Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: richard jagger on February 03, 2011, 02:37:58 pm
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I so often here of custies been dumped by windies which might sound smart and a way of getting your own back on bad payer or just custies who dont play the game But I think it is short sighted and not good for our industry.
I feel it would be a lot more effective to go nock on the custies door and tell them you are going to dump them and why. If we all did this it would not be to long before the custies would change there ways.
Just dumping them achieves nothing accept to tell the custy that we are unreliable and don’t to be trusted or respected because they don not know what have down wrong.
The same applies when a custy cancelled for not reason. WE the start to feel rejected and try to understand what we have don’t to loose there business.
We need to have some professional courage to be honest with them. They will respect you for it. If this was doing consistently and persistently we would be on the road to becoming a profession...
??? 8) :o :o
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If the window cleaner is so fed up with a customer he just doesn't go back, I think 99 times out of 100, the customer knows exactly why it's happened. I have just dropped a few and not told them, they know the reasons well enough.
I agree with you if it's a case of poor paying work. You should tell them the reason, same for work too far away etc. But if the customer is a major pain, I have just left them to it.
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I have been to a customer today that I phoned last night to leave the gate open (and spoke to her). When I got there the gate was locked. This is the second time it has happened in three visits. What do I do?
If I dump her she won't care, she lives on a busy road in a wealthy suburb. Window cleaners are like buses, theres always another along shortly. She won't change her ways. I either put up with it or I don't.
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I have had three customers cancel during the past 12 months and refuse point blank to give any explanation.
I said to one guy. "look, if there is any problem at least give me a chance to either address it, or learn from it . No, I'm not giving you any explanation".
I had cleaned this guys windows for 16 years.
There is a hard core of older customers that don't think they are getting value for money with WFP. OK the windows and frames are clean, but they don't like paying £6 for 10 mins work. They prefer to see someone performing monkey tricks off the top of a ladder, and they can examine each pane as you do them in case you have left the slightest blemish.
If someone hasn't bothered to pay me in 3 months, I don't owe them an explanation either.
If I drop them I would rather save the explanation for their neighbours.
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i dont agree wizkid!!i have in the past gave some messers another chance and they start again after a few months(bad payers!!)so no not for me.they can go and mess someone else about!!
im just not interested as i have a full round.
dazmond
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Agree with all the answers so far. The thing is, it's easier to get custies than it is to get a window cleaner. There are millions of potential custies out there, so if one or two don't fit into the system, it's best to replace them. Never "Dump", always "Replace".
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I so often here of custies been dumped by windies which might sound smart and a way of getting your own back on bad payer or just custies who dont play the game But I think it is short sighted and not good for our industry.
I feel it would be a lot more effective to go nock on the custies door and tell them you are going to dump them and why. If we all did this it would not be to long before the custies would change there ways.
Just dumping them achieves nothing accept to tell the custy that we are unreliable and don’t to be trusted or respected because they don not know what have down wrong.
The same applies when a custy cancelled for not reason. WE the start to feel rejected and try to understand what we have don’t to loose there business.
We need to have some professional courage to be honest with them. They will respect you for it. If this was doing consistently and persistently we would be on the road to becoming a profession...
??? 8) :o :o
how long have you been cleaning
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The same applies when a custy cancelled for not reason. WE the start to feel rejected and try to understand
??? 8) :o :o
NEVER ever try to understand a customer cos it will do your head in .... whether cleaning windows or selling cars (previous life) I didnt care if they dealt with me or not ... if they dumped me then so be it just used to go and find another customer .... and it worked for me as i was a good well actually a great car salesman and getting to be a good window cleaner operator :)
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Plumb bob what difference does it make how long I have cleaned windows for .So I can be can called a Muppet as so many are call if they provoke challenging debate or thought.
Anyway I have been at it for 5 successful years. This window cleaning job is my retirement job. I have worked as business coach in the service industry for more years. I also spent 3 years at uni studying business management I wrote my thesis in on small business, marketing and l business practice and procedure. Business construction. So I do thing I have a fair idea what I am taking about. I put this thread up to encourage a bit of lateral thinking on our industry. I have written on the subject on several times but maybe we are not quite ready to become professional yet. I will always write on this forum with intentions of helping us all in this industry
;D ;D 8)
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I feel it would be a lot more effective to go nock on the custies door and tell them you are going to dump them and why. If we all did this it would not be to long before the custies would change there ways.
What if they don`t answer the door? It happens, especially if they owe you money.
I try not to waste any more time and effort on some people; they don`t deserve it and they aren`t going to change. I don`t think that is unprofessional.
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Customers lie through their teeth, they'll rarely tell you the real reason why they dumped you. After a while you can guess who will mess you around, become a bad payer, do a runner and move out, etc, etc.
I never dump customers, always replace them. Only ever inform customers I'm stopping if they are all in close proximity or I clean a relative or friends house just to clarify there is no misunderstanding that I'm giving up window cleaning in other areas.. Slowly replacing town houses for larger, rural, country houses and manors, etc hence why they get replaced.
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Don’t clean widows of any one that you do not have a mobile number for, so you can text them if you have no guts and call if you have. That is more professional. Thinking of your industry more and not only of your self .That’s being professional.
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What if they don`t answer the door? It happens, especially if they owe you money.
You make sure you have all your customer's phone numbers; you then go around the corner and phone them.
I've done it; it was funny! ;D
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Wizard has some funny ideas.The business books tell you the customer is not always right. Just as you have the 80/20 rule,that you make 80% of your money from 20% of your customers, bad customers cost you money, and this is roughtly the same except the other way round.A great £30 customer can be processed successfully faster than an £8 customer who is determined that you should be given the run around.
When i started on this site i couldn't understand the three strike rule. Nor the w'cleaner who only worked for people he liked.My view was if they paid it didn't matter, work is work.I was wrong about this, and the w'cleaners who'd been going longer were right.
As regards being bad mouthed after dumping, well i think most of these customers will do this anyway.The thing is not to waste any more time on them than you have to.
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Plumb bob what difference does it make how long I have cleaned windows for .So I can be can called a Muppet as so many are call if they provoke challenging debate or thought.
Anyway I have been at it for 5 successful years. This window cleaning job is my retirement job. I have worked as business coach in the service industry for more years. I also spent 3 years at uni studying business management I wrote my thesis in on small business, marketing and l business practice and procedure. Business construction. So I do thing I have a fair idea what I am taking about. I put this thread up to encourage a bit of lateral thinking on our industry. I have written on the subject on several times but maybe we are not quite ready to become professional yet. I will always write on this forum with intentions of helping us all in this industry
;D ;D 8)
it can make a big difference on your outlook on life as we are products of life experiences,so if you have been cleaning 1 year your outlook will be different to someone who as 20 years experience.
after five years i would assume you would realize that with all good intentions you will never change people and they way they are i would say, with a cautious note, that better people than you have tried to change humanity and have failed.
"theres nowt as queer as folk" so i personally have given up trying to work out people.
i try to be professional in my approach,from uniforms,van,getting people to pay by bacs,internet,inform customers if we are running late etc etc but im sorry to say whizkid your here just to clean the windows.
im all for debate,i would defend everyones right to free speech and a right to express themselves in a non hurtful way to others but good luck in you goals :)
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I agree with the others, the customer knows exactly why they have been dumped. I will tell them if they ask but they usually don't and I have seen them in shops or while doing a neighbour etc, and word gets round that you will not put up with it and your regular good customers get better. I dumped one in a street of around 20 I do and some of the customers are rushing out to pay me before I have got out my van because they know the dumped customer messed me around with payments and not today etc.
Indeed my dad a window cleaner for the best part of 50 years made a point of doing it to at least one on every round so word got out not to mess him around.
I am a bit more easy going than him and do give them chances and allow for the odd excuse but sometimes enough is enough. I agree though if it is an area you are dumping because of travel then a call to explain is better for your reputation, but I usually try pass work on to someone local in these cases anyway.
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im about to drop a customer this wkend. she owes me from xmas and never remembered to text me that she had left my money in the ornamental frog. so this week i go there cleaning and i heard her arrive home,heard her say "oh god,its the window cleaner" at which she promptly disappeared
im going to pick up my 2 x money from that frog this satday and never see her again
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Plum I have read you thread with must concern what you are telling that one cannot change. Then if this is the case why do we bother to go to school or university or even change jots and move on the become a window cleaner if you did something else before. I have not desire to change people they can always work upright on two feet. But to influence and educate is a different matter, at all. We are not products of our past but could be slaves of our past. YES. We can grow and change our minds as human we are not dogs of horses that work by senses. Only if we are opening minded want to improve our lot .Accepting that we cannot change I guess would mean if |I was born in a slum, that’s were you stay. No Plum, cannot accept that friend.
If I influence only a few I would think it’s worth it
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In this business customers are a percentages game. You can't hold on to all of them. Over time you loose them and pick up more to replace them. There are good, bad any every possible variation in between.
Part of the skill is knowing when to recognise that its just not working out and get rid of them before they wear you down.
The customer is not always to blame, but by the same logic neither are you. Its just life.
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All am saying don’t dump,butt tell them why. The result might surprise most of us. But do dump if you have told the custy. It will have an effect and stop a lot of the crap. It makes the custy think what you are about. There are many custies it might work but the ones it does, will influence your the market.
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I dont think Wizkid is saying you shouldnt get rid of bad customers. I think he's saying we shouldn't just dump them and not tell them. We definately get rid of customers who cant fit into our way of working, wether its that they cant keep a gate open for our clean, or want to defer cleans... or dog dirt in the garden, but we always explain what's happened and our reasons. we give them the chance to change their behaviour. we do it nicely and professionally, and just explain in the end that we're not the right service for them.
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I dont think Wizkid is saying you shouldnt get rid of bad customers. I think he's saying we shouldn't just dump them and not tell them. We definately get rid of customers who cant fit into our way of working, wether its that they cant keep a gate open for our clean, or want to defer cleans... or dog dirt in the garden, but we always explain what's happened and our reasons. we give them the chance to change their behaviour. we do it nicely and professionally, and just explain in the end that we're not the right service for them.
Yes I get that and agree to a point but if the customer is hiding behind couches not pay a bill and is worth a small amount it is pointless, they are skint and can't pay so dump and move on. to waste time tracking them down is just causing you money and stress.
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Plum I have read you thread with must concern what you are telling that one cannot change. Then if this is the case why do we bother to go to school or university or even change jots and move on the become a window cleaner if you did something else before. I have not desire to change people they can always work upright on two feet. But to influence and educate is a different matter, at all. We are not products of our past but could be slaves of our past. YES. We can grow and change our minds as human we are not dogs of horses that work by senses. Only if we are opening minded want to improve our lot .Accepting that we cannot change I guess would mean if |I was born in a slum, that’s were you stay. No Plum, cannot accept that friend.
If I influence only a few I would think it’s worth it
"Children (and customers) have to be educated, but they also have to be left to educate themselves".
Ernest Dimnet.
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Plumb bob what difference does it make how long I have cleaned windows for .So I can be can called a Muppet as so many are call if they provoke challenging debate or thought.
Anyway I have been at it for 5 successful years. This window cleaning job is my retirement job. I have worked as business coach in the service industry for more years. I also spent 3 years at uni studying business management I wrote my thesis in on small business, marketing and l business practice and procedure. Business construction. So I do thing I have a fair idea what I am taking about. I put this thread up to encourage a bit of lateral thinking on our industry. I have written on the subject on several times but maybe we are not quite ready to become professional yet. I will always write on this forum with intentions of helping us all in this industry
;D ;D 8)
it can make a big difference on your outlook on life as we are products of life experiences,so if you have been cleaning 1 year your outlook will be different to someone who as 20 years experience.
after five years i would assume you would realize that with all good intentions you will never change people and they way they are i would say, with a cautious note, that better people than you have tried to change humanity and have failed.
"theres nowt as queer as folk" so i personally have given up trying to work out people.
i try to be professional in my approach,from uniforms,van,getting people to pay by bacs,internet,inform customers if we are running late etc etc but im sorry to say whizkid your here just to clean the windows.
im all for debate,i would defend everyones right to free speech and a right to express themselves in a non hurtful way to others but good luck in you goals :)
I held out pretty well myself. It took me about 10 years of window cleaning before I started to get more cynical. Even when I got to the point where I had more work than I could cope with, I still let many customers give me the runaround for a few years. These days I won't though. Mind you, I'm still mostly OK with slow payers so long as I feel that the money is safe (eventually !!) . However, if a new customer starts down that road, they haven't built up any trust with me yet so I can be harsher with new customers who are slow at paying.
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I have been to a customer today that I phoned last night to leave the gate open (and spoke to her). When I got there the gate was locked. This is the second time it has happened in three visits. What do I do?
If I dump her she won't care, she lives on a busy road in a wealthy suburb. Window cleaners are like buses, theres always another along shortly. She won't change her ways. I either put up with it or I don't.
Why dont you have a call back fee, phone, call back / clean add 50% advise her its your standard call back fee and call back is not a problem but you want to keep the cost down for her and see if that has an impact
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I have a policy in which any customers who constantly mess me about over the course of a year get dropped at the end of the year and I start a new year without them and how good I feel for it.
I don't inform them as they are not worthy of it and they certainly don't get any respect from me.
how anyone else deals with their problem customers is up to them but its nothing to do with being professional about it, its about treating people the contempt they deserve and good riddance to them.
SO BE WARNED when someone calles you to quote and they mention their last w/c just stopped coming you might just be quoting one of my dropped ones so good luck cos your gonna need it ;D ;D ;D
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I dont think Wizkid is saying you shouldnt get rid of bad customers. I think he's saying we shouldn't just dump them and not tell them. We definately get rid of customers who cant fit into our way of working, wether its that they cant keep a gate open for our clean, or want to defer cleans... or dog dirt in the garden, but we always explain what's happened and our reasons. we give them the chance to change their behaviour. we do it nicely and professionally, and just explain in the end that we're not the right service for them.
so are we saying richard and whizkid that we do this to make us feel good,which is fine i go along with that but does it make the customer a better customer for us or the next window cleaner
who gains from this approach.if after asking the customer to comply with various requests.ie gates,payment method etc and they have not are we now saying we should be professional in our dumping procedure
at the end of the day a "dumped customer" is a dumped customer how you do it is inmaterial if you feel you have given them plenty of rope then its they that hang themselves
ps richard the breakfast is on you next week ;D ;D
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what do u know bob ur only a plumber ;) ;D ;D ;D
Only 55mph winds why aren't u out cleaning ???
Not read all of these posts as i got bored but sounds like motor trade when all the uni educated people got involved in "customer care" a few years back and we were told not to ask for the order after spending loads of time with customers .... pmsl at that one ....
ffs this is a simple business lets not over complicate it ... as someone else says on here ... canvass... clean .. get paid ... thats it end off .... simples :D ... IT AINT ROCKET SCIENCE !!!
they dont pay then why waste ur time on them .... get proper customers who appreciate a good window cleaner and believe in paying for a service.
if they dont pay or constantly mess u about then bye bye to them ... i used to replace THEN drop now just drop and move on .. not worth hassle / time on these wasters.
Do I tell them why theyve been dropped ... no too busy finding proper customers or doing the windows of proper customers .... wasters are a drain on mine and yours number 1 resource .... TIME .... so why would I want to burn any more of my time with these scumbags ???
dont get me wrong Im a nice guy and will tolerate some minor problematic customers but once u get to a point then they gotta go but only u will know when and who.
One thing ive realised is to be very sucessful with window cleaning you have to run it as a business (if ur that way inclined - some just like the lifestyle which is fine) ... i personally think one of the differences between a window cleaner and a window cleaning business is the quality of ur customer base.