Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Sean Dyer on October 21, 2010, 08:01:38 pm
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I was thinking the other day anyone tried to get customers to sign up
ie, if they are a 4 weekly custy to sign up to pay on 1st of every month standing order and you guarantee 12 clean per year ,
any not done you just refund or throw in a free clean or something , theres obviously issues but it is alot better than constantly chasing payments
Anyone tried it??
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It would definitely be a better option but at the end of the day, it's all about educating customers.
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Bob Plum was looking into it a while back but not sure how he went with it ??
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what if you lose time becasue of the weather, holidays, can u guarantee 12 cleans a year
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what if you lose time becasue of the weather, holidays, can u guarantee 12 cleans a year
I've been investigating this and the way I'm thinking is that you agree an amount based on current cost per clean.
Standing order is arranged so that they are always just in arrears for customer confidence reasons (therefore needs to be phased in for cashflow's sake).
At end of year or when they stop being a customer, they get a statement of account (you made x payments of £y and received z cleans) and a cheque if one's due.
Not sure about all being on same date in month, as that causes cashflow headaches as well.
Still in the thinking out stage so keen to hear any thoughts.
Vin
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what if you lose time becasue of the weather, holidays, can u guarantee 12 cleans a year
i reckon so , it would definitely be an incentive to make sure you did, having the money there every week/month!
even if i just had 50% it at least guarantees a steady income , you can defintely guarantee 1/2 your custys!
but lets say you miss one clean, just refund, it was never your money to start with
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what if you lose time becasue of the weather, holidays, can u guarantee 12 cleans a year
I've been investigating this and the way I'm thinking is that you agree an amount based on current cost per clean.
Standing order is arranged so that they are always just in arrears for customer confidence reasons (therefore needs to be phased in for cashflow's sake).
At end of year or when they stop being a customer, they get a statement of account (you made x payments of £y and received z cleans) and a cheque if one's due.
Not sure about all being on same date in month, as that causes cashflow headaches as well.
Still in the thinking out stage so keen to hear any thoughts.
Vin
I was thinking it would have to be a week in arrears too, as then they can cancel without owing etc and have to give notice etc
should stop the not today crowd too!
it defintely needs thinking through and given a go as it beats the hell out of waiting for money , gonna implement it in some way in the new year i think
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u might as well set up a service plan, x amount per month in return for x window cleaners and a gutter cleaner a year
u have got to make the custy think there is something in it for them and why they should go on to something to make ur life easier
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I was thinking it would have to be a week in arrears too, as then they can cancel without owing etc and have to give notice etc
should stop the not today crowd too!
it defintely needs thinking through and given a go as it beats the hell out of waiting for money , gonna implement it in some way in the new year i think
I think one of the big benefits would be that it stops the custy seeing the cash go out every time you visit. Write a cheque every six weeks and you begin to notice it stacking up. Ditto handing over cash. I think it makes them much less likely to stop you.
Also, once the admin is set up, you're not messing about banking and accounting for cash and cheques all the time.
I investigated Direct Debits but gave up - the banks may be phasing out cheques but they are not keen on making it easy to get cash in other ways...
Vin
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u might as well set up a service plan, x amount per month in return for x window cleaners and a gutter cleaner a year
u have got to make the custy think there is something in it for them and why they should go on to something to make ur life easier
I like that.
One benefit might be "No price increases for two years if you sign up". "No more fishing for cash/cheque book every time we visit" might be another.
Vin
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u might as well set up a service plan, x amount per month in return for x window cleaners and a gutter cleaner a year
u have got to make the custy think there is something in it for them and why they should go on to something to make ur life easier
I like that.
One benefit might be "No price increases for two years if you sign up". "No more fishing for cash/cheque book every time we visit" might be another.
Vin
You could also offer a small discount for signing-up.
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i was looking at moving to 6 weeks cleans do 8 a year then
8 x £10 per clean = 80 80/12 = 6.66 a month, so custy thinks the wc only cost 6/7 per month, it might not sound like a lot, but if you get say 300 custy to sign up on the monthly then it could be 300 x 6.66 = 1998 going in to your bank every month, with no collecting
thats the idea anyway
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i was looking at moving to 6 weeks cleans do 8 a year then
8 x £10 per clean = 80 80/12 = 6.66 a month, so custy thinks the wc only cost 6/7 per month, it might not sound like a lot, but if you get say 300 custy to sign up on the monthly then it could be 300 x 6.66 = 1998 going in to your bank every month, with no collecting
thats the idea anyway
If you move from 4 weekly to 6 you would be out of pocket. From 8 to 6 ok.
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true, but i was just trying to give examples
if my wc wanted me to go on standing order, i would want a set day per month and a free clean a year
so it could work out like
£10 x 11 cleans a year £110/12 = 9 a month 300 x 9 = 2700 a month
£8 x 11 cleans a year £88/12 = 7 a month 300 x 9 = 2100
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exactly doesnt make sense
i will get 12 cleans in a year i wil have 4 full days so easy done, and 4 weeks to play with
why free cleans, they just get to make easier payment, i dont understand why theyd be bothered but depends on your customers, mine arnt all skint, council then no way but decent people can afford a 10 - 15 a month payment
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If you give a discount of say 10% on a 4 weekly £10 clean then it would equate to roughly a free clean every year.
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i find that the council have more cash down here than the private houses, but that might just be cornwall
if i was a custy and the wc said i want u to go on standing orders to make my life easier, i would want to know what was in it for me, as in my mind i would be thinking what if he doesnt turn up he is getting money for nothing, plus if i dont want it dont that month, then i can say not this month mate,
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then theyre rubbish custys, i am hoping to get 50 % min on board, but i cant see why people wouldnt want too, everything else is, mobile, tele, broadband, load of other services, window cleaning shouldnt be any different unless you let em
I will prob combine it with price rise and those that dont want it will get extra rise for added ball ache of collecting / leaving saes, and stricter on late payments.. time to weed the pitas and make life easier!
sick of seeing bigger balances on my debt list than bank...
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how many custy you hoping to get on it,
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I was thinking the other day anyone tried to get customers to sign up
ie, if they are a 4 weekly custy to sign up to pay on 1st of every month standing order and you guarantee 12 clean per year ,
any not done you just refund or throw in a free clean or something , theres obviously issues but it is alot better than constantly chasing payments
Anyone tried it??
sean just do it pick a area or a days work and concentrate on that give them your bank account details etc tell them the reason your not collecting is to keep the cost down
i do the refund/free clean bit ive got roughly 60% doing it its saved a lot of collecting
bob
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good lad, i new someone must be doing it
how good for cash flow is that!
How did you go about getting them on board? were they understanding?
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how many custy you hoping to get on it,
about 50 % + like bob says he has 60 , i reckon thats reasonable so long as the rest pay quick , if not i will have an excuse too late charge
Cheques will be phased out one day , so theres another excuse/motive to get ahead with alternatives now, so's are great as it takes the customers forgetfulness out of the equation
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if i was a custy and the wc said i want u to go on standing orders to make my life easier, i would want to know what was in it for me, as in my mind i would be thinking what if he doesnt turn up he is getting money for nothing, plus if i dont want it dont that month, then i can say not this month mate,
Yes, if you present it as a benefit for you they have good reason to say "no". Present it as a benefit to them and more will say "yes".
Such as:
1. You won't have to look for your cheque book and walk to the post box or scrabble around for the cash every six weeks when I visit
2. Pay by Standing Order and your prices are fixed for two years
You're giving nothing away and, frankly, even if only 10% say "yes" it's worth it.
Vin
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if i was a custy and the wc said i want u to go on standing orders to make my life easier, i would want to know what was in it for me, as in my mind i would be thinking what if he doesnt turn up he is getting money for nothing, plus if i dont want it dont that month, then i can say not this month mate,
Yes, if you present it as a benefit for you they have good reason to say "no". Present it as a benefit to them and more will say "yes".
Such as:
1. You won't have to look for your cheque book and walk to the post box or scrabble around for the cash every six weeks when I visit
2. Pay by Standing Order and your prices are fixed for two years
You're giving nothing away and, frankly, even if only 10% say "yes" it's worth it.
Vin
100% agree there
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if i was a custy and the wc said i want u to go on standing orders to make my life easier, i would want to know what was in it for me, as in my mind i would be thinking what if he doesnt turn up he is getting money for nothing, plus if i dont want it dont that month, then i can say not this month mate,
Yes, if you present it as a benefit for you they have good reason to say "no". Present it as a benefit to them and more will say "yes".
Such as:
1. You won't have to look for your cheque book and walk to the post box or scrabble around for the cash every six weeks when I visit
2. Pay by Standing Order and your prices are fixed for two years
You're giving nothing away and, frankly, even if only 10% say "yes" it's worth it.
Vin
100% agree there
Most of my customers now expect me to accept direct debits (very expensive) and are happy to go standing order.
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im going to do this too still thinking about when to start cos everything is kinda smooth right now but i know it will be better with standing order,
Its easy
keep track of payments end of year give them the difference back in cleans/money
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boys standing orders no no
us windys work on 13 4weekly cleans a year
so they will always be owing you a clean or you will
av to divide cleans by etc???? to find your owing money
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I clean 6 weekly. With four weeks holiday a year, that's eight cleans exactly. Works for me.
Don't you ever have a break?
Vin
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try not too nearly perfect vin mrs does though ;D ;D
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if you get stuck with weather etc, could you not do it by month in arreas?
clean this month get paid on the 1st of next month and so on? or end of next month? i know its a long wait but once up and running it will still bring in a constant flow of money every month.
i pay my accountant by standing order and she has everyone pay on the 5th of each month in advance .. how nice would that be
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thats not a bad idea dave ie work oct and every one pays on the 1st of nov, take a few months to sort but i can see how that would work
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I take a few standing orders and funnily enough the estates they live on never fall behind as it would annoy me if I owed them money, but it does mean they get cleaned rain or shine
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boys standing orders no no
us windys work on 13 4weekly cleans a year
so they will always be owing you a clean or you will
av to divide cleans by etc???? to find your owing money
you do 13 x 4 weekly , that means you never have a week off??
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sean wiv 3 kids n a mrs do u think i
wanna be a home m8
i need 3ton a wk to pay our bills lad
aint ad a holiday in yrs she as wiv kids im
here grafting m8 ;) ;)
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hi guys
85% of my custies pay by standing order n have done for just coming up for 4yrs now n its Gr8, couple probs 2 start wiv but sorted now ??? ;D
we guarantee 13 cleans a yr n most banks dont do 4wkly payments so we told custies to do this simple sum... hse price x13 divide by 12 = payment
£10 Hse x13 = £130,,, 12 payments,,,, = £10.83 simples, we also do online banking and cash, dont like cheques got go 2 bank wiv them!!!
its saved me around £9.000. yr on fuel, wages n time
cant put it all in2 words but if u want some pointers i will giv u by email my mob number, just gona c if got rite email add but shore it is
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nice one andy , i wouldnt mind picking your brains about it
Will email you
cheers
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sean wiv 3 kids n a mrs do u think i
wanna be a home m8
i need 3ton a wk to pay our bills lad
aint ad a holiday in yrs she as wiv kids im
here grafting m8 ;) ;)
now come on gav lol - tell the truth .... 9am to 2pm ... not a days work lol
the mans getting on a bit so need his kip at 2.30
has to work the sat to make his hours up ;D
and he has a helper lol