Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: martinj on June 11, 2014, 07:40:14 pm
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Has anyone used Paul Dale for canvassing as in the forum admin link above? Did he get the work you wanted at a decent price and replace cancellations? Thanks
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I've used him.he hasn't replaced mine yet.i had some non payers
He wouldn't replace,even thou I texted them for payment.i would
Never use a door knocker again
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I know he will come on here that I didn't chase them enough.
He called some of them for payment,they said they would pay.
I'm still waiting for payment from some of the ones he called.
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What was the overall quality of the work like that he got you, and how were the prices?
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Prices was pretty good,took a lot of texting to get the first money.
2nd was the same.i would say about half are good pay on time custys
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Colin, you handed me back 20 'non payers' that you were still waiting for the second online payment from the second clean, from a total of 100 jobs I got you. You don't go collecting, that's fair enough, some cleaners don't. You admitted to me though that you didn't even send a reminder text to half of these 'non payers' and one text to the others.
I phoned 5 of the 20 ... 2 of them apologised and said they would pay that night, 1 said they were away on their holiday and didn't receive a card, 1 said they were unsure what to pay as you had only done the front but billed the whole house and the 5th one had actually paid.
I then handed the other 15 back to you and said it was up to you to chase online payment. Half of them hadn't received a text when you gave them to me and none them a phone call. It is not a canvassers job to chase online payment in that scenario.
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Why did you phone the 5 PD?
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Why did you phone the 5 PD?
I'm not going to get into a public argument with a past client, other than defend myself.
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I've used him.he hasn't replaced mine yet.i had some non payers
He wouldn't replace,even thou I texted them for payment.i would
Never use a door knocker again
Mate thats canvassing for you....you have to expect a few messers its a numbers game at the end of the day out of a 100 freshly canvassed customers I would expect to retain 50-60% decent customers...the ones you lose you will regain eventually from the area canvassed from recommendations/being seen working etc...
I have used Paul myself a couple of times and he's a fair guy definately the best canvasser I've used and I've had a few!!
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Hows it going paul, business still booming?
Paul did some knocking for me, work was fine and reasonably compact, prices were good, all the customers were made aware of different ways to pay so there were no payment issues when i cleaned them.
Lost a bit more than the agreed 10% leeway, so paul came down and replaced the work with no problems
Clean 97/98% of them still, and ones i dont it was because i dropped them myself as didn't want to clean them for varying reasond (not pauls fault, my choice) but more than replaced them with work picked up in the area
Honest bloke, was straight with me, i told him things i wouldn't do regarding access etc and he stuck within the terms.
On the whole, great result
I'd recommend him to anyone
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I've used him.he hasn't replaced mine yet.i had some non payers
He wouldn't replace,even thou I texted them for payment.i would
Never use a door knocker again
He got you 100 jobs and 80 have turned out to be good customers, I'd say that's a bloody good result to be honest mate compared to all the other canvassing horror stories you hear. Plus it sounds like some of the 20 bad payers can probably become better if you chase up your money.
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For an agreed price I can get you a couple of enforcers that will get what your owned Guaranteed? Your money back if you don't get what's owed! It involves damage and pain to both customer and property though? I take 10% of all monies owed!
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Hampshire how do you know how many he got me? You are wrong
About how messers.i rang him 3 weeks ago to have a chat about it.he
Text saying he would call,still waiting
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i rang him 3 weeks ago to have a chat about it.he
Text saying he would call,still waiting
Because I was on the train to London when you rang. I did you call you back over the next few days but went to answer machine, granted I didn't leave a message. However email messages were previously exchanged.
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You're right mate, I don't know how many he got you, i'm just quoting the figures that Paul used above.
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Pauls a fair guy mate, Ive used him and he's got me some really good work and there has been messers but of course your going to get them, He's always replaced the messers when its gone over the leeway % he gets you. I will continue to work with paul.
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Why did you phone the 5 PD?
I'm not going to get into a public argument with a past client, other than defend myself.
Fair enough, I wasn't looking to bait you.
Just seemed unusual to me. But I've never had a canvasser.
I'd've thought 20 or 0...
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PERFECT TIMING
Paul did some door knocking for us in April this year. I have just cleaned most houses for the second time now (we dont clean at 4 weeks)
Paul was a little behind on our agreed date but kept us informed and turned up the same week but at the end of the week.
We met around lunch time in our local pub and i discussed the requirements.
Paul asked some pretty relevant questions. For example do we collect? Do we use ladders for access? etc etc.
I left him at around 2pm and went back to work. I received a call at around 5pm and he said how much can i do in a day?..... I said i would like to do £150 ish a day. Bearing in mind these are all FIRST CLEANS. His reply was ohhh best start booking for Tuesday/Wednesday How much have you got then Paul? Dunno at the moment Bud, close to £200 :o In 3 hours? Yep!
Monday came round which was the first day of cleaning. EVERY customer met me with a smile and was actually pleased to see me.
On my first day i was averaging around the £28-£32 an hour mark. ON FIRST CLEANS!
I cleaned the first part of the round again last week and its quite easy to do £250-£350 on Paul's prices. I would say they are about £1/£2 less than what we would want BUT and i dont know how he does it, you get compact work! Some roads i move the van once for around £100-£120 worth of work.
We had a small blip in where we had a weird day. Paul had knocked on a Friday and booked me work for Monday and Tuesday! Over the weekend and on Monday i had a lot drop out before i even cleaned them. Turns out these freshly canvassed houses were undercut by another canvasser! A few said you were £12 a chap came round over weekend and beat you by £3 So that £9 for a 2/3 bed semi. These are tiny houses by the way. You can average 3 an hour EASY Some where £20 houses and they just changed their mind. ANYWAY I told paul we lost some houses. He came back the same week and replaced the houses and then some.
This is the first time we have used a canvasser and i have to say its been great.
I could go on and on but to sum up.
Paul is awesome.
Work is great.
Prices are spot on for £30 - £40 an hour rate (no rushing)
My only gripe? I wanted to book him for another session and he is booked up. But we have something in the pipe line ;)
We only asked for a £1000's worth of work as its to put another van on the road and get that started. That £1000 round since April is now around the £1800 mark. Thats from walk ups, and other leads he may get you. £1800 is gross not net at 4 weeks!
Hiring Paul was THE best thing i have ever done.
I would never buy a round now and can't thank Paul enough.
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Mark that's a bit out of order.
The thread is about a paid advert from P dale. Not canvassing in general!
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Lol what a plant!!
As if its the canvassers fault you cant get your money, a replacement customer is for a customer who changes there mind before the first or 2nd clean!. Not for if you cant get your money straight away or if they cancal for a wc poor job.
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Thanks for the positive comments, didn't realise I was so popular :) I have a good client base here, along with others, from which to build from.
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Buddy I understand your frustration but this is not really the canvassers issue. If you don't go out collecting, doesn't matter how you get the work, I've always found that without collecting you will always be owed 20% of your income from new customers. I used to do first cleans which seemed to have little to no trouble paying but at second clean I used to find about 20% would either drag their heels over the payment or would just not pay. If I was still owed money for a clean the next time they were due, it wouldn't get done. I found a lot would come straight out and pay once they had seen you. When building a round you have to separate the wheat from the chaff buddy.
Don't let this get you down, this is a positive you have 80-90 good custards on your books from this canvasser, if I was you I'd be begging him to come back and do it again.
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Buddy I understand your frustration but this is not really the canvassers issue. If you don't go out collecting, doesn't matter how you get the work, I've always found that without collecting you will always be owed 20% of your income from new customers. I used to do first cleans which seemed to have little to no trouble paying but at second clean I used to find about 20% would either drag their heels over the payment or would just not pay. If I was still owed money for a clean the next time they were due, it wouldn't get done. I found a lot would come straight out and pay once they had seen you. When building a round you have to separate the wheat from the chaff buddy.
Don't let this get you down, this is a positive you have 80-90 good custards on your books from this canvasser, if I was you I'd be begging him to come back and do it again.
+1
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I spent just over 2 grand,and have just over £500 of work.
I didn't have any drop out because of bad work.im not here
To slate anyone.if the op really needs work quick it's the way
To go.but it cost a lot for not much work
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Colin, if you are going to quote figuresI left lets quote EXACT figures.
I left you with £1106 worth of work. Charged for £1,000 of it, leaving £106 free of charge.
The following month you sent me back done some cancellations which was £112.50 over the 10% leeway. I didn't even quibble over this despite at least one of them telling you they were not pleased with your job. Others here will testify and I said the same to you that if it means me coming down for a day to top up there is no issue, at that time I didn't even phone them.
This meant the second month you cleared £887.50 worth of work. As near as dammit you cleared £2000 after 2 cleans, had you collected the late payers. The only issue I had was when 2 days later you sent me £221.50 of so called non payers you wanted replacing. Even though this work was around 3-4 weeks late in paying and hadnt been phoned to see why they weren't paying, half them hadn't even had one reminder text. I am assuming you have dropped these off your list.
This led me to phone five of them, one of them had actually paid on the day! Why is it my job to chase this second clean money. I sent 15 back saying it's your job to at least try to get paid with a text or preferably phone call.
This led me to phone others of the original 112.50 you wanted replacing, quite a number did cancel because they weren't happy with your service, eg left streaks, cleaned in the rain (it was heavy rain if I recall).At the time we were discussing the so called non payers, so didn't mention these others.
You told me yourself you have issues with retention with your own work. IMO I think it's because you were lorry driving and had an employee doing most of the work. You are not hands on with your window cleaning and treat it as a second income. Window cleaners need to be on the ball with each and every customer to gain a good retention rate. The fact of the matter is you don't know why these cancelled or were late in paying as you never phoned them, I did phone some, not all.
In any event had you attempted to collect this money you would have broke even the second clean, that's even with cancellations of which many were because the customers were unhappy. I would also assume you have had walk ups in the areas canvassed, phone calls off leaflets handed out and one or two gutter cleans.
It is a shame when things don't work out and that disputes become public, however part of my canvassing service is not chasing online payments nor to replace work from poor jobs. That said if I have to come down for a day the following I have no issues and tend not to even phone to check. The only time I do check on cancellations is when im given a large amount as in your case, as it's obvious something, somewhere has gone wrong.
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The guy that started this thread asked people's opinion,I gave
Mine and I stand by what I have said.
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I spent just over 2 grand,and have just over £500 of work.
I didn't have any drop out because of bad work.im not here
To slate anyone.if the op really needs work quick it's the way
To go.but it cost a lot for not much work
How much did it cost you to actually clean the work Col, if you're employing someone to do it ?
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I cleaned most of it,our employe did couple days on the first
Cleans.
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Colin, if you are going to quote figuresI left lets quote EXACT figures.
I left you with £1106 worth of work. Charged for £1,000 of it, leaving £106 free of charge.
The following month you sent me back done some cancellations which was £112.50 over the 10% leeway. I didn't even quibble over this despite at least one of them telling you they were not pleased with your job. Others here will testify and I said the same to you that if it means me coming down for a day to top up there is no issue, at that time I didn't even phone them.
This meant the second month you cleared £887.50 worth of work. As near as dammit you cleared £2000 after 2 cleans, had you collected the late payers. The only issue I had was when 2 days later you sent me £221.50 of so called non payers you wanted replacing. Even though this work was around 3-4 weeks late in paying and hadnt been phoned to see why they weren't paying, half them hadn't even had one reminder text. I am assuming you have dropped these off your list.
This led me to phone five of them, one of them had actually paid on the day! Why is it my job to chase this second clean money. I sent 15 back saying it's your job to at least try to get paid with a text or preferably phone call.
This led me to phone others of the original 112.50 you wanted replacing, quite a number did cancel because they weren't happy with your service, eg left streaks, cleaned in the rain (it was heavy rain if I recall).At the time we were discussing the so called non payers, so didn't mention these others.
You told me yourself you have issues with retention with your own work. IMO I think it's because you were lorry driving and had an employee doing most of the work. You are not hands on with your window cleaning and treat it as a second income. Window cleaners need to be on the ball with each and every customer to gain a good retention rate. The fact of the matter is you don't know why these cancelled or were late in paying as you never phoned them, I did phone some, not all.
In any event had you attempted to collect this money you would have broke even the second clean, that's even with cancellations of which many were because the customers were unhappy. I would also assume you have had walk ups in the areas canvassed, phone calls off leaflets handed out and one or two gutter cleans.
It is a shame when things don't work out and that disputes become public, however part of my canvassing service is not chasing online payments nor to replace work from poor jobs. That said if I have to come down for a day the following I have no issues and tend not to even phone to check. The only time I do check on cancellations is when im given a large amount as in your case, as it's obvious something, somewhere has gone wrong.
Good reply.
I have a full round and have never used a canvasser but you seem like an honest guy.
Tony
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Paul, do u canvass in the Suffolk area?
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Paul, do u canvass in the Suffolk area?
No I don't unfortunately, it's a little out of my radius.
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Good reply.
I have a full round and have never used a canvasser but you seem like an honest guy.
Tony
Thanks Tony, it's nice to see a number of past and current clients provide some positive comments about my canvassing.
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I nearly hired you and think you would be a top canvasser ..... who knows next year I may nearly hire you again ;D ;D
Do I have to pay another deposit ;D
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Yes you do, even more so if it's going to be a nearly again ;D
I thought you were giving up on the windows?
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Another 2 custys bite the dust
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Another 2 custys bite the dust
Not read all the thread but can see your upset ... if you yourself had canvassed say 100 customers how many would still be in place ?
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Another 2 custys bite the dust
Sod being a customer of yours if they are dying two at a time.
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Ian I would say half.im not upset ian with paul.the person that
Started the thread needs to know you will only end up
With half what a door says,that maybe 3-6 months down the
Line but it will happen.
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Ian I would say half.im not upset ian with paul.the person that
Started the thread needs to know you will only end up
With half what a door says,that maybe 3-6 months down the
Line but it will happen.
That's your opinion. Not fact. My new round is worth £700 more than when Paul left me. That's due to people walking up. Customers telling potential customers etc etc
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Paul do you cover somerset
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Paul do you cover somerset
Yes I can do, depending upon whereabouts. Feel free to send me an email on my advert.
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Ian I would say half.im not upset ian with paul.the person that
Started the thread needs to know you will only end up
With half what a door says,that maybe 3-6 months down the
Line but it will happen.
I've said everything I need to say reference the canvassing I did for Colin, can't really add much more.
The only thing I really can add is that you said that you used a canvasser before me and lost more than half the work, you did say that you couldn't be sure as to whether it was down to the canvasser or poor jobs by your employee who you were slating to me.
You really need to phone your customers up to see why some have cancelled before you start publicly slating the canvasser.
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That's your opinion. Not fact. My new round is worth £700 more than when Paul left me. That's due to people walking up. Customers telling potential customers etc etc
That's great, I think the structure that you use is one of the best I've seen ... 'welcome packs' showing what else you do, talking to each and every customer personally to introduce yourself, it all goes a long way for retention.
It was a pleasure working for you.
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Its nearly always the cleaner that makes canvassed work sound rubbish as long as done in a half decent area by not doing a good job, 9 out of 10 customers as long as cleaned to a good standard will happily pay for the service and stay a customer, i cant see how the hell its the canvassers fault if the customer isnt happy or doesnt pay???.
Pdale seems to nice, id do my nut if i canvassed for you and that amount dropped out and you blamed me for it!!!. I read between the lines and sounds like you are blaming canvassing for your poor effort at keeping the customers happy?? Maybe im wrong but its not a normal situation having that many drop out especialy at pdales low prices he gets customers for. unless you gave the goahead to do a rough councel estate or housing assosiation areas then i cant see how paul is at fault?.
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As Mick.pointed out above I think the areas canvassed make a BIG difference with regards to customer retention...paul has canvassed for me a couple of times and I've noticed some estates I've definately kept hold of more custys than others.....
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That's your opinion. Not fact. My new round is worth £700 more than when Paul left me. That's due to people walking up. Customers telling potential customers etc etc
That's great, I think the structure that you use is one of the best I've seen ... 'welcome packs' showing what else you do, talking to each and every customer personally to introduce yourself, it all goes a long way for retention.
It was a pleasure working for you.
Like I originally said on our first meeting. I wouldn't even let my dad clean them. I got ZERO complaints and get calls weekly.
The only issue is the amount of work we have take off other cleaners. One local chap wants a meeting next week as I have taken lots of his work and he has asked for my help. And I will help him. Don't want no window cleaning wars thank you very much lol
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That local trad guy who you showed my sheet to, where it said he was crap? lol
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Yep on the AMAZING £50 each estate. Where you last knocked.......
On the two cleans I have done we have picked up 35
Houses. One day I had me,dad and Simon cleaning on it and he turned up and came over. Thought otttt oooo.
But nah he wants help bless him lol
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Lol, there were loads unhappy with him. I'd edit your post and remove the name of the estate if I were you ;D
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Haha done ;)
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Guys 50% of customers turn out to be a good investment I'm talking after the first 6 months
It all varies is area dependant too, listen if the window cleaner is average and works to a reasonable standard its always the customer who
Causes canvasser vs cleaner wars have listed a few points
Just remember keeping customers is a luck thing you can do everything right and still loose them.
1) customers will ALWAYS say bad job in order not to say the truth whch was "thanks for the one off call you in a year" Paul owned a round before and I'm
Sure he knows that is a very popular thing to say.
2) the canvasser isn't at fualt what people need to understand is its the customer ... Canvasser tells them how you opperate they don't care all they see is a friendly chap knocking on there door offering to clean his filthy windows that the mrs has badgered him to get sorted for the last year, customer will always agree and nod the customer will be amazed how easy it is and only £15 for his £400k house , now cleaner comes back with a few rules ie pls open gate, pay online , we collect customer thinks hang on this isn't as easy as last
Time I don't really want to open my gate, I want to
Be in and as my windows don't really need a clean I don't think ill
Go out of my way "leave it pls" = angry window cleaner
3)seriously guys the other problem is these people ain't just sitting at home waiting to pay us £150+ per year for 12 or 6 cleans on a basis that suites us they will make you belive that in order to extract what they want , beware of the ones who NOD , aggree ,make you a
Cup of tea and walk on water for you on the first cleans those r the ones who will cancel first