What I’m going to do is just highlight a few things that you should look out for to avoid hiring the wrong person or the wrong team for your business.
1: Do they have a telephone number?
2: Do they always answer their phone or if they miss your call do they contact you back?
3: Do they have a website?
4: Are they on facebook?
5: Are they on twitter?
6: Is there a contact address on any paperwork?
7: Will they produce photo identification?
8: Do they provide references that you can actually ring and verify using Google / Bing etc as genuine clients?
9: Have they been involved in window cleaning a long time or just starting up?
10: When paying money do they always insist on cash hence no papertrail?
If you’re considering hiring a canvassing firm and you have said no to 5 or more of these statements, be wary of hiring them and I would perhaps start small or not all.
Now here are some additional things you should ask your prospective canvasser / canvassing team and the things you need to hear.
Q: How soon can I start cleaning the work after you have booked it?
A: In traditional high pressure sales environments such as double glazing, kitchen, bathroom, timeshare sales the normal procedure is to service a customer as soon as possible i.e. same day or the next day this is done as the level of interest is at its highest point and doesn’t allow them to think about it, as time goes by the level of interest drops. Now in window cleaning as most people actually want that first clean your better off getting the customers to wait and to think about it, after all if they were really that interested waiting a week is no big deal. I also believe that if you allow the bookings to be made for the following day you’re letting the canvasser control your business. Also what if it rains? or van blows up? You end up looking unreliable.
Q: What exactly am I getting for my money?
A: If it sounds too amazing or over the top get your calculator out do the math, at that point if your thinking this team are not good business people i.e. not making decent money, chances are they are just trying to con you by offering too much.
Q: What is the canvasser’s liability on cancellations?
A: The minimum you should ask for is 2 cleans, if this is agreed the canvasser should be prepared to either re-knock or refund the difference if this occurs.
Q: How are they going to present the customer information?
A: This should always be presented on a spreadsheet if they just give you a scribbled in notepad it just says laziness’ if they are lazy on the paperwork what are they going to be like on the door or with representing your business.
Q: How soon can you get to me?
A: If they are ready to drop everything and take you on straight away it’s not a good sign, particularly if they have contacted you.
Q: How quickly can you knock the work in?
A: I would suggest £200 a day per man as an average ask how many people they have working at any particular time and again get your calculator out do the math.
Q: Ask yourself have I found these people advertising themselves in a clear and transparent manner?
A: You occasionally see canvassing teams advertising established rounds that turn out to be canvassed work. It’s not a great way to start a business
relationship. At this stage I would walk away.
In closing I really hope that people have found this helpful and that it saves a few people from parting with their hard earned money to any dubious canvassers or canvassing teams.
Many thanks for taking the time to read
Whizz
