Well I didn’t have much work today, so I went out today and targeted store fronts, I visted about 50 store fronts. All full of dirty windows, only about 5 got me to give an estimate. All took my cards and the ones that wanted a estimate I wrote the price in/out and out only on the back of the card. I was wondering if there are any hints or tips anyone could give me when going door to door on store fronts. Smallest store front I hit was a subway, largest ones being movie gallerys.
You might want to try and get an estimate package instead of writing on back of your biz card( really what separates you from other window cleaners who write there prices on the back of biz cards.
Stay away from storefront, concentrate on Residential, more money in Residential.
If i concentrated on Commercial i would be out of business sooooooooooooooo fast.
So is door to door or a flyer better for residentials
door to door is best, it depends on what you look like and how you present yourself though.
If you are scared to talk to people, you might want to try flyers,postcards, but the return rate is not as good as going door to door.
Well I guess I look averaged. lol lot of people think I’m younger then I am, I’m actually 27 and most think I’m 20-22. I’m not scared to go door to door as I’ve been doing so on store fronts. Just seemed a little odd for residentials, but I’ll give it a try in the subs. How is your return rate when going door to door on residentials? like out of 50 doors maybe 2 clients? I do know its going to be different for all areas. Alsom what times of day do you do residential door to door, because it seems lots of people would be at work when I’m working. Thanks for all the help, I hope to pay it forward one day.
When i was doing door 2 door i would land about 80% of the jobs.
The best time to go door 2 door is during the week, try going out at 5:30pm until it gets dark. Most people get home around that time and the husbands are home, they are the desecion makers for the most part.
But do not give them an estimate on back of your business card. Get an estimate package together on your company letterhead if you have one.
dude, don’t go knocking on doors…
Pass out fliers, pay a kid to pass them out, but don’t knock on someones door around dinner time and blah blah blah.
Seriously, if you’re trying to be a professional don’t bother people when they are just getting home from work and are ready to eat and spend time with their family.
As far a commercial goes, it’s a numbers game… to increase your closing % be presentable, look them in the eye, sound confident, have a good looking estimate sheet and business card and be real with them. A lot of sales people try and act high and mighty when being yourself is best.
To each his own…
true…all our areas are different. People where I live are mostly up-tight and reserve evenings for family and TV:p
Knowing your demographic is the start of any successful Residential or Commercial campaign
so heres a question for us newbs what does a good estimate package look like?? and contain??
no offense, but If I shared that how would I be different???
make one up!
I love that answer, I would say the same thing.
There’s a ton of sample estimates and packages submitted from forum members in the business downloads area. You’ll just have to submit something to share with everybody else, like a business card or flier.
I know there’s some really cool looking ones on Kevin’s site too. Windowcleaningbusinesscoach.com
How do I make an estimate package, do you have a picture on yours.
You are going to have to come up with one of your own packages, i will not show any of my material on this forum due to the fact there is alot of my competitors on here, sorry.
You might want to ask some other window cleaners on this forum or contact them by sending a private message.
You should be able to find quite a few estimate packages in here: http://windowcleaner.com/vBulletin/forumdisplay.php5?f=36
One of the reasons why your brethren wont show you one is because it is what seperates them from the crowd…keep that in mind. Think to yourself, for a storefront business, what do they want, and what are they thinking? Like, what type of business is it? Most are pretty busy, and dont want to make the time. So how about this: scout your target area first, write up the estimates and print them out ( if you do them on your computer). I bet if you have one written out already and just take as little of their time as possible you may get a better response.
When you create them, you can do so in Word or excel, put your logo etc…
But really, when you are trying to stand out and trying to get the prices you want you need to take into consideration what the customer wants. Like Stark said, know your demographic. In my area as well, people are working like a dog all week to keep their homes, stressed out. There is no way they want to see my face trying to clean their windows when they get home. Once you know who your customers are you can cater to them better. You wont know untill you try. I tried knocking on doors and I got ZERO response. But thats my area.
Search thru this forum and you will find so many great ideas there is no way you can use them all.
That’s not unusual. Sometimes it takes a lot of nos to get a yes in storefront.
thanks for all your inputs, About this estimate package. I’m guessing its a colored tri-folded brochure? I got an idea how to make up one, just wondering if that would be good to put it on or even a black ink on color paper tri-fold? let me know what type you use for a estimate package. I’m also guessing it would just list things like the different kind of windows and how much for in/out with cleaning the sills and tracks. then french doors, hard water removal, etc.?
Yeah your going about it all wrong. Just today i picked up 3 without even trying. First off this is all about deciding what kind of places you want. Remember if you are doing high end places and charging more you can do less places. Why do three places for $60 why not get one for $60? Right now im dropping people for one reason, more expensive jobs are better. Have not one storefront thats under $20. If you can manage to pick up one for $40 its time to raise prices. Get one for $40 raise price on one you have to $25-$30. If you see some glass thats not looking great but you know someone else is cleaning it walk in and point out all his faults. If the owner truly cares about appearance they will listen. Show him water marks, dirty frames damaged lettering. One thing owners care about is someone getting their cash for poor service. Read my posts and if you need more help just ask.
