[formb]

Personally I'm a leafleter. We were lucky with our circumstances when we started but, with stencilled, photocopied, black and white A5 flyers it was a full time job in less than 6 months.

Out of interest door knockers

What do you say if a customer tells you they have a window cleaner but want a price anyway?

Have you ever knocked on a window cleaners door by mistake? What kind of reaction did you get?

Do any of you employ a different method of marketing / adversing? Is it any good?

[roundbuilder]

both methods are good. I agree i tried flashy leaflets promising the world and got near on nothing from them. I took 5 mins makeing a quick straight to the point a5 on laptop and am getting callbacks. It maybe just me that i found basic works better but hey. I also like to canvass but  i do find a big cancal rate from them compared to a zero cancal rate with leaflets.

[roundbuilder]

gd u n me both know it takes a good 6 months to wean out the messers so a 2x guarantee is worthless. What happens after 2nd hey?...with leaflets im trying to say if they ring up wanting a service they the are concreate unlike canvassed as there more like sand in a sive coz u dont know how seriouse they realy are. I used to canvas mate and trust a 2clean guarentee isnt worth paper its wrote on. If u give me a 4-6 clean guarentee id bite your hand off to drum me up work but u know that would be suicide on your business as you would be replaceing a hell of a lot of work.

[PAUL ERITH]

  

[Ian101]

Doorknock but if no one home leaf a leaflet.

If they say I got 1 already but give me your price I will immediately say Why if you have one ........... if they say you may be cheaper then just refuse and say stick with your guy .......... if they say he is a rip off merchant skips windows, argues with the missus, does a poor job, broke my sky dish, sits on my garden furniture to have lunch, charges me £130 to get my gutters cleaned but didnt acyually do the job, spits / wees on my garden, then yep will give em a price.

[formb]

 

Ha. Just a little case of history repeating.

[paul13]

Doorknock but if no one home leaf a leaflet.

If they say I got 1 already but give me your price I will immediately say Why if you have one ........... if they say you may be cheaper then just refuse and say stick with your guy .......... if they say he is a rip off merchant skips windows, argues with the missus, does a poor job, broke my sky dish, sits on my garden furniture to have lunch, charges me £130 to get my gutters cleaned but didnt acyually do the job, spits / wees on my garden, then yep will give em a price.

+1

[HampshireWindowCleaning]

I knock on the door and I leave a leaflet if I don't get an answer.
Pick up rate from leaflets is generally pretty poor though compared to the door knocking. If I knock on 1000 doors and 500 answer i'd hope to get 10+ jobs out of them, the other 500 that get a leaflet i'd be happy to get 1 job.

[PAUL ERITH]

I hate cochroaches...
Erith your such a sad lonely snake do you actualy have any "real"friends???
Thanks to you i have picked up 30+ customers from your leaflet drops where i canvass over the last few years so your not all bad. Why the hell are you that sad to be searching my previous posts 3 years ago to try prove me wrong or catch me out?.

When i was canvassing for others i always had cards/leaflets to put through houses not in so could be used to replace dropouts withought having to travel back to the area to recanvass. Id have been a fool not too and for a while i used them myself with canvassing but stopped as was a waste of time As the return was t worth it at all, i dont think any of the leafleted jobs were a dropouts but they were minimal.
I have always said and agreed leaflets have a better retention rate however for every leaflet call back i got id be able to gain 100-200+ customers in comparison with canvassing.
3 years ago this thrad was done. I only started building myself last year properly and fully all done through canvassing.
Id rather have 70 customers out of the bunch of canvassed work with 30 mixed 1 off's/messers to be removed at the end of the month than to soley leaflet with less than 1 in 250 return rate.



 

Good for you glad you got work from my leaflets as for searching through your posts your wrong mick i was looking at knocking vs leaflets threads as I was looking for others opinons.

And from what i can see is

Door knocking is good for rapid growth but has drawback like lots or one offs & messers

Leaflets are good for quality customers the drawbacks are it takes a lot longer to gain customer

But the internet is better than them both get a good site and it brings work in all the time 

I'm not trying to catch anyone out so calm down mick


Paul

[formb]

Why the hell are you that sad to be searching my previous posts 3 years ago to try prove me wrong or catch me out?.

I'm not trying to catch anyone out so calm down mick

TBH I never read it like you were caught out Mick. It was just amusing that we were having a very similar discussion to one we had 3 years ago.

I'm sure if you read through my, or anyone's posts there would be inconsistencies in opinion. Anything can happen in 3 years, can't see me door knocking in 2016 though   

[Crystal-clear]

Oh soapy I thought u might have done your fair share of canvassing then got sick of it and started your leafleting empire, well in a nut shell if you really want to pick up work I'm not talking 2 a day like some people get, what you do is book anything and everything , basically begging , try us out, this is the IDea if you are happy we do it Again... Oh you have. Window clean but does he do this? It's all about getting the first clean in , it's a procedure you can't pre judge anyone you just look at the law of cancelation that 50% will cancel very quickly , if you go out cherry picking you will pick up less and the ones you think are cherries will mess you are first .  

[PAUL ERITH]

I can see the internet taking over canvassing google, websites ect

Every day more people learn how to use the internet and search engines

Plus it could be a possibility that you won't be able to legally do leaflet and door knocking within the next ten years or so 

Paul

[Crystal-clear]

I find when you are trying to expand and build a second round to sub or for staff I think in this situation it becomes a bit annoying lets say, I really enjoy customers ringing in its like music to my ears , so I really hope I get a decent response ! Will still use canvassing to fill gaps

[formb]

Will still use canvassing to fill gaps

Oh err matron.

[PAUL ERITH]

Just trying to work a few things out on average  how many customers can you get in 5 hours door knocking daytime door knocking 10 am to 3 pm  

Thanks Paul

[Crystal-clear]

Just trying to work a few things out on average how many customers can you get in 5 hours door knocking daytime door knocking 10 am to 3 pm 

Thanks Paul

Doing it this way getting 15 names and numbers is quite normal most of them are happy to get cleaned ASAP , some will change mind cancel last sec , and you will have cancelations

[supernova77]

I have only ever canvassed (door knocked) and left leaflets at houses where people are not in...

However - At the moment I am planning on having 5,000 leaflets a month delivered in May, June, July and August - So 20,000 leaflets in total.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the results will be.

Andy

[Crystal-clear]

Just trying to work a few things out on average how many customers can you get in 5 hours door knocking daytime door knocking 10 am to 3 pm 

Thanks Paul

Doing it this way getting 15 names and numbers is quite normal most of them are happy to get cleaned ASAP , some will change mind cancel last sec , and you will have cancelations

Also if you are a true hardcore canvassing window cleaner you should never refer to first cleans as customers it just messes with your mind , best to call it names And numbers or first cleans , as you will get disappointed when 50% cancel

[PAUL ERITH]

I have only ever canvassed (door knocked) and left leaflets at houses where people are not in...

However - At the moment I am planning on having 5,000 leaflets a month delivered in May, June, July and August - So 20,000 leaflets in total.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the results will be.

Andy

You should get from 40 to 50 new customers if they are going out solus

[roundbuilder]

Sorry for being a twunt this morning erith. Hangover of doom. I deleted post.

If i was to canvass 10am till 3pm on a weekday id prob get next to zero new customers. Best time is by far 5-8pm.

Normally 2 of us go out and we both average 6-12 each night for 2 hours if chosen area is half decent. retention rate is realy good so far this year but only on 2nd/3rd cleans so im guessing i will lose a small chunk but thats the beauty of it im only losing the crap customers from the bunch, all the cream will stay and hopefully be loyal customers.
George says that i have 50% of what i have canvassed/bought which i am verey happy with.
So many people move house/change of circumstance/window cleaner retires or just stops turning up. Customer doesnt think about that the window cleaner hasnt been for 6 months untill a canvasser asks if they have 1. I get so many calls like that its unreal. Also something that is as good or if not better retention than leafleted calls is gaining a new customer that has just moved into a £250+ house.
There are so many ways to build a great business but i believe you have to chase it and rummage through the crap to find it as the best wont always come too you as so many people just simply leaflet and its by chance if the customer chooses to ring yours or not depending on they havnt just thrown away in the bin.
I cant understand how google will beat canvassing for the amount of customers gained but i have never had a website.
Maybe you should come out canvassing with me one eve just to see it realy is verey straight forward to do and great way to maximise your growth with minimal expence as even the 1 off's will pay for the job to be done so your never on a total lose situation.