Not what I expected!

So first of all I am not giving up. That being said. Today was my first day on foot going door to door selling my window cleaning services. First of all I was pooping myself and I stuttered like crazy for the first half of the day. I eventually got better. One business I quoted was 25$ using 1.25$ per pane standard. The guy said well we have someone that drives here from a town that is almost 2 hours away and does our business for 12$. I said I def can not beat those prices but if he ever stops showing up feel free to give us a call. After that, I continued my day. I prob gave quotes to 20 businesses today. Each and every business of course has a window cleaner already. Though you could not see out of the windows without chiseling mud and dust off the windows. Leave the card and move on. I did have some slight interest though. I plan on following up with those individuals. One of my last store fronts I talked with today was very awesome. Of course they already had a window cleaner but they was not happy with the dedication from the company. She stated that she would love a more dedicated company to do the work but the company that does do the windows is a family friend. She did give us a hot lead to a church she does the finances for and requested a bid due to nobody wanting to clean the windows at the church. I am going to post another topic under the bidding section for this. I need help!! It is pretty large but they are actively seeking someone to do the windows.

I have a few questions. When you guys are going after store fronts how the heck do you book the individuals. They all just stuck out their hands to take the card. Not one person said yes and write me in your calendar. Also the lady that stated she was not happy with her current service was willing to give information about the current window cleaners. I bid the job at 10$ outside only once a week. With a additional bid about insides when requested. She said the display cases only get cleaned inside quarterly or twice a year. When I asked how much she is paying now she said 30$!!! That is outside only for 4 decent windows and the door. I instantly felt like the bucket Bob with my prices but hell not even 1 job locked down at a average of 10$ for a small store front weekly. These guys are selling small store fronts for 30$!! UGHHHH I suck lol. HOW???

It’s understandable the need to vent. It can be frustrating at first.

First of all, the title should read “This wasn’t what I expected” instead of This Sucks.
It’s work. You could have gone into just as many stores and applied for jobs and gotten nothing. Getting work is work. No easy way around it.

Persevere. Be persistent. Be patient. Don’t give up. Make sure to have a price written on the card. Practice your script and keep it simple. Expect 2 sales for every 100 stores you canvass.

There are a number of storefront folks here who will attest to the value of a good route and the difficulties inherent within.

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@TheWindowCleanse… Are you the window cleanse guy?

Thanks for the reply. I wont give up. Your are right on point with dropping off traditional apps. Didnt think about that. I am down but I had fun. I got a good lead. I made a special post under bidding. Check that out please!! I got a hot lead and was floored when she asked me to go bid. I jumped on that right away only to poop myself and run straight here. I have no clue how some of you guys have 400 accounts. We only have like 500 businesses in my town if im lucky and most prob dont have store fronts. I sucked it up today but will keep on after it.

Yes

Most don’t. It’s more about repeating.

If you can do 10 stores a day at an every other week schedule, then you only need 100 customers. Personally, i have about 80 storefront customers.

If you get chains, they might have you come every week, so you’ll need even less.

It’s more about pricing, route density, route proximity to your home, efficiency and schedule.

When they ask about schedule, always mention once a week and they will most likely settle on every other.

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Usually everday and each person you approach gets easiler like you seem to have found.

Before you know it you will laugh at your first few months.

You get credit for putting yourself out there and hitting the streets

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Lol, good job changing the title. See, i bet you feel better already.:wink:

@TheWindowCleanse I watch you all the time on youtube. Thanks for your content. I was literally just watching your video of canvasing last night. Thought well thats easy enough. Nope.

Thanks, I really want to be successful. Its going to be tough. I am afraid my area is not going to be to interested in window cleaning. I could tell most was flat out lying about having a window cleaner.

How do you guys get chain stores. Most of them took cards and was actually pretty helpful. But stated to contact corp. So Chain restaurants, fast food and stores. Do you even try to go into the stores or do you just call corporate?

District managers. They are the key.

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Any reason your services don’t also include residential? Store front can be so competitive in some markets. Glass is glass, clean what is available. Try mentioning that you also do residential to the store fronts. Everybody has to live somewhere, and that somewhere has glass. :wink:

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You might want to have a minimum price for things. Like ours is $35 if they agree to 4 weeks or less. otherwise its $100 for any single service. In the beginning a $10 stop is a good start but thats hard to grow a business with.

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First you got past the first day and the hardest part was getting started. Now on to tomorrow the day after etc.

What I say all the time is this : Every daily task you do can turn into a job. When you go to the deli talk up the people and leave a card. When you go to the shoe store talk up the people and leave a card. hardware store - pizza fast food etc. It dont matter talk to the people and ALWAYS leave a card. You should be canvassing 24/7 if you leave the house. Best way to get used to doing it and the flow comes easy.

EDIT ADDED: The Wife Husband Dog cat or pet rock might not like that you are always doing this in the beginning but once they see a job or two come from it they will expect it - mine loves that she has time to do what she wants without me standing over her shoulder :laughing:

What you should do is go over what you need for the week as far as cash then take that number and see how many stores you will need to make that weekly.

Lets say you want $500 per week ( And im using this number for no reason but this) and you like that $10.00 price ( some will be more but we get into that next) then you will need 50 accounts. (ten per day and if grouped close together then you can be home early or use the extra time to canvass)

Now for every lets say $20 store you pick up you can take one account away from the start number to reach the $500 weekly route. So if you get one $20 account you only need 49 accounts and it keeps going down.

You can have a min amount and make that known but I also come down off the min if they are close and or small fast accounts. And once you get more accounts you will see the $20 $30 $40 accounts can be faster even with more glass then the smaller $10 ones.

Do you have a quote spot on the cards you giving out if so use it and you should see places calling you down the line. I get calls from ones I saw last year.

Sorry I got started and dont know when to slow down :rofl:

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do you listen too sales books or read them?

how are you presenting yourself

do you have the crazed desperate salesman look? lol

a thing too remember is your selling yourself not window cleaning. like stated above wherever you go talk too people.

just finished a $3k job(not windows) because i was chatting with a farmer. so i refinished some floors for him met him at an equipment rental company. now i have open door too take care of a much larger home of his and the windows he wants cleaned.

its a numbers game learn to handle rejections so they dont affect you. im almost nonchalant about my sales approach

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Hope its not that CRAZY Bobs Discount store sneak salesman look.:crazy_face:

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you know the one you can smell a
desperate salesman a mile a way

I will def be doing residential but I am prob 700 into the start up cost and need income to start advertising more. Once I can get some funds from the business I will invest that into some door hangers and put in time on my feet in the residential areas. I will def start mentioning that I did not think about throwing that into my spew. All though my spew was just that… I might of not been understandable for most of the day lol

Ok lol @squeegeemike @NYCROB @Garry @Deanswc.

My god thank you for the positive information. Here is my story. I am a career fireman. I work 24on 48 off. 10 days a month on duty. I have a lot of free time. My financial adviser stated I should start a business and mentioned window cleaning. I started reading, listening and watching youtube every day since december. I have hours upon hours of learning. Then I found Jersey from WCR and got my stuff ordered and business legal. My appearance is very professional. Im used to being very well manicured and dressed for work. I def want a high class persona for my company. I do not have uniform shirts yet. Actually went in with a quote for a job at a embroidery… they did not sell but I ordered my first uniform shirts. Polo with my name. I wore nice shoes, did my hair and a polo today. My business card does not have a box but I left space where I could write quotes for the businesses. Honestly I felt like I was having a stroke for the first half of the day lol. You guys are awesome. I do not want to be a BOB. I want a high class luxury service that provides not only a service but a experiance. I felt like a BOB when I heard my price compared to the other service. I just felt I was really high priced and started to do 10$ on small 3 window storefronts with the door being 4 windows. Larger store fronts I was averaging 25$ weekly.

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