No soliciting. You see the sign in neighborhoods, apartments, and condos. So where do you put your house cleaning flyers if there is a no soliciting sign?
We Ask a House Cleaner about ways to grow your cleaning business. Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says don’t ignore no soliciting signs or the HOA.
She shares tips on door hangers, and ways to get more business through word of mouth advertising.
Other ways to market your cleaning business include the community bulletin, and neighborhood newsletter.
Today’s sponsors are Savvy Cleaner, HouseCleaning360, and My Cleaning Connection.
Listen: No Soliciting – House Cleaning Flyers – Where To Put Them?
Watch: No Soliciting – House Cleaning Flyers – Where To Put Them?
Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.
Question: Where Do You Put House Cleaning Flyers if There’s a No Soliciting Sign?
Today’s question comes from a house cleaner who is starting a business for herself. And she asks this question.
How are you doing Angela Brown? This is Alexis, and I had a question. I want to get back into cleaning, but just for myself. I wanted to know, can I pass out fliers in apartments? I’m targeting the elder only. Is it legal to go in the building and pass out fliers door to door?
Answer: No Soliciting Signs Are Everywhere – Get Creative
All right, that’s an excellent question. Can you go into an apartment complex and leave fliers if there is a no soliciting sign? 
Lots of apartment complexes and neighborhoods have no soliciting signs in those neighborhoods.
I’m not saying don’t ignore those signs.
What I’m saying is this. Use your ingenuity and your creativity to make yourself available in those neighborhoods.
If There is a No Soliciting Policy – Talk to Management
Now for example, if there’s an apartment complex that your heart is set on. I would go to the complex manager.
I would ask them upfront. “Hey, would it be okay if I drop a discount for all these different people in these apartments? So that they are able to call me for service, and that I can help them maintain the property that you’re managing?”
Better to ask Permission if They Have No Soliciting Signs
If the apartment manager gives you approval, it’s less likely he’s going to call security on you.
I don’t know exactly what happens to the people that break the no soliciting law. I’ve never heard of anything dangerous happening to anyone.
But it is possible that you get a nasty letter from the homeowner’s association or something. I don’t know. There could be a fine. I’ve never heard anyone that had a repercussion as a result of soliciting in a no soliciting area.
Get One Person on Your Side to Bypass the No Soliciting Signs
What you do need to do, and this is legal, is to get one person from that unit, or from that complex, that’s on your side.
You could talk to somebody in passing. And say, “Hey listen, I’m a new house cleaner in the area, and I’m offering a special discount. Can I show you what I’m capable of in exchange for referrals?”
There might be somebody that says, “Yeah, come clean my house for free in exchange for referrals.”
Then you give them your fliers, and they pass them out to all the other people in the complex that they know.
You’re not soliciting, they’re doing the soliciting for you. They are referring their neighbors that live in the same building.
Transfer Service from House to Apartment
Now, there are apartment complexes that we worked in over the years.
One of the ways we got into those complexes is that we cleaned houses for the seniors before they moved to the complex.
When they moved to the complex they took our service with them.
No Soliciting, Yet More Business!
Once we had jobs inside an apartment complex, people saw us coming in and out of the building with our cleaning supplies and our vacuum.
And we did bring our own vacuum on this particular occasion because the people were upwards of 80 years. We didn’t want to use their equipment because it was 20 or 30 years old. And it was obsolete, and heavy, and clunky, and whatever.
As a result of that, there were lots of people that were in that complex that would see us coming and going. They said, “Hey, do you mind coming to clean my house as well?”
No Soliciting Means We Don’t Want to Be Sold
While we were there it was easy to walk down the hall and do another house.
We wanted to gain momentum and business in that area. So we had people that would hit that whole apartment complex and only stay there for three and four days at a time.
Instead of commuting all over town, you’re going two doors down. You’re going around the corner. You’re going one floor down. Now you have a lot of business in one area. It’s a beautiful thing when it happens.
Offer Competitive Rates – Provide Excellent Service
What you want to do is make sure you do an excellent job and have reasonable prices.
Because a lot of these people are on fixed incomes. If they find that your pricing is right and your service is excellent, they will want to hire you. If you are kind to the seniors and their pets, you will get more business than you can know what to do with.
Ask Permission in No Soliciting Areas
As far as no soliciting goes, my suggestion to you would be to ask for permission from the person that is in charge. Because it is possible.
And we’ve done this also in neighborhoods that have no soliciting signs. A lot of them have newsletters or bulletins where they will place your ad for free. They will do this because they want to keep up the properties that they’re maintaining. Or they will charge you a small fee of say $15 per ad to put your ad inside their newsletter that goes out to all the members.
Neighborhood Billboards
Another opportunity is some neighborhoods have billboards that have glass cases on them.
They have things like women’s Wednesday night out, or softball Saturday, etc. They’re upcoming events.
They might also let you place your ad inside there. That way, you don’t have to hit every single house in the neighborhood.
Be Creative in No Soliciting Areas
Again, it comes down to your creativity and your ingenuity. Figure out how you’re going to get inside that neighborhood.
I don’t want you to break any rules, and I don’t want you to get in trouble. But there are ways around that, that are legal.
No soliciting does mean no soliciting. It just means don’t be a harassment, don’t be a nuisance.
But if you have permission, and you have people on the inside that are rooting for you, you’re in.
All righty, that’s my two cents for today. Until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.
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Resources For This Episode
No Soliciting Signs for Businesses – http://amzn.to/2B54xYA
Funny No Soliciting Signs – http://amzn.to/2DbRjuI
When Soliciting Becomes Trespassing – http://bit.ly/2FDQjkN
No Soliciting Signs for Homes – http://amzn.to/2B5kX3h
No Soliciting – What Does it Mean? – http://bit.ly/2ELfiBo
Is it Legal for People to Ignore a No Soliciting Sign? – http://bit.ly/2Dmn6MW
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