[Richard iSparkle]

People are skint, lots of them are anyway and are looking to save money, it's going to happen to all of us sooner or later, i'd stick with it incase you lose a load more.

i dont find people are skint.  if you think this then you really will get yourself into trouble.

also, one previous comment about 'they're moving house because they've got no money'.  thats an assumption.  unless theyve told you that, they may well be moving to a larger, more expensive house.

read in one of my business books, the best thing to do in a recession is to put up your prices.  it said many people will drop their prices and get themselves into more trouble because of it.  raise your prices and offer a fantastic service, keep your best clients, and the ones you loose, replace with clients on the
right price.

good post. which books are you reading? just examples not a list!!  its business books that gave me the nerve to knock doors and other books on how to handle rejection. bread and butter to this business.

thanks john,

to be honest the book that i draw that advice from was one i read 3 years ago, and i can't remember the name.  i had a fire in the office december 2010 and lost all my books in that so cant even check it up for you.  it was a 'how to survive a recession' type book written by a business owner.

i love jim rohn stuff at the moment.  especially his audio books. so motivating!

[Mike_G]

People are skint, lots of them are anyway and are looking to save money, it's going to happen to all of us sooner or later, i'd stick with it incase you lose a load more.

i dont find people are skint.  if you think this then you really will get yourself into trouble.

also, one previous comment about 'they're moving house because they've got no money'.  thats an assumption.  unless theyve told you that, they may well be moving to a larger, more expensive house.

read in one of my business books, the best thing to do in a recession is to put up your prices.  it said many people will drop their prices and get themselves into more trouble because of it.  raise your prices and offer a fantastic service, keep your best clients, and the ones you loose, replace with clients on the
right price.

Great help, read one of my business books, but I dont know what its called, I guess it must of been must of been a cracker!

I could list loads of companies that have gone bust in the last two years, a huge amount of commercial places I clean have put their staff on 3 or 4 day weeks, all the high street is struggling like heck to keep overheads down, not to mention all the cuts the government are about to hit us with add to that the price of crude which is rocketing again, so we will all be forking out more for everything. Fair to say not everyone is skint but if someone says I need to go 2 monthly instead of monthly I think you just need to accept that it is a tough time out there for most at the moment and until it turns round we have to be understanding towards our customers, afterall without them we'd be skint too....

[LSB]

then i would do it every other month !

[lee_dewing]

One way i look at this is; would my round be better if all my customers were like this one or worse; if worse then get rid.

It is hard i know to confront people but you could just post em a note saying sorry but you only run a monthly service and you have a waiting list, if you do not hear back you will take that as a cancelled.

I have a few bi-monthly's but they are £30 + house and are on their own not in a street where i do a few together.

It's your call but as Tosh said they are worth less, or worthless.
Tell em it's twice the cost; every other time as windows are double dirty 

[Richard iSparkle]

People are skint, lots of them are anyway and are looking to save money, it's going to happen to all of us sooner or later, i'd stick with it incase you lose a load more.

i dont find people are skint.  if you think this then you really will get yourself into trouble.

also, one previous comment about 'they're moving house because they've got no money'.  thats an assumption.  unless theyve told you that, they may well be moving to a larger, more expensive house.

read in one of my business books, the best thing to do in a recession is to put up your prices.  it said many people will drop their prices and get themselves into more trouble because of it.  raise your prices and offer a fantastic service, keep your best clients, and the ones you loose, replace with clients on the
right price.

Great help, read one of my business books, but I dont know what its called, I guess it must of been must of been a cracker!

I could list loads of companies that have gone bust in the last two years, a huge amount of commercial places I clean have put their staff on 3 or 4 day weeks, all the high street is struggling like heck to keep overheads down, not to mention all the cuts the government are about to hit us with add to that the price of crude which is rocketing again, so we will all be forking out more for everything. Fair to say not everyone is skint but if someone says I need to go 2 monthly instead of monthly I think you just need to accept that it is a tough time out there for most at the moment and until it turns round we have to be understanding towards our customers, afterall without them we'd be skint too....

the point is that if your costs are going up, your profit margins are shrinking, so the last thing you should do is lower your prices.  if you let people go to half the frequency at half the cost you're taking a hit.  if their neighbours that you clean find out you could well loose more this way.  why wouldn't they?  you're making it a no brainer for them.  by allowing them to go 2 monthly at no extra cost, despite the extra time it takes you, and the despite the impact on your monthly income, you are reducing your profit.  exactly what you don't want to do.  if you concentrate on your best customers, the ones that have got the money to pay you'll retain a healthier business.

i lost a customer myself this way, she wanted 8 weekly, we said that'd be £19.00  (she was £13 4 weekly) she said no i want to pay the same price.  but that's fine.  if she want our service, which we believe is the best in the area, she has to pay a couple of extra quid.  if she wants cheaper then she can try to find it.  i picked up 5 new custies last week on our current prices so there's plenty of work there

[Mike_G]

Richard I do understand your point of view but sometimes I feel we need to be a bit more sympathetic towards our customers, if they are nothing but messers and are the not today thanks type then I'd say its fine to dump them but on the other hand if they have always been a good customer who perhaps tips you at Christmas and offers a cuppa etc etc who by no fault of their own has fallen on hard times, lost jobs etc then I reckon the least we could do is let them go to bi-monthly without putting up the money

[SunShineCleaning]

People are skint, lots of them are anyway and are looking to save money, it's going to happen to all of us sooner or later, i'd stick with it incase you lose a load more.

i dont find people are skint.  if you think this then you really will get yourself into trouble.

also, one previous comment about 'they're moving house because they've got no money'.  thats an assumption.  unless theyve told you that, they may well be moving to a larger, more expensive house.

read in one of my business books, the best thing to do in a recession is to put up your prices.  it said many people will drop their prices and get themselves into more trouble because of it.  raise your prices and offer a fantastic service, keep your best clients, and the ones you loose, replace with clients on the
right price.

Good advice, the best customers are those that dont feel the pinch of a resession.

[Richard iSparkle]

Richard I do understand your point of view but sometimes I feel we need to be a bit more sympathetic towards our customers, if they are nothing but messers and are the not today thanks type then I'd say its fine to dump them but on the other hand if they have always been a good customer who perhaps tips you at Christmas and offers a cuppa etc etc who by no fault of their own has fallen on hard times, lost jobs etc then I reckon the least we could do is let them go to bi-monthly without putting up the money

hi mike,

to me i feel that i'm helping them out by giving them the option of 8 weekly, but it has to be on my terms so that i;m not loosing out by doing it.  i see my role in the business as looking after the business.  and business is only a business if it s making profit.

another point is that window cleaning is such a low cost service to start with.  it's incredibly cheap if you consider other services.  we're talking about a couple of quid a week for our clients.  if they are that hard up that they cant afford this...  then we're not really doing them a favour.

but maybe we've got different aims in our business.  i need to people to run all parts of mine without me, and i need to grow thru VAT registration which will really hit my profit margins.  i also have 4 staff who i really want to look after too, so i need to keep making a good profit.

its very kind to cut your profit to help your clients, i just dont think its very good for your business and your livelihood.

[sam125]

Not being funny Richard how can you have 4 staff and not be at the Vat threshold already.

[geefree]

It does wind us up,

but they are cutting costs which is up to them really,

You coud tell them its £3.00 more if every two months,... to make yourself feel better, and chances are, they will cancel you altogether,

You have to expect this in these hard times,..much better to carry on cleaning every two months , at the same price with a smile,

Chances are when things pick up she will go back to monthly.

We are all in this together. 

[londoncleaners]

We had same thing. We add 5 pound to every bimonthly clean, whatever the reason.
Some we win some we lose. It's really as straight as that. In our case we don't lose many at all

[Richard iSparkle]

Not being funny Richard how can you have 4 staff and not be at the Vat threshold already.

good question!  3 are part time, one a leafleter, one a young girl on admin, one WC and one FT office manager.  i've got 2 separate businesses.  if you combined the income of both i would need to be VAT registered

[Richard iSparkle]

We had same thing. We add 5 pound to every bimonthly clean, whatever the reason.
Some we win some we lose. It's really as straight as that. In our case we don't lose many at all

that sounds a good system.  ours is more variable as a percentage of the clean.  something like 25% extra, but should be higher really.  will change it when i give it more thought...

[Mike_G]

My aim is to provide a good service to my customers, the ones that value my service I am more than happy to look after, if they need to go 2 monthly instead of monthly I really dont mind. I'd rather do it 2 monthly than not do it at all. I look at it perhaps in a different way it seems to many who use this forum, without customers I would be on the dole or perhaps working for someone else, not myself, I wouldn't enjoy the life I do now, and I wouldn't be able to pay my mortgage etc etc, so I value each customer pretty much the same because without them where would I be. They do not have to have their windows cleaned by me but they choose to and I appreciate that.

[Richard iSparkle]

My aim is to provide a good service to my customers, the ones that value my service I am more than happy to look after, if they need to go 2 monthly instead of monthly I really dont mind. I'd rather do it 2 monthly than not do it at all. I look at it perhaps in a different way it seems to many who use this forum, without customers I would be on the dole or perhaps working for someone else, not myself, I wouldn't enjoy the life I do now, and I wouldn't be able to pay my mortgage etc etc, so I value each customer pretty much the same because without them where would I be. They do not have to have their windows cleaned by me but they choose to and I appreciate that.

hi mike,

if your system works for you then that's great.  we all have our own reasons for working as WCs and the reasons why we like it.  so in your circumstances it is possibly right to do things your way.  for me i want to earn as much many as possible and have as easy life as possible.  the easy life includes having happy loyal customers!