Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: colley614 on April 17, 2007, 02:54:20 pm
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Is it worth advertising in the yellow pages. How much work would I expect to gain from it? would you guys recommend it? on average how much work do people pick up a year from it?
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i didnt use them for years , then a while ago i tried it , and got quite a good response . some of them obviously pain in the backside customers that had been dropped by their previous w / c ,( i didnt take any of them ) , some of them too far away as i like to keep conpact . the ads have definately paid for themselves , however im not using them this year as i think they are getting too expensive ( big discounts for new customers though )
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Yeah I noticed that when they phoned me. By the sounds of it you get a discount if you upgrade but not if you keep what you had the year before. I think with yellow pages and some leaflets I could build the round quicker than the 2-3 new jobs I'm getting a week at the moment
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i think its worth the outlay ,simply because i do get the odd good comercial job which which has paid for the add and some .
not sure if its been worth the upgrade which cost me 700 , i think when you can get a card size add for about 250 .
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its our second year in it,for carpet cleaning,1st year did not get our money back,this year we have gone colour,so far nuffin :P its a big gamble so next year not sure :-\
we spent £700
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Colley
you proberly wont get anymore that 2 or 3 new jobs per week from the yellow pages!
Why dont you canvus on your round or near bye making a very compact round! the more compact the more you will make per hour!
if you canvus between 5-7 each day or a few times a week you could easly gain 5 customers per day thats nocking on doors with your gear on! showing your ready for the work and serious. even if u just hammed it for a week am sure youd could gain alot of jobs.
Dave
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I was thinking of canvassing leaflets and yellow pages. If I picked a loose job up I would canvass around it to make it worth the while. I'm really finding it hard to get anywhere lately. My car bust so I bought a van and the gear box went so to my customers I'm looking really unreliably for the last few weeks. It seems just as I get anywhere I take a step back.
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We get a lot of work from yellow pages, however most of it is for commercial cleaning, not window cleaning and not much domestic work.
I think domestic window cleaning is better done as a face to face business, most people will just catch you when you are doing their neighbours or if you drop a leaflet in.
The amount of times we have been stopped by people saying "We can't get a window cleaner around here!!" If they tried looking in yellow pages and actually ringing someone they would see there are dozens of them looking for more work.
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To be completely honest I wouldn't mind if I just got a handful of big jobs out of the yellow pages. I have worked for years doing commercial work and found going self employed and doing residential work is a lot different and wouldn't mind trying to keep to commercial as much as possible. It seems less competitive in my area than residential window cleaning.
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less competitive on Wirral r you joking ::)
iv quoted for tuns and tuns of comercial places from flats factories etc they dont want to no unless your cheaper than the person quoting below you!
Dave
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I think it's important to advertise year-after-year, since some people and organisations just lose or misplace new copies of Yellow Pages/Thompson Local.
Pre-window cleaning, I just assumed that the latest directory would be similar to my old one; it wasn't a priorty to me having a new one about the house or my office. I didn't like one three-years-old though; so did make the effort to chuck out the old one after a few years and install the new one.
I assume many people are similar to me in this respect.
I think in my first year of window cleaning I had two calls from my Yellow Pages advert (one of them was from a Hilton Hotel mind (but that's another story)), but in my fourth year now; I get more calls.
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I think that advertising is part of the business that I really need to brush up on. When I was working for a firm I was always told by the older guys. "All you need is one days work a week and you go from there." But I've since found its a hard slog getting enough work to get my head above water since starting up. Don't get me wrong I've gone from a phone call a week to a few a day but still at this rate it would take me a few years to get were I aimed to be. So I need to seriously think about my advertising strategy and invest in it.
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Why dont u get a uniform with your name on company name or something! look out ur window now its sunny and light this is the time to get out there! nocking on the doors! seriously colley you could get tuns of work!
just today i have picked up £112.00 in new work per month just today a big large property another big one and just a small 12.00 atho that wasnt from door nocking it was just while i was parked up!
Just get out there colley simple as that..
Dave
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Why dont u get a uniform with your name on company name or something! look out ur window now its sunny and light this is the time to get out there! nocking on the doors! seriously colley you could get tuns of work!
just today i have picked up £112.00 in new work per month just today a big large property another big one and just a small 12.00 atho that wasnt from door nocking it was just while i was parked up!
Just get out there colley simple as that..
Dave
I agree. 100 quid picked up this week, one night's canvassing.
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I've been out today posting business cards but my van is getting a new gearbox today. I've found the longer I'm working the more interest I'm getting plus with the weather changing I'm getting loads of new work coming in. I found that some areas you end up with somebody the old window cleaner won't touch and everybody else has somebody and in other areas the work flies in. I'm just finding them areas now and intend to hammer them with leaflets and stuff.
Hey dave do you know any good places to find people that are letting work go on the wirral. I could do with a days work as a backbone for my round
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Colley..
you really need to nock on the doors m8 leaflets dont get a very good response the fastest way to gain customers is by nocking.. mayb post a leaflet if theres no answer.
colley i dont no anyone letting anywork go at the moment but as an idea why dont u drive up to West Kirby/Hoylake reason being is there will be windows that are really mucky due to being by the front and with all this sun they will look terible nock on the doors i think you mite get a fair bit around there. They will want them doing regular aswell because of the front and also price well ;)
Dave
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Good call matey. I have been posting loads of stuff out and don't seem to pick as much as I do when I'm out cleaning windows. I have got about 1-2 days a week work on average and find I get most of my work when I'm doing my own. Last week I got £10 form canvassing and £50 from working. I think I'll change my tactics and just knock from now on. I've also got all my customers with an ear to the ground for me so I'll be flying in no time.
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good luck...
I think you get about 1 or 2% responce from leaflets mate, just nock and offer your service to them just say you have some around the corner just trying to get some more in the area etc.
Maybe get a unifrom for around £60.00 looking smart and that your reliable etc all helps.
SO just nock nock nock ;D then if they say no thanks give them one of your cards/leaflets
Dave
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Yeah, I've just picked up a semi in west kirby so I'll knock around it as soon as I get my van back. I'm just gonna keep knocking and knocking now. If I pick any up I'll say be back tomorrow and when I finish the next day I'll knock again on more doors. Reckon with the weather now I could pick up a days work everyday by knocking on more doors when I've finished my days work. Or is that being over optomistic
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well i dont know about a days work but if you nocked every day for say..... 3 weeks you would have a fair few well over 30 odd i would say if there priced on say average £10.00 per house (on average) youl be making a lot of these new houses. depends how long you do nocking for each day tho get stuck in.
Dave