[Captain Scarlet]

If your good you never get a full round, you just get faster and faster and get more jobs, Luke

[Wayne Thomas]

If your good you never get a full round, you just get faster and faster and get more jobs, Luke

I must have half a round then, 'cause I'm nearly always behind with my work, lol.

[L.J.Thorpe]

feb is a good month for new custs BUT also a good month for the fresh batch of w/cers who will not last the year...or at least they didnt use too : imo trad use to sort the wheat from the chaff and most of the newcomers would be gone by november((leaving us to mop up the peed off custs)wfp makes it easier and less hazardous so i think that more will see it through BUT there are still oppurtunities out there,you just got to go looking

[TVCS]

This Jan I noticed a big sign written van canvassing in the town where I live and work.  A few custies phoned me to warn me too. lol.

Anyway, I had one of their flyers through our door and it all looked quality.  Not dole boys. 

Got a bit worried and whilst it was raining really hard one day I posted about 30 flyers. 
  from those 30 I got 10 jobs.  I could not beleive it.  ( you probably think I'm full of Sh**)  but I hit a street that had lost there w/c. 

At the end of the day, there are more houses than there are w/c.  New ones being built all the time.  The dole boys generaly are unreliable, look scruffy/ worrying so keep your chin up.

[Ian_Giles]

Well unlike Squeaks who works the same geographical area as myself, I'm forever picking up work or getting inquiries.
We are not talking loads of them day after day, but there is, and always has been a steady trickle of them.
I passed a name & number over to Squeaky on Monday that should lead to a handful of accounts for him.
This morning I'm doing a new account I picked up on Monday - £23.00 - and another account - £15.00.
There is work out there, new window cleaners come along all the time, but many suddenly find that getting enough work to have a decent income of is no easy thing.
They may spend a fat chunk of redundancy money on a smart, all singing, all dancing WFP setup and van...but they still have to pick up the work!!
And it takes many months of canvassing, and then years to hone and develop your round.
Ergo, many get disenchanted and leave window cleaning...very much the poorer too if they've gone straight in at the deep end.

Squeaky for instance only does about 4000 miles a year, I do closer to 15,000 a year...I'm prepared to travel and take on work that is miles apart, I chased down leads no matter how far I had to travel.
Work doesn't have to be compact to earn you good money, spread your wings, look further afield.
If you are going to canvas via doorknocking then why on earth bother with housing estates with several other window cleaning challenging for the work? Especially new estates.

time to get to work

Ian

[Davo]

feb is a good month for new custs BUT also a good month for the fresh batch of w/cers who will not last the year...or at least they didnt use too : imo trad use to sort the wheat from the chaff and most of the newcomers would be gone by november((leaving us to mop up the peed off custs)wfp makes it easier and less hazardous so i think that more will see it through BUT there are still oppurtunities out there,you just got to go looking

Thats spot on, you dont need much nerve to stand on the ground and jiggle a pole up and down. Different job ladder work, soon send em home when they go up 3 storeys in a stiff breeze.






Mark

[mark dew]

There will always be work for a window cleaner who turns up regular, does a good job (or goes back if a problem) and who is friendly to their customers.
It does take years of honing though as ian says and i'm still a long way from that.

[Kev R]

Boom or bust theres always dust 

[Londoner]

feb is a good month for new custs BUT also a good month for the fresh batch of w/cers who will not last the year...or at least they didnt use too : imo trad use to sort the wheat from the chaff and most of the newcomers would be gone by november((leaving us to mop up the peed off custs)wfp makes it easier and less hazardous so i think that more will see it through BUT there are still oppurtunities out there,you just got to go looking

Thats spot on, you dont need much nerve to stand on the ground and jiggle a pole up and down. Different job ladder work, soon send em home when they go up 3 storeys in a stiff breeze.






Mark

Thats a very good point. There seem to be a lot more people looking at window cleaning as a business opportunity rather than a self employed job.

Certainly the franchise people are selling the idea hard and there are a number of websites selling guides ( i posted about one earlier this week ). The underlying message always seems to be that you get a load of blokes to do the work while you sit back and watch the money roll in. IF ONLY!

As was predicted a long time ago on this forum WFP is bringing people into the industry who NEVER would have considered it when it was ladders or nothing.

And this trend is going to continue because soon there will be copycats and me-too types who think that if they can do it so can I.

[Ian Rushmore]

Apples don't fall far from the tree, either.

[Helen]

Everything is getting harder, its not just window cleaning. 

So true,
I keep in contact with friends (and now custies) from my last place of employment. They run their own business(not WC'ng) and for the last 18 months have not been able to give a pay rise to their staff (approx 25), due to overheads rising and less business coming in.
The local firms round here are making redundancies and the salaries advertised in local rag and recruitmnet agencies are not rising. In fact some are pretty poor and I would not get out of bed for them One I saw the other day...Laboratory Technician, loads of qualifications needed,  £13,000 per annum, will need car as based in rural location!!!!
Someone will take that job, because they have to, but they won't have their windows cleaned, because they won't be earning enough.

[macmac]

You must be doing it all wrong dave, after all (apparently) the more you invest the bigger the return!

What you need to do is this-

Go out & spend 20(ish)k on a new van (after all, this is peanuts). It must be BIG, the BIGGER the BETTER, yes BIG, you'll regret it if not, as when you expand, yes, EXPAND, at an empire building rate you never thought possible (with just a magic wand that spits water) you'll be using 2000Ltrs per day.

Spend another 10k (just nut shells) on a top notch HOT (this is a must) system.

Sign writing, uniform, a few staff & you're made for life dude, it couldn't be simpler mate.(could it?)
Once customers see how proffesional you look they'll be throwing themselves at you AND wanting to pay much, much more above the going rate just to get on your books. Trust me dave, i get this all day long, infact i'm taking on a minder next week just to clear my path.

I've a few tips on swiss bank accounts too but i'll give you these next week when you'll need them.

Hope this helps

Tony

[NWH]

You must be doing it all wrong dave, after all (apparently) the more you invest the bigger the return!

What you need to do is this-

Go out & spend 20(ish)k on a new van (after all, this is peanuts). It must be BIG, the BIGGER the BETTER, yes BIG, you'll regret it if not, as when you expand, yes, EXPAND, at an empire building rate you never thought possible (with just a magic wand that spits water) you'll be using 2000Ltrs per day.

Spend another 10k (just nut shells) on a top notch HOT (this is a must) system.

Sign writing, uniform, a few staff & you're made for life dude, it couldn't be simpler mate.(could it?)
Once customers see how proffesional you look they'll be throwing themselves at you AND wanting to pay much, much more above the going rate just to get on your books. Trust me dave, i get this all day long, infact i'm taking on a minder next week just to clear my path.

I've a few tips on swiss bank accounts too but i'll give you these next week when you'll need them.

Hope this helps

Tony

lol.

[L.J.Thorpe]

You must be doing it all wrong dave, after all (apparently) the more you invest the bigger the return!

What you need to do is this-

Go out & spend 20(ish)k on a new van (after all, this is peanuts). It must be BIG, the BIGGER the BETTER, yes BIG, you'll regret it if not, as when you expand, yes, EXPAND, at an empire building rate you never thought possible (with just a magic wand that spits water) you'll be using 2000Ltrs per day.

Spend another 10k (just nut shells) on a top notch HOT (this is a must) system.

Sign writing, uniform, a few staff & you're made for life dude, it couldn't be simpler mate.(could it?)
Once customers see how proffesional you look they'll be throwing themselves at you AND wanting to pay much, much more above the going rate just to get on your books. Trust me dave, i get this all day long, infact i'm taking on a minder next week just to clear my path.

I've a few tips on swiss bank accounts too but i'll give you these next week when you'll need them.

Hope this helps

Tony

that sounds like the ideal solution....how did i never see it before....its so obvious

[macmac]

You must be doing it all wrong dave, after all (apparently) the more you invest the bigger the return!

What you need to do is this-

Go out & spend 20(ish)k on a new van (after all, this is peanuts). It must be BIG, the BIGGER the BETTER, yes BIG, you'll regret it if not, as when you expand, yes, EXPAND, at an empire building rate you never thought possible (with just a magic wand that spits water) you'll be using 2000Ltrs per day.

Spend another 10k (just nut shells) on a top notch HOT (this is a must) system.

Sign writing, uniform, a few staff & you're made for life dude, it couldn't be simpler mate.(could it?)
Once customers see how proffesional you look they'll be throwing themselves at you AND wanting to pay much, much more above the going rate just to get on your books. Trust me dave, i get this all day long, infact i'm taking on a minder next week just to clear my path.

I've a few tips on swiss bank accounts too but i'll give you these next week when you'll need them.

Hope this helps

Tony

that sounds like the ideal solution....how did i never see it before....its so obvious

Yeah, i've 304 "hot" vans on the go now, remember, just throw money at it & watch it grow!

Tony

[frames to panes]

No, i need more staff to work for me then i can give 24hour cleaning day and night - bound to attract more work that way. Who knows i might even buy up a few thousand pounds worth of rounds. I think my van is too small, not shiney enough (i don't wash it often enough) and my logo is too straightforward and to the point. I need more of everything really- more heat, more leaflets, more staff and more money. Not much to ask for, oh and maybe i could commute to Anglessy. 
You only get out what you put in, so i'm going to put LOADS more in i think.

[matt]

You must be doing it all wrong dave, after all (apparently) the more you invest the bigger the return!

What you need to do is this-

Go out & spend 20(ish)k on a new van (after all, this is peanuts). It must be BIG, the BIGGER the BETTER, yes BIG, you'll regret it if not, as when you expand, yes, EXPAND, at an empire building rate you never thought possible (with just a magic wand that spits water) you'll be using 2000Ltrs per day.

Spend another 10k (just nut shells) on a top notch HOT (this is a must) system.

Sign writing, uniform, a few staff & you're made for life dude, it couldn't be simpler mate.(could it?)
Once customers see how proffesional you look they'll be throwing themselves at you AND wanting to pay much, much more above the going rate just to get on your books. Trust me dave, i get this all day long, infact i'm taking on a minder next week just to clear my path.

I've a few tips on swiss bank accounts too but i'll give you these next week when you'll need them.

Hope this helps

Tony

he might need that swiss bank account deails fairly soon, as soon as his gets the stuff listed above, leave it a evening and then he will be on here askng for it, take that mentioned the time it will take when your big

[macmac]

No, i need more staff to work for me then i can give 24hour cleaning day and night - bound to attract more work that way. Who knows i might even buy up a few thousand pounds worth of rounds. I think my van is too small, not shiney enough (i don't wash it often enough) and my logo is too straightforward and to the point. I need more of everything really- more heat, more leaflets, more staff and more money. Not much to ask for, oh and maybe i could commute to Anglessy. 

You set your goals way too low dave, think "international"  I'm nipping over to melbourne next week, got a few top accounts to price up.

Tony

[AuRavelling79]

Tony that's one funny post!

But even you are setting your sights too low - I've teamed up with the Russians for the contract on cleaning the glass on their space-station and now the Americans are going back to the Moon I'm off to Cape Canaveral to secure the contract for there as well!

I've got more vans on the road than Eddie Stobart and Norbert Dentressangle have got lorries!

 

[macmac]

Tony that's one funny post!

But even you are setting your sights too low - I've teamed up with the Russians for the contract on cleaning the glass on their space-station and now the Americans are going back to the Moon I'm off to Cape Canaveral to secure the contract for there as well!

I've got more vans on the road than Eddie Stobart and Norbert Dentressangle have got lorries!

 

Wouldn't bother with cape canaverel malc, popped in last week, they're not prepared to pay more than 3.2 million for their windows cleaned, not even for a "hot" wash. ( tight gits ).

Tony