[elite mike]

hi squeaky
is that your ad in the review, if so i will pass it on to my enquirerys,
and hope that will help you.if not email me your no on    mport52@googlemail.com

and i will pass it on

[gary999]

i put out 2 - 300 leaflets every sunday and more when the weathers been
that bad i cant work i get 1 or 2 quotes from this every week its not masses
but every bit helps

[Sir Squeaky]

If all else fails squeaks go poach some of tosh's work ,I'm sure he'll love you for it   

I don't want council estates anyway.

[Kevin R]

Sorry to hear of your news Squeeky  

May I make a few suggestions?

Work on Saturday for a while in the areas of your round you would like new business. If people see you they will ask you to do theirs. Have Sunday and Monday off for a while.

We all hate canvasing but go out every other evening for a week or two and you'll be surprised how many new customers pick up.

You do have to speculate to accumulate be that financially or physically to keep you business alive. Ians idea of a website will do you more favors than most other advertising as the web has become a good source for finding services for most people now days. I get five or so new enquiries a week from my website. I have stopped all other advertising as its not that good.

How about you leaflet all your existing customers offering gutter and fascia cleaning at 10% discount. Anything is better than doing nothing.

It might seem hard now but things will pick up as with a little effort they always do. Just remember nothing is for free.

[Tosh]

I don't know anyone around here who canvasses.

You sound really down...sorry to hear this.....but you know as well as I do (you've been around long enough)...you just need to get out and leaflet/knock on doors and wear out some boot leather....

Last time I did that I got 1 new one from hundreds of leaflets and door knocks.
..and that was before the credit crunch we have now...

Chin up, Rog.

But with regards to new work, you've got to get your name out there.  For a long time I was the only window cleaner in our Local Pages and Yellow Pages, and it definately brought in some work; slowly; but some corking jobs too.

We'll also spend at least one day per month leafletting, and I will canvass if I get a good response back from a leaflet drop.  Sometimes the responses from leaflets are dissapointing; we leafletted the whole of Mathern (a nice posh villaige) and only had one request for a quote; which I stuck in a nice price and got (£13 for 8 windows).

But in other places, Bigstone Meadow for example, I've five new customers from a leaflet drop (one at £25 and four at £10) and they're a doddle.

We also leafletted the posh parts of Tutshill; and only had one response which turned into a £20 a month job.

It's just a numbers game, and you only get out what you put in; and I do re-leaflet the areas I like.

[Sir Squeaky]

Sometimes the responses from leaflets are dissapointing; we leafletted the whole of Mathern (a nice posh villaige)

This is where I was advertising and asking around.
I got nothing either.

Spoke to Ian today, and he's got half a dozen big ones to do from people just asking him. :

How does he get £50,000 worth of work a day from doing sod all?


ps. Sorry, I took the p*ss, then you posted a nice message...

[Sir Squeaky]

hi squeaky
is that your ad in the review, if so i will pass it on to my enquirerys,
and hope that will help you.if not email me your no on    mport52@googlemail.com

and i will pass it on

No, isn't me Mike.
I wasn't sure about Lydney direction, as I guessed the prices would be lower than Chepstow area.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm sure it's about £3 a house in Cinderford.

Cheers mate.
I e-mail you in a bit.

[elite mike]

£3 a house , dont make me laugh

used to have a round up there years ago, it was always damn cold

even in the summer

[alanwilson]

squeeky.

personally I think you are canvassing the wrong way.  Yo should be going out in the evening (6-8pm) armed to the teeth with business cards.  Saturday mornings are good too.

you're too fussy with work anyway, council estates can be rough but private small houses can be good payers.

[Tosh]

Either other people are very lucky with the work they get, or they're exaggerating.

Just another thought, why don't you get a sign written uniform?

I've got a handfull of jobs, including one really good one, just because someone has read the back of my shirt.

[Sir Squeaky]

squeeky.

personally I think you are canvassing the wrong way.  Yo should be going out in the evening (6-8pm) armed to the teeth with business cards.  Saturday mornings are good too.

you're too fussy with work anyway, council estates can be rough but private small houses can be good payers.

The point I was making though, is why do I have to canvass for work when others don't?

If you're offering it to them you can't name as good a price as if they come to you.

[Bobs Window Cleaning]

Sorry for saying this but it seems to me like you need a kick up the arse and need to get out there and try to get more work :

I like you roger and enjoys your posts but you need to look for the work not let the work look for you.

You dont seem very motivated buddy

Bob

[Wayne Thomas]

 Chin up Squeeky. Failure cannot live with persistency.

I lost a lot from Jan 08 to Apr 08 and was getting a bit cheesed off opening SAE's. Just have to work harder to obtain new customers. I'm back to a full round again, hard work getting new customers at desirable prices though.

My van is signwritten and I park it in town or the local hotspots on week-ends as it's free advertising. I've had quite a few enquiries from it.... perhaps you should do the same.

Trouble with a lack of work is the fact that you're not out working and being seen by others. When you're too busy, everyone notices you. Make a point of going out canvassing and being seen if you have no work certain days.

Kev R made a good point about working Saturdays to catch the domestic customers and have a day off mid week in lieu of it for a change. New customers you've never seen will notice you for a change.

[alanwilson]

good point wayne

when you are busy, people see you working, and you get more enquiries.

[Nathanael Jones]

Keep the faith Roger,.. it'll come right.

With the economic slowdown it is harder to pick up custies than it was this time last year,.. and the other cleaners near you who pick up work without canvassing probably have a customer base containing more young professionals and family's with kids,.. the kind of custie that networks and recommends a lot more than your older customer base might.

The only thing to do is learn and adapt. Diversify, canvass (Or pay someone to do it for you,.. commission only, and payment after you get paid of course!), maybe a small ad in the local rag. ( B&W text only seems to work well for window cleaning ads!),.. persevere through the hard times,.. even at its worst cleaning windows beats an office job!

[Richy L]

hey rog,
I recanvass all around my work every 12 months - 18 months.
You need to keep doing it to bulk up your work.

[supernova77]

Squeaky,

I remember from other posts from you that you only work in a 0.5 mile radius of your house.

Why don't you go out canvassing? Cast your net a little wider - Perhaps try 1 - 2 miles from your home???

 

Andy

[NWH]

You could buy some work or get a firm to canvass a round for you,if you go to the bank and your already in business they will lend you the money it`s a lot easier getting money from the bank if your already trading and not starting from scratch.It might require a small business plan with figures showing future earnings and profits but if you have some sort of assets ie home it would be no problem.Do you have someone that could lend you say 5k for a firm to get you say 2-2.5k worth extra a month,you could pay it back in no time.

[scud]

  People pick up on positive and negative attitudes, always smile and whistle when you are working - it really does get noticed.

[matt]

why not try and fill in the gaps in your round

when you clean a few in the street, pop a card or flyer though the doors of the houses you dont do