Hi SCS,
Have been in your shoes 6 times now and all I can say is what I did was this. In the build up to your new guy starting I went door knocking the month before, any earlier than that and the new customer could forget or change their minds. Then during the month before my new guy starts I give a leaflet to every customer offering a 25% discount of their next clean for any new customer they introduce, this works really well, lets face it, how many times do you hear the "oh my frined needs a window cleaner" this just gives your customer a reason to remember now!! OK, by now you should have increased your round, so when your new guy starts, get him to work with your existing employee and get out there during the week, say two days a week looking for commercial or domestic work. This way you can build the round up whilst the two employees are covering your exisiting work. I now have 6 employee's and have never had to buy a round yet, it cost's you not only to buy the round but also in wages to clean the new work, thats a big dent in ya profitability!! Hope this helps, best wishes, Trev