[bobplum]

Have two older gals on my round(sister in laws),insist on the squeegee,£8.00 one and £9.00 the other both large bungalows,one has a conservatory and too a certain extent would have carried on,even thou i now hate any squeegee work but when i cleaned in December and they both stood waiting for the £1 and £2.00 change i just thought that is it,it takes me twice as long as any other clean(wfp work)
come today's clean i was just going to get the squeegee out.i stood at the back off the van and thought........f**k it....
knocked and the door and very politely told her pole or nothing(knowing she hated the pole system when i first got it and cleaned there houses) she said squeegee i said bon voyage."oh and can you tell your sis in law for me as well please"..and boy do i feel gooooooddddd

i know have the scent in my nostrils there's no stopping me know

oh and they are not poor either,believe me

[Michael Peterson]

lol its hard to get rid of those first ones

[Ian101]

just dont go too far the other way and bin your entire list 

[Tom White]

Some customer's are mental; wfp does a brilliant job of conservatories - even all the white PVC; and sometimes depending on the type of conservatory, there's a lot of it.

I dislike culling those pain-in-the-bottom jobs but they're lovely customers, but I have done already this year.  Makes me feel guilty, but not guilty enough to keep doing them.

[paul marshall]

go for it bob lad 

[AuRavelling79]

Yup! Binned a "not this time" (after watching me pull 25 metres of hose round the back of his underpriced house, porch and conny) last week.

Him: "Happy new year to you; leave it this time old sport; we'll have you next month"

Me: "I'm afraid that will be permanently if I do"

Him: "No need to be like that, I said you could do them next month"

Me: "Hmm, let me think ... right I've thunk! I'd rather call it quits and say good bye."

[rosskesava]

During November a customer specifically asked if her windows could be cleaned on morning of the 23rd December as she had family coming, etc, etc.

I get there at 10am and she's says sorry, but she's a house full of kids with the sh... and being sick. I'd gone out my way to be there and it was a bit inconvenient for me and I'd said I'd be there and I was.

When I started to say but we arranged...... she just said sorry, and shut the door.

This lady is a good payer, has been a customer for 3 years, and the job was about 90 mins - 2 hours and £70.

Not only do I not like having a door shut in my face but having had kids myself, hers was hardly a life and death situation.

I phoned her on the 3rd of Jan and said my piece and good bye. She wasn't happy about it and couldn't understand my reasons for dumping her.

Strange thing is, although a £70 job and an otherwise good customer is not nice to loose, I strangely felt good about it.

Forward to last Saturday. A smallish job and a £15 customer said it looks like rain, I said yes it does doesn't it. He says maybe leave the windows and I said thank you for your past custom and that was it. Dumped.

Go back a few months and I would have acted differently. This year, 2013, has a very different feel to it from last year so maybe it's that, who knows but on both occasions, I felt I'd achieved something. What, I don't know, but I'm happy with the action I took.

I think there'll also be a few more 'ex customers' over the next few weeks.

[robertphil]

i find its best to set aside an hour for the cull , look down the list slowly and carefully  tapping each name with a pentip and then i dont miss any out .  last november i got rid of about 30 in one evening and still feel good about it. 

[bobplum]

i think its all about the ................POWER( and that there is a sadistic streak in all of us)

i just cant be bothered with some customers i am not a fooking tap to be turned on or off

[Ian101]

i think its all about the ................POWER( and that there is a sadistic streak in all of us)

i just cant be bothered with some customers i am not a fooking tap to be turned on or off

all about income V time ... earning the most for the least time and hassle

deep down we all know the ones that need to be upped in price or removed.

never tolerated non payers as dont like to work without being paid ... takes a while to suss em out but then collect outstanding even if its 8.30am on a Saturday then dont go back.

however before binning any non payers these days I would offer a standing order facility but the ones i binned early days were scrotes so prob wouldnt have worked.

[Window Washers]

i think its all about the ................POWER( and that there is a sadistic streak in all of us)

i just cant be bothered with some customers i am not a fooking tap to be turned on or off

all about income V time ... earning the most for the least time and hassle

deep down we all know the ones that need to be upped in price or removed.

never tolerated non payers as dont like to work without being paid ... takes a while to suss em out but then collect outstanding even if its 8.30am on a Saturday then dont go back.

however before binning any non payers these days I would offer a standing order facility but the ones i binned early days were scrotes so prob wouldnt have worked.

trying to second guess what people would or would not do is madness, because the ones you think that will not, surprise you and viceversa.

never just dump a customer (not aimed at you) in general its very short sighted.

if they annoy you, let them cancel via price increase (because if they dont, you earn more) simples 

[Ian101]

i think its all about the ................POWER( and that there is a sadistic streak in all of us)

i just cant be bothered with some customers i am not a fooking tap to be turned on or off

all about income V time ... earning the most for the least time and hassle

deep down we all know the ones that need to be upped in price or removed.

never tolerated non payers as dont like to work without being paid ... takes a while to suss em out but then collect outstanding even if its 8.30am on a Saturday then dont go back.

however before binning any non payers these days I would offer a standing order facility but the ones i binned early days were scrotes so prob wouldnt have worked.

trying to second guess what people would or would not do is madness, because the ones you think that will not, surprise you and viceversa.

never just dump a customer (not aimed at you) in general its very short sighted.

if they annoy you, let them cancel via price increase (because if they dont, you earn more) simples 

agree ... its in my signature line 

[roundbuilder]

Thats exactly what i do ian. Never just drop a customer, it makes you look unreliable and will minimize recomendations etc. put them up £2.50 if regular offenders. Anyone who owes me 3+ cleans dont get dropped they just get collected from, a lot simply wont pay online or cheque and i accept this that to run smooth i need to sometimes collect. It doesnt make them a bad customer. The customers i think are bad are the ones who say leave it this month on a regular basis  or the ones who ask for twice a year etc. these i put up.

[Johnny B]

Here in Ireland people mess you about for fun.

I am looking for 500 good reliable customers. At present I have 355 on the books, about 60% of whom afine. The remainder are all either one-offs or will phone me when needed, not a problem at present with the way I work.

The ones I will cull will be the ones who give me the runaround when paying or persistent 'not todays'. 

Once I have 500 good ones, I will weed out the worst one by one and keep refining.

John.

[bobplum]

another one culled today

first clean in November,we agreed a 2 month clean i turned up today weather was very good a bit cold but nice and sunny......"with all this snow coming leave it to next month".....Not a problem. .........press delete.......move on

I appreciate we all have different views and methods but i refuse to be fooked about and more or less told when to clean,i dont do on call/ adhoc / when it suits me cleaning