[mfwindowcleaner]

sold up and moved to highlands last october ...... never brought any work stuff as i sold the lot ....including van ....... on movin up had about 30 poeple ask me to clean their windows and after a long discussion with the wife i bought a small van last week . ladders arrived today , got cheap ink off the net and printed out 300 leaflets ....... took the wife leaflet dropping this afternoon and got 15 new customers in 1 street ...... as ive done it before i know the traps to avoid ........ for all those talking about buying leaflets i find design and print your own , that way if you want to add services such as gutters,facias,wfp you can edit text ..... microsoft publisher is great...
also printmeashirt.com is great for company clothing  .... you can get a hoodie or jumper for about £25 with printing on both breasts and back ....any size print, font or colour ..... mines has got WINDOW CLEANER in very large writing on the back and 5 of my new customers stopped and asked me if i could clean their windows ..... i also find George  software a great bit of kit ...... keeps your round nice and updated ..... print a worksheet for the week and off you go ..... anyway working tomorrow morning and off canvassing tomorrow afternoon before the snow comes again 

[krave]

Went out again today, £45 job and a £18 with the conny roofto be done every 6 months/1 year.

[JRDEasiReach]

went out last night and got another 3 4 weeklys well chuffed, thats 25 this month already aiming for that again by the end of feb, its coming to that time of the year where i may just get them too.

[sullivan]

Hey all,

I'm fairly new here. Having always been interested in business and working for myself, last year I decided I would set up my own window cleaning company. I went out and bought an Omnipole WFP Trolley, and got cracking. I'm still working a 9-5 job (which is paying me sod all) so I'm working all the hours possible, mainly at weekends to build up my round.

Late last year my gf and I would go out door knocking, with our leaflets. We did pretty well each weekend, getting a lot of 'one off' cleans.

I come from a sales background, so I don't really have a problem with cold calling or door knocking. Although I had never door knocked before, after the first few doors I was fine, and after I won my first customer I didn't care!

To this day I have about 5 regular customers, which have all come from door knocking or word of mouth. I'm out door knocking every Saturday with the Mrs, trying to drum up some new business and offering a clean ‘there and then’. What I didn’t think about was going out in the evening after work and canvassing, so tomorrow evening I’m going to do just that… I’ll update you with my findings.

I’m kind of stuck at the moment, as I’m trying to save enough money so that I can leave my 9-5 job that is draining the life out of me and my business. Did anyone else find it difficult going from employed to self-employed?

Another thing, I’m currently working out of my Toyota Aygo, which isn’t practical, so I’m on the look out for a cheap van, any suggestions? I’ve heard the Citroen Berlingo’s are quite popular?

[chopsie]

I saw 58 plate renault kangoo vans going for 1700-2 grand at auctions with reasonably low milage,berlingo's were 4 or 500 more,I would of gone for a berlingo,But needed extra seats in back for kids,So got a Transit

[mfwindowcleaner]

12 new customers over the last day and a half  ....... 6 all in one row of terraced bungalows(no ladders needed ,windows all reachable on foot) back out on foot knocking doors on sat morning 

[sullivan]

Went out this morning with the Mrs, cleaned a 3 bed terrace that I had quoted earlier on in the week.

I quoted them for inside and out, including all frames and inside the PVC frames...

I never thought that cleaning inside the frames would take so much time. The windows were pretty filthy.

The job took us almost 2 hours, felt like I well under priced that one... never mind, we live and we learn.

Went door knocking down the same street, lots of people out, but gave out some leaflets. We then went door knocking down a more private road, unfortunately a lot of them had 'no cold calling area' stickers, so we just dropped a load of leaflets...

Gonna go back out Monday evening for an hour or so and try and get some more.

[sullivan]

Thanks Tosh,

Yea, the only problem with this one was its a one off clean, although the owner said he has commercial premises too which I think will be regular. So its all good!

I'm using an Omnipole trolley system for the outside, and yea, today was my first time using trad ever as it was my first inside clean. So yea, as time goes on i'll get quicker.

Found the door knocking really tough today, mentally and physically after the first job. Hoping I get a few customers in the week booked in for next Saturday.