Book, Palm or Memory - Window Cleaning Issues

Window Cleaning Issues - Canvassing, pole systems, pricing, problems, etc.

Book, Palm or Memory

Posted by Neil (wylie), 22 November 2003

Hi everyone
I have been up and running for a while now and things seem to be going well (I may need to speed up a bit to hit 72k though. lol) Up till now I have been putting all my contacts details such as address cost how often into a small book which I take with me day-day.
Lately the book has got scruffy what with constant use and changing details as my round grows daily so I was wondering what kind of system you guys use to manage your round.
I know there is software out such as George but at £50 it seems a lot. Are there any books made just for window cleaners?
Neil

Posted by STEVE71163 (Steve Lowe), 22 November 2003

Hi wylie,
You can buy a day book with a plastic cover from the federation but i personally use George and pocket George so all my work is on my palm and it re schedules for you

I dont know if you have bought much software before but £50 for software like this is a steal. Roll Eyes

I know of simular window cleaning software that is about £400 Shocked

Steve

Posted by matt (matt), 22 November 2003

Steve, is the software a Download, or does it come on a CD Huh

Posted by Neil (wylie), 22 November 2003

Steve
I have looked at your website (its good)

so I guess your company is well established with possibly a few employees. Do you think George is suitable for a small one men band or maybe its a bit overkill. Huh

I am not afraid of technology as I was a computer programmer before I got into windows I am just trying to keep things as simple as possible!
Neil
ps Matt i found George at http://www.georgesystems.co.uk/

Posted by STEVE71163 (Steve Lowe), 22 November 2003

Hi Matt and Wylie,
Thanks for your comments on my website, I put it together with Frontpage last year. George is a download and it also gives you a trial which i would do to have a look. It was put together by Paul Sanders who in my opinion has done an excellent job and we are always getting updates. It is perfect for the small window cleaning company (One man bands)

Good Luck with it Wink

Steve

Posted by matt (matt), 22 November 2003

thanks

i will have a look

Posted by matt (matt), 22 November 2003

in reply to the original post Wink

i use a book, its a small notebook from WH smiths, leather cover and the book bit is refillable, as the leather bit is wider it keeps the paper ok inside

wrote out the address, name and price, then left 2 blank lines to put a tick thats its been done, then a "p" to say they have paid Grin

it works well enough

Posted by Bones (Bones), 22 November 2003

Hello fellow cleaners, Last night I actually came to the end of my free trial of the george software Sad

Then after 5 mins thought "how can i live without it now??" Undecided

So I shelled the £50 out and registered.

Steve I agree with you totally about George, It's so simple to use and does all that you want,... and more!!

Mikey

Posted by Neil (wylie), 23 November 2003

Thanks Guys

I have downloaded George and will see how I get on over the next few days.

I was talking to a mate the other day who has been in the bussines for 30 years and he keeps his round in his head Shocked

the thing that amazes me is his round is constantly changing so god knows how he does it Huh

Anyone else manage to do it this way Huh

Posted by sham33 (sham33), 23 November 2003

I cant even remember what i did the day before Undecided

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 23 November 2003

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the nice things you have said about George - it's greatly appreciated.

One small point tho - Steve said "It was put together by Paul Sanders". Although I did write it - and I'm still writing it

- it was actually based on some ideas by my mate Peter Barclay of Apex Window Cleaning who I met one drunken night in my local pub. He said he couldn't find any affordable software for window cleaners and I offered to write him some.

That was three years ago and now we have users all over the world (see http://www.georgesystems.co.uk/Who_uses_George/who_uses_george.html)

I'm really glad I went for a beer that night !!

Paul

Posted by paul (paul), 23 November 2003

HI ALL IVE BEEN PLAYING WITH THE FREE VERSION OF POCKET GEORGE AND FIND IT QUITE GOOD BUT AT THE MOMENT ALL MY GUYS HAVE PRINT OUT OF THE WORK THEY HAVE TO DO . HOW MUCH DOES IT COST FOR A HAND HELD SYSTEM

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 23 November 2003

Hi Paul

Give your guys a Palm each and they can all carry their Rounds in their pockets.

At the end of the day, plug each Palm into your PC, press the button and you have all their Sales and Debt information transferred to your PC and the next day's work transferred to their Palm - no paper and no effort required.

Currently the cheapest new Palm machine is the Zire - less than £60 from Amazon but your can probably get it cheaper if you shop around.

Paul

Posted by bonzer (bonzer), 24 November 2003

I've been using George and pocketgeorge for about nine months now and I find it invaluable. I could never go back to using paper. IMHO £50 is a very small price to pay for a superb piece of software. I got an old Palm V off Ebay for £50 and could not be without it. The hassle avoided when collecting is worth the outlay alone.

The support from Paul is very good. I've been in touch with a few queries and Paul has always promptly answered my questions and even included my suggestions in the next version of the software.

Regards

Matthew

Posted by matt (matt), 24 November 2003

whats the min spec of a palm required

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 24 November 2003

Hi Matt

PocketGeorge will be happy on any Palm machine running PalmOS 3.5 or above - which is most of them.

You can buy the basic Zire model from Amazon for about £60 but it's probably available for less if you shop around.

Paul

Posted by matt (matt), 24 November 2003

thanks Paul

i have just brought 1, and i thought it looked nice and small

dont think it uses palmOS though Sad

, are well, i guess another eletronic toy to play with

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 25 November 2003

Hi Matt

What Make and Model is it?

Paul

Posted by matt (matt), 25 November 2003

PALM@TE PDA

will tell you when it arrives, by the looks of it, its more a organiser Sad

, was only 25 quid (so not much lost)

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 25 November 2003

Hi Matt

I don't think it runs PalmOs - but let me know when you get it.

Paul

Posted by highwash (highwash), 26 November 2003

If anyone unsure about pda use, just type zire pda into google search and it will give you loads of easy to understand info. it convinced me!

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 26 November 2003

Hi Guys

Somebody just eMailed me this ...

"just visited o2 store and they are selling m500 for £38 -they are brand new with cradle,usb lead, software etc- not going to re-stock - concentrating on phones"

That's quite a bargain.

Paul

Posted by paul (paul), 26 November 2003

THANKS PAUL I WILL HAVE A LOOK AROUND AT THE COST THEN ILL BUY YOUR SOFTWARE

Posted by paul (paul), 28 November 2003

HOW WILL I COME OF WITH HAVING TO GIVE EACH CUSTOMER A RECEPT FOR THE VAT WITH THIS SYSTEM OR CAN THE SIGN AFTER THEYVE PAID ON THE BOOKPALM TO PROVE TO THE VAT MAN WHAT WAS PAID OR DOES THE SOFTWARE NOT CATER FOR THIS

Posted by paul (paul), 28 November 2003

FOUND A BOOK PALM IN ARGOS ON SALE FOR £59.99 SO ILL BUY THAT ONE

Posted by Plymouth_Cleaning (Plymouth_Cleaning), 14 December 2003

I had a look at the george software and downloaded it...wow

anyways can anyone explain to me or show me a screenshot of it when its on the palm
do you just have a list of the days work in your hand??
do you just tell it if the customer paid or not?
is it that easy??

Posted by Neil (wylie), 14 December 2003

Hi P-C
I have been trying out George for a while now and think its great.
I have just ordered a Palm Zire from Comets website for £49.99
To see palm screenshots have a look at the George website http://www.georgesystems.co.uk/Using_PocketGeorge/using_pocketgeorge.html

Posted by STEVE71163 (Steve Lowe), 14 December 2003

Hi Plymouth,
I have used pocket George since it came out and it is an excellent way of keeping your working records in order. Pocket George is really simple to use, I think my nine year old Daughter could pick it up in a few minutes.

Steve

Posted by Plymouth_Cleaning (Plymouth_Cleaning), 14 December 2003

SOLD

Looks like all that paper work is being thrown of a bridge next year then
cool screenshots thanks

dont mind the website im experimenting

anyone find the hidden giraffe and the very hidden beta link....oh what fun

oh one more ting
my brother in law works with me and will want for his own records.. if he buys a palm can we load the same data

ie when we come home and he uploads to his pc, what will happen when i try to upload to to my pc an hour later?
and will he have to pay for his own registrtion or can he use myn at his house seen as we are the same company?
proberly a question for a boffin that one..........

what would be the best way around this as at the moment its a pain in the neck to update his spreadshhets and send emails to me each night ...the same problem happens with a book....if he has the book i dont know what collections there are and vice versa...oh my life is so complicated..

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 15 December 2003

Hi Plymouth

I guess you will want to set up seperate rounds for you and your brother in law.

Use our PocketGeorge Configuration program to tell George which Rounds to load on which Palmtop - the rest is automatic.

You will both need to upload to the same PC though ...

Paul Sanders
George Systems
http://www.georgesystems.co.uk

Posted by Plymouth_Cleaning (Plymouth_Cleaning), 15 December 2003

Thanks paul
maybe he can use the pc and ill use the palm to refer to....some of these cusomers love ringing me about 2100....sods
somemore questions from the newbie

just downloaded it all and have a prob

1/how do i add or delete a customer on the job...........do i have to put theire details into my palm notepad and update when i get home

2\what about customers that pay in advance

3/and what wiill happen one day if i for some reason cant to what is due...buildingwork/roadworks/cancellation/death/housefire/holiday/closeddown etc..anyway if i finish the day early i wont be able to find out whats due tommorow will I?

4/If i fall about 50 feet and smash the palm is there a way of retrieving it? and what about if i fall in a river, and my may concern is lightning. will george deal with that?

ps
no 4 was a joke to lighten up my dull questions

thanks guys
bows head in shame

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 16 December 2003

Hi Plymouth

I'm quite happy to answer your questions here but it would probably be better if you posted them to our User Group.

1) You need to set up all your Jobs on the PC - you can't create them in PocketGeorge.

2) If the customer pays in advance just mark the Job as paid and enter the amount the customer gives you - including the overpayment. The next time the Job is due PocketGeorge will show the amount owed to the customer.

3) If you finish early just do a HotSync and any overdue jobs will be re-loaded to the Palm.

4) You were joking, but if you lose your Palm you can get a new one, give it the same name as the old one and the HotSync software will restore everything that was on the old one.

Paul Sanders
George Systems
http://www.georgesystems.co.uk

Posted by Plymouth_Cleaning (Plymouth_Cleaning), 16 December 2003

sorry paul about all the questions

i took george out today for the first time. he was cool, best worker i ever paid out for
i had a lady ask me to do her windows(newcustomer) and i just stuck into the note book!(on the pda)and looked at it tonite
and as for your answer about advance payment that is cool, i was just a little worried as the box says "new price" .I was very worried about using it and was encouraged to here steve lowe mention about his 9 year old daughter proberly being capable of using it... i see what he means!
i think i was just a little "green " and the help i have got from you is second to none....you will be glad to hear i have just registerd george because i think its an ingenious piece of kit.

1st Plymouth cleaning

Posted by georgesystems (George Systems), 17 December 2003

Hi Plymouth

Thanks for that...

Paul Sanders
George Systems
http://www.georgesystems.co.uk

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