Door to door washing

S

SamW

New member
How many of you do this? Going door to door, from what i have heard, can be good money. How do you approach each customer? Is there a certain time of day (or day) that you go? I would assume you would want all the cars to be home so going during working hours may not be the best idea. Just wanted some general info on this.

Thanks :)
 
10 years ago when I was making the transition from part time mobile detailing to full time I tried a lot of things to drum up business. One idea I had was door to door. What I did was passed out flyers in a neighborhood during the late afternoon / early evening. Then right around 5 o'clock I started knocking on doors offering a free wash. I had signs on my vehicle and my plans were to be cleaning a car on a main residential street when people started coming home. Figured they would see me working and then get home and have a flyer. I did pass out flyers quite often early on but I never did that again. I took me several dozen houses before I could give away a wash. People were looking for the catch. Others wouldn't open the door because they didn't know me. Others just said no and didn't let me finish. Maybe it was just the wrong neighborhood. Other may have had a better experience doing this though.
 
I may be alone, but I don't particularly like when people knock on my door to sell me something. The way I see it, they've come on my property to bother me with something I probably don't want. I'm sure there are people that don't mind it, but unless you've got great selling skills, the return won't be that high. And you bring up the point about wanting the cars to be there. For most people this is the evening. What are most people doing at this time? Probably cooking dinner, doing laundry, watching a movie with their family. Not a time they want to be bothered. You could try the weekends though.

If you're looking to just do washing around your neighborhood, if you have a good high traffic road in front of your house, or anywhere you go to wash for that matter, you could put up a sign telling people what you do.

Could you let us know a little bit more about what services you plan to offer and how?

EDIT: PhaRO has some good ideas. I need to learn to type faster.
 
Maxima Lover said:
I may be alone, but I don't particularly like when people knock on my door to sell me something. The way I see it, they've come on my property to bother me with something I probably don't want. I'm sure there are people that don't mind it, but unless you've got great selling skills, the return won't be that high.
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I don't think your alone. I hate it when people do that but I'm in a small town, so it may be dependent on the neighborhoods. I agree that it could be profitable but thats only if people take you up on it. You may be best off to work or hang out in high traffic areas.
 
Or here is a plan. Wash your own car/truck in a public place. I set up my truck and trailer at the local community park and started washing my truck. It drew alot of attention.
If you have a second vehicle, wash that, so they think you are doing a customers car and not your own.
 
or . . . instead of offering your services for free to strangers offer them to friends and family. You will probably get a much friendlier reception knocking on a friend or family members door than you would a complete stranger. Plus, you'll still get the exposure you're looking for.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I think im going to give it a shot this week. What do you guys think should be my sales pitch?
 
Your sales pitch should always be about the customer. You need to tell them why they need your services and how it will be helping them out.

#1 It will be saving them time
#2 It will be done right
#3 It will maintain the appearance and value on the vehicle.

Try to make it personal to them. Tell them how you love there (fill in their car here) and how you'd like to help them maintain it. Say "hi buddy" to there dog if he's at the door with them. Anything you can do to establish a relationship with the person quickly, do it. People will think your really trying to do the best for them and your not out just telling the same lines to everyone. It will also be harder for them to say "no" to you.

Make sure you close. Set up the appointment then and there. something like, "When would you like to have your (fill in the model again here) washed?" Try as hard as possible to not let them say "let me think about it". This normally means they won't. If they insist, make sure you follow up at a later date. Who knows, they might have decided they wanted your services, but lost your number.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.
 
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