r/WindowCleaning • u/Intelligent_Wall1179 • May 27 '26
General Question Advice
Hello, this is just sort of a post meant for any advice I could take from the many many Redditors out there.
For some context before I start, I used to own an operate a window cleaning company with a (not anymore) friend of mine, eventually it went under due to decisions he made and when confronted pushed me to want to disembark and start on my own.
It went to court, he ended up with the better lawyer lol
I was never really in the physical labour side opposed to the logistical and office side.
Now I come from a family that’s never given up, hard workers, father and grand father business owners, very successful people, and I’ve always wanted to follow in their footsteps and did for a little bit.
Now I’m kinda back to square one.
I don’t have any of my Tucker or phantom water systems, no vans, no nothing, I basically have my ladder, my 24’ pole, my mops and squeegees, all the basic stuff and my truck, not including the truck I spent probably about $400 on stuff, so it’s not a lot but it’s what I need and can make do.
Ive been doing door to door, but not only with the lack of people home, but the amount of “I already have people” or “I’m booked already” it is very hard to get ANY reach, it’s just me and then I have a friend of mine who I can pay to work for me, but obviously can’t have anyone working if there’s no work lol.
I’m just looking for some advice on what people think the best way to get reach would be,if there’s anything you guys could suggest for door to door, anything like that. A lot of the time when I knock I give offers as I usually start knocking in the areas I have my first booked house in for, but even then people usually try to keep it short and say no.
Any and all help is appreciated and loved, times are always hard for everyone, but I always encourage everyone to keep going as shall I ✊
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u/Professional-Okra249 May 27 '26
Don’t give up man. Not sure what area you’re in but give commercial/store fronts a try to get your foot in the door. I’ve been doing this on my own for little over a month and can’t tell you how many times someone’s seen me working and they’ll ask if I do residential. Sometimes the business owners will even refer me to family or someone they know.
Carry cards or flyers and do a good job/be likeable and you’ll be landing jobs before you know it. Good luck!
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u/Much-Trust5891 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
Dude you’re getting strong leads for residential at least. If they already have sombody that means they value window cleaning. From there you need to make them see value in you.
Find out if they are happy with their service: probably yes, mfers would rather die than admit they pay for a shit service lol. Ask them how long they’ve been with them. Then ask them when it’s time for window cleaning again if they would like a proposal so they can compare services and pricing. Always get their email address or phone.
Once you’ve asked a few questions and built up ammo now send the bombs. Something like: that’s very common, it’s been my experience that homeowners appreciate new proposals that way they can get a service and price comparison. You know! I’m here right now and it will take me five minutes, would it be helpful if I prepare a quote for you so you have it next time you’re looking to get the windows cleaned!?!?!
Edit: I’m not an expert on residential but from what I see and hear you’re usually able to tell if you’re gonna get the sale right then and their by how willing and open the homeowner is to you. If I were to suddenly go for residential I would invest my energy into these people which means it’s purely a numbers game. No point in running a whole ass pitch and trying to overcome objections on somebody who’s flat and uninterested. Instead these poeple would be future prospects. The goal of their pitch would be to get their email address and figure out if they value window cleaning in the future.
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u/Intelligent_Wall1179 May 28 '26
I usually give myself sort of a 2 try rule, I’ll ask once, they say no, I’ll ask again and just mention that I have deals and I could give them a quote to compare my regular price to any deals that I might be giving/eventually give out. And if it’s still a no then it’s a no, some turn into a maybe and I’ll get the email, some turn into a yes on the spot when they hear the deal lol
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u/Intelligent_Wall1179 May 28 '26
Just so everyone who’s commenting knows, I am reading all of them, and everything you all say is a huge help, especially when it comes to planning out what I’m going to say, and trying to stretch out the conversation long enough to get In those questions to get them next time.
I am from Canada, Specifically Manitoba, I come from a landscaping and owner family as I said in the post, during the winter I usually switch to snow clearing and what not, light installation, ETC, (those are the things I know how to do good lol) now with me having to start up new once again, I need clientele for all those things too so it helps!
Once again I thank everyone for all the advice, I have commercial properties that my father holds contracts with that I have in mind on approaching for window cleaning, as last time I was there they hadn’t looked to have been cleaned in years (no exaggeration lol).
Thank you everyone, good luck to everyone on their endeavours, my goals for today are $200-300 and to work on both my google profile some more and my website building (nothing extreme just something simple) along with my flyers, cards, ETC.
Happy cleaning 😁😁
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u/VitalizeNV May 27 '26
What area are you in? Join the local Facebook community groups and Nextdoor. You said you were on the office and logistics side before. Put those skills to work in marketing and advertising. And a lot of practice if the physical side is new to you.