hi guys been going since april last year building up my round.
i now have 80 customers .just enough to warrant part time income for me . i am happy with what i have got so far but still need a lot more.
i have seen comments from people who started later than me and got more customers, guess they just must be luckier than me.
started canvassing again now this year , guess more people will be starting this year so more competition to get the customers before them. gonna have to do a lot more canvassing this year so i can be full time end of year.
it seems quite hard to get the customers as a lot already have window cleaners. but thats just the way it goes i suppose.

just thought i would put this on even tho it isnt a question.

happy new year folks

I've been going 4 years now, got roughly 120 bungalows done by hand and 260 houses etc done by WFP. Could do with another 30-40 and that will do me.

I will have been going 3 years on the 6th of march and have just over 600 domestic customers (4 weekly) plus commercial work. I started out leafleting day in day out with a very effective leaflet until i didnt have time to do it myself anymore then hired help to do it. At the moment we are not looking for domestic work but have a tele sales man starting next week looking for commercial work.

i started roughly the same time as you mite and have about the same amount of customers. One thing iv learnt since i became self-employed is patience. At first i was constantly worried about how slowly i was getting new customers, the area i live in ( Aldershot ) is saturated with window cleaners. Nowadays i dont do much leafleting/canvassing at all as im happy for custies to come to me and request my services.

The way i look at it 80 customers a year will be 240 in 3 years, exactly whereabouts im looking to be, and without even doing much leg work to get there..

I gained 70% of my custies between april-august of last year. I learnt this is the most valuable part of the year to gain custies so i will be out leafleting alot. The rest of the year i do next to no leafleting all. I encourage all the customers i already have to get work for me! i ask them to encourage friends, neighbours, relatives to use my services, and i offer my custies a free clean for every new person they get me. 
Just to remind people, on the ticket i leave once iv cleaned there windows, in big red letters it says it says 'RECOMMEND US TO A FRIEND TO GET THE NEXT CLEAN FREE, YOU CAN RECOMMEND UP TO 5 A YEAR!

I only began this method in october, buts its proved pretty successful. It got me the other 30% of my custies, and got me biggest job so far, a MANSION on WENTWORTH golf course!

Another thing i offered all my customers in november is half price gutter clearing. I done this by attaching a little slip to the tickets, telling them the 'consequences' of blocked gutters, with a little box saying 'tick here if you would your half price gutter clean included with your next window clean'.
You wouldn't believe the response i got, nearly half of all my custies replied 'yes please', and i got a few extra custies because of it!

Sorry for the essay hehe, what im trying to say is you dont have to spend hours upon hours walking the streets leafleting and door knocking.
People these days are looking for the best deals they can get, and with clever marketing you can give them what they want, whilst still being able to establish yourself and earn money, without the demoralising leg work.

Put it this way, i earnt enough money from the guttering i done before xmas to be able to take 3 weeks off. Back to work for me next monday!!!

Best of luck to you this year.                         

Another thing i offer all my custies is 2 free internal cleans a year. This has also proved to be a very good selling point and a deal breaker when quoting new customers. Considering i have only had around 3 custies actually request there free clean, which on average takes around 20 minutes to do (glass cleaned only on insides) i have lost little time/money in offering this service.
When i clean the outside windows i clean frames, sills and all doors every single time, which is included in the price.

My customers are extremely happy with my services, who wouldnt be, half price gutter clearing every winter, free clean for every recommendation they give, 2 free internal cleans every year! consistantly clean windows/frames/sills

So in way, the best way to get new work, is to constantly advertise these services to your current customers, in order to gain new customers..

The philophesy iv stuck to is commitment=reward... reward your long term commited customers, and they will reward you back by using your services, and gaining you new work..
Know one likes cold calling anymore, and to be honest, i couldnt stand doing it either..

hi guys...
great to hear you are doing well.... I dont agree with the cold calling aproach...it is the best and quickest way to get customers,,,, but i'm not out for argument on this... I hate it too.....
I have ben in the game 20 yrs now.... and one thing that is good about our buisness is we can design a leaflet and target the type of customers we want... so we can scour areas for customers that will pay 20, 25 , 30 and target them with a leaflet... and it works....
as we get busier we find time the hardest thing... what I have found to be good is little and often....
think about it.... say half an hour a day... or 15 muinits a day posting flyers.... so 30 a day... but do it regular... do the maths and over the year thats a lot of leaflets , all targeted at the type of work you want...
has worked for me...little and often is sustainable ... and you dont get burn out...
may not be to your agreement, but it does well for me...
regards
taffy

Stick with it buddy,word of mouth's a great thing.Once people see that you're relaible,and leave a good job,they'll spread the word too friends,family and neighbours,It just takes time.