[glimmer man]

have picked up twenty customers in my first 3 weeks of going it alone.Does this sound about average.Have not done any door knocking just leaflets and word of mouth.Wonder how it compares to some of you guys
TONY

[steveaqua]

sounds good to me, pickedup 4 myself over the last two weeks. i'd swap it for your 20

[steve_t_84]

Good going mate!

From what I hear, it's difficult the first week or so, so any customers is a good turn out.

I'll be Starting my posting/canvasing next week (Got some loose ends to tie with previous employer this week)

I'm hoping that my new business venture doesn't fall flat on it's face so fingers crossed.

Good luck!

[reah]

you could double it im sure if you went door knocking.
For flyers thats realy good.
Looks like you have found a preety good area.

[glimmer man]

good luck steve.       
Reah i know i could double it mate and i really wanna  but just can t seem to get the balls to knock on peoples doors. daft i know.
TONY

[reah]

I feel the same it takes alot of courage.
Sounds like you are doing well anyway.
Keep at it mate.
Reah

[steveaqua]

good luck steve.       
Reah i know i could double it mate and i really wanna  but just can t seem to get the balls to knock on peoples doors. daft i know.
TONY

it ain't daft mate, sometimes i can do it sometimes i can't. need a good bit of morale. I find when you get on a roll and sign a few in a short space of time it spurs me on to sign more. and when you don't get a very good area its hard to keep up morale (normally when i go for a pint instead) what i will say is that 95% of people are welcoming when they know your a window cleaner. its not like your trying to sell them an egg whisk or something

[corinvid]

How many leaflets did you have to drop to pick up those 20?
I found i had about a 5% sign up with leaflets, and about 20% knocking.
Best thing I've found is working later in the day 5-6pm (hard now it's getting dark earlier) or on Saturdays as there's loads of people (neigbours) around.
They see me doing the windows and then I just smile at them and say "do you have a window cleaner at present, I do 'x' amount of house in the street would you like a quote for yours"
I found this way I get about a 50-70% positve responce.
I'm now dropping my crap work and building a desent round.

Good luck all.

[pylofm]

I have to admit that I would love 5% worth of customers from my leaflets....

But in general I average about 5.7 customers per week...from my quotes.

Cheers
Dave

[holland1945]

Keep your chin up Dave, the average response rate in the UK to a leaflet is between .2% and .5%.

So your statistics look rather healthy compared to the average.

[glimmer man]

Varies alot i have found some area are total rubbish and some are good but i would say that five percent is a bit optomistic and i have found it to be more like one percent.
TONY

[corinvid]

I guess I've been lucky. I bought a small, but spread out round from a guy who had been cleaning it for 10 years. but he never leafleted the areas as he had all the work he needed. So I just picked up work he had never tried to get.

[reah]

Nothing like words of encouragement is there farkam.

20 customers  after leaflet droping is blooming good.
Yes it could be more door knocking but you need to read the post  and not surmise what was written.
I think hes done well for a short period of time with just leaflets.
You will find they will be the ones who also stick with it as they had to do the phoning back and not make a doorstep decision.
Less derision  will get you further in life Farkam

[mgba_78]

The answer to this is a question, ARE YOU HAPPY WITH 20??

Forget what everybody else says if your happy at the rate of new customers thats all that matters.

Door knocking is by far the best way to gain quality customers plus it will save you time, you put through a leaflet then next day you get a call to quote and have to go back, rather than knock door, quote if interested secure job!!!!

In real terms how much are you looking to earn, you can then roughly work out how many customers you need.

Ive been going three months and got 119 customers, 80% through door knocking the rest through word of mouth, ideally im looking for another 50 or so customers this will then put me roughly where i would like to be money wise, i think and hope

I had some good advise from here only other day and it was to vary the time when you clean and maybe do the round in a different order so different people will see you out and about, tried this on 2 days last week and picked up 4 customers which is worth over £50 a month or £650 extra per year!!!! GET IN!!!

Andy

[DaveWilkinson]

20 customers in 3 weeks is a good start i think, these will get you out and noticed and if your doing a good job will get you some refferals, so 20 can quickley turn into 40 (hopefully).

I know alot of people say they hate this stage of the business, putting leaflets out and door knocking, I think its the most exciting part of it, watching your business grow, for it me it just dont get any better than that.

Keep at it, treat it as a challange and try to enjoy it.

[reah]

Hey dave you was up late last night.

[DaveWilkinson]

I work some weird shifts and was on call last night so did'nt have to get up early, im often up till sillyOclock in the morning unwinding after being called out.

[carpetguy]

Why would a window cleaner be ' called out ' in the middle of the night? Just curious !

robbie

[DaveWilkinson]

Did I say I was a window cleaner

Yes i know this is a wc forum, my son is starting up so i was doing some research and ended up adicted to this forum. My call outs are due to me being a plumber.

[simbo]

20 customers in 3 wekks is a good start imagine if you carry on the same for 6 months you have a viable business in 6 months
well done
simbo