Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: richywilts on December 10, 2011, 12:14:29 am
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with so many window cleaners changing to wfp and going down the signwritten van and uniform route how do others on here do things differently to stay on top of the game and provide an even better service than your competitors,im struggling to come up with something that blows customers away and gets them talking to there friends
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uniform
smile
polite
regular
invoice 4 work
able to pay online
all of these you do i know
richy it will happen !!!!
youve got the basis of a excellent company
business
whatever you want to call ,your operation
with the added bonus of well priced work !!!!
imo i think your nearly there old bean !!! ;) ;)
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im thinkin of changing it a bit this year and maybe targetting really posh houses but offering a really high end quality service sick to death of the scummy council houses weve got iv let business go a little bit off road from direction i wanted to take it
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richy those scummy council types av
more money m8
truth
not morgaged up to the hilt la
i think yr dear tbh
listening yeah dont try to complicate
a simple business
turn up clean da windows get paid
thats ow easy it shud be ;)
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I've modified a quote I heard from a guy on here the other day I was on the phone to.
''No romancers or chancers, just straight forward dancers.''
Basically we don't take the pi$$ and overcharge, we get the job done and impress you.
:D
That's our rep.
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I've modified a quote I heard from a guy on here the other day I was on the phone to.
''No romancers or chancers, just straight forward dancers.''
Basically we don't take the pi$$ and overcharge, we get the job done and impress you.
:D
That's our rep.
that guy didnt happen to be stuy evans fr tiger services did it blast ????
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richy those scummy council types av
more money m8
truth
not morgaged up to the hilt la
i think yr dear tbh
listening yeah dont try to complicate
a simple business
turn up clean da windows get paid
thats ow easy it shud be ;)
I agree
Ive changed my frequency and upped prices in last week and have got a great response from customers. I now can earn the same money from doing less and will employ 1 person less which saves me hassle and a wage.
Most of my work is on council estates and i really think its easier to sign up a council tenant then a private one.
Danny
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I think the dreaded route of "on demand cleaning" as opposed to a regular round is the only way to impress some of the custies with bigger houses. I do of course charge appropriately for the privilege,..
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not to sound funny richy, but you can only take a window cleaning business so far, it is after all it is only cleaning windows, the prob i see with this business is loads of people think they are alan sugar and want to do something bigger and better, they think there is a magic formula that will make every custy want them, they buy all the best gear going all brand new vans, then moan they aint making money as all they do is pay out,
i believe there is a ceiling for the majority of people with what they will pay to have there window cleaners,
sometimes the best thing to do is not think what else can i do to make it better, but actually look at the business, and sort it out, sack staff, stop buying new vans, dump crap payers, reduce the area you work in prehaps you need only you and one staff and do all the best jobs you got and rent the other out
i got a mate who had 4 vans each makeing 3.5 k a month last year, now he is down to him making 1.5 in one van, big time dreamer, cant run a business, payed crap wages,
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keeping one step in front of the competition if you have a secret way of keeping in front of the competition why would you share it on here for every one to see (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-rolleyes010.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-rolleyes010.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
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with so many window cleaners changing to wfp and going down the signwritten van and uniform route how do others on here do things differently to stay on top of the game and provide an even better service than your competitors,im struggling to come up with something that blows customers away and gets them talking to there friends
In this sort of business, making sure the actual clean is "superior" to others......... that should suffice.
So many times I've heard "I'm not happy with the cleaning". Make sure your customers never have cause to say this.
I've also seen the results of others and to say I'm not impressed is an understatement to say the least.
Taking the time to get the clean 100% right, even if it takes 5 minutes extra, goes a long way.
You have the ideal time of year now to get your custies talking to their friends/neighbours, a small xmas gift with the last clean before Xmas (purchasing these are tax deductable). How different is that.......don't tip us we'll tip you. :)
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not to sound funny richy, but you can only take a window cleaning business so far, it is after all it is only cleaning windows, the prob i see with this business is loads of people think they are alan sugar and want to do something bigger and better, they think there is a magic formula that will make every custy want them, they buy all the best gear going all brand new vans, then moan they aint making money as all they do is pay out,
i believe there is a ceiling for the majority of people with what they will pay to have there window cleaners,
sometimes the best thing to do is not think what else can i do to make it better, but actually look at the business, and sort it out, sack staff, stop buying new vans, dump crap payers, reduce the area you work in prehaps you need only you and one staff and do all the best jobs you got and rent the other out
i got a mate who had 4 vans each makeing 3.5 k a month last year, now he is down to him making 1.5 in one van, big time dreamer, cant run a business, payed crap wages,
i agree with you what your saying there is only so far you can go we took on a lot of council estate properties as we hadnt focussed on these areas in our town in three years although we got loads on a lot of them are usual messers, dog crap ev where,never in at time of clean waiting on money for weeks if you do finally get it,im not sayin all are bad some are lovely so dont want to tar them all with same brush but its a lot of hard work the cleaning doesnt take that long but reeling out then reeling in,writing out an invoice etc we tend to have better days on estates with 4 bed detached houses,this is how id like to market my business from now but i was enquiring to see what little things we could put in place to provide that bit extra special service which they dont mind paying for that little bit more
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How about an extra fiver and you guarantee you won`t burgle their house ;D
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with so many window cleaners changing to wfp and going down the signwritten van and uniform route how do others on here do things differently to stay on top of the game and provide an even better service than your competitors,im struggling to come up with something that blows customers away and gets them talking to there friends
In this sort of business, making sure the actual clean is "superior" to others......... that should suffice.
So many times I've heard "I'm not happy with the cleaning". Make sure your customers never have cause to say this.
I've also seen the results of others and to say I'm not impressed is an understatement to say the least.
Taking the time to get the clean 100% right, even if it takes 5 minutes extra, goes a long way.
You have the ideal time of year now to get your custies talking to their friends/neighbours, a small xmas gift with the last clean before Xmas (purchasing these are tax deductable). How different is that.......don't tip us we'll tip you. :)
i layed one lad off now helen and im out cleaning again and i know i take longer than the lads to clean a property but i also know i do a more thorough job and some customers are made up im bk cleaning
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I'm in the process of quoting a very large commercial. It's being done by a large national company & the client is disgusted by one- the quality of work & two the fact that every visit, different people turn up who look like they've just been picked up off the street!!
I went to look yesterday, it was only cleaned last week & they have missed more windows than they have cleaned. Also the have left all the spiders nests where the two sashes meet in the middle!
A section of this job that I estimate will take 1 operator approx 6 hours, they did in 1.5 hours with two men.
This isn't the first time this has happened, I gained another nice large job earlier this year for the same reason! :) :)
I love these companies! ;D
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The way I look at it is that I don't have competition. Yes, there are other windy's in my town, but I am looking for customers who want a windy but haven't got one so I am not competing or trying to take the next guy's work.
I look at the quality of the work I do, and the way that I deliver it. I don't have a fancy van, I wear jeans, a clean top and a smile. And I try to treat all my customers as though they are special.
In economy-torn Ireland, I am building up a round from scratch and this simple formula is working for me. :)
John
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a little thing to remember, is council work is your bread and butter work, ;) ;) ;)
and dont put all your eggs in one basket ;) ;) ;)so keep your work varied a bit of all work ;)
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I love council estates; I love big blocks of flats even more.
Park the van once, walk around the block with my pole, back to the van a couple of hours later a hundred quid better off.
The life of a window cleaner should be a simple life; isn't that one of the main reasons quoted on here as the reason you became a window cleaner in the first place ???????
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I've modified a quote I heard from a guy on here the other day I was on the phone to.
''No romancers or chancers, just straight forward dancers.''
Basically we don't take the pi$$ and overcharge, we get the job done and impress you.
:D
That's our rep.
that guy didnt happen to be stuy evans fr tiger services did it blast ????
No mate, someone else. ;)
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if you prefer 4 bed estates. get knocking them your self and a good knooker, take control of your business
if custy are happy you are back, doesnt this tell you about the standard of work that the lads are doing
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if you prefer 4 bed estates. get knocking them your self and a good knooker, take control of your business
if custy are happy you are back, doesnt this tell you about the standard of work that the lads are doing
we have dropped in and done spot checks on there work when there not expecting it and gone round customers houses to look at work and most the time its to a good standard but the amount of work we ask them to do im sure they werent making sure the job is too standard i clean which is a bit ocd!!!
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I think the dreaded route of "on demand cleaning" as opposed to a regular round is the only way to impress some of the custies with bigger houses. I do of course charge appropriately for the privilege,..
yes ... I do one offs.... it often leads to more regular cleans at a good price....
I prefer to have these than let my competition do them
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with so many window cleaners changing to wfp and going down the signwritten van and uniform route how do others on here do things differently to stay on top of the game and provide an even better service than your competitors,im struggling to come up with something that blows customers away and gets them talking to there friends
In this sort of business, making sure the actual clean is "superior" to others......... that should suffice.
So many times I've heard "I'm not happy with the cleaning". Make sure your customers never have cause to say this.
I've also seen the results of others and to say I'm not impressed is an understatement to say the least.
Taking the time to get the clean 100% right, even if it takes 5 minutes extra, goes a long way.
You have the ideal time of year now to get your custies talking to their friends/neighbours, a small xmas gift with the last clean before Xmas (purchasing these are tax deductable). How different is that.......don't tip us we'll tip you. :)
i layed one lad off now helen and im out cleaning again and i know i take longer than the lads to clean a property but i also know i do a more thorough job and some customers are made up im bk cleaning
The IMO you have taken the first step to taking your business forward. You have recognised a problem, solved it and are now getting the cleaning back on line. Good for you :).
After Xmas go and get the "better" customer and build from there
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do your job well
price fairly
dont let customers down
personal touch by being friendly,wiping doors down etc
just going by my own experience as a one man band i do pick up work from gangs of window cleaners in the areas i work as they prefer me on my own to clean for them rather than 3 window cleaners turning up.they are not always friendly either!!
im well established and trusted and usually new work comes from recommendation and word of mouth.
having a uniform,nice clean sign written van and good equipment comes secondary but i have these as well!!!
keep it simple!
dazmond
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On the window-tools.com forum there is a post "new window cleaning software" might be something that would help you keep a bit ahead of the competition, especially if you have a website.
Peter
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with so many window cleaners changing to wfp and going down the signwritten van and uniform route how do others on here do things differently to stay on top of the game and provide an even better service than your competitors,im struggling to come up with something that blows customers away and gets them talking to there friends
Or what about hot water? I don't know if you use it already, if not you could consider it. Like someone mentions above the improvement on the glass may make a difference to a customer. Even if the clean was not better, the customer will think hot water must be better. If they had a choice between getting their carpets cleaned with hot or cold, I am sure they would pick hot every time.
Also what about the environmental friendly approach? What you are doing with a precious commodity as water would probably make a difference to a customer, especially when there is as many regular hose pipe bans.
Peter
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Richy,
Slighty off topic but I'm off work next week if you fancy meeting up for a brew mate?
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with so many window cleaners changing to wfp and going down the signwritten van and uniform route how do others on here do things differently to stay on top of the game and provide an even better service than your competitors,im struggling to come up with something that blows customers away and gets them talking to there friends
Or what about hot water? I don't know if you use it already, if not you could consider it. Like someone mentions above the improvement on the glass may make a difference to a customer. Even if the clean was not better, the customer will think hot water must be better. If they had a choice between getting their carpets cleaned with hot or cold, I am sure they would pick hot every time.
Also what about the environmental friendly approach? What you are doing with a precious commodity as water would probably make a difference to a customer, especially when there is as many regular hose pipe bans.
Peter
peter id love to go hot but im not great with diy give us a call on 0151 355 0050 please in week as id like to discuss option with ur fogwash in our vans cheers
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with so many window cleaners changing to wfp and going down the signwritten van and uniform route how do others on here do things differently to stay on top of the game and provide an even better service than your competitors,im struggling to come up with something that blows customers away and gets them talking to there friends
Or what about hot water? I don't know if you use it already, if not you could consider it. Like someone mentions above the improvement on the glass may make a difference to a customer. Even if the clean was not better, the customer will think hot water must be better. If they had a choice between getting their carpets cleaned with hot or cold, I am sure they would pick hot every time.
Also what about the environmental friendly approach? What you are doing with a precious commodity as water would probably make a difference to a customer, especially when there is as many regular hose pipe bans.
Peter
peter id love to go hot but im not great with diy give us a call on 0151 355 0050 please in week as id like to discuss option with ur fogwash in our vans cheers
You truly don't need much in the way of DIY skills for a Fogwash, they are incredibly simple to install,..
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think il go for it in january nat got couple of plumber gas fitter mates that im sure will fit it for me
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If your down my way my seven year old will do it. ;D ;D ;D ::)
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I CANT EVEN OPERATE A BLEEDIN SCREWDRIVER IM DANGEROUS WHEN IT COME TO DIY!!!!!!!!!!
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Richly I thought you were putting Ionics or Purefreedom hot systems into your vans have you changed your mind
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absolutely skinto at min dave after break in took nearly a month to get back up and running being a fool i got lads in decorating etc at new unit not realising how long it was gna take to get up and running now had to lay one lad off coz struggling to pay wages, now xmas is coming there all takng holidays so just struggling on tryin to get thru
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dont wish to sound rude richy, but do you employ to many people or have really crap cash flow
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i will sound rude, why the hell were your lads decorating ( a non essential non profit task) when there was money to be earned. Then laying a worker off because lack of money not trying to be patronising but are you sure you should be in business.
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we were trying to get our window cleaner pro software back up and running but coz we hadnt subscribed for there support service we could never get hold of them to sort out our network key but they emailed wrong one then we couldnt get hold of them again so we went for a different cleaning software called round pro, we then had to manually load all our 1000 or so customers on this system which takes about 3-4 minutes per customer.
the new unit me moved into was a bit tired and needed lifting so it was a nice place to work in so we redecorated and put new kitchen sink etc and worktops in and new carpet.it wasnt the lads fault they couldnt work window cleaning so i decided to give them work.
it hasnt been until a few weeks in where we have realised the true cost of having our unit broken into has prob cost us around 12 grand.with downtime, still having to pay our old unit and carry out repairs there, money and cheque stolen, our debt list which was lost when computers were stolen its been a really difficult time where others may have quit we have carried on and learnt from it.
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do you not keep paper records, i do every month since started and on computer and on a memory stick,
do you know what u need to do richy is buy a concept franchise
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haha maybe id be better subbing my round to concept they blitz thru it in a week!!!!
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haha maybe id be better subbing my round to concept they blitz thru it in a week!!!!
;D ;D ;D
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How can a Concept van make you any quicker than an Ionics van or a DIY van? Answer - it can't.
Only two ways to earn more - price higher or splash and dash.
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How can a Concept van make you any quicker than an Ionics van or a DIY van? Answer - it can't.
Only two ways to earn more - price higher or splash and dash.
or both ways! charge higher AND splash and dash. of course a different van setup will make you more or less efficient. and there are other things that make a difference to speed also.
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Mmmm not by much. You are only pumping water up a pole.
I've seen the Concept vans and they are no different in principle to anything else.
There's nothing in there that would make anyone twice as fast as the next guy.
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Mmmm not by much. You are only pumping water up a pole.
I've seen the Concept vans and they are no different in principle to anything else.
There's nothing in there that would make anyone twice as fast as the next guy.
you can choose to believe it, or you can choose not to believe it. all i know is what i am doing day in, day out. ;)
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Sorry to hear its been hard for you richly hope you can continue to work through it keep going mate all will come good for you
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I don't think a van or a setup will make a great deal of difference, but a person could.
Peter
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I don't think a van or a setup will make a great deal of difference, but a person could.
Peter
Totally agree ;)