[simbo]

Hi all,
I decided that i would spend today leafletting as have not done any for a while, I always say to myself that i will knock the ones with no obvious cleaner, but just cannot bring myself to do it. You might think i am just shy, but i am not in the slightest, I just hate it when say british gas or somebody knockes my door. This is really getting to me as i want to increase quicker so i can change over to wfp and have seen plenty of good area's around and do not fancy delivering another 5000 flyers and blanking most of the time.I do know that just because people don't call from flyers that there is no work as have picked up quite a few in streets where 1 person has called me and the neighbour collars you.
is it just me

[Chris Cottrell]

Personally I think you need to overcome your fear of the customer and just do it

Anyway whats the worst that could happen .... they say no
if so say ok thank you for your time and move on

[Ben Walker]

if the area is well covered by another w/c then you might be annoying

if its not you might be very welcome standing on their door step

i get some very pleased customers who say things like:
"i'm glad you knocked on our door, saves us the hassle" 

ben

[williamx]

Why not hire a doorknocker and pay a commision on every job you get.

[Easyclean Windows]

If you dont like door knocking try leafleting.I know many people on here will say its not as good as door knocking but as long as you do a proffesional leaflet you should still pick up quite a bit of work.Personally when i first started i just leafleted.I had 1000 made for £37.00.If you knock doors you could be stood there for ages asking all sorts of questions with leafleting you put through the letter box and off to the next one and you can drop more than you can knock.When people say to me about leafleting dosent work i tell them it must do in the last 3 years ive picked up £8,000 per month or residential work.20% from leaflets,60% from word of mouth and the rest while im on my rounds.Another approach you could take get a peice of A4 paper on the top print "do you need a window cleaner" for so much you will have an idea about what you would charge and put on there you will collect the money on a certain evening or day. And in big letters underneath the words"yes please" they fold and put it in their front window  i so when you go back you know which ones to clean.

[pjulk]

Leaflets do work i built my whole round up with leaflets.
I do not knock doors tried it didn't like it and i hate it when people knock my door selling stuff.

If you don't get a good responce from one area try another.

When we do leaflets which is not very often me and my son will go out for about 4 hours and we almost always pick up at least a days work from them.
The thing with leaflets we don't usually get many calls the day we drop them but they seem to trickle in throughout the week.
So we leaflet an area one week and clean them the following week.

Also something to do on a rainy day

Paul

[simbo]

easyclean,
i like your a4 folding idea , did you do this and did it work as i might do a test area
cheers paul

[Easyclean Windows]

I didnt do this myself but i know a few who did and gained about £100 per week extra for doing it.

The way its worded is like this:

Dear householder do you require a regular window cleaner ?
If you would like this service 4 weekly/6 weekly please leave this in your downstairs front window.We will clean your windows and return on the following evening if you are not in to collect payment.

On the bottom half it says in really large wording

"please clean me"

If i did it this way i would print prices at £10.00,£12.00,£15.00 that way if you go out with a diffent priced paper you know which to put through the letter box.It may take time going back to see if they put it in the window but its another way of canvassing

[simbo]

easyclean, i did it this afternoon in a street i have two accounts in, only 50, said i would call back to see the next day, already got one 10 quid job.
As i delivered leaflets for about five hours yesterday in the sticks and have so far only had one call ,1 from 50 is not bad. I am not giving up on my efforts yesterday, i will bite the bullit and follow up with knocking i think.
cheers simb0

[mick hay]

i have just started a leaflet campaign. im a single dad, so getting out knocking is not really an option with a 7 yr old in tow!!..ime in the process of having 10,000 put out in a shared drop with a leafleting company.  to date  bout 5,000 have been delivered and ive picked up over £200 of 4 weekly cleans and a £100 one of cladding clean! now its cost me £170 to get those 5,000 delivered and printed. i dont think thats a bad investment for the return!! after the 10,000 have gone out, im having 50,000 delivered at a rate of 1,000 a week. i think a realistic response is 0.25 - 0.50 percent. so i should be looking at around £1250 of 4 weekly cleans, then the referrals and the  "i meant to call you" lot!! to go on top of that!! A lot of ppl are dead against leafleting, but the way i see it, if you get back the cost of the leaflets and distribution in 1st cleans, its a good investment!!!!

[Easyclean Windows]

Not bad at all as stated i had 1000 leaflets printed for £37.00 and have had at some point £8,000 of residential work each month.I clean one of the largest food manufacturers in europe,lots of blocks of  flats,horse training business,schools, and it keeps comming.

[mick hay]

easyclean, did you have yours delivered via a company?....do you think my response percentage is right? i think it could be more but taking it at the worst it could be, so far so good though..im very pleased 

[Easyclean Windows]

No mick i hand delivers them myself your percentage is good The way i see it is if you spend 30-50 pounds on leaflets deliver them in the evening or on bad weather days if you only get 10 houses at 10 pound each per month thats over 100% profit on what you spent on the leaflets 10 houses x £10 per month=£100 x 12 =£1,200 per year not bad for 30-50 pounds and a few hours work

[simbo]

easyclean,
i never looked at leaflets like that, made me realise i only spent £88 pound on my leaflets and have over 100 customers now have also had a fare few carpet jobs from these as well as upvc cleans and still have around 4000 to put out, so all in all not too bad really.
I tried tha a4 folding thing yesterday, only fifty in a street i have leafleted befor, went drivig along today and spotted one got job back in van spot another then another. so 2 good monthlys £10 and another same price but dont think will last long, getting a feel for that sort now, so all in all 3 from 50 a very good return.
cheers for that simb0
ps will try another st next week

[Easyclean Windows]

Simbo also remember you will pick work up when you are in the area i get people ask me "can you do mine" i say i put leaflet in weeks ago and they say they didnt see it so you will pick up more.Also as time goes on you wont need to door nock or leaflet drop ever again you just take on the work that you want to do

[Elite (Ben)]

door knocking is actually due to be banned, take a look at the posting under carpet cleaning,

Ben

[Londoner]

Leaflets do work but the percentages are low so its down to the numbers game.
Once you have a foothold in a street the best way to get new business is to have a van with WINDOW CLEANER written as large as you can on the side. Believe me, you may think that the street was deserted but you will be seen. 

[Ian Gourlay]

I do not know what size leaflet is costing £37 for Five Thousand, but if you look in the Carpet Cleaning Section there is a posting by Mike Halliday , called Cleanitup members discount leaflet. Just noticed its also in the cleaning related document area.

Also did you know that The Police and Trading standards are banning door knocking in 400 high crime areas.

Happy Ladder Climing or pole pushing


Regards

Ian
Sorry as post below says it was £37 for 1000 leaflets.

[Easyclean Windows]

I do not know what size leaflet is costing £37 for Five Thousand,

Not sure where you got this information because none of the above have stated 5,000 for £37.00?

[derek7]

instead of working on delivering thousands of flyers just target a specific area of 50-100 houses at first. state on your leaflet that the window cleaner will be in your area at a specific date and time and you will call to see if they require your services. If they are not at home at that specific date and want their windows cleaned tell them to leave the flyer in the letterbox or on doorstep. (if you turn up with your ladder and equipment on peoples doorstep you will get more business). My father used this technique to go from 12 customers to over 600 in 5 years