Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: magic moments on May 08, 2012, 08:24:27 am
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Had to text for access last night and got " can I cancel this month don't see the point of windows being cleaned with all the rain,thx.". This would have been her third clean. Can't help but getting annoyed with people like this as makes me think come winter they won't want them doing.
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Dump and leaflet 10 houses today or even better knock at least 10 houses.
I used to reply to these kinda texts with "Let me know when you want to go back onto my round and I will let you know if I can fit you in - Thanks for your previous custom."
Polite but firm way of saying dont f##k me about.
The odd one will say no dont take me off but most wont even reply and never will.
Canvass
Clean
Cull
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Dont listen to those that say you have to put up with this when building a round as you dont HOWEVER you gotta be prepared to constantly canvass / leaflet drop for next 12 months.
You can have a good round full of proper customers in under 12 months and a great round in under 2 years but not if you keep cleaning for dross / scum / morons / non payers / crap payers / idiots / ;)
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Dump and leaflet 10 houses today or even better knock at least 10 houses.
I used to reply to these kinda texts with "Let me know when you want to go back onto my round and I will let you know if I can fit you in - Thanks for your previous custom."
Polite but firm way of saying dont f##k me about.
The odd one will say no dont take me off but most wont even reply and never will.
Canvass
Clean
Cull
that made me chuckle,women are so fickle how many actually replied???
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AS WITH IAN,DONT MESS ABOUT,this is not business but a waste of time and money they are just names on a sheet
AS WITH IANS NEW MANTRA
CANVASS
CLEAN
CULL
:D ;D ;D ;D
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Hi Bobby
Prob about 20% .... but great thing in doing this is you sort the wheat from the chaffe dead quick !
Took me about a year to realise I was being too accomerdating to time wasters and to be honest think I got the idea off this forum.
May sound harsh and a little Billy Big Balls Tough Guy doing this but you gotta decide whether you want a solid round of good customers and therefore a nice little business or a round of people who will mess you about - my bills dictated the answer for me on this :)
I still have people who I have to text night before for gates etc but ages since I have a not this time and if I did they would still get same response from me - zero tolerence these days.
Fair enough some on here may say customers choice if they want them doing and thats fine by me but I decided not to work this way as I dont have to as its my business and my income.
Oh also works if you get a not this time at the door except its fun to see their reaction when you say it HOWEVER anyone doing this must be prepared to keep on canvassing / leafleting.
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AS WITH IAN,DONT MESS ABOUT,this is not business but a waste of time and money they are just names on a sheet
AS WITH IANS NEW MANTRA
CANVASS
CLEAN
CULL
:D ;D ;D ;D
Got it from the BFG when he posted on here ... think he became Sven then dissaperared off here.
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Ian brilliant posts and I agree about sorting the bad early on,as although I need customers ,they are not customers when it comes to actually cleaning just give me a false count on my list of names. I would rather know who is genuine early on,I'm going to send your reply now thank you.
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and theres more to this :D ..... customers that mess you about like the one described will also be slow payers as well.
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I agree with a lot of above although I would call this person and explain your service, DO NOT just dump, this person at least should be educted first, if I dropped all customers that did this without doing this this first I would have lost quite a few.
I would say to them, hi there I got your text message, we clean in any weather (if you clean in the rain that is) then explain that it makes no difference to the clean, also that you could clean on a nice summer day and could rain 10 mins late.
you clean all year in all weathers and you would like to prove to her why it is fine cleaning in this weather.
I would also say something on the lines of "the message we send is for you to leave access only and is not to see if they want there windows cleaned.
if there is no reason to text the customers then don't.
If she says no after you have explained the above, then replace her, but don't just dump her thats a waste of a potiential good customer a mistake IMO.
Ian
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Ian brilliant posts and I agree about sorting the bad early on,as although I need customers ,they are not customers when it comes to actually cleaning just give me a false count on my list of names. I would rather know who is genuine early on,I'm going to send your reply now thank you.
let us all know the reply if any ;D
takes nerve to do it when first starting out but remember 2 very important facts
1. Its easier for us to find a reliable new customer than it is for them to find a reliable new window cleaner.
2. They need us more than you need their £10.
Also helps your general demeaner by not accepting the crap and makes you more professional in your outlook.
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I agree with a lot of above although I would call this person and explain your service, DO NOT just dump, this person at least should be educted first, if I dropped all customers that did this without doing this this first I would have lost quite a few.
Ian
I used to think like this but a leopard never changes its spots ... maybe Im too cynical ;D
and yes you will loose quite a few but no problem so long as you canvass / leaflet to replace
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Had to text for access last night and got " can I cancel this month don't see the point of windows being cleaned with all the rain,thx.". This would have been her third clean. Can't help but getting annoyed with people like this as makes me think come winter they won't want them doing.
I have a third strike policy,once they have cancelled for three times I cross them off the books,I tell them on the third clean though,it works normally they reply "oh alright,carry on",might start telling new custy's when they sign up ;D.
Brian.
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Ok I replied with" we have invested in the pure water system to be able to clean in poor weathers,so we only offer a regular year round service,please let me know if you wish to come back onto my round at a later date and I will let you know if I have a space available. Thank you for your previous custom.
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Ok I replied with" we have invested in the pure water system to be able to clean in poor weathers,so we only offer a regular year round service,please let me know if you wish to come back onto my round at a later date and I will let you know if I have a space available. Thank you for your previous custom.
;D ;D ;D
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I don`t think its no wise to think your customer knows all of our rules in our businesses. We need to tell them and train them before we dump them. So I would go with Ian ww on this.
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Maybe not wise ,,but on this occasion I remember explaining to her about cleaning year round and that rain shouldnt have any effect on the results,this was only last month,and its slightly out of the way,she has to be in when cleaned so I'm happy with the responce given.
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Maybe not wise ,,but on this occasion I remember explaining to her about cleaning year round and that rain shouldnt have any effect on the results,this was only last month,and its slightly out of the way,she has to be in when cleaned so I'm happy with the responce given.
Why are u still on here and not canvassing ;D ;D ;D
You may need to replace that customer !
Get out there knocking !!!!!!
good Luck .... onwards and upwards
and yes I need to get my lame ass out there cleaning
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Well I don't do monthlys for that reason but if someone says that on a 2 monthly I say. No problem at all we shall see you next time round for 200% ;D then they say oh... Why is this ,then I explain blah blah blah priced are based on 2 months if you need it when you require it's 200% for 3x a year or 300% for a one off or 2x a year, puts the serious customers off.
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Do you only offer 8 weeklys? If so how do you find it?
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It's better magic, only problem is if you are starting out it means you need double the work load and it takes longer to establish but the customers in most cases are serious so your cancelation ain't so high the other thing about monthlys is although we have a bizz to run i feel the customers are right they don't need cleaning every 4 weeks.so I couldn't promote that my advice is go 6 weekly thats quite a good frequency I should have done that from the start then maybe later take em all to 2 months , end of the day customer satisfaction is important and if you can save em 50% on there window cleaning bill they will never leave you.
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I'm thinking of going 6 weekly whilst I'm still new,will be easier then changing once established ,right will do some maths Tonight
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Ok I replied with" we have invested in the pure water system to be able to clean in poor weathers,so we only offer a regular year round service,please let me know if you wish to come back onto my round at a later date and I will let you know if I have a space available. Thank you for your previous custom.
thats not a wise move, reading that sound really bad. what you will get from that is people thinking your up yourself remember you are ten a penny. I agree with customers not walking all over you and you telling them about the terms of your business (but it is a failure on your part as you clearly have not explained this to people) a simple phone call could have educated this person, and my guesses you will have now annoyed them which is never a good move, I know if I got a text like that from a work man that didnt have the time to explain they would never get work from me again I would also tell this to other people to avoid, this IMO is very bad customer relations and service and can and does have a knock on effect.
on that note i'm out, i have customers to keep happy ;D
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I mentioned a few posts back I explained this to her last month,so would have been a waste of time doing it again,I will not be treated as a when required window cleaner so if I have to take a firm line then so be it.if this was a local customer to me then I would be more accomodating,but when I turn up on time,set by her,do a good job,and come back at an agreed time confirmed by her only to be messed around I wont have it and I know many firms that wont clean windows by appointment etc,we are ten a penny but so are they.
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Reply has been recieved.....,hi i would like to remain on your round,and meant the windows are still clean with all the rain we have been having lately so don't see the point of you cleaning them,would you be happy if I went to an 8 weekly schedule?...................overall not an awfull result.
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Well in that case DUMP and make it a Magic Moment. Sounds to me like you are looking for someone to dump on,Mate
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Nope I can do 8 weekly it suits me with the travel,not looking to dump jus finding it difficult to do the customer service part of the job with Messers I'm sure il get used to it ,well Il have to if I want to succeed thanks for your comments as always some good valid points
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dont forget to bump the price up 20 per cent
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i had one today.been cleaning this customers windows for around 10 years"can you miss me out this time as its forecast rain for tomorrow and the rest of the week"(lovely dry day today)
i said sorry love i can understand if you were having building work etc or going on holiday but i really cant be bothered cleaning your windows anymore if thats the reason why you dont want me to clean em.bye!
with that she just slams the door!! ;D ;D ;D
thats the thanks i get for 10 years loyal service!never liked her anyway.onward and upward!! ;) ;D ;D ;D
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It's better magic, only problem is if you are starting out it means you need double the work load and it takes longer to establish but the customers in most cases are serious so your cancelation ain't so high the other thing about monthlys is although we have a bizz to run i feel the customers are right they don't need cleaning every 4 weeks.so I couldn't promote that my advice is go 6 weekly thats quite a good frequency I should have done that from the start then maybe later take em all to 2 months , end of the day customer satisfaction is important and if you can save em 50% on there window cleaning bill they will never leave you.
thats a common mistake, to think they look clean at 4weekly-but thats from your eyes,a man . a woman sees more dirt
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I do monthly wfp.
Averages out that i get round 10 times a year with bank hols, hols and bad weather.
I use to think about 6 weeks; 8 weeks.
whatever you decide Magic make sure it suits you; you'l never please everyone.
As Ian says, may seem harsh.
But you get a feel for messers after a while.
Once you get more work a not today won't P you off as much and the funny thing is you won't really get many.
Good luck ;)
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i had one today.been cleaning this customers windows for around 10 years"can you miss me out this time as its forecast rain for tomorrow and the rest of the week"(lovely dry day today)
i said sorry love i can understand if you were having building work etc or going on holiday but i really cant be bothered cleaning your windows anymore if thats the reason why you dont want me to clean em.bye!
with that she just slams the door!! ;D ;D ;D
thats the thanks i get for 10 years loyal service!never liked her anyway.onward and upward!! ;) ;D ;D ;D
had u recently increased her price by any chance ? ;D
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I have always been a softy, and have often gone well beyond the call as far as being accommodating goes, but since starting up in Ireland last year I have been messed around by so many 'customers' that I'm beginning to turn!
I don't mind the 'not today' types so much as it is quite rare for people here to have their windows cleaned on a regular basis, and I usually have enough alternative customers to call on, or I can canvass, but I am referring to the ones who live miles away, book me for a specific date and/or time, then cancel when I get there.
My run is far from full, but for example I have a full day's worth of work in a small town 25 miles away. I used to go back a second day but there were so many messers that I cut back to one full day every three weeks.
I now look after the good custys first, and any who have messed me about can still use my services, but only if I have enough time to fit them in on that day. If I don't, they have to wait another three weeks and hope that I can fit them in then.
I have just had phone calls from two such messers from the town in question, wanting their windows cleaned urgently. As I was only there last Thursday, I told both that I am booked up until I go there in three weeks' time.
John