Got some more clients and have been hitting the pavement as much as I can with working at night on top of everything else. Got some questions about how I am doing so far. 1. Is looking for the glass that’s dirty a good way of getting a customer? This is 80/20 for me because I seem to land on the store front that’s between cleaning or they do it themselves and seeing nice clean ledges is also a good sign it’s been taking care of. 2. Anybody else been seeing stores switching over to their employees doing everything and cutting the janitor/glass service? So sad seeing that dirty store glass and hearing the employee say the management cut of all extra services. Anyways, thanks for any feedback and I will keep Awkwardly starring through store front glass to check if it needs cleaning or not 
i am almost all residential but have watched alot of the storefront you tubers and read alot on here.
as with most things there is wide diversity of opinions, some say look for dirty glass others say it doesn’t matter.
the fact is you don’t know till you ask, if the windows are dirty maybe they just don’t give crap or the the last guy doesn’t come anymore because they’re such cheap asses, maybe the glass is clean but the staff complain every time they have to do it.
the biggest consensus i have seen is just like in residential, be consistent, hit them over and over.
I don’t do very much storefront so take what I say with a grain of sodium chloride. Leverage the exposure from going into shops to meet people and passing out the business cards and cleaning glass. Employees, owners and customers will eventually get interested in having you do WC on their homes &/or offices.
I know some make a living off of Store Front. I think it takes time to build a very active route to do that.
The majority of my work also is residential; I grab a few Store Fronts, but one home can bring in between $250 to $800…It would take several stops to swing that on Store Front.
I lost a couple jobs because they decided to use employees to “do” the windows. A grocery store I did also purchased a pressure washer and had employees do the front walk, and let the pressure washer go at the same time they let me go.
Guess it depends on how well business is for them?
I say it doesn’t matter. My very first customer hired me because she was tired of her current cleaner raising her prices… she said I cost more than he did, but she was pissed at him.
Another customer had a cleaner too… but he stopped showing up. He hired me and then referred me to another business owner that also used the previous cleaner. That one stop led to 5 locations.
One restaurant I went into had filthy windows so I asked for the manager. The owner came out and when I told him my price he balked and said the last guy did it for $15 out of the register. I told him it looked like he hasn’t cleaned them in months. He said he couldn’t get a hold of that guy anymore. He still didn’t want to pay me for reliable cleaning.
My guess is that most places that have a lot of kids working for them (small franchises) have high overhead and idle hands that can clean between rushes. So if you walk in and see that the windows are “clean”, but you can tell they aren’t professionally cleaned then chances are they aren’t going to hire you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try though.
Places that have nasty windows generally don’t care about their windows. You might catch them at a good time and they will pay to have them cleaned, but not regularly.
Storefront is a numbers game. The more you pitch the better chances you have to land a good customer, but whatever you do just stick to your pricing or you’ll get more and more jobs you hate to do because you undercharged. That is a burnout game I’d rather avoid playing.
Thanks for all the feedback guys! I always go in and try out my sales pitch anyways, unless the window sills are clean enough to eat off I tend to skip past those. The residential market here is at a stand still for the most part because it’s been raining none stop for the last couple months and people don’t want that rain while cleaning their house
I have more success with offices than with restaurants/stores. Office workers rarely are tasked with cleaning windows, whereas restaurant/retail workers have slow times as referred to above and are typically lowly paid and easily replaced, so are more susceptible to additional duties.
i have found that any sort of eaterie is bad news . i sortof found out this evening why the eaterie owners dont seem happy and this sours things after a while and either i quit or theyll sack me
chatting this teatime to an Injun who owns a local takeaway ,i asked hows business? as you do ,to pass time while he cooks my meal. turns out its not going great . Apparently 11 yrs ago he had 9 people working in this shop now its just him and 1 helper. blames it on the likes of Lidl /discount food shops
Your trying to sell from the curb. Don’t! You never know who’s a buyer and who’s not. Don’t walk by that fifteenth Asian buffet because the other fourteen said no… You’ll never sell the ones you prejudge and pass up.
That’s true. I been dropping my business cards regardless. Never know if they are satisfied or need a back up
If you going the Storefront route then EVERY STORE is a possible sale. Just because the windows look clean don’t mean you cant scoop that account up. You might not get them on the first pass but if they keep seeing you same day and time every week / Bi week then they might see the value in getting it done for them.
What I do is always carry cards and when you go into the shore store chat them up while buying shoes. Same goes for the Pharmacy the deli the bank etc. Every day you are out (not during business hours) just canvass as you go. The wife might not like it but I’m always chatting owners/ managers no matter where we are. I even picked up Church’s Funeral Homes and car washes. 
Even empty Storefronts leave a card stuffed in the door. When you in the mall think I can get that account.
Every storefront you don’t visit is a store you don’t get.
