[www.WashingWindows.co.uk]

Hi,

Thought it would be polite to introduce myself first before bombarding you guys with questions.

We’re a son and father team that started our windows cleaning business towards the beginning of May.

I (Dunk) made the decision to get out of the general rat race 4 years ago. I moved to North Wales and completely changed my career, from an office based sales and marketing background, to working outside all year round. One of my better decisions and I loved it. The industry I worked in relies heavily on contractors but last year I saw nearly all contractors laid off. I was one of the lucky few that remained but still very unsettling. I’m 46 and really want my income to be a stable and as secure as possible. A month ago I lost my job.

My son (Dan) qualified as an electrician almost 18 months ago and has really struggled to get work. He had a 3 month stint with a guy that was using my sons’ qualifications to sign work off and paid him minimum wage and then laid him off a week before last Christmas.  Since then he’s picked up what work he can and has been working behind a bar 20 or so hours a week.

Enough waffley blah blah...

We were / are under absolutely no illusions about how physically active window cleaning is. So far we have done 10 days canvassing, got 93 domestic customers with an average value of slightly above £7 (cheapest 3 quid with dearest at £25). We have done all our first cleans using traditional methods. No complaints as yet, lots of compliments and very little payment outstanding and in the 8 days it took us to clean I have noted a massive improvement in our skill, with a long way to go. We’re currently evaluation George.  Every waking moment over this last month has been dedicated to building this business, from practicing techniques with the squeegee to researching products, etc.
Plans:
To continue doing what we’re doing with an emphasis on quality of service, marketing (hey it’s my background) and staying up to date with technology.

Questions to follow...

Thanks for a fabulous resource,

Dunk

[darren clarke]

welcome and hello

[weetot]

Welcome and good luck, dont let the public grind ya down!

[paul rulton]

lo Dunk, & welcome 2the forum    u will get loads of help & advice on here m8 
so u have come 2the rite place 

[paul saunders]

Welcome and good luck, dont let the W F P users  grind ya down!

I've fixed that for you.

 

[Andy@w.c.s]

welcome 

Andy

[elite mike]

welcome and good luck

mike

[john tomkins]

Welcome 

Do both of you go canvassing seperately because 93 customers gained for just 10 days canvassing does seem very very good going

[dave.e]

welcome to the nut house

[tomy jackson]

he did say up to date tecnoagy well thats WFP then  ,

[www.WashingWindows.co.uk]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Welcome 

Do both of you go canvassing seperately because 93 customers gained for just 10 days canvassing does seem very very good going

John, I don’t know if we have been lucky but... We have deliberately chosen our target market as small villages close to where we live and we are slowly spiralling out further afield.  We haven’t canvassed any of the larger towns yet as it was my feeling that more established guys would be more likely to have a firmer foothold. We’re about to test the theory for the first time a little later today as we are canvassing a larger town for the first time.

Dan and I travel to a village together and he will take one side of the street while I take the other. We have a uniform, which is blue work pants, white T-shirt with company logo, fleece with www.WashingWindows.co.uk on left breast and smart clean work boots. We have a clipboard to make a note of the houses we call at and a few extra tick boxes to note any other marketing information. E.g. already have a cleaner, being charged, does self, not interested, etc. And our ‘pitch’ is pretty straight forward. “Hi, sorry to trouble you.” goes against the sales text book but I think it’s polite, “we’ve expanded our window cleaning round to include (insert village name here) and I was wondering if we can give you a price to clean your windows?” and we get the usual responses. Dan and I have a competition as to who can get the most each day and the loser has to walk the dog first thing in the morning. My records show that our ‘sales’ are pretty balanced with me having a slight edge... but that might be because people feel more confident in an older guy. The 93 does include 2 that we got on the day when they saw us cleaning and I’m hoping we get a lot more of those. We intend to retarget existing areas every 3 months using a variety of marketing medium. Naturally we’re very open to any suggestion you guys have to improve our sales.

Regards,

Dunk

[Jack Wallace]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Welcome 

Do both of you go canvassing seperately because 93 customers gained for just 10 days canvassing does seem very very good going

John, I don’t know if we have been lucky but... We have deliberately chosen our target market as small villages close to where we live and we are slowly spiralling out further afield.  We haven’t canvassed any of the larger towns yet as it was my feeling that more established guys would be more likely to have a firmer foothold. We’re about to test the theory for the first time a little later today as we are canvassing a larger town for the first time.

Dan and I travel to a village together and he will take one side of the street while I take the other. We have a uniform, which is blue work pants, white T-shirt with company logo, fleece with www.WashingWindows.co.uk on left breast and smart clean work boots. We have a clipboard to make a note of the houses we call at and a few extra tick boxes to note any other marketing information. E.g. already have a cleaner, being charged, does self, not interested, etc. And our ‘pitch’ is pretty straight forward. “Hi, sorry to trouble you.” goes against the sales text book but I think it’s polite, “we’ve expanded our window cleaning round to include (insert village name here) and I was wondering if we can give you a price to clean your windows?” and we get the usual responses. Dan and I have a competition as to who can get the most each day and the loser has to walk the dog first thing in the morning. My records show that our ‘sales’ are pretty balanced with me having a slight edge... but that might be because people feel more confident in an older guy. The 93 does include 2 that we got on the day when they saw us cleaning and I’m hoping we get a lot more of those. We intend to retarget existing areas every 3 months using a variety of marketing medium. Naturally we’re very open to any suggestion you guys have to improve our sales.

Regards,

Dunk

Its sounds to me as if you will be giving more advice than recieving it. 
Well done so far, thats a pretty impresive start.

[jonnyald]

sounds like your off to a very good start DUNK n DAN. my tip is Id look closely at yer footwear, find the most comfy you can,  even if it takes you hours . good luck too  

[Paul Coleman]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Welcome 

Do both of you go canvassing seperately because 93 customers gained for just 10 days canvassing does seem very very good going

John, I don’t know if we have been lucky but... We have deliberately chosen our target market as small villages close to where we live and we are slowly spiralling out further afield.  We haven’t canvassed any of the larger towns yet as it was my feeling that more established guys would be more likely to have a firmer foothold. We’re about to test the theory for the first time a little later today as we are canvassing a larger town for the first time.

Dan and I travel to a village together and he will take one side of the street while I take the other. We have a uniform, which is blue work pants, white T-shirt with company logo, fleece with www.WashingWindows.co.uk on left breast and smart clean work boots. We have a clipboard to make a note of the houses we call at and a few extra tick boxes to note any other marketing information. E.g. already have a cleaner, being charged, does self, not interested, etc. And our ‘pitch’ is pretty straight forward. “Hi, sorry to trouble you.” goes against the sales text book but I think it’s polite, “we’ve expanded our window cleaning round to include (insert village name here) and I was wondering if we can give you a price to clean your windows?” and we get the usual responses. Dan and I have a competition as to who can get the most each day and the loser has to walk the dog first thing in the morning. My records show that our ‘sales’ are pretty balanced with me having a slight edge... but that might be because people feel more confident in an older guy. The 93 does include 2 that we got on the day when they saw us cleaning and I’m hoping we get a lot more of those. We intend to retarget existing areas every 3 months using a variety of marketing medium. Naturally we’re very open to any suggestion you guys have to improve our sales.

Regards,

Dunk

Well done so far.
I see you're based in North Waes but I was wondering from a couple of bits you said if there is any American (or non UK) influence.  Just the way you worded a couple of things.
93 custies so far sounds decent going.  Personally I prefer a minimum charge of a tenner but I'm in southeast England.  N.Wales is generally not regarded as being quite so affluent (I could be wrong) so maybe that explains your rates.
Look forward to seeing more of you on here.

[Dave Willis]

Hello Pingu - where have you been?

[Dave Anderson]

Lurking in the background...

[Clive McDonald]

Hi dunk
yes pretty impressive.Let me go over some stuff you probably already know.

This opportunity came about because of changes in technology, social changes and changes in technology.This period of change has created a huge chance, and you are coming in on the tail end but the door hasn't been slammed shut yet.

If you've got any money get ready to spend it because this is the fastest track.If not you need to work hard.

As regards marketing you are doing pretty well.

Bring every skill you and your son have to the table.Use every apsect of new technology that you can.Go over every aspect of the business and decide how technolgy can help you.

[Clive McDonald]

If this was an exam, i would grade you at over 80%. Just a couple of crits- you were a bit sniffy about george and seemed to know your stuff about data fields etc- (i'm useless at this) but you are turning your nose up at a fifty quid programme that will completley run your business so this puts you in the plonker catergory.

[prestige cleaners]

If this was an exam, i would grade you at over 80%. Just a couple of crits- you were a bit sniffy about george and seemed to know your stuff about data fields etc- (i'm useless at this) but you are turning your nose up at a fifty quid programme that will completley run your business so this puts you in the plonker catergory.

well he actually said he was currently evaluating george. so i think you are the plonker now rodney!  :

btw, ive been using george for 2 1/2 yrs, its worth £50!

[boshravie]

Hello Dunk  and welcome to the house, one of the advices I can give you is that you should get your website organise , I am not saying is a bad website, but you can make it more lively.
Any way I whish you and your son all the success.