[Mick Kent]

What are your views/experiences?
Your best hits and regular retention rate?

[P @ F]

Retention rate , dont make me laugh Mick 
I never get as far as a first clean , they all seem to want it yesterday , at a certain time , when the dog aint home , when the kids are at school , and at a greatly reduced rate as they are moving next week and money is a bit tight 

Apart from that i have never had a problem with it 

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

My experience is none. My view is that I personally wouldn't entertain FB for my business!!

[Marc Stock]

FB customers are sure way to a complete and utter nightmare.

Like P@F said....

Retention rate , dont make me laugh Mick 
I never get as far as a first clean , they all seem to want it yesterday , at a certain time , when the dog aint home , when the kids are at school , and at a greatly reduced rate as they are moving next week and money is a bit tight 

Don't do this, and you will get a load of negative reviews.

Plus i don't want customers that are more interested in their 'Social Image' over day to day stuff. Id much rather have word of mouth recommendations, had a social media pushing lady the other day offer 'advice' on how to reach more people and get more work, my reply was I don't need to go on facebook to find decent customers thanks.

Anyway Facebook will be gone in 5 years

[Stoots]

You are missing a trick guys.

Yes you will get a good old percentage of Messer's from Facebook.

But no more than you do with canvassed work.

Disable reviews on your FB page as yes you do get a few tossers

I've just spent £100 this last week and picked up over 10 new customers from about 20 enquiries plus a few one off jobs that I didn't really want, couple of gutters and a conny.

Yes you get a lot of price shoppers, but it's throw enough mud at the wall and see what sticks.


Marc, if you want to grow fast, Facebook ads will be hugely beneficial to you.

I've added 10k a year to my round since Christmas, half of it is from Facebook and I bet I've not spent much more than £300 on ads this year.

[Splash & dash]

Personally get more work than I can shake a stick at from my web site , recomendation , certainly wouldn’t go any where near face book most are messers so friends tell me 

[harv deek]

love getting FB  customers.    i  ask a few loaded questions on initial enquiry "want monthly or just a 1 off?  [same price] "

 if they take the bait and say just a one off thanks  i then tell them my bro is doin the 1 offs and he will be in touch.  a few hours later i then block them.   this filters out the trashy

 iv also got a fake FB  profile,a big momma  loud n opinionated.   i get "her" to comment on my facebook posts "when are you coming to mine?"
  "coming friday ma"am"
  "can you clean my neybours same day,he keeps on asking "
  "sure ,no probs"

at that point others [genuine ] chime in, "got time to do mine too?"

[Simon Trapani]

Wow..how professional & what a faff!

I don’t bother with Fakebook myself. Got better things to do with my life.

A good website, word of mouth, signwritten vans, uniforms etc are the way to go IMO.

[bobplum]

I actually bought a book about Facebook and how to get the best out of it, in terms of advertising, 10 pages in you take a test, it advised me that Google is better for  a window cleaning business ....this was also backed up by Daisy from Digitool who was at the last window cleaning show in september, they specialise in online marketing and advertising.....Also from my experience the quality of  customers is poor

[Stoots]

Just woke up to 2 new enquires off facebook.

If you just want to standstill then walk up, referals, website will keep you ticking over or growing very slowly.

If you are actively looking to grow fast you won't beat social media, it's right up there with canvassing.

[Stoots]

I actually bought a book about Facebook and how to get the best out of it, in terms of advertising, 10 pages in you take a test, it advised me that Google is better for  a window cleaning business ....this was also backed up by Daisy from Digitool who was at the last window cleaning show in september, they specialise in online marketing and advertising.....Also from my experience the quality of  customers is poor

Google ads only show up when someone is actively looking for a window cleaner.

So from those ads or from organic SEO you will get better quality customers.

Facebook and FB ads is more like canvassing or leafletting, you are are putting your add in front of anyone and hoping they bite. So you get more Messer's and more prices shoppers.

If you are already at the top of page 1 or close like me then AdWords does very little. Also in most areas Google searches for window cleaning is very low, you won't get the volume of enquiries.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

It's down to the quality of client that you want to attract.

[dazmond]

ive never used facebook as im not after more work(apart from word of mouth,walk ups and recommendations) but if you want to grow quickly why wouldnt you use facebook?its just another avenue that could lead to more customers,add it on to canvassing,leafletting,website,advertising in local parish magazines,etc,etc and you ll have all the work you need within a few years.....

[Stoots]

It's down to the quality of client that you want to attract.

Absoloutely. You will get better work from recomendation and walk ups in general as they are actively seeking you.

That doesnt mean ALL fb users are scumbags lol

Ive picked up some cracking jobs from Fb, some very nice customers, a lot of dross mind.

You can help the situation my limiting your ads to certain areas, you can also target certain demographic such as education level, or job sector.

For example you could target 30-60 year old with degree level qualifications living in a certain postcode area. Its no guarantee of course but it tip the odds in your favour they will have a couple of quid and be a decent human.

[Walter Mitty]

In general, not just FB, I've found that non-targeted advertising requires a lot of work filtering out mid-terrace houses, bad parking areas, generally poor access and a whole load of other things.  Although it's more foot slogging, it's why I prefer to canvass work myself or select the properties where I wish to drop leaflets.
Of course, if I were employing others to carry out the cleaning, it wouldn't matter as much because I would still be turning some profit on an awkward job and someone else would have the hassle of overcoming any problems.

[Simon Trapani]

But you can’t give your employee all the dross or he’ll just get peed off.

[Walter Mitty]

But you can’t give your employee all the dross or he’ll just get peed off.

I did say ".. if I were employing ... ".  I'm not, so it doesn't arise.

[John Mart]

Just woke up to 2 new enquires off facebook.

If you just want to standstill then walk up, referals, website will keep you ticking over or growing very slowly.

If you are actively looking to grow fast you won't beat social media, it's right up there with canvassing.

I’m not having a dig, but that’s probably why your prices are on the low side.

[harv deek]

nothing wrong with prices on the low side .   oh i know the word on the forums is "price high,work smarter not harder"

 but i subscribe to the school of thought to "work harder -at a modest price"  [not foolhardy low low price however]

  when i first started out i often took a grabbed brekky in McD and  took a lot of pointers from how they work/ their business model  and incorporated some of it in my own biz.      in my own town are also quite a few medium to high priced eateries and high priced window cleaners  , or should i say Were-many of these have folded in recent years -prices too high  they sat empty much of the time  [or sat at home ]and no matter if the food was nice or they did a very good clean - they withered on the vine

[harv deek]

recently on FB  i noticed a new baked potato shop takeaway is about to open in town.    i commented on their page "are you going to be low ,medium or high prices?"

  "thank you for your interest ,,we plan to be on the medium + side  price wise"

  i bet the place lasts under a year