Hi Everyone. this is my 1st post on any forum of any description, so apologies if it all comes out as gobbledygook, I really am a child of the last century.
Anyway, I'm starting up from scratch, so canvassing is regularly playing a big part of my days. My advice would be this;
Always knock the door on a 1st call, if someone answers explain that, you're building up / expanding your current business and wanted to see if the householder wanted their windows cleaning once a month. It's good to say 'expanding' as this creates the impression of a well-established business. It's good to say 'once per month' as this is what most people want - regularity.
I sometimes say, 'A few people in the street have asked me to do their windows and I wanted to see if you'd like yours doing as well' ... this ALWAYS works - I think it may have an element of keeping up with the neighbours.
If no one is in at the house, I drop a leaflet and a business card through the door. I used to work in Direct Marketing and the increased uptake from dropping two leaflets more than covers the cost. You should get between 1-1.5% from a good leaflet and business card.
Then at the weekend I spend most of Saturday afternoon and evening calling back on the leaflets I've dropped. This consistently pulls in the same amount as the 1st round of calls and leaflet responders.
On a Saturday I also take my wife canvassing as (a) she's good company, and (b) more people prefer to buy from women than men, as women are seen as more trustworthy!
Finally, even if you only get a couple of houses in a street, do them, take real time and care over them and I guarantee that you'll get at least one more person approach you. If not, collect the money from them in the evening and knock on the neighbours door either side ... this never fails to pull in a few more customers.
And one last thing, don't give up. My old Sales Manager used to have an arsenal of David Brent style cliches, but one that always rang true was 'The difference between a big hitter and a little hitter, is that a big hitter just keeps swinging!'
