[Roberto Smith]

When your out canvasing do you bother knocking on houses that have gleaming windows?

 I've done a load of flyer dropping just lately and when I see the windows are spotless it almost feels like its not worth dropping the flyer.

I'd imagine door knocking is even worse, do you bother knocking or just move on to next door? Thought I would ask you canvassing pros  because I think I might give canvassing a bash in new year.

[richywilts]

I personally do t like taking other window cleaners work as it says a lot about the customer especially if it over money fair enuf if it's a trad cleaner and frames are rotten there changing for a better service but alarm bells ring when people are willing to change over on price alone

[SeanK]

Back in my canvassing days I knocked on them all, its the really filthy ones that you need to be careful of.
I would say 50% of my work came from people who where not happy with their window cleaner so I don't
have a problem taking work from other guys.
As Richy has said be careful if they are only interested in price as they will just do the same to you when somebody
cheaper comes along.

[Johnny B]

I did when I canvassed. It told me that this householder wants clean windows (obviously), but more than that, I thought that it may have been possible that they cleaned their own because there was nobody offering a better service. One could reason that their valuable time could be spent on more enjoyable persuits if they engaged my service.

John    

[C o z y]

I knock everything. If there's a dogs kennel outside, I knock that too. 
I don't assume anything or second guess anyone, just knock til I've run out of doors.
Works for me.

[Smudger]

Well said cozy,

Knock everything !

darran

[Dave Willis]

There's a knocking shop in town. Don't think they're bothered about the windows

[Clever Forum Name]

How do you know the home owner doesn't clean them and is fed of doing it and looking for a cleaner?

Assumption is the mother of all..............................

[Ian Lancaster]

I knock every door.

I never ask if they have a window cleaner already.

If they say they have, I never ask how much he's charging.

If they want a quote I give them one based on my formula - that way I'm not taking advantage, nor am I deliberately targetting someone else's work or trying to undercut.

[Roberto Smith]

Ok, thanks for replies. Looks like i'll be knocking them all 

[Mick Kent]

You need to think out of the box when on a canvassing campaign and not do it how everyone else does just like everyone else is saying on this thread.
What i do is find an area i want to hit and do my research on the area by trailing down the roads noting the dirty windows as you have more chance of converting a dirty house into a customer, yes some are dirty besause they are trampy people who dont care but i find half of them do want a cleaner, many of the dirty ones will say they had a window cleaner who hasnt showed for the last 6 months which happens a lot!. There arnt many window cleaners that would in there own time walk up and down roads jotting all info down to target the knocking.

You can spend all night knocking on every single house and get a few customers or maybe get 5 customers if your lucky, if you knock on your list of targetted houses where they are dirty then you know your not wasting time knocking for them to say they do it themselfs or they already have a window cleaner! This way you will get over 10 new customers in an evening which will be your average.

Thats why i built up doing mainly main roads as found loads of dirty houses with the main reason them not having one was no window cleaner wanted to work those roads.

Over the last 3 years i have built up over 1200 solid regular customers doing this method and also the sold board method if you read below.

The sold board campaign (as i call it) It is by far the best way to build up a full round in minimal time, will take 6 months to get around 200/300 decent customers if you do it reguly and cover a big enough area. Rarely would someone buy a new house and not want clean windows to show off there new home to friends and family! My hit rate is over 80% as a whole and the best part is you can pick and choose what sold boards houses you want, soon as the sold board goes down knock the door and say how you have noticed they have just moved in and that you clean that road and say"im guessing you would like me to add you to the round"! Trust me that simple line works a treat.
You wont go wrong following my advice i promise you.

[Smudger]

Your spot on with the "sold" campaign - we do this as well,

However I will point out a difference in your canvassing method, and that is your fall out percentage which is 20% if I remember, and I'm not knocking that because your hit rate shows your a great seller of your product, but because of this you take on those " oh our windy stopped coming for no reason " brigade then they drop out after 1 or 2 cleans

Knocking very house is a little slower and may yield a little less per night but for me the drop out is only 2 or 3 percent - I negate some of the one hit wonders by having a first clean price which if the customer is genuine does not put them off.

It's great to see different angles of attack on this, and you need to approach the door knocking in a comfortable, confident manner

Darran

[Johnny B]

I knock every door.

I never ask if they have a window cleaner already.

If they say they have, I never ask how much he's charging.

If they want a quote I give them one based on my formula - that way I'm not taking advantage, nor am I deliberately targetting someone else's work or trying to undercut.

Exactly how I have always operated.

John

[C o z y]

Mick, have I read your post wrong? You spend time walking up and down roads making notes of who you will knock, and who you won't knock, and this is better than knocking every door?
And the ones you don't knock are the ones you don't want or will say no anyway?

That's some skill you've got there mate.  

I'm just too thick to learn that method, and just ask everyone with a pulse.

[trippyboy]

When canvassing remember this one thing." Their filthy for a reason"

[C o z y]

Yeah, knock and find out what the reason is

[Roberto Smith]

You need to think out of the box when on a canvassing campaign and not do it how everyone else does just like everyone else is saying on this thread.
What i do is find an area i want to hit and do my research on the area by trailing down the roads noting the dirty windows as you have more chance of converting a dirty house into a customer, yes some are dirty besause they are trampy people who dont care but i find half of them do want a cleaner, many of the dirty ones will say they had a window cleaner who hasnt showed for the last 6 months which happens a lot!. There arnt many window cleaners that would in there own time walk up and down roads jotting all info down to target the knocking.

You can spend all night knocking on every single house and get a few customers or maybe get 5 customers if your lucky, if you knock on your list of targetted houses where they are dirty then you know your not wasting time knocking for them to say they do it themselfs or they already have a window cleaner! This way you will get over 10 new customers in an evening which will be your average.

Thats why i built up doing mainly main roads as found loads of dirty houses with the main reason them not having one was no window cleaner wanted to work those roads.

Over the last 3 years i have built up over 1200 solid regular customers doing this method and also the sold board method if you read below.

The sold board campaign (as i call it) It is by far the best way to build up a full round in minimal time, will take 6 months to get around 200/300 decent customers if you do it reguly and cover a big enough area. Rarely would someone buy a new house and not want clean windows to show off there new home to friends and family! My hit rate is over 80% as a whole and the best part is you can pick and choose what sold boards houses you want, soon as the sold board goes down knock the door and say how you have noticed they have just moved in and that you clean that road and say"im guessing you would like me to add you to the round"! Trust me that simple line works a treat.
You wont go wrong following my advice i promise you.

Thanks for that advice i'll certainly be giving that a try, especially the sold sign idea.

[trippyboy]

Yeah, knock and find out what the reason is

In my experience the more filthy the windows the less likely you are to picking them up as custards, as I said filthy for a reason meaning the ppl don't give a hoot about their windows, no evidence they clean their own .
Wouldn't stop me canvassing the house or leafleating it after all its best to blanket canvass, but I have found the best potential customer has fairly clean windows.

[Mick Kent]

Mick, have I read your post wrong? You spend time walking up and down roads making notes of who you will knock, and who you won't knock, and this is better than knocking every door?
And the ones you don't knock are the ones you don't want or will say no anyway?

That's some skill you've got there mate.  

I'm just too thick to learn that method, and just ask everyone with a pulse.

Yes i walk up and down roads with my dog and make note of what houses i want. I dont see the pont in knocking on a house thats already clean, as it wastes time imo as they will want to tell you how happy they are with there current cleaner or how they do it to save money etc..
I hit a lot of decent areas in se london where its saturated with window cleaners so the way i find the, is by strolling the streets first or by the sold boards. I like to know im speaking the same language with the customer and that language being there windows are dirty and nobody as of yet is cleaning them.
Anyway it has worked for me! Yes i had a high dropout rate but i got to the top of my game in minimal time and now im left with whats in my eyes for me and my needs is the ultimate round which is what i wanted.
Some may take the mick or question my methods which is fine but untill you try targetted canvassing you will never know just how many more customers you will gain in such a short time frame.

[C o z y]

I understand what your system is with the boards Mick. What I don't get is why you, of all people are second guessing people. Why not just knock every door, and let the customer base sort it's self out.
It's like Trippy is saying that he knows who's a good customer because the windows are minging!!  
When I've knocked these, some say no thanks, don't want/need a windy. Where as others with minging windows have said they hate cleaning them as it means leaning out etc, and/or no windy had canvassed them, because they were walking their dogs and only knocking on the doors of newly sold houses.  

Why complicate matters. Knock and ask. We're both forgetting something though. Some people would rather eat their own left foot, than knock on doors.

On the same note, some people would rather let their windows get an inch of crud on them before they cleaned them themselves.

When in doubt, knock and ask.

Now do you get my point?