How to Get Your First 10 Window Cleaning Customers
The exact path to your first ten window cleaning customers with no ad budget: reviews, doors, proof photos, and referrals.
Getting your first customers is the moment most new window cleaners freeze. The good news is you do not need an advertising budget, a fancy website, or any tricks. You need to do a handful of simple things consistently. Here is the exact path to your first ten customers, in the order I would do it today.
Customers one to three: Google Business Profile
Set up a free Google Business Profile before you do anything else. When someone in your area searches for a window cleaner, this is what decides whether you appear. Fill it in properly, add photos of clean glass, and list your area. Then, and this is the part people skip, ask your very first happy customers to leave a review. A handful of genuine five star reviews will bring you jobs for years. This is the single highest return thing you can do.
Customers four to six: knock on doors, properly
Door knocking works, and most people do it badly because they are nervous. Keep it human and short. Pick a neighbourhood you can picture yourself working, ideally near a house you have already cleaned. Tell them you clean windows, you are local, and you would be happy to give them a price. That is it. Most will say no, and that is completely fine. You are looking for the small number who say yes, and on a good street you will find them.
Customers seven and eight: show the proof
Clean glass sells itself. Take a before and after photo of every job, and post them where local people look: neighbourhood social media groups, local pages, your own profile. A grimy window next to a sparkling one is more convincing than any words you could write. People see it, recognise their own windows, and message you.
Customer nine: local groups and Nextdoor
Join the local groups where neighbours ask for recommendations. Do not spam them. Introduce yourself as a local window cleaner, be genuinely helpful, and when someone asks for a recommendation, you are already there. One good post in the right group can bring several jobs on the same street, which is exactly the density you want.
Customer ten: ask for the referral
Your first customers are your best salespeople, but only if you ask. When you finish a job and they are happy, tell them plainly that you are building your round locally and would be grateful if they mentioned you to a neighbour. Make it easy. Most people are glad to help someone who did good work and turned up when they said they would.
What not to do
Do not start by paying for leads. It is tempting to throw money at lead sites and pay per click ads before you have any customers, and it is usually a fast way to lose money you do not have yet. Skip the paid lead platforms and the expensive directory ads at the start. Free, local, and consistent beats paid and scattered every time when you are new. Earn your first ten the cheap way, and reinvest later only when you know your numbers.
Building from ten to fifty
Once you have ten happy customers, the game changes. Now you are turning one off jobs into repeat visits, asking every satisfied customer for a review and a referral, and tightening your work into a few streets so you clean more and drive less. Ten becomes twenty five, twenty five becomes fifty, and the route starts to compound. The hard part was the first ten. After that you are building on proof, not starting from zero.
Getting customers is a skill, and so is keeping them, which comes down to the quality and reliability of your work. Both are exactly what The View is built to teach, alongside the whole business setup. See it at The View.
And the quality that earns the reviews and referrals starts with technique. Begin free with the Manifesto inside The Skill.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I get my first window cleaning customers?
Start with a free Google Business Profile and get a few genuine reviews. Then knock doors in a local neighbourhood, post before and after photos where local people look, and be helpful in local community groups. Finally, ask every happy customer for a referral. None of it costs much. Consistency is what makes it work.
Should I pay for leads or ads when starting?
Not at the start. Paid lead sites and ads are a fast way to lose money before you understand your numbers. Earn your first ten customers the free, local way, build reviews and referrals, and only consider paid promotion later once you know what a customer is worth to you.
How long does it take to get regular customers?
The first ten are the hardest and can come within a few weeks if you are consistent with doors, photos, and reviews. After that it compounds, because repeat visits and referrals do the work for you. Focus on quality and reliability so your first customers become your best salespeople.
About the author
Justin Orloff is a professional window cleaner with over 25 years of experience, based in Vienna, Austria. He created the world's first AR-powered window cleaning training program at orloffs.com.