So I landed my first 2 accounts today which feels great. I’m just concerned about my success rate. I’ve only been out twice but I’m sure I’ve hit up at least 50 businesses. My accounts are monthly and combined will bring in $35 or $40. Is this similar to what you guys experienced or am I doing something wrong.
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That’s a good start. Two months ago that’s where I was. Now the trick is to get two or three every workday and make them repeat customers. After a month, service your two or three repeats and keep your head on a swivel and notice the folks that notice your doing Windows. Keep cards or flyers in a cargo pocket and pass them out to lookie loos and talk about there glass. Itry to make it a point not come home with out washing a new customers windows everyday. Some days you’ll find a honey hole and people will come up to you and you’ll get three or four in the same strip mall. The first one of the day is the toughest for me- after that I walk in next doorv with sweat on my brow, wearing my boab, my pole in one hand and a flyer in the other. It just seems to roll like that after the first one.
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I’m new to self-employment, but I have experience in sales. First, you have to understand there are a couple types of prospects.
QUALIFIED leads are people who have already shown interest in your service and, ideally have also shown that they are in some way able to pay for it. QUALIFIED leads will net you the highest closing percentage. An example of a qualified lead is a customer referral, or someone calling you for an estimate. An AVERAGE salesperson can turn about 50% of qualified leads into closed sales. A HIGHLY SKILLED salesperson can make it about 75-80%.
Then there are UNQUALIFIED leads. Unqualified leads are people or businesses who have shown neither interest in your service, nor the ability to pay for it. Cold calling businesses for storefront work means sifting through tons of unqualified leads. Expect a 90-95% rejection rate as par for the course.
Don’t despair though. Just keep tilling the field. Advertise every opportunity you get and your business WILL grow. It’s just a numbers game. It also helps to look at it from the positive end. Don’t think “90-95% rejection sounds tough” think “I can count on about a 5% success rate. That means I only have to chat with 20 more people to get another job.” Persistence is the key and as long as you don’t give up you will never fail.
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That doesn’t mean you can tell from outside that they are unqualified however. You still gotta talk to them. Lots of sales guys fail by selling from the curb. That is judging prospects before you have given them a shot at being qualified.
I sold a little bakery outlet a week ago. I asked fifteen dollars for three Windows in and out. The manager first told me that they needed done. I agreed. Then she says it’s not in the companies budget. She ended up paying me out of her pocket so i told her that ten would do if she left my flyers on the corner where customers could see them. The other day i got a call from one of her customer to clean her huge house. 200 plus worth of work
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Absolutely correct. Unless you put yourself out there, you’ll never know one way or the other. As a famous athlete once said “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. Don’t fear rejection, embrace it and learn to let it roll off your back. Focus on each success, and how you can make it blossom.
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Tricky how? To sell or To service? Just yesterday I was doing my single account here in Mesa, and i noticed this old lady watching me from next for at a Thai food joint. It had a patio across the way with a bunch of tables and umbrellas and all. I asked her how her Windows were. Window fine but ground dirty. … her exact words lol. She was looking for someone with a power washer to spray of her patio furniture and brick work. I don’t advertise pressure washing but I have a small ryobi one at home for washing the cars and stuff around the House. I sold the pressure washing and the Windows on her tiny storefront for sixty bucks, every month. Gotta love the right place at the right time.
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My opinion, so take it for what it’s worth. There are lots of right places and right times. Lots that just slip by without being noticed. You kept your head on a swivel and were able to recognize an opportunity when you saw it. Good on you.
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I was actually thinking about putting " not too busy To talk to future customers" silk screened on the back of my work shirts. ( once I’ve got enough Jack to order them)
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It was weird to hear the first yes. I almost couldn’t believe someone was about to pay me to clean their windows. It was a $30 exterior job with one window that was half theirs and half the chinese restaurants next door. After I finished I was feeling cocky so I went in the Chinese restaurant and showed them how good that half window looks. I told them the other couple could look that good for $10 and they said yes immediately. I was feeling great. Then came the next 25 rejections.
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Op brought up another sales point. Success breeds success. I try not to finish a day on a negative. If i finish a job at 3:30, I’ll go home instead of getting my teeth kicked in for an hour or two. It’s kinda silly and doesn’t always work. I’ve gone home with nothing all day (i think we all have) but i knew i was really close to that percentage and something would drop the next day. And it will.
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I plan on getting into residential as soon as I feel confident in my work and comfortable dealing with customers. I felt like this would be the best way to learn the business. Plus I can use the storefront money for marketing and the equipment I’ll need. I wouldn’t feel comfortable going into someone’s $400,000 house. Yet.
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You might not be when you do either… I’m not yet.
@Skipper
How do you get commercial jobs? If you don’t mind me asking. I’ve done hundreds of searches and reading on this forum… but hoping to catch you with a direct question while this thread is rolling.
Im going to keep it simple…I’m in cali and I’m taliking about 1 to 2 story warehouses. I see thousands of these building everywhere.
Thanks!
Keep that grind on bro!
I like coming home everyday with a check in my pocket . This is why I like resi
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