Window cleaning canvassing: how to fill your round

Leaflets or knocking?

Window cleaners disagree, and both can work.

• Knocking is slower per house, but you talk to people. "I found canvassing far more successful that leaflet dropping," says one cleaner. Another finds canvassed customers "pretty poor leads", but adds that "canvassing will always produce the most compact work so it's worth doing despite how frustrating it is".
• Leaflets reach more doors, but few people reply. One cleaner gets "1 customer per 200 or so leaflets". Another knew a cleaner who "put out 2500 professional flyers got not a single call", yet says "We built our rounds on flyers".

If you use leaflets, cleaners on the same forum suggest "glossy quality paper A5 leaflets" (May 2021) and a space to write a price for the houses where nobody answers (May 2021).

Window cleaning leaflets: words you can use

Keep a leaflet short: what you do, how often, and how to reach you.

"Regular window cleaning in [area]. Outside windows cleaned every [4/6/8] weeks. [Say whether frames and sills are included.] Call or WhatsApp [name] on [number] for a price."

A template to fill in

Replace the brackets before printing. Only promise work you actually include.

What to say at the door

Keep it short and local. Something like:

"I'm a local window cleaner. I already clean for Sue at number 25. Would you like a regular window cleaner?"

Based on an opener shared on Window Cleaning Forums, 21 December 2023

• Say how often you'd come and what it costs for their house.
• "Be brief and to the point" (forum, 2021), and "Smile and be courteous but not pushy" (forum, 2021).
• If they want their windows done now and you can, do them: "there's no time like now" (same post).
• If it's a no, thank them, move on and write it down (see going back).

Which streets to canvass

Start where you already clean. Your houses end up close together, so there's less driving between jobs.

• One cleaner's advice: "knock on every door in roads where you clean", and "Knock every door, not just the dirty ones" (forum, 2023).
• Got a customer on a new street? "If you get a new customer in a local area you haven't worked in before, knock and surrounding neighbours" (forum, 2023).
• New estates may not have a window cleaner yet: "Google any new build estates that's getting built near you and try get in there first" (forum, 2023).
• Mark your customers on a map and canvass the gaps between them.

When to go

• Time of day: people have to be in. One cleaner's times are "Saturdays 10:30 - 3:30", "Sundays 2:30 - 6pm" and "Weekdays 4:30pm - 7:30pm" (Green Pro Clean Ltd, 2019). He suggests "3 to 4 hours maximum" at a time (same thread).
• Time of year: over the last year, UK Google searches for "window cleaning leaflets" were highest in September (590) and January (480), and lowest in December and early summer (170 a month). That suggests many window cleaners plan a push in September and January. These figures are from Google search data Roundly checked on 29 September 2026.
• Rained off? "I've done many a leaflet drop in the rain" (forum, 2015). See our guide to rained-off days.

Doors to leave alone

• No Cold Calling Zones and stickers. Some streets have a sign at the entrance, and some homes have a sticker on the door. Suffolk Trading Standards says traders who ignore them "commit a criminal offence under Consumer Protection law" (Suffolk County Council). If you see one, skip that street or door.
• Asked to go? If someone asks you to leave, or not to come back, don't. Ignoring that request is on UK consumer law's list of practices that are "in all circumstances considered unfair" (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20). Write it down so you don't knock again.
• Leaflets in England and Wales. A council can require permission to hand out free leaflets on streets it has chosen, and that includes putting them on cars. Posting them through a letterbox isn't covered: the law says that handing out leaflets "does not include putting it inside a building or letter-box" (Environmental Protection Act 1990, Schedule 3A).

Going back to "not now"

A no today isn't always a no for good.

• One cleaner got a customer "when they saw me doing the neighbours (after they said no originally a week before)" (forum, 2021).
• Another: "When they do need a window cleaner, they will automatically think of you. We have experienced this; like 10 years later." (forum, 2023)

So "keep notes of which roads, houses, you've canvassed" (forum, 2021): who said yes, who said not now, and who wasn't in. Try the ones who weren't in at a different time of day.

Expect some new customers to drop off. One cleaner ranks canvassed customers as his least reliable and warns "you might get 50% cancellations at first". Referrals from existing customers top his list, so ask happy customers to tell their neighbours (forum, 2019).