[simonwonder]

hello all
can anyone help me i need help with marketing
i'm in swindon have tried lots of different things
leaflets
websites
door knocking
radio ad
newspaper ad
 been in business 3 1/2 years and still can't pay all bills and feed my kids as i would want
have had many jobs in the past from factory worker
to haulage driver and bus driver and most in between
have no marketing back ground and at present can't afford to pay for a business coach or a mentor
as i love my wife and kids and want them to be proud of me i need to get it right and fast
any help would be greatly received
thanks again
i know you can help as you all have on various things in the past
thanks in advance
simon

[Andy@w.c.s]

Hi simon
So just how many new customer are you after

[NWH]

If you get rained off try knocking on doors,or get some flyers done and get the kids and the Mrs to help you.The more the people you get to help the better,it might only take a few weeks to turn your business round,before long you`ll have work coming out of your ears.

[aztec]

made me think when i first started, you are a proud man and i respect your situation, stick at knocking doors or asking shops if they are happy with their current service mate, be ruthless you are not in business to make friends, tread on peoples toes and offer a better service they are used to and dont be afraid to confront current window cleaners in your area that are getting slack and complacent, worked for me and no, no one likes me but i dont care i have picked up so much work and havent been punched once, be better than your rival!!!!!

[simonwonder]

thanks guys
andy i'm looking for about 160 total have only got about 50 regular and no they are not all£10 some as much as £80  not enough of these   too many £10
 respect
simon

[Pat Purcell]

Some will disagree with me but the best sales force you have are your customers, offer a 20% discount on one service to any customer that finds you another regular customer, offer the new customer a 20% discount on the first service as a get to know you discount, You will get some messers but you will also get some new long term regular customers who will be another asset to your sales force, give them the same deal to find you another regular customer, It takes a little while for it to pay off completely but it will increase your customer base and after the first few services you should be on decent money

[rhys11]

are you trad of wfp simon?
 and did the radio add work how much did it cost?

[groundhog]

You say that you have been in business for 3 and a half years and you only have 50 customers! what have you been doing? How many leaflets have you delivered and how many doors have you knocked on?
Not many I bet, and certainly not enough!!!
When I first started I desperately needed customers and I was delivering hundreds of leaflets everyday, followed up by door knocking a couple of days after leafleting each area, I was easily able to take on at least 10 customers per day!!

There are no short cuts or easy options, you have to get out there and use the tried and tested methods of leaflets and lots of them followed up by door knocking!

[alanwilson]

simon, gotta hand it to you mate - thats the best attitude to have.

in my own experience door knocking has to be the best way of building up a domestic round, even smaller commercial.  What I have found to work well is to:

get some smart clothes on
knock some doors
be cheerful to everyone
be flexible on price (some jobs that we thought we had priced too cheap have turned out to be great earners
offer incentives as pat has already said

canvassing can be hard work, especially if you have been out canvassing for 4 or 5 hrs and only picked up £10 worth but stick at it, I remember canvassing years ago I had canvassed for nearly 2 days and hadn't picked up 1 customer then all of a sudden picked up nearly £200 worth inside 2hrs, and that was about 10 years ago!

its very much hit or miss but the more times you miss the more likely the next time will be a hit.

just my thoughts

[jeff1]

hello all
can anyone help me i need help with marketing
i'm in swindon have tried lots of different things
leaflets
websites
door knocking
radio ad
newspaper ad
 been in business 3 1/2 years and still can't pay all bills and feed my kids as i would want
have had many jobs in the past from factory worker
to haulage driver and bus driver and most in between
have no marketing back ground and at present can't afford to pay for a business coach or a mentor
as i love my wife and kids and want them to be proud of me i need to get it right and fast
any help would be greatly received
thanks again
i know you can help as you all have on various things in the past
thanks in advance
simon

It takes a real man to come on here and say what you said, well done you have my greatest respect.
The guy's have given you some good tips?
Do you do gutter cleaning as an extra service, if not you can expand the service's you offer and even do these Jobs in the rain, offer conservatory cleaning as well, (I'm asumming your Trad?) get yourself a 10' telescopic carwash brush for around £15 connect to the custy's outside Tap and offer conservatory roof cleaning, it works very well with odinery tap water, I used this method for years before I went wfp. use the same brush and clean garage doors.

Like the guy's say on rainy days go out and knock doors, but look smart that way your foot is half way in the door so to speak, be polite but don't under cut your self just to get the Job, and don't promise the earth.

I hope you get as much work as you need, see if there are any guy's on here who live near you, who may be nice enough and able to give you a few of there custy's.

Good luck to you.

[simonwonder]

ryhs 1 hi i'm wfp   radio add £300 pm   4 months  1 caller from it job value £70 oven clean

[rhys11]

ryhs 1 hi i'm wfp   radio add £300 pm   4 months  1 caller from it job value £70 oven clean

thats alot to shell out and only 1 caller.
do you get  many oven cleans and how long do they take?

[windowwashers]

Simon as mad as this sounds you are trying to hard m8. Lighten up a little and it will help you , a good sales man listens to what they are being told and goes from there then works the angles. I am not saying this for no reason I have spoken to you quite a bit on the phone now.

You get my respect aswell for trying, but i honestly think you are trying to hard and it is coming across in either your marketing or your sale pitch.

Your welcome to give me a bell if you want me to explain this reply and I am happy to do that, just give me a few hours to charge the battery as you emptied it last time  


Ian

[simonwonder]

thanks guys

 not complaining   wife works 7am -3pm ( 5 days over7 )
never home before 6.30 -7 pm
11 yr old daughter
6 yr old son
child care that wants to leave at 3.30 -4 pm ( my mum) 
father that isn'tin the best of health
  child care after 4pm (me )
cannot take two kids canvassing and look professional
no money for more flyers so got to be door knock
not complaining  will get it right very soon
nice long rope  lol

only kidding about the rope i'm a battler never given up yet not starting now

[alanwilson]

you've a lot on your plate there simon - you prob need to de-stress, maybe try and simplify life if you can.

only trying to help.

[simonwonder]

thanks alan
will do
thanks ian my  phone never looses charge just credit lol

[jeff1]

thanks guys

 not complaining   wife works 7am -3pm ( 5 days over7 )
never home before 6.30 -7 pm
11 yr old daughter
6 yr old son
child care that wants to leave at 3.30 -4 pm ( my mum) 
father that isn'tin the best of health
  child care after 4pm (me )
cannot take two kids canvassing and look professional
no money for more flyers so got to be door knock
not complaining  will get it right very soon
nice long rope  lol

only kidding about the rope i'm a battler never given up yet not starting now

Give Ian a ring, he can sell snow to Eskimo's  

[windowwashers]

thanks guys

 not complaining   wife works 7am -3pm ( 5 days over7 )
never home before 6.30 -7 pm
11 yr old daughter
6 yr old son
child care that wants to leave at 3.30 -4 pm ( my mum) 
father that isn'tin the best of health
  child care after 4pm (me )
cannot take two kids canvassing and look professional
no money for more flyers so got to be door knock
not complaining  will get it right very soon
nice long rope  lol

only kidding about the rope i'm a battler never given up yet not starting now

Give Ian a ring, he can sell snow to Eskimo's  

that is true, but you maybe shocked to hear when Simon called me I did not try and sell him anything.

I am never desperate, things in place to stop that from ever happening.


and welcome back Jeff have missed ya 

Ian

[easy]

Hi Simon,

Try having a chat with your local cleaners in the area...some will have so much work...they will off load a few to you or might sell them.
Leave your details,leaflets with them to pass on to new customers if they don't want to take any more work on.......
Ask if they need a hand...you may get a few extra days working as a boost to your income....

Good luck anyway....Tony.

[frames to panes]

Must be something about wiltshire? i'm not that far away from you and in my area i find it slow to get work and a lot of my new work tends to be the messers that nobody else wants, You end up with a customer base that stops expanding because you have to drop the dross. I have noticed quite a lot of competition in the Swindon area, probably because of the big supplier there and training facility. I had thought of travelling to get work but most of mine came from within two miles. I've also found that if you can get your wife to canvass you'll pick up more customers people seem a little wary of a man sometimes. My latest plan is to save some of my customers for Saturdays and get myself seen - so many people are out in the week.
I even picked up work by being friendly with other cleaners- might not be the cream but every little helps. I notice you are always on the lookout for buying work have you had no joy?