Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Pro_Clean on September 06, 2006, 09:32:34 pm

Title: Doorknockers?
Post by: Pro_Clean on September 06, 2006, 09:32:34 pm
Any good chaps?

Anybody used their services?

Honest answers please.
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: groundhog on September 07, 2006, 06:29:54 pm
I have not used their services, but I have heard that they are not good unless you want to build a cheap domestic round, as the salesman like to price up cheap to get the job.
Personally I would not waste my money, as you will end up with a lot of underpriced work and a large bill!! :(
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: P®oPole™ on September 07, 2006, 06:44:33 pm
I have not used their services, but I have heard that they are not good unless you want to build a cheap domestic round, as the salesman like to price up cheap to get the job.
Personally I would not waste my money, as you will end up with a lot of underpriced work and a large bill!! :(

How do you work that out when you stipulate what you want to earn, or what you want them to price at.

THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED



Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: groundhog on September 07, 2006, 08:25:24 pm
Thankyou! :)
Propole I was just offering you some advice! ???
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: macc on September 07, 2006, 09:25:03 pm
groundhog, Propole, whats going on guys, i guess you guys dont get on?
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: eddie d on September 07, 2006, 09:41:47 pm
i have heard mixed  views on them.if you stipulate 10 min for 3 bed house ect thats what they will canvass to.i think as they cover a wide area it is difficult to standardize the prices and you need to be soecific about what work you want.
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: abacus on September 07, 2006, 10:26:40 pm
hi
 a friend of mine had them over £200 of work in one night 2 leads did not start but they refund or replace work like this if thier any distance with travel cost can work out to nearly three times cost of work.      you determine the price they will quote

my friend was happy overall


its up to you if you think its a good deal or not it will also depend on supply and demarnd in your area they will also do a test day and you can have them do more work if your happy also you could try roundbuilders not used them but gemma did sound confident and again 2x price travel cost not sure of

regards grant
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: Ladders on September 07, 2006, 10:35:25 pm
Hi Pro-clean.

You asked for an honest answer, NO :-X

Jeff
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: groundhog on September 08, 2006, 08:18:44 am
ProPole, I am offering you some advice about this kind of service. Yes you can stipulate what price you want to achieve, but these people are salesmen who are driven by commission, therefore they are likely to price on the low side to get the customer to sign up. If you want me to send you the phone numbers of a couple of businesses who have used their services I would be happy to do so. I was going to use doorknockers about a year ago, but after taking advice from people who had used them decided not to.

 :-\
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: Stevie G on September 08, 2006, 09:05:43 am
stay well away >:(
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: Customers4u on September 08, 2006, 12:21:04 pm
Stay well away Steve, i think its a case of the other way round dont you??

We canvassed you £1,500 of work at x2, so you should have paid £3,000, but as we both know, you only paid £1,500, you also said that 50% of the customers have cancelled which is very high!! and we rang these customers to verify what was happening, and surprise surprise lots of the customers you had told me had cancelled had,nt in fact cancelled.

So if anyone is doing canvassing for Steve at present beware of him!!  We did our bit and he did not reciprocate!

Also Steve, when we came back from Spain , you actually wanted us to sign up more customers for you, after 3 months of our'working' relationship, so if we were as bad as you make out why use us again, however we got wise to you, and decided to stop any further work, as it was pointless from our point of view!!

Paul  >:( >:(
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: ccwc1988 on September 08, 2006, 12:25:54 pm
Opps ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: david wood on September 08, 2006, 01:03:46 pm
well i have delt with them and i cant say a bad word to say about them i chose the rds/streets i wanted canvassing and the prices i wanted for that type of house and they went and canvased them that simple they got me some great houses and if the customer changes there mind  they send you payment for any loses i will be dealing with them again
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: ronaldo on September 08, 2006, 01:48:21 pm
Stay well away Steve, i think its a case of the other way round dont you??

We canvassed you £1,500 of work at x2, so you should have paid £3,000, but as we both know, you only paid £1,500, you also said that 50% of the customers have cancelled which is very high!! and we rang these customers to verify what was happening, and surprise surprise lots of the customers you had told me had cancelled had,nt in fact cancelled.

So if anyone is doing canvassing for Steve at present beware of him!!  We did our bit and he did not reciprocate!

Also Steve, when we came back from Spain , you actually wanted us to sign up more customers for you, after 3 months of our'working' relationship, so if we were as bad as you make out why use us again, however we got wise to you, and decided to stop any further work, as it was pointless from our point of view!!

Paul  >:( >:(




So put that in your pipe and smoke it  ;D
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: mgba_78 on September 08, 2006, 09:08:09 pm
I have used them and not lost any of the customers signed up, about 40 so far.
Had a couple that were under priced but a conversation with the customers involved before the clean sorted out the issues and actually increased the clean price, winner!!!

I have probably been a bit anal with them but have given strict instructions on pricing(min price, pricing exceptions etc etc), specific area and roads to canvass and just general info that I want stuck to.

I think you may get an issue if you say come down for a day and let them get on with it. They probably dont know the area and if you havent given them a brief on what you want then what do you expect really.

I know if i worked on commision and was just "let loose" in an area and was only working to a total target price i know i wouldnt be as strict with pricing and any other details as i would have if i'd known what the customers exact requirements were. The canvasser may not know what pricing is like in your area, as it can differ so much from town to town.

As i said before i have used them twice and was really happy with the work i got, so much so i have booked them again.

In an ideal world i would prefer to canvass myself but i just dont have the time as have 2 kids, Mrs works evenings and i like to go fishing in any time i do ever get free ;D , so doorknockers for me are the solution.

Andy


 
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: Ladders on September 08, 2006, 10:02:37 pm
Hi mgba-78.

Have you got that much new build in your area, or are they undercutting a window cleaner in your area ?

Jeff
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: macc on September 08, 2006, 10:10:34 pm


I have probably been a bit anal with them but have given strict instructions on pricing(min price, pricing exceptions etc etc), specific area and roads to canvass and just general info that I want stuck to.



Andy


 
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: mgba_78 on September 09, 2006, 05:55:53 pm
Hi mgba-78.

Have you got that much new build in your area, or are they undercutting a window cleaner in your area ?

Jeff

There are cleaners about my area in fact loads, but all the ones they signed hadnt had a cleaner for ages or even ever had a cleaner.
None of the doorknocker customers are new build, wish they were would make the 1st clean easy!!!
Infact i have even gained a few customers due to me doing frames,sills etc etc as it seems a lot of the guys around here are the £3 merchants and only do the GLASS, quoted one other day and got her, previous W/C charged £3 but did do frames i quoted £7 for front only and got it!!

Andy
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: Customers4u on September 12, 2006, 09:18:38 pm
I have not used their services, but I have heard that they are not good unless you want to build a cheap domestic round, as the salesman like to price up cheap to get the job.
Personally I would not waste my money, as you will end up with a lot of underpriced work and a large bill!! :(

I hope you have evidence that our work is underpriced Groundhog, as this is the first i have heard of any rounds being wholly underpriced, you get a few customers out of a hundred maybe, but not the entire round!!


Also if any customers ARE underpriced we guarantee to refund that customer or customers.
 
Paul
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: ecowasher on September 13, 2006, 01:07:15 pm
I posted this in another thread back in august, but it has some honest, constructive advice that anyone using a 'knocking' company should bear in mind.

In short,  make sure you outline exactly how you want it built,  dont just take anything.  you are paying for a service,  go get the service you want...  read the below.

Grant.

UK Window Cleaning Forum / Starting a window cleaning business / Re: Paying companyes to creat your WC round  on: August 11, 2006, 07:33:12 AM 

Ive seen the bad end of inappropiate pricing by 'canvassing companies'.
the problem being that once quoted,  you are morally obliged to at least do the first visit at price quoted(as this is when you will first find out if the canvassing company has under priced).

As we all know,  its easier to get blood out of a stone than to up prices, (especially with a new customer base that dont know you yet), so be careful not to get dumped with cheap washes just because the canvassing company wanted the sale!

3 points that you may wish to negotiate with a canvassing company before engaging them for services:

1),  if anything is underpriced then you will get a full refund on the charge for that property  (as you may have to drop it anyway)

2), tell them to avoid houses with original leaded and Georgian panes. (You are paying for a round to built,  get them to work hard for you and to find the 'easier' houses,  rather than ending up with the hard ones that no other cleaner has touched for years because they are unprofitable.

3)  get your canvasser to inform the customer of that the first wash may be charged at a higher rate than the regular price depending on the state of the windows / frames.

These are all important factors.  You are paying someone to do this for you,  so dont settle just for what he finds for you,  be specific and ensure he builds it to how you want it.

Good Luck

Grant.
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: holland1945 on September 13, 2006, 03:12:13 pm
I've used the services of Doorknockers extensively and I don't have a bad word to say about them.

You really can't go wrong. You stipulate the amount you want per house and the type of house you want. IThey work exactly to your requirements ... if ever they stray, they refund you!

On the odd occasion (literally 2or3 times) I've decided that a house was priced too cheaply and 'refused' it. Paul honours his word and gives you a refund.

In my experience, the work they bring on is normally at a higher rate than I would go for on the door. This is because they're experts at what they do and know what rate they can realistically get.

Obviously in a team of 5 canvassers, there might be one salesman who's had a lean evening and decides to go in slightly lower to win the deal. But as I said, this has happened to me only once or twice and is always resolved by Paul instantly.

If you're thinking of trying them out, ask them over for a Sample Day - what have you got to lose??
Title: Re: Doorknockers?
Post by: ccwc1988 on September 17, 2006, 09:26:49 am
Sounds quite intresting might give em a shout  :)