Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Andyman on October 27, 2010, 12:17:14 pm
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I like to look after the people that 'put the kettle on' when we turn up, & when one such lady said that she wanted to go to 'every other time' as she wanted to cut down to save more for holidays, I reluctantly agreed despite this causing problems in the past
Next visit, her next door neighbour asked to go every other time also, and another neighbour over the road shouted over "leave me out this time & make it every other time in future". I said "no" to stop the rot right away
My policy is that unless there is a good reason i.e. the house is about to be painted, I do not keep customers that try to 'cancel this time' without warning. I only have regulars, that I look after, & cannot replace the lost income that day. What if a number of people did it? They should appreciate that. Moreover, we wipe over the frames & it's more work every 10/12 weeks than every 5/6
It doesn't happen that often, but I should be really interested to hear how others deal with this
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Yes its a problem, but money may be tight, would you rather have half the money or none?
I tried many ways to get round this and finally decided that the only way to deal with it was to price every new customer as a 'one-off' or 'irregular'. So you would price up with the time involved for a 10 week or one-off clean.
Next price increase bear this in mind.
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I like to look after the people that 'put the kettle on' when we turn up, & when one such lady said that she wanted to go to 'every other time' as she wanted to cut down to save more for holidays, I reluctantly agreed despite this causing problems in the past
Next visit, her next door neighbour asked to go every other time also, and another neighbour over the road shouted over "leave me out this time & make it every other time in future". I said "no" to stop the rot right away
My policy is that unless there is a good reason i.e. the house is about to be painted, I do not keep customers that try to 'cancel this time' without warning. I only have regulars, that I look after, & cannot replace the lost income that day. What if a number of people did it? They should appreciate that. Moreover, we wipe over the frames & it's more work every 10/12 weeks than every 5/6
It doesn't happen that often, but I should be really interested to hear how others deal with this
This is precisely why I try to avoid this because neighbours do talk about such things. They already get a 6 weekly service from me that sometimes takes longer. Clearly your customers have discussed this already. I normally only do this for much larger jobs. An "every other timer" could take as long as four months at certain times of the year.
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charge 50% more per clean for every other time, thats what we do
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i do 4 weekly or 8 weekly only for domestics, 8 weekly costs extra, sod doing 6 or 12 weekly I would need 50 percent more custys for that!
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best not to get too chummy with Any customer. then less chance of them taking advantage ,its human nature . im only chattily friendly on my first visit after that i get straight on with my work and decline tea
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The way I see it is
A = Accept it as some money is better than none
B = No and run risk of cancellation
C= Yes and charge couple of quid more
cant see any other option ?? ?? ??
Ive had this a few times and whilst annoying now not taking it personally - which I was.
Now I just say yes you can but it will be £xx amount more
however got one customer due next week who was £12 every 4 weeks and at the time I offered £14 every 8 weeks but they said no we want them every 4 weeks so done them 3 times so far but last month when they sent cheque they had wrote a note asking me to go to 8 weeks so will see what they say when I leave invoice for 8 weeks @ £14 ... they did put Dear Sir though ;D
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Unless a custy has a very good reason, we cancel their account. In the past, I've seen it spread from neighbour to neighbour. So we just replace them with a new custy. It's hard enough keeping up with regular work without making it complicated. If a custy can't afford us, tough titty. I hope this doesn't sound stroppy, but why suffer that crap?
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Unless a custy has a very good reason, we cancel their account. In the past, I've seen it spread from neighbour to neighbour. So we just replace them with a new custy. It's hard enough keeping up with regular work without making it complicated. If a custy can't afford us, tough titty. I hope this doesn't sound stroppy, but why suffer that crap?
I think a lot depends on how full your round is ... if like Cozy you got a full bulging round then you dont have to be as accomerdating as someone whos only got half a round .. ive got half a round so still being flexable at the moment however when im full prob drop em like cozy does ;D ...
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I have a six-weekly and twelve-weekly price (50% more). It's on my leaflet and my website so they can't tell me they don't know. If they miss once, that's fine. If it's more than that, I move them onto the twelve-weekly price.
Vin
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I had a "its winter time so leave me out" today ... not even see you in the spring :o however do another 5 on the same street so looking foward to next year when she says can you start doing mine again ... my aim is to be so full by next spring that I wont be able to fit her in or if I do it will be at 50% more than this years price :)
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I think Cozy has a point with the 2 replace 1 rule.....
The only thing that can be done with those who say skip until spring is say yes really....
but in the mean time go get 2 more and then come spring...take them back on but with an increased new customer price or release them back into the wild...
Nobody likes it but customers are like that...they are just human too...
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i just grin and bear it, ive lost a few custs when ive tried to increase the price for the longer interval. unless i wanted rid of them anyway.
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best not to get too chummy with Any customer. then less chance of them taking advantage ,its human nature . im only chattily friendly on my first visit after that i get straight on with my work and decline tea
I made that mistake too.
I make sure that it's on a firmer business footing these days. It can be hard to backtrack though with customers where the boundaries have already become a bit fuzzy.
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ad 2 yesterday do the small
ones heavily pregnant n ova ones her
nan so ad to bite ma lip
excellent custys too
the nans minted just goes to show
even them wiv money r tightening their belts :( :( :(
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Over time I have picked up quite a few customers because I offer flexible times. One this week, next door to an existing customer. She cancelled her window cleaner and went with me on 8 weeks because her existing WC wouldn't do it.
Customers do talk and it can work in your favour as well as against you. Most windows don't need cleaning every 4 weeks.
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Miss us out this time - "No. Sorry, I don't work on that basis - I've got so much work that I need to be able to schedule ahead."
May I go to every 8 weeks? "Of course sir, that will be at the new rate of £XX as I will have two month's worth of dirt and baked on birds muck to remove, I hope you understand."
I'm not completely rigid mind; if someone has building work or they come clean and tell me they've lost their job or they are an easy custy that recommends me then I will try to be a bit flexible. It's being told without warning that gets a sharp response.
- Malc of the "stacked out with work class"
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. Most windows don't need cleaning every 4 weeks.
i beg to differ .this is looking at it through mans eyes. females see the dirt more and they are the majority. im slowly making all my round 6 weekly max and often hear those 6weeklies say, "werent they filthy" when i personally thought they looked very clean,from the outside . of course i agree with them "yes,very very dirty "
if ever i get into a chat with a customer i mention how im working flat out and how iv got several WEEKLY customers . this is my way of making them realize deep down ,how TOTALLY RIDICULOUS it is to ask the window cleaner to come every other month ,or longer
now and then i will throw in an amusing story into the conver about how challenging a particular customer(often Indian) has been ,with a moral to the story that if im pushed too much i never will go back.
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Altho its a pain ive never really found this a problem and it doesnt really effect income, well ive never found it to as we have lots of work anyway unless its outta your way. But i havent gone out of my way and been stopped.
Just accept and move on and do next month.
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now and then i will throw in an amusing story into the conver about how challenging a particular customer(often Indian) has been ,with a moral to the story that if im pushed too much i never will go back.
;D Do you do the voice too?
Seriously though, you could offend them talking like that. Unless all your customers are Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson types.
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Ian - i understand what you say, but being in the developing stage doesnt mean you should let
people take advantage of you. - i'm sure most of us have let custy's get away with cancellations
or doing extras for littl/no money, thankfully i have learned over time to be professional and inform the
custy that EOT will be + 50% - so far so good either take that or go er.. ok leave as is.
I have not quite mastered the on the day cancellation i tend to get tongue tied and dont push the 'regular service' as per Gold - but i will work on it.
if it's building work/holiday and told in advance then i am happy to miss '1'
all new custy's get a 4 wk & 8 wk price before taking them on - makes it clearer and easier
Darran
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> I like that post bobby P! I'm going to use those points.
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I CHARGE 50% MORE FOR 8 WEEKLY OTHERWISE EVERYONE COULD JUMP ON IT AND BEFORE U KNOW IT YOU HAVE LOST HALF YOUR MONTHLY INCOME...I MAY LET BIGGER ISOLATED PROPERTYS GET AWAY WITH IT BUT NOT COMPACT WORK.
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Bobby p you make some good points especially to do with being too friendly with custy's.
You say about 6 week max with your round; i guess that you currently eeking out the frequency.
I'm in a pickle myself, i can't make my mind up what to do regards frequency, when i started i said monthly but now tell custy's it can take 5 weeks.
I now have custy's saying see you in 6 weeks, some say next month!
I try to correct them but feel as though i'm wasting my breath.
I'm saying this because i want to canvass for more custie and don't quite know what to say regarding frequency?
wondered what everyone's thoughts are.
lee
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now and then i will throw in an amusing story into the conver about how challenging a particular customer(often Indian) has been ,with a moral to the story that if im pushed too much i never will go back.
;D Do you do the voice too?
Seriously though, you could offend them talking like that. Unless all your customers are Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson types.
lol about the voice, ;D . its strange how whenever a foreign person is rude to us we tar them all with the stick (ive done it myself) then i try and remember how many nice muslim, indian, pakistani, custys i have!
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Yes its a problem, but money may be tight, would you rather have half the money or none?
I tried many ways to get round this and finally decided that the only way to deal with it was to price every new customer as a 'one-off' or 'irregular'. So you would price up with the time involved for a 10 week or one-off clean.
Next price increase bear this in mind.
how do u manage to attract new business at those rates though mate i dont think i would get any regular business if i were to price like that as much as i wish i could.
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i try and stick to 8 weeks, and charge more, say average £20. but then you run the risk of being undercut.