Surveying The Lay Of The Land-PART 1

I decided a few months ago I'd try an experiment just to test how the market really is in relation to window washing. To do so I chose an area in the south suburbs where First Impression has never washed windows, and decided I would try to build a new route from scratch. Starting in December 2009 I started passing out cards every once in a while  I was helping out contractors, and was near the area.

My first big break came when we picked up a new district of H&R blocks in the middle of January. While there were 13 stores involved, only three fit into the route area I had in mind. We divided the other 10 stores into existing routes, and I began cleaning each week with the 3 H&R blocks. The first week I went out to clean these in the middle of January, I was surprised to notice how many stores in the same or neighboring strip malls around these new acquisitions were extremely dirty. I didn't hesitate to pass out as many cards as I could that day. For my efforts I picked up and cleaned three additional new accounts the first day out.

As I travel the route each week, I try to find different roads to travel on, and stop in at least one new strip center each week, and solicit all the stores in that center. I also follow up each week on stores I have solicited in the past that I feel had good potential, and also on some that did not seem to have any potential. Each time out for the past six weeks, I have been able to add between one and three accounts per week. The total sales for the route now stand at over $300 per month.  ---Dennis