Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Cliff perkins on February 24, 2012, 12:00:31 pm
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I had a custy ask me to go from monthly to bi monthly today. I thought to myself i will do what alot of you do on here and said ok fine but for that i will increase the price by 25% so it went from £20 a month to £25 every other month.at the end i went to get my money and she said me and my husband dont get it can we think about it.
So thats the last im going to hear from them then.
Do t think i will be doing that again.
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Your only the window cleaner last on every bodys list I think we are just behind the gardener ;D
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i see it as putting up prices in general you will always get the odd one that cancels but the rest that dont more then make up for it. I do put my price up a bit when they do this but you also need to explain to them why you have to imo to just say i'm putting it up then without giving them a good reason then they probably will cancel, but i have found if you explain why, then although sometimes they come accros reluctent they generally see your point of view and stay.
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I just tell them that windows get alot more dirtier so it takes more time and water, i rarely get any problems.
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Any1 think im out of line doing this ?
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I had a custy ask me to go from monthly to bi monthly today. I thought to myself i will do what alot of you do on here and said ok fine but for that i will increase the price by 25% so it went from £20 a month to £25 every other month.at the end i went to get my money and she said me and my husband dont get it can we think about it.
So thats the last im going to hear from them then.
Do t think i will be doing that again.
Maybe sell it along the line that you are saving them money and still get a professional clean bi Monthly. In the end every one costs have gone up Vehicle insurance Fuel ECT you are justified a small increase to cover your costs, You still have to get there be it monthly or Bi monthly
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Any1 think im out of line doing this ?
nar mate. 25% is fine by me i try my best not to do bi monthly so sometime when asked i just say i only offer monthly service. if youve got a few together and one goes bi monthly the start gabbin and all tend to follow. this is just hat ive found
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I had a custy ask me to go from monthly to bi monthly today. I thought to myself i will do what alot of you do on here and said ok fine but for that i will increase the price by 25% so it went from £20 a month to £25 every other month.at the end i went to get my money and she said me and my husband dont get it can we think about it.
So thats the last im going to hear from them then.
Do t think i will be doing that again.
you will loose some, but like others say, tell them it takes longer as theyre more dirty, and also tell them it works out less monthly, so that'll be £12.50 month not £20 as currently.
they may well come back to you. you will loose some, but across your business you'll end up more profitable.
i've had a number of custies tell me, when they try to change to 8 weekly, the opposite. they say that its not as good value so they may as well stick with 4 weekly! i signed up one for £28 4 weekly, she wanted 8 weekly so that'd be £35 a clean, and she said she'd get value at 4 weekly. i dont get her logic, but i was very happy!
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Any1 think im out of line doing this ?
Only because the increase is not enough. I do 6/12 weekly. Change to 12 weekly and it goes up 50%. 12 weekly can be a bit disruptive to my scheduling so it's noty a big deal if they cancel - though I might tread more carefully if it's a much larger job that I really want to keep.
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Gave me the ump really.i thought at least tell what you want if you still want my services or not.i just gotta wait now till she makes her mind up.i wouldnt mind but i have to be carefull really as im still building my round and could do without loosing any customers.anyway ive made my decision and ive gotta follow it through now and see what happens.
My gut feeling is she will get another cleaner.
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What if she comes back and says she wants it every 3 months lol
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What if she comes back and says she wants it every 3 months lol
then charge accordingly again..its hard if your still building your round and cant afford to loose custom, the thing is you need to set your terms as such from the start with yourself, if you didnt raise your price now for her but in the future when you have built up a good round an can afford to loose the odd customer raise prices for other then you come accross as 1 set of principles for 1 person and another set for someone else and if it was a customer she recommended then that could start problems ( i know that sinario is a bit unlikly but you get what i mean). Also if you dont raise the price for her and she talks to a neighbour you do, then they may do the same if they know you dont charge extra.. not saying charging extra is right or wrong but imo you need to stick to your guns whatever you decide on doing.
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i dont charge any more for 4 6 or 8 weekly cleans , i mean lets face it most 8 weekly windows are still spankinking clean when you go back anyway , i do charge more for quarterly and 6 monthly jobs though. i know that the word on CIU is to add 25% or 50% or whatever and i used to buy into this but i feel that actually it is a rip off! You lot will be on Rogue Traders if your not careful ;)
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right or wrong heres what we do.
houses under £10 on a monthly go up by £1 - 2.
so for example - £8 house goes every other than its now £10 normally.
we explain - twice as much dirt/work = takes twice as long to do but we dont charge twice the price.
for houses over £10 we go up £3 - £5
so £20 house we would of prob added around £6 or £7.
have never ever had a single problem with this in the last 12 years
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i dont charge any more for 4 6 or 8 weekly cleans , i mean lets face it most 8 weekly windows are still spankinking clean when you go back anyway , i do charge more for quarterly and 6 monthly jobs though. i know that the word on CIU is to add 25% or 50% or whatever and i used to buy into this but i feel that actually it is a rip off! You lot will be on Rogue Traders if your not careful ;)
there's no rip off to it at all. it's exactly the same as all retail and service business work it. in tesco's they give discounts when you spend more, or in service industries they charge one amount for regular frequent work, and more for irregular or infrequent. so long as you re upfront about it, it's fine. ;D
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yes well that is the opinion of most on here , as i said i used to do the same but not now , i do have a lot of customers though and am in the position where i will let the customer have a choice (within reason) and not charge them for the priveledge. 4 6 or 8 weeklys same price. However if a customer starts messing then i will get rid.
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I had a custy ask me to go from monthly to bi monthly today. I thought to myself i will do what alot of you do on here and said ok fine but for that i will increase the price by 25% so it went from £20 a month to £25 every other month.at the end i went to get my money and she said me and my husband dont get it can we think about it.
So thats the last im going to hear from them then.
Do t think i will be doing that again.
Very true ian,i dont think i was out of order and they do live in a large detached house with 2 porsches but we cant all jump to conclusions that they are minted can we.there loss at the end of the day,i did a good service for them.
Lesson learnt though STICK TO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT lol
Maybe sell it along the line that you are saving them money and still get a professional clean bi Monthly. In the end every one costs have gone up Vehicle insurance Fuel ECT you are justified a small increase to cover your costs, You still have to get there be it monthly or Bi monthly
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im in the process of putting around 150 of my customers prices up.not lost one yet.most £1/£1-50/£2.two are saying money is tight so every other month.i accepted at the new price as its on very compact estate work.i give a bit of leeway here and there depending on the customer.
some other work not on estates i usually only offer 2 monthly at a much higher price.9 times out of 10 they go for it.
if any customers queries the extra charge for 2 monthly explain that they will be dirtier and they will be saving money(tell them how much they will save as well!).
im in a position where i can pick and choose what work i take on as i have a pretty full workload.i also have an excellent reputation for reliabilty,work quality and im very well established(18 years).
you win some,you lose some.its all part and parcel of running a window cleaning business.
best wishes
dazmond
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Cheers daz
Live and learn.
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i dont charge any more for 4 6 or 8 weekly cleans , i mean lets face it most 8 weekly windows are still spankinking clean when you go back anyway , i do charge more for quarterly and 6 monthly jobs though. i know that the word on CIU is to add 25% or 50% or whatever and i used to buy into this but i feel that actually it is a rip off! You lot will be on Rogue Traders if your not careful ;)
More than half of our customers are now on 12-weekly, for which we charge 50% more than 6-weekly, so we're obviously giving customer what they want.
Vin
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as they want to go to bi monthly they were probably edging towards dumping you anyway so why worry, believe it or not to loads of people having clean windows isnt the be and end all, despite how important some of us think we are.
paul
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Any1 think im out of line doing this ?
No, you are quite within your rights, they want to change the original terms not you!
A good way of getting around the increase of price bit is to put it into yearly costs for the custie
£20 per month x 12 cleans = £240 a year
£25 per every 2 months x 6 cleans = £150 a year.
"Therefore Mr & Mrs Custie by slightly increasing your price per clean I am in fact saving you £90 off your yearly window cleaning bill, although losing income myself" :)
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course not out of line dude. your letting her know in advance. not saying then charging more after would be out of line.
we try and charge 10% more for every other. but haven't been for those existing customers struggling who move to longer frequency. but gonna start doing it. 20 % would prob be better than 10%, its not enough really to encourage them to be more regular.
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Very good idea i might send them a text with it broken down like you said
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Dump and replace with 2 more messers!
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I have done this in the past.... it all depends on how I value the customer..
eg... if the windows are in an area that stay clean anyway, and the job is a goodpaying one and they always send money on time, or pay cash on the day, then I am inclined to not rock the boat and keep prices the same.
if however they are slow payers and moaners (you know the type ) and the job is not that great a paying one then I take the chance and put it up.
I have no fixed rules on this...I use my own discernment!
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I wrote her a letter today explaining all and if she still dont understand why then sod her lol
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Got a call 11.15 this morning saying £25 every other month will be fine.
Id say that was a result even if im down from the monthly clean im up on the price of the job.
Happy days.
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Sounds like a result to me!
So in line with your topic title: wont be doing that again....Will you???! :)
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I've been trying to convert some from monthly to bimonthly, most seem ok but a couple have queried why charge more for same job, will have to explain in a bit more detail that they're paying less and I'm earning less, that should convince them.
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Well i will explain it in more detail in future and judge each job diffrently,but at present im not going to put any1 elses price up untill i have a full round.