I have two questions specifically for those of you who actively solicit storefronts via door to door solicitation (either personally or you have a salesman who does it). If you don’t service storefronts or don’t actively solicit storefronts, please don’t respond. I just want to talk numbers, I don’t want this to turn into a discussion about how you stopped doing storefronts 20 years ago because there were too many Bucket Bobs dragging down the prices in your town.
My first question is this…for every 100 storefront estimates you give, whether it’s just an informal price on the back of a business card or a formal written estimate on an estimate sheet, how many do you pick up? For every 100 times you walk in and say, “Hi I’m (your name) from (name of business), who can I speak to about window cleaning?”, how many of those 100 become paying customers?
My second question is…out of all those new customers that you pick up via this method, how many say “yes” right there on the spot and how many EVENTUALLY say “yes” later down the road (weeks, months, years later, etc.) when you consistently follow up time and time again whether over the phone or in person?
Thanks in advance! I look forward to the responses from those of you who sell door to door to storefronts.
When I started I was probably at about a 5% conversion rate just pounding the pavement looking for any jobs I could get my hands on. Now, with more experience and more exposure I’m at about a 90% conversion rate. No joke.
Most of my clients are in the “eventually hired me” category. The high rate of eventual success was and is due to repeatedly making my presence known in a polite and friendly way to every neighboring business after every job I did. My routes are still growing this way. Every stop I make becomes more and more profitable as I push just a little further down the line each time.
I’ve heard storefront work referred to as the low-hanging, rotten fruit of the window cleaning world. To a certain degree it is true. The bottom feeders do storefront work. But I’m now of the opinion that it’s OK to be a big fish in a small pond. I don’t battle over price, just deliver punctual service with a great attitude.
Oh and I also don’t reek of booze so that probably helps a bit.
Steve makes a good point and so I should add that im not tenacious about follow ups, thus the 1-2% return on my calls. It probably would be higher, maybe 25% if I was.
@Samuel approach is also awesome. Keep pushing down the line every job you do. That will boost your return rate dramatically.
As a side note, I view storefront work as the glowing embers at the bottom of the campfire. They will fuel your whole business.
I appreciate all the replies! I’m about to launch my business and I just wanted to hear about the experiences of others. I know it’s just a numbers game. The more people/storefronts you approach, the more new customers you will accumulate. Pretty common sense, it’s just a matter of going out and being consistent.
The great thing I have going for me is that my wife and I are a team, so both of us will be soliciting/cold calling full-time. Once we start picking up more and more customers, I will split my time between selling and cleaning while she continues to sell full time. By Spring, we should have a pretty nice route filled up and then the big push for residential begins. At that time, I’ll begin to hire window cleaners as necessary because I want to constantly be growing my business, not just cleaning windows full-time.
With replies ranging from 1% to 90% I don’t fully know what to expect, but I’ll err on the side of caution and plan for somewhere between 1-10%. My plan is to actively pursue storefronts and small to medium commercial buildings until Spring. In March, I will begin an aggressive EDDM and doorhanger campaign, targeting upper middle class to wealthy residential areas. I used to work for a Fish franchise back in the day (I know, I know) so I am very familiar with their sales process and plan to basically mimic it, but without paying them 8% royalties.
A book isn’t necessary. I could probably summarize their “Top Secret” sales process in a paragraph or two. It’s pretty basic “Salesmanship 101” type stuff. Nothing earth shattering that hasn’t already been discussed on WCR a million times. The franchisees who follow it usually become very successful while those who ignore everything they were taught and go do it their own way often end up struggling.
I’ve been earning my living in the storefront window cleaning business for many years. I think it’s a matter of luck! Some routes are ripe for the picking and others are not.
I was a salesman for Fish for about 6 months. Sometimes I was near the top of their leader board for the USA and sometimes nothing. It’s a crap shoot in my opinion. If they like the guy they have good luck to ya.
That being said I have to say that you do have to have selling skills and provide great window cleaning service when the account is landed.
