[gavinb]

How long did it take you guys to build your business to where it is now

I have been going for 6 months and I have a small round of around 85 regular customers as I seem to keep getting all the messers and the oh can you leave it this month brigade .
I could of easily had double this amount but I'm working to build a regular client base so as soon as I smell a messer I dump them and if they don't pay after 2 cleans I dump too it just seems I'm fighting a losing battle some times and sometimes question if it will work out and if I will earn enough money to continue with this trade .

I only work the round part time as my wife works funny hours and we have kids too .

I'm based in Wolverhampton and this is a big area and there a lots of window cleaners in and around the area , anyone on here from my neck of the woods ?
To give me a few pointers of areas to go and areas to avoid .


Any help would be appreciated guys .

Cheers Gav .

[bobplum]

Business Plan? do you have one or basic idea of what you actually want and how too achieve it

knowing what i now know after 3 years heres my penny's worth

4 or 6 weekly cycle and nothing else,ie can i go to 8/12 weeks--no,at 4 weeks you are maximising your income
First clean 1.5 times the monthly price,payable by cash
subsequent cleans by standing order only
dont collect
make a price list and keep it on you or in the van and work from that
select your areas,even it means travelling a little to the more affluent ones-but try and keep it compact
uniforms are a must
completion notes,make them look and stand out
and get george or some other window cleaning programme to organise your rounds

oh and dont under cut to get business as this will hold you back in the long run price correctly i would say the average for a 3 bed semi would be £10.00 every 4/6 weeks depending of course on your location

[Dani J]

How long did it take you guys to build your business to where it is now

I have been going for 6 months and I have a small round of around 85 regular customers as I seem to keep getting all the messers and the oh can you leave it this month brigade .
I could of easily had double this amount but I'm working to build a regular client base so as soon as I smell a messer I dump them and if they don't pay after 2 cleans I dump too it just seems I'm fighting a losing battle some times and sometimes question if it will work out and if I will earn enough money to continue with this trade .

I only work the round part time as my wife works funny hours and we have kids too .

I'm based in Wolverhampton and this is a big area and there a lots of window cleaners in and around the area , anyone on here from my neck of the woods ?
To give me a few pointers of areas to go and areas to avoid .


Any help would be appreciated guys .

Cheers Gav .

Hi Gav

Yes it’s a long way to go to find a real good customers these days.
You will find most of the members here will tell you the same, I find the perception of having a clean windows by most of general public is that they are not that bother if they have a window cleaned or not, specially in the winter and specially while we have this recession going on.

Compare to 30or 40 years ago it has changed immensely.

But keep going, never give up, good customers are  still out there, its just harder to find them these days.

[gavinb]

Business Plan? do you have one or basic idea of what you actually want and how too achieve it

knowing what i now know after 3 years heres my penny's worth

4 or 6 weekly cycle and nothing else,ie can i go to 8/12 weeks--no,at 4 weeks you are maximising your income
First clean 1.5 times the monthly price,payable by cash
subsequent cleans by standing order only
dont collect
make a price list and keep it on you or in the van and work from that
select your areas,even it means travelling a little to the more affluent ones-but try and keep it compact
uniforms are a must
completion notes,make them look and stand out
and get george or some other window cleaning programme to organise your rounds

oh and dont under cut to get business as this will hold you back in the long run price correctly i would say the average for a 3 bed semi would be £10.00 every 4/6 weeks depending of course on your location

I have some sort of uniform IE : printed hoodies and t shirts

I have been using aworka / Window cleaner pro didnt get on really with either of those .

Price wise I'm getting average £10 per 3 bed semi .

It's just the building of the business that's taking a hell of a lot of work I don't expect it to be a 12 month thing just hope I can make this work .

[robertphil]

the first 2 or 3 years are like an apprenticeship-you have to slog thru it and dont let it break you. dig deep 
canvass in the springtime like theres no tomorrow is my tip-kick that off in Feb when the sun starts to shine

im 5 yrs in and now have a few p/t workers and am really enjoying it all

[gavinb]

Cheers robertphil sounds like a plan .

[David Kent @ KentKleen]

You need your own plan. Plan regular canvassing into your weekly routine. View it as work, not just the cleaning side of the job.

[bobplum]

try george
and has been said set times for canvassing or find someone too canvass for you or buy some work

[gavinb]

If I could afford a canvasser I would get one no questions.

[richywilts]

Business Plan? do you have one or basic idea of what you actually want and how too achieve it

knowing what i now know after 3 years heres my penny's worth

4 or 6 weekly cycle and nothing else,ie can i go to 8/12 weeks--no,at 4 weeks you are maximising your income
First clean 1.5 times the monthly price,payable by cash
subsequent cleans by standing order only
dont collect
make a price list and keep it on you or in the van and work from that
select your areas,even it means travelling a little to the more affluent ones-but try and keep it compact
uniforms are a must
completion notes,make them look and stand out
and get george or some other window cleaning programme to organise your rounds

oh and dont under cut to get business as this will hold you back in the long run price correctly i would say the average for a 3 bed semi would be £10.00 every 4/6 weeks depending of course on your location[/color]

obviously bob undercuts coz 3 bed semis for a tenner round our area are more like 12-14quid!!!!!!

[Spruce]

Also try to maximise the work coming from your existing customers. Offer gutter internal cleans, fascia and external gutter cleans as well as conservatory roof cleans.
If you get a conservatory roof clean/gutter and fascia clean, etc., try to get them to agree an annual clean without pressurising them.

What about offering internal cleans occassionally, especially to older persons.

As far as the customers are concerned most new ones we get tend to be someone elses messers, and they never learn. So building a round these days is more difficult. Unfortunately even loyal customers who we have had over the years have become messers and have had to be dumped. Your round will be continual process of weeding out the rubbish.

I'm shooked at the number of jobs we have had and no longer do. Yes, some have died, some have sold and moved elsewhere, but the majority ended up as problem customers we have dumped.

As Kentkleen has said, canvass as part of your job, not just a hit and miss.

I would also add the following. Ask your current good customers for referrals of nearby friends. Most of our business has been built around these referrals.

Clean a house and go knock on the neighbours door. "We clean the Gibson's next door and would also like to offer you the benefit of our services.................................."

Clean on a Saturday; its when more people are at home and are more likely to see you. Clean each house to a high standard - they are your advertising board. (I also used to clean the garage door if it distracted from the overall impression of the house.)

[bobplum]

Business Plan? do you have one or basic idea of what you actually want and how too achieve it

knowing what i now know after 3 years heres my penny's worth

4 or 6 weekly cycle and nothing else,ie can i go to 8/12 weeks--no,at 4 weeks you are maximising your income
First clean 1.5 times the monthly price,payable by cash
subsequent cleans by standing order only
dont collect
make a price list and keep it on you or in the van and work from that
select your areas,even it means travelling a little to the more affluent ones-but try and keep it compact
uniforms are a must
completion notes,make them look and stand out
and get george or some other window cleaning programme to organise your rounds

oh and dont under cut to get business as this will hold you back in the long run price correctly i would say the average for a 3 bed semi would be £10.00 every 4/6 weeks depending of course on your location[/color]

obviously bob undercuts coz 3 bed semis for a tenner round our area are more like 12-14quid!!!!!!

YOU CAN ONLY UNDERCUT IF THERE IS A SET PRICE as far as i am aware this is still a free market and anyway you have sold all yours..... haven't you
i was referring  to  knowing under cutting  someone else price  to get the work...........funnily enough i picked up one of yours a couple of months back,i charged her £11.00 and she says " a bit dearer than the other lad,he was charging £10.00 ( 3 bed semi) but have not seen him for a while,richy i think was his name".....stones glass houses comes to mind

[richywilts]

where the job dont remember a richy

[bradboy]

gav im from wolves message me, and we can chew the fat so to speak

[gavinb]

gav im from wolves message me, and we can chew the fat so to speak

I would mate if I could I can't seem to pm you mate .

[Total shine cleaning services]

agree with all of the above but the key element is to always stay motivated, it's easy to get despondent if u have a couple of difficult customers,keep them and use them as a tool to build your business, if I get a messer I don't drop them immediately but their days are numbered and it just spurs me on to canvass more..!
if I want to drop one messer at say a tenner I will pull in another £100 worth then drop, you really have to stay fired up, your coming into a saturated market but you can still pull in money and build a business if u have staying power, search for motivation by reading about other peoples success, watching business program's and surround yourself with people you want to be like, I have started really communicating with new customers explaining that to use our services they have to if possible stick to schedule etc etc etc, anyone can clean windows not everyone can run a successful business, I have built up to just short of 3k a month purely by canvassing, it has taken me 18 months, the other day I spotted 5 different window cleaners in one small area of where I live, the work s still there to be had, I think the most important thing to remember is that people buy people not services or products ( obviously as long as your standards are high) your first impression is the one thing that will get you the work so make sure you have a professional approach and a friendly attitude and you will be ok..hope this helps


graham

[Johnny B]

All the above is good advice.

I am nearly 16 years in this game, and 16 months ago I relocated to Ireland for family reasons and started up again from scratch.

It has been and continues to be an uphill struggle, with many, many messers on my run. I haven't dropped many, but have continued to keep them as long as I am making some money from them, and have adapted my approach to cope with this.

In the new year I will be doing a big canvassing campaign to increasing my customer base and to replace the least reliable customers, and will keep at this until I have reached my objective. 

John

 

[roundbuilder]

All the above is good advice.

I am nearly 16 years in this game, and 16 months ago I relocated to Ireland for family reasons and started up again from scratch.

It has been and continues to be an uphill struggle, with many, many messers on my run. I haven't dropped many, but have continued to keep them as long as I am making some money from them, and have adapted my approach to cope with this.

In the new year I will be doing a big canvassing campaign to increasing my customer base and to replace the least reliable customers, and will keep at this until I have reached my objective. 

John

 

Go for it mate. I hit canvassing hard this year and built another full round just over 300 solid customers in 6 months after dropping and replacing all the poop. I went through 479 according to george to get the solid base i have on that round today. Put your mind to it and you will get there.

[Ian Lancaster]

One man band (about 300-350 custies) to 6 franchisees (about 1800 - 2100 custies) Just over three years.  Strict canvassing regime, regular leafletting, signwritten vans.

[PoleKing]

BobPlum seems like he knows the lay of the land.
Can't stress enough not to collect.
It only makes your days twice as long for no extra money.
Play it cool-never try the hard sell.
Anyone can clean windows you're selling yourself.

www.laneswindowcleaning.com