Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Brian Scott on August 20, 2011, 09:06:59 pm
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Hi, need help with work, What is the best way to get to put a round together.
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knocking doors
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AS above & be prepared to work hard !
oh yes - don't price stuff up to cheaply !
Darran
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try and find what the local big boy charges then set your prices slightly lower/ you might find some of his cast offs that will get you on your way
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yes,thats true Stan, but theres so much competition at the moment ,the cast-offs are worth a look
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yes,thats true Stan, but theres so much competition at the moment ,the cast-offs are worth a look
popping up everywhere nowadays Bobby more than ever, wouldnt want to be starting out now.
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When I was in England I was well established, with 400+ customers, and counting.
I had to move to Ireland for family reasons a month ago, so am having to start out from scratch.
I have been knocking doors and leaving leaflets with 'not homes' and getting myself known as much as I can.
In two weeks of this, I now have around 15 customers, with another 40 odd who may give me a call if or when they need me. This is excluding any of the said 'not homes' who I have yet to hear from (I have so far picked up 2 out of approx 300 leaflet drops).
In short, it is tough going, but I am determined to succeed. Brian, keep on knocking, and leafletting. For every house you try, you will be closer to picking up customers.
Best wishes,
John.
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thanks for advice, I will knock and knock. any other advice would be greatly appreciated
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also would you reccomend buying rounds as that is one option I am considering
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Hi mate I am in Milton Keynes and we are swamped with cleaners but persistence pays off,the hardest part is to stay motivated but if your self discipline and belief is there and u do a good job you will get there,I have been trading for 5months now and have self generated 60 customers,I am starting to get phone calls from people referring me so must be doing something right,all this done by canvassing with cards.
Good luck and keep plodding
Graham
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also would you reccomend buying rounds as that is one option I am considering
Can be expensive buying rounds - but I'll have a Babysham, please. Hold on the umbrella and sparkler though.
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one thing i noticed is when you get to about 200 customers you start to pick more up without trying ... people see you around (signwritten van = best £120 you will EVER spend) and they approach you.
unfair as you need them more when u start out but at this point u can start pricing higher and start dropping the following
POOR PAYERS
SLOW PAYERS
NON PAYERS
DOG TOILET GARDENS
CAT TOILET GARDENS
DIVIES
IDIOTS
CHAVS
MORONS
MOANERS
THE NOT TODAYS
ANYONE U DONT LIKE THE LOOK OF
but as Tosh says 2 for 1 .... i.e. get 2 new proper customers before u bin 1 of the above
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When we first started we did one hell off a lot of canvassing, we mainly leaflet dropped without knocking. This has the benefit of covering wide areas quickly, however we found we got far better responses if people actually saw you and could "judge" your appearance. There are so many fliers coming thru the doors that unless people know who are you are or that you are trustworthy as a worker that they will often not give you a second thought.
We were new to our area, and to window cleaning (after quite a few years break), we covered an area that was about 25-30 miles square. In certain areas we found we simply could not get a decent price on the houses, yet not too far down the road we could charge alot more for the same type of house/people. So get to know your local areas too.
also would you reccomend buying rounds as that is one option I am considering
When we started we bought about 3 days of work off someone we sort of "knew" for 2.5 times monthly value. His work was extremely compact, the reason for this being that he couldnt drive, so undercut and went very cheap on 80% of his work to get it al in one patch. After 8 years it is now an extremely good round, but it took a heck of a long time to get the prices anywhere near right. So be careful, it can be a very good boost to get your face known in an area and get immediate income if you can afford the purchase price, but customers will not necessarily stick with you (tho all of ours did, despite a 20% increase after 6 months cleaning). Incidentally, we sold off one of the villages within 3 years which had doubled in value, and the second village has about 70% of our monthly work, we by far clean more windows that anyone else here now.
As mentioned persistence pays off, we canvassed one large estate, door knocking, and got 4 customers, with lots of dont call us, we will call you. Within 6 months of people seeing us regularly doing a good job we had 20 people. 8 years later we now have about 45 in this one estate. You will get there, just price sensibly (if you start of cheap it will take ages to get those customers back up to a proper price), be regular, do a good job, and IMO a few minutes talking to customers and being a friend goes a long way.
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Hi Brian
I have been going just over a year now in northwich and mid cheshire area and spent thousands on canvasing , flyers , van wfp ect ect ect and i am still only on half a week and i have door knocked every house i wanted twice in 1 year :-\
to be honest are area has allways had more than its fair share of window cleaners and you probebly know that before you started
I saw a new guy out on foot the other day with just a ladder and a bucket and he had his girl freind carrying his ladder down the street for him :D how desperates that ??
and as for buying i have been looking to buy a round for 2 years and never seen nothing for sale its like rocking horse poo round here , i know theres plenty of guys in the area who have big redudancie packages who would love to pay top dollar for some work .
but on a positive note if you give a good service and are well presented you might start stealing a few custys as half the window cleaners round here are chavy crack dealer types you wouldnt want hanging around your house anyway , but on the other hand theres been a few good crack dealers who have made that much money they luander there money by buying up big rounds.
So good luck , just stay of my patch ;D
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thats one big problem though isn`t it treading on other peoples toes, I don`t want to do that, I am prepared to look further afield for work to
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where abouts are you looking for wrok?
Hi, need help with work, What is the best way to get to put a round together.
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Get a decent website, try this guy he used to charge monthly ( so no initial outlay )
http://www.tattoo-web-design.co.uk/
Put a three line advert in classified section of local paper ( normally 25 quid )
Get some good quality flyers and drop a few thousand a week, and follow up with knocking.
Be positive, and dont listen to doom n gloom merchants
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Hi, need help with work, What is the best way to get to put a round together.
with gardiner poles and duct tape
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thats one big problem though isn`t it treading on other peoples toes, I don`t want to do that, I am prepared to look further afield for work to
you will always tread on peoples toes because were ever you go there will be a window cleaner near by ???
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thank you all for advice I will take it all in and hopefully have a half decent round set up soon. Also have been buying my equipment from a local trade counter, is there any web sites that sell gear, doesn`t have to be cheaper