is canvassing produce more compact work, so would you rather blanket a whole city or hone in on one village and canvass it over and over again to make it really compact.

Now having said all that, both leafletting and canvassing does not come anywhere near the return that online marketing does. (Unless you are canvassing yourself and even then you have your time to factor in)

My finding personally

Canvassing... charge 3x but in reality once you factor retention rate in it works out at 6x however over time canvassed work will be more profitable as it's more compact. My best days are from canvassed work.

Leaflets...royal mail is about £60 per thousand so 10k £600 plus cost of leaflets which could be anything from £100 upwards. From 10k I would expect 20 calls and convert maybe 15 which is about  5-6x very roughly but like I say figures vary widely from one campaign to the next.

Online marketing...personally I pay between £3-5 per lead on average with and average conversion rate of 50% so i generally pay 1x clean value for customers gained this way. Now imagine if I had an average clean value of £20 the return gets even better... The downside is it's more spread out than canvassing.

Personally I now use a combination of online and canvassing, canvassing to get a foothold or a days work in a particular area then add that are to your online marketing to keep topped up in the area.

I wouldnt use a leaflet again, however I'm up north I can't get the return of the big boys down south.

Some very good points there Gomo.

I agree with the 'time spent on canvassing' bit.

I started driving again in September after three months not, due to an operation. I'm off the tools for at least a year. So I needed a few extra customers in areas where we have work, as I have someone working 3 days a week covering me, along with my full timer.

In September I kept a tally of what came in. In total we got 21 new customers, most from me canvassing specific areas. It took me a couple of hours a day, 2/3 days a week.

8 weekly jobs, with a 12 weekly in there. Average first clean price was £55, with a regular clean average of £46 per clean. 19 of them GoCardless, one on invoice, and one pays by cheque (old dear).

Perhaps from leaflets I could have got more customers, but I don't think they would have been as targeted, and probably not at the prices I got either. Also as I had been pretty much housebound for nearly 3 months it was nice to get out.

I will be doing leaflets next year for areas slightly further afield, but will carry on canvassing as for me this has been the best way to build my business locally. October not so much as new baby arrived!

John Mart

Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #27 on: October 26, 2018, 05:05:26 pm »
Here's another thing though

All the big boys (ok not all)

But the vast majority of guys on here who are building big businesses with leaflets live down south.

The return on leaflets should be about the same all across the country i.e percentage wise.

However if you are paying £60 per 1000 and get 3 jobs averaging £20 this is much better r.o.i than if you are in an area charging £10 average.

I've tried leaflets and I don't get the return I need.

Canvassers charge 3x so whether you are getting a £10 job or £20 job it's the same r.o.i

Also with canvassing you are getting what you pay for up front, you hand over 3 grand you get 1000 of work, with leaflets you hand over 3k and the return could be anything at all, more of a lottery.

Having said that, canvassing is much more hassle, much more Messer's and by the time you factor in non payers and time wasters the r.o.i is pretty similar.

Another point though is canvassing produce more compact work, so would you rather blanket a whole city or hone in on one village and canvass it over and over again to make it really compact.

Now having said all that, both leafletting and canvassing does not come anywhere near the return that online marketing does. (Unless you are canvassing yourself and even then you have your time to factor in)

My finding personally

Canvassing... charge 3x but in reality once you factor retention rate in it works out at 6x however over time canvassed work will be more profitable as it's more compact. My best days are from canvassed work.

Leaflets...royal mail is about £60 per thousand so 10k £600 plus cost of leaflets which could be anything from £100 upwards. From 10k I would expect 20 calls and convert maybe 15 which is about  5-6x very roughly but like I say figures vary widely from one campaign to the next.

Online marketing...personally I pay between £3-5 per lead on average with and average conversion rate of 50% so i generally pay 1x clean value for customers gained this way. Now imagine if I had an average clean value of £20 the return gets even better... The downside is it's more spread out than canvassing.

Personally I now use a combination of online and canvassing, canvassing to get a foothold or a days work in a particular area then add that are to your online marketing to keep topped up in the area.

I wouldnt use a leaflet again, however I'm up north I can't get the return of the big boys down south.

Some very good points there Gomo.

I agree with the 'time spent on canvassing' bit.

I started driving again in September after three months not, due to an operation. I'm off the tools for at least a year. So I needed a few extra customers in areas where we have work, as I have someone working 3 days a week covering me, along with my full timer.

In September I kept a tally of what came in. In total we got 21 new customers, most from me canvassing specific areas. It took me a couple of hours a day, 2/3 days a week.

8 weekly jobs, with a 12 weekly in there. Average first clean price was £55, with a regular clean average of £46 per clean. 19 of them GoCardless, one on invoice, and one pays by cheque (old dear).

Perhaps from leaflets I could have got more customers, but I don't think they would have been as targeted, and probably not at the prices I got either. Also as I had been pretty much housebound for nearly 3 months it was nice to get out.

I will be doing leaflets next year for areas slightly further afield, but will carry on canvassing as for me this has been the best way to build my business locally. October not so much as new baby arrived!
It’s different when you’re the one doing it. If you’re paying someone else, leaflets cost about 1/3 the price of canvassing per customer.

Walter Mitty

  • Posts: 1314
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #28 on: October 26, 2018, 08:39:03 pm »
I've gone back to basics with this stuff - what worked for me at the very beginning (1991/92).  It's better this time though as I'm not desperate and I've a much better idea of what I'm doing.
Over the past couple of years my residential workload has gradually reduced as some moved away and quite a few died.  Normally, work came in at the same or higher rate without me having to lift a finger.  That's not been happening though.  Also, I lost a few commercial jobs and a couple of them went under leaving me out of pocket.
This means I have gaps in my work.

So, some days, I've been starting and finishing earlier recently to go knocking late afternoon.  It's a small start but last week I earned £51 I wouldn't have earned, and this week it's been £47.  Next week will be determined by how things go on Sunday (now the darkness is coming earlier, I will knock for a few hours on Sundays).  I'm not in a huge hurry; if I can add £30 - £60 each week to my turnover, the second time around I ought to double up on that until I increase my income to the desired level (haven't yet decided what that is).  By the time April comes around (5 months time), I should be taking about £1000 extra per 6-weekly cycle - maybe more if I up the ante.

The good bit about doing this gradually is that I don't end up with loads of first cleans each week.  I have to consider my energy levels - partly due to being older than most on here.  I'm more interested in gaining decently-priced work than quantity.

My main point though is that I've learned over the years that if I want something done, it's better to do it myself.  I've bought work before, and much of it ended up being unsuitable for various reason.  I've had someone canvass for me - similar result.
Want something done the way I want it done?  Do it myself.

The gradual increase in workload might seem laughable by some people's standards, but three to five hours a week canvassing is quite enough considering that I put in a fair bit of window cleaning time too.  Once I hit £1k a month extra, I'll probably stop.

Tom-01

  • Posts: 1348
Re: Why dont any big boys ever use canvassers.
« Reply #29 on: October 26, 2018, 09:39:43 pm »
Here's another thing though

All the big boys (ok not all)

But the vast majority of guys on here who are building big businesses with leaflets live down south.

The return on leaflets should be about the same all across the country i.e percentage wise.

However if you are paying £60 per 1000 and get 3 jobs averaging £20 this is much better r.o.i than if you are in an area charging £10 average.

I've tried leaflets and I don't get the return I need.

Canvassers charge 3x so whether you are getting a £10 job or £20 job it's the same r.o.i

Also with canvassing you are getting what you pay for up front, you hand over 3 grand you get 1000 of work, with leaflets you hand over 3k and the return could be anything at all, more of a lottery.

Having said that, canvassing is much more hassle, much more Messer's and by the time you factor in non payers and time wasters the r.o.i is pretty similar.

Another point though is canvassing produce more compact work, so would you rather blanket a whole city or hone in on one village and canvass it over and over again to make it really compact.

Now having said all that, both leafletting and canvassing does not come anywhere near the return that online marketing does. (Unless you are canvassing yourself and even then you have your time to factor in)

My finding personally

Canvassing... charge 3x but in reality once you factor retention rate in it works out at 6x however over time canvassed work will be more profitable as it's more compact. My best days are from canvassed work.

Leaflets...royal mail is about £60 per thousand so 10k £600 plus cost of leaflets which could be anything from £100 upwards. From 10k I would expect 20 calls and convert maybe 15 which is about  5-6x very roughly but like I say figures vary widely from one campaign to the next.

Online marketing...personally I pay between £3-5 per lead on average with and average conversion rate of 50% so i generally pay 1x clean value for customers gained this way. Now imagine if I had an average clean value of £20 the return gets even better... The downside is it's more spread out than canvassing.

Personally I now use a combination of online and canvassing, canvassing to get a foothold or a days work in a particular area then add that are to your online marketing to keep topped up in the area.

I wouldnt use a leaflet again, however I'm up north I can't get the return of the big boys down south.

Some very good points there Gomo.

I agree with the 'time spent on canvassing' bit.

I started driving again in September after three months not, due to an operation. I'm off the tools for at least a year. So I needed a few extra customers in areas where we have work, as I have someone working 3 days a week covering me, along with my full timer.

In September I kept a tally of what came in. In total we got 21 new customers, most from me canvassing specific areas. It took me a couple of hours a day, 2/3 days a week.

8 weekly jobs, with a 12 weekly in there. Average first clean price was £55, with a regular clean average of £46 per clean. 19 of them GoCardless, one on invoice, and one pays by cheque (old dear).

Perhaps from leaflets I could have got more customers, but I don't think they would have been as targeted, and probably not at the prices I got either. Also as I had been pretty much housebound for nearly 3 months it was nice to get out.

I will be doing leaflets next year for areas slightly further afield, but will carry on canvassing as for me this has been the best way to build my business locally. October not so much as new baby arrived!
It’s different when you’re the one doing it. If you’re paying someone else, leaflets cost about 1/3 the price of canvassing per customer.

Yeah I agree. I was making the point that targeted canvassing generally brings in better quality work. However, it takes time. But there's no cost. And as I have plenty of time, I wanted to get back out there. That's how I started my business and I enjoy it. I agree if you have lots of employees and need work you get 1000's of leaflets out with lower prices.