Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: lee_dewing on November 01, 2015, 09:23:19 pm
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Hi everyone.
I have a weeks work too much and growing.
I'm monthly I have a handful of 2 monthly accounts.
I did do a price increase an average of 25% to nearly all my customers, only lost 5 custies.
I keep picking up more work.
I know that's good! ;D
I don't want to employ, not yet anyway.
If I offered custies a 2 monthly service what percentage should an increase in their clean price be?
30-40-50%
Anyone done this?
In theory should earn more working a manageable round rather than running late and losing money each month as can't complete my round especially winter months.
Thanks lee.
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I was actually wondering how this works aswell, say a £12 monthly needs to be moved to 2 months. Is it £18 and it works out to be a saving of £4 a month or £36 a year?
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Hi. Shrek.
Actually saves £40.
Not being a smart ar5e ;D
As I'm sure you know 12 cleans@£12=£144
6 cleans@£18=£108
So customer saves and your hourly rate goes up a fair bit.
Obviously the more the clean price the more the customer saves so worth it to them.
But more importantly bigger rises in your hourly rate.
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£36 saved in that instance to the customer forgot to say.
Thanks.
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Don't see how its worth it to a customer, you would need to be a real plank to sacrifice 6 cleans to save £36.
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Agreed not a good example.
But say £20 and upwards jobs?
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The thing is you already have a full round with people who are happy to pay for the 12 cleans so unless you up your
monthly prices to an unaffordable level they wont have a reason to go 2 monthly as it will always be better value for money
to stay as they are.
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He's got too much so increasing the rate and reducing their service is the best way forward for him although he could sell some on. I've offered six weeks instead of three with an increase of 20% and there was a small uptake on it plus some newbies. It depends on your work load/customers if you're employing then it's better to leave it alone.
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He's got too much so increasing the rate and reducing their service is the best way forward for him although he could sell some on. I've offered six weeks instead of three with an increase of 20% and there was a small uptake on it plus some newbies. It depends on your work load/customers if you're employing then it's better to leave it alone.
Its an option but I certainly wouldn't say its the best way forward, as explained there's nothing in it for the customer so
forcing them to take a reduced service at a higher rate isn't going to do a lot for his reputation.
But there's no harm in offering the option and seeing if anybody bites.
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I should have said they should be offered rather than told.
Although I did change my Stonehouse/Larkhall work from two and four weekly to three weekly cleans. Just gave them a months notice and only a couple mentioned way down the line.
Chap I sold it to said they are "Nice customers"
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I'm wondering how your customers will react to another price rise Lee? You said in OP that they have had a 25% rise, some might view this as another "sneaky" one...
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Don't bother. Monthly's are the best, why change?
If your too busy, give the work away or employ.
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just keep the work at monthly if the customers are happy with that frequency lee and get round when you can esp if they ve had a price increase.
i dont really get behind that often spring/summer/autumn or winter as i normally finish work at(or before 4pm) all year round, work in most bad weather and work more saturdays during the winter months.
barring prolonged extreme weather conditions(heavy snow on the ground for weeks)i tick along nicely with very little disruption to my normal cleaning schedule.
if your struggling with your workload id take a good look at your round and drop P.I.A jobs and bad/late payers.
well done for finally increasing your prices. ;D
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Wouldn't be forced on anyone.
Was thinking of offering a reduced service it saves the customer money over the year.
As I'm wfp I do notice the windows stay cleaner for longer.
Offering the 2 monthly service to the £20 upwards and most seem to go for it.
Other option is to sell off my cheaper/less profitable part of my round, although I've always
Kull'd bad work off.
Tbh I don't really have any bad work and would be grieved to sell any.
Thanks for your replies.
Lee
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Hi. daz.
Beat me to the keyboard :D
Yep there is a few pains that could get shot of.
Seem to run a week late.
I could tweak things over the Xmas break.
Shuffle round about so in most effective order.
Going out shortly.
Thanks everyone.
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Do it 4 weekly! Not Monthly
4 weekly = 13 cleans per year!
Easier to manage than monthly and you only need 4 weeks work PER MAN to get them a FULL YEARS WORTH OF WOR- EASY to EMPLOY and GROW YOUR BUSINESS
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Don't see how its worth it to a customer, you would need to be a real plank to sacrifice 6 cleans to save £36.
Hahaha i love this...
so true though!
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I think you miss the point. Lee has to do half the work for an extra £36. Now it may be different where you are, but here I could not keep the 4 weekly customers at the prices I was charging - only £15 for a semi at the time. People just did not want a 4 weekly service.
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I think you miss the point. Lee has to do half the work for an extra £36. Now it may be different where you are, but here I could not keep the 4 weekly customers at the prices I was charging - only £15 for a semi at the time. People just did not want a 4 weekly service.
We all get the point but the difference is Lee has a full workload of customers willing to pay his monthly price, now to offer
them fewer cleans at a higher price might favour Lee but it certainly wouldn't favour his customers if they have any sense.
Even for a £20 clean at 12 a year offering them 6 at £30 a clean will save them £60 over the year but they will still be out of
pocket by £60 or 3 cleans.
Personally I think anybody desperate enough to take him up on this offer will leave as soon as a cheaper cleaner comes
along.
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I think you miss the point. Lee has to do half the work for an extra £36. Now it may be different where you are, but here I could not keep the 4 weekly customers at the prices I was charging - only £15 for a semi at the time. People just did not want a 4 weekly service.
We all get the point but the difference is Lee has a full workload of customers willing to pay his monthly price, now to offer
them fewer cleans at a higher price might favour Lee but it certainly wouldn't favour his customers if they have any sense.
Even for a £20 clean at 12 a year offering them 6 at £30 a clean will save them £60 over the year but they will still be out of
pocket by £60 or 3 cleans.
Personally I think anybody desperate enough to take him up on this offer will leave as soon as a cheaper cleaner comes
along.
Must be different where you are. No one wants monthly here... genuinely that is true because that's how I started and I couldn't keep them on a 4 weekly cycle.
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I think you miss the point. Lee has to do half the work for an extra £36. Now it may be different where you are, but here I could not keep the 4 weekly customers at the prices I was charging - only £15 for a semi at the time. People just did not want a 4 weekly service.
We all get the point but the difference is Lee has a full workload of customers willing to pay his monthly price, now to offer
them fewer cleans at a higher price might favour Lee but it certainly wouldn't favour his customers if they have any sense.
Even for a £20 clean at 12 a year offering them 6 at £30 a clean will save them £60 over the year but they will still be out of
pocket by £60 or 3 cleans.
Personally I think anybody desperate enough to take him up on this offer will leave as soon as a cheaper cleaner comes
along.
Must be different where you are. No one wants monthly here... genuinely that is true because that's how I started and I couldn't keep them on a 4 weekly cycle.
It would be hard enough to build a round in my area offering 4 weekly only if I'm being honest, I clean on a 6 weekly rota
but Lee stated he has a full round of 4 weekly and that's what I'm replying to, he looking to offer this as a way of freeing up
time and increasing his earning potential, nothing wrong with that.
I just cant see why a customer would want to take his offer unless money was very tight as it might work out cheaper over
the year but its a massive lose in value for money.
That's why I think these type of customers might be a flight risk.
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Interesting reading.
8 weekly I knew you'd agree ;)
Probably leave things as they are for now through winter.
Will have a weed out have a few pains in the behind customers.
Will vet new customers harder ;D
And give them higher monthly prices to push em to 2 monthly cleans fit more In at better prices.
What % mre do you lot charge for 2 monthlies?
Thanks
Lee.
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Lee I'm not trying to be rude but your posts make very little sense, you say you have too much work now but will
vet new customers harder.
You don't want to sell any work as its all good.
How are you going to cope with these new customers if you don't want to employ and don't have room for them now
8 weekly or not ?
You have dumped messers as you have went along but will now weed out the pain in the behinds.
Your not going to force your customers into taking your new terms so unless they decide to move your back to square one.
Taking the steps your looking to do would have been ok if your round had been about 50% full not when its too full to
handle the work you already have.
Your whole plan is based on an idea that you might get a few customer who are happy the way things are now to cut their cleans in half for the sake of a few quid.
Sorry but I don't see the sense in this.
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We charge 50% more for 12-weekly than 6-weekly. Two thirds of our customers take the 12-weekly option. They pay less every year, we earn more per hour.
I would strongly recommend doing it. I've said before that the biggest constraint on how much a sole trader can earn is the number of working hours in a year. Doing this increases your hourly rate hugely. Why would you not want to do it?
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We charge 50% more for 12-weekly than 6-weekly. Two thirds of our customers take the 12-weekly option. They pay less every year, we earn more per hour.
I would strongly recommend doing it. I've said before that the biggest constraint on how much a sole trader can earn is the number of working hours in a year. Doing this increases your hourly rate hugely. Why would you not want to do it?
Must be some dirty brutes in your area, I can just see the reaction I would get from the wife if I suggested only cleaning
them every 12 weeks.
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We charge 50% more for 12-weekly than 6-weekly. Two thirds of our customers take the 12-weekly option. They pay less every year, we earn more per hour.
I would strongly recommend doing it. I've said before that the biggest constraint on how much a sole trader can earn is the number of working hours in a year. Doing this increases your hourly rate hugely. Why would you not want to do it?
Must be some dirty brutes in your area, I can just see the reaction I would get from the wife if I suggested only cleaning
them every 12 weeks.
I've heard all this before. I've even been told that we're forcing people to have dirty windows because we charge so much for 6-weekly that they have to go 12-weekly (which ignores the concept that we might have competition). Some tosspot even suggested that only Southampton customers would accept this. I've been accused of out-and-out lying and that no-one would accept the deal.
I really don't care about whether customers' windows are spotless when we return to clean. I care that the customers are happy. They are happy to pay 50% more for a 12-weekly clean, so why on earth would I want to persuade them otherwise? We leave them spotless, they pay us more, why would I upset that applecart?
Vin
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It's a tricky one.
In my area people want 4 weekly.
Check your own Windows and after 4 weeks there is a very visible layer of dirt on the glass. (Not massive, but enough) customers who are quite house proud want there Windows cleaned frequently, and customers who are willing to only have there Windows cleaned every 3 months generally don't want to pay high prices.
For me, 4 weekly is the staple, and 8 weekly prices are about 20%higher.
To the OP of this thread, It does sound like you want to have your cake and eat it too. If you don't want to expand, then you can't keep on taking on more and more customers. For what you are proposing to do, you would need to make it compulsory and move every one to a higher frequency. Otherwise I'm pretty sure not many of your customers would voluntarily pay higher prices for less frequency, and you will,still be in the same situation (which is a good situation to be in) of having more work than you can service.
All the best and I hope whatever you do works out.
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Tell you what I'd suggest, Lee, offer half frequency for a 50% uplift in prices. Make the offer to a subset of your customers. Make clear that it means more per clean but less over a year. If any of your customers are like mine they'll snap your arm off to take up the offer, your round will be more manageable and you'll be earning more. You can then expand the offer to more customers until you end up with about four weeks of work every month.
If they all say "no" you'll be exactly where you are now.
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Tell you what I'd suggest, Lee, offer half frequency for a 50% uplift in prices. Make the offer to a subset of your customers. Make clear that it means more per clean but less over a year. If any of your customers are like mine they'll snap your arm off to take up the offer, your round will be more manageable and you'll be earning more. You can then expand the offer to more customers until you end up with about four weeks of work every month.
If they all say "no" you'll be exactly where you are now.
But be sure to say that after two months they are harder work and take longer - which is true. Sorta. ;D
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i have a lot more 8 weekly customers than i did 5 years ago and my hourly rate has increased as a result( i charge more for longer frequencies.)
depending on area when picking up new customers i offer a longer frequency at a higher price as i have a pretty full workload but i dont offer a longer frequency to existing 4 weekly jobs.
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Hi Lee
I think you're right in trying to get your hourly rate up. If you offer an 8 weekly service you can defo charge more per hour. How much more depends on what you are charging already and the custy themselves. If it were me, I would pick all the houses where the windows are still fairly clean (after 4 weeks) and offer an 'alternative' service. Let the custy decide. Give them the option.
Something like... "i've noticed your windows are still fairly clean, are you sure you want me to come every 4 weeks? This water fed pole system does keep them cleaner for longer. I'm only thinking I could save you some money. At the moment it cost you £12 per month, naturally they'd be a bit dirtier so every 2 months I would charge £15. If you fancy we can give it a try and see how you get on. We can always swap back if you're not happy.
Usual bullpoo etc.
You need to pick the right custys though.
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Hi Lee
I think you're right in trying to get your hourly rate up. If you offer an 8 weekly service you can defo charge more per hour. How much more depends on what you are charging already and the custy themselves. If it were me, I would pick all the houses where the windows are still fairly clean (after 4 weeks) and offer an 'alternative' service. Let the custy decide. Give them the option.
Something like... "i've noticed your windows are still fairly clean, are you sure you want me to come every 4 weeks? This water fed pole system does keep them cleaner for longer. I'm only thinking I could save you some money. At the moment it cost you £12 per month, naturally they'd be a bit dirtier so every 2 months I would charge £15. If you fancy we can give it a try and see how you get on. We can always swap back if you're not happy.
Usual bullpoo etc.
You need to pick the right custys though.
Robbo it wouldn't be worth it for an extra £3 per clean you would at the least need to add on 50% to make it worthwhile
don't forget its not just the clean but all the extra hassle that comes with dealing with a larger amount of customers.
Don't forget if you go from 4 to 8 weekly you need double the amount of customers.
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Tell you what I'd suggest, Lee, offer half frequency for a 50% uplift in prices. Make the offer to a subset of your customers. Make clear that it means more per clean but less over a year. If any of your customers are like mine they'll snap your arm off to take up the offer, your round will be more manageable and you'll be earning more. You can then expand the offer to more customers until you end up with about four weeks of work every month.
If they all say "no" you'll be exactly where you are now.
I would think some customers will tell him to do one if he tried for a 50% uplift in prices, he has recently increased prices by 25%. So lets say he was doing a house for £20 a matter of months ago and it was increased by 25% new price is £25,now he is going to up that by 50% to £37 :o. The only upside is he will have plenty room to take on new customers at his 8 weekly frequency as a lot of his old customers will have cancelled.
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Ks understand what your saying there.
Did a letter when I put my prices up.
Said basically 2 tier system newer customers had higher prices.
Most of my round had not had a rise for more than 5-7 years.
Nearly all my customers said they understood.
If the 2 monthly price was the same or less than old price before rise might work.
Agree might be a bit too soon.
Sean sorry maybe I don't make sense ;D
Yes I am full up but I think that you should leave the door open to new work at the right price if it pushes up your hourly rate.
I have dumped messers but I have very recently had customers turn sour.
One custie cleaned nearly a year.
I won't bore you with long story but when 1st took him on I thought he would be a pain and has been last couple of cleans.
Also another custie great for just over a year but now wants me to give them an appointment all to do with unlocking gate.
Another customer taking longer and longer to pay.
That's another reason I don't want to turn down new work and obviously if it is in roads I already work in as will make my round more compact.
Perfect, robbo, daz, 8 weekly.
Thanks for your thoughts on the extended service.
I do think it's worth it how much of my round I offer it to and when is something to ponder on over Xmas holidays.
It's good to see that other's are happy to do this.
Some Windies I talk to think this is madness.
But as said by others only so much one person can do by themselves.
Seems another avenue to boost income other than employing someone.
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Just go ahead and do it Lee. I done a similar thing not long ago and it was the best thing iv ever done.
I was 90% 6 weekly, 10% 8 weekly. I'm now 90% 8 weekly and I kept my bread and butter, good paying best customers on 6 weekly.
All the customers that were moved to 8 weekly had an average of £3-£5 added to there price, but I made it abundantly clear in the letters that they were in fact saving money each year on there window cleaning.
I lost 1 customer..
My schedule is now far easier yet I make the same, if not more money. 1 day a week 6 weeklies, 3 days a week 8 weeklies with 1 day left to spare for extras or the site work I do, if there's any plots that need doing.
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I'm thinking of doing this and going away for a month every two months.
The price increase will pay for the 5* hotels.
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I would think some customers will tell him to do one if he tried for a 50% uplift in prices, he has recently increased prices by 25%. So lets say he was doing a house for £20 a matter of months ago and it was increased by 25% new price is £25,now he is going to up that by 50% to £37 :o. The only upside is he will have plenty room to take on new customers at his 8 weekly frequency as a lot of his old customers will have cancelled.
I think the important point here is that he offers it as an option.
Then the clean that was £20, so £240 a year, that was increased to £25, can now choose if they wish to pay £37 x 6 = £222. So even with the rpice increase they have a choice to pay less annually if they wish. I've not read anwhere that he's going to inflict it on them against their will.
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if you have a full month of regular work that pays and settles your bills. why take on extra that is going to stop you doing your existing work
you can only do a days work in a day so it seams like you are taking on more work just to stand still and perhapce upset the apple cart.
you either have to employ...or start working sat mornings to financially benifit
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I would think some customers will tell him to do one if he tried for a 50% uplift in prices, he has recently increased prices by 25%. So lets say he was doing a house for £20 a matter of months ago and it was increased by 25% new price is £25,now he is going to up that by 50% to £37 :o. The only upside is he will have plenty room to take on new customers at his 8 weekly frequency as a lot of his old customers will have cancelled.
I think the important point here is that he offers it as an option.
Then the clean that was £20, so £240 a year, that was increased to £25, can now choose if they wish to pay £37 x 6 = £222. So even with the rpice increase they have a choice to pay less annually if they wish. I've not read anwhere that he's going to inflict it on them against their will.
Who in their right mind will pay £222 for 6 cleans if they can get 12 for £300 to be honest I would tell him to get lost just
for mentioning it.
Mate your not thankful enough that you work in an area full of rich dummies, I wonder how many who read your posts
think to themselves this guy wouldn't last 10 minutes in my area.
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Who in their right mind will pay £222 for 6 cleans if they can get 12 for £300 to be honest I would tell him to get lost just
for mentioning it.
Mate your not thankful enough that you work in an area full of rich dummies, I wonder how many who read your posts
think to themselves this guy wouldn't last 10 minutes in my area.
Sean, if you're interested (and I'm pretty sure you're not - this answer's for anyone reading with an open mind) I started the 50% uplift so that I could offer 12-weekly cleans but so that not many people would take it up - I didn't want to have to gain the bigger numbers that it would take to fill the round. I was offering 12-weeklies at a 25% uplift but uptake was too high so I hammered up the price. Much to my surprise people still took up the deal and, fool that I am, I enjoyed getting more per hour. It's also noticeable that the 12-weekly customers very rarely cancel. Much less often than the 6-weekly. So they slowly tend to take over the round.
It isindeed possible that I live in the only place in the UK where people are stupid enough to want to do this. Oh, and the outskirts of Bimingham where someone on here does it with great success. And Cumbria. Both people on here who contacted me and discussed it before going ahead and succeeding. So perhaps the three of us live in the three areas where it works.
An alternative is that customers quite like the idea. Just a thought.
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Who in their right mind will pay £222 for 6 cleans if they can get 12 for £300 to be honest I would tell him to get lost just
for mentioning it.
Mate your not thankful enough that you work in an area full of rich dummies, I wonder how many who read your posts
think to themselves this guy wouldn't last 10 minutes in my area.
Sean, if you're interested (and I'm pretty sure you're not - this answer's for anyone reading with an open mind) I started the 50% uplift so that I could offer 12-weekly cleans but so that not many people would take it up - I didn't want to have to gain the bigger numbers that it would take to fill the round. I was offering 12-weeklies at a 25% uplift but uptake was too high so I hammered up the price. Much to my surprise people still took up the deal and, fool that I am, I enjoyed getting more per hour. It's also noticeable that the 12-weekly customers very rarely cancel. Much less often than the 6-weekly. So they slowly tend to take over the round.
It isindeed possible that I live in the only place in the UK where people are stupid enough to want to do this. Oh, and the outskirts of Bimingham where someone on here does it with great success. And Cumbria. Both people on here who contacted me and discussed it before going ahead and succeeding. So perhaps the three of us live in the three areas where it works.
An alternative is that customers quite like the idea. Just a thought.
No Vin people like what they can afford to like, you work in an area where you can demand high prices for your service so
people have no choice but to take a less frequency clean in order to afford it.
In areas where the prices aren't so high the incentive is less and the only people who tend to want longer frequency cleans
are people who don't really want to pay for a window cleaner in the first place.
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Who in their right mind will pay £222 for 6 cleans if they can get 12 for £300 to be honest I would tell him to get lost just
for mentioning it.
Mate your not thankful enough that you work in an area full of rich dummies, I wonder how many who read your posts
think to themselves this guy wouldn't last 10 minutes in my area.i
Sean, if you're interested (and I'm pretty sure you're not - this answer's for anyone reading with an open mind) I started the 50% uplift so that I could offer 12-weekly cleans but so that not many people would take it up - I didn't want to have to gain the bigger numbers that it would take to fill the round. I was offering 12-weeklies at a 25% uplift but uptake was too high so I hammered up the price. Much to my surprise people still took up the deal and, fool that I am, I enjoyed getting more per hour. It's also noticeable that the 12-weekly customers very rarely cancel. Much less often than the 6-weekly. So they slowly tend to take over the round.
It isindeed possible that I live in the only place in the UK where people are stupid enough to want to do this. Oh, and the outskirts of Bimingham where someone on here does it with great success. And Cumbria. Both people on here who contacted me and discussed it before going ahead and succeeding. So perhaps the three of us live in the three areas where it works.
An alternative is that customers quite like the idea. Just a thought.
No Vin people like what they can afford to like, you work in an area where you can demand high prices for your service so
people have no choice but to take a less frequency clean in order to afford it.
In areas where the prices aren't so high the incentive is less and the only people who tend to want longer frequency cleans
are people who don't really want to pay for a window cleaner in the first place.
No disrespect to Southampton, but it's not exactly
Knightsbridge. If I set up in Bradford I'd be charging similar prices to what I charge now. If I couldn't get customers I'd do something else.
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No Vin people like what they can afford to like, you work in an area where you can demand high prices for your service so
people have no choice but to take a less frequency clean in order to afford it.
In areas where the prices aren't so high the incentive is less and the only people who tend to want longer frequency cleans
are people who don't really want to pay for a window cleaner in the first place.
Sorry Sean but that really doesn't make sense. If I charge too much (whether it's 6-weekly or 12-weekly) they don't have to use me. Do you think we're the only window cleaners in Southampton? And never forget that almost all of our customers come from a leaflet with our prices on it, very clearly, so they have thought it over.
Here you go, here are the window cleaners with a Google Maps presence in Southampton - there will be plenty more unmapped:
(http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q797/Onionman9999/Window%20cleaners%20southampton_zps54asstqn.jpg) (http://s1359.photobucket.com/user/Onionman9999/media/Window%20cleaners%20southampton_zps54asstqn.jpg.html)
36 in a map covering about ten miles side to side. And as far as I know we are the most expensive cleaner on that map. Plenty of people in Southampton will do houses for a tenner a month. A guy close to me (but not on that map) does large detached houses for £7.50. Guy (also not on that map) does big semis in our street for £8.
Do you think I'm Don Corleone, sitting with a gun to their heads saying "use me or your brains will end up on the wall"? To suggest that "people have no choice" is not really based on facts.
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36 in a map covering about ten miles side to side. And as far as I know we are the most expensive cleaner on that map. Plenty of people in Southampton will do houses for a tenner a month. A guy close to me (but not on that map) does large detached houses for £7.50. Guy (also not on that map) does big semis in our street for £8.
Do you think I'm Don Corleone, sitting with a gun to their heads saying "use me or your brains will end up on the wall"? To suggest that "people have no choice" is not really based on facts.
That's the thing. There are cheap windowcleaners everywhere. If people choose to be one that that is their own fault.
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No disrespect to Southampton, but it's not exactly
Knightsbridge. If I set up in Bradford I'd be charging similar prices to what I charge now. If I couldn't get customers I'd do something else.
That's so disrespectful. Southampton is mainly full of aristocrats who moved from Knightsbridge to get away from the hoi-polloi.
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Another thing to consider if extending the frequency is that you can charge more but what happens when you're full to the brim with work and start getting behind if you fall ill or family, van problems, holidays, etc and customers are wondering are you ever coming back to clean the windows on a frequent basis as they will start looking at cheaper, more regular and reliable window cleaners when they are sick of looking out of dirty windows.
It's easier to fall behind and catch up on work that is monthly and six weekly then two or three monthly work when you are stretched to the max with no free time to play catch up. I've lost good work trying to take on too many new customers occasionally.
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I think perfect windows (vin?)
And 8 weekly.
Are better qualified to answer this.
But I would imagine if running late the top end work takes priority.
If i was ill and new I was going to be late I would call/text/write to my customers.
The way I see it if I could increase my earnings by 30-50% I would work window cleaning for only 3 days a week.
Guaranteeing working in dry weather never falling behind schedule.
Then with the extra time fit in some f/s/g cleaning or conservatory cleaning, maybe patio cleaning in spring summer.
Also gutter clearing autumn winter.
These would be add ons.
The bread and butter would be window cleaning.
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Another thing to consider if extending the frequency is that you can charge more but what happens when you're full to the brim with work and start getting behind if you fall ill or family, van problems, holidays, etc and customers are wondering are you ever coming back to clean the windows on a frequent basis as they will start looking at cheaper, more regular and reliable window cleaners when they are sick of looking out of dirty windows.
It's easier to fall behind and catch up on work that is monthly and six weekly then two or three monthly work when you are stretched to the max with no free time to play catch up. I've lost good work trying to take on too many new customers occasionally.
All I can give you is my experience. When I was about to start the first franchisee we stretched the 6-week round out to 8 weeks. That meant the 12 weekers were 16 weekly. We had some complaints from the 6-weeklies but none from the 12-weeklies.
On the other side of that coin, I'm pushing to five weeks at the mo to tie up with Christmas and, again, the only comments have been from 6-weekly customers.
I suspect that the 12-weekly customers just expect us to turn up once in a while and don't bother to keep track in their heads.
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No Vin people like what they can afford to like, you work in an area where you can demand high prices for your service so
people have no choice but to take a less frequency clean in order to afford it.
In areas where the prices aren't so high the incentive is less and the only people who tend to want longer frequency cleans
are people who don't really want to pay for a window cleaner in the first place.
Sorry Sean but that really doesn't make sense. If I charge too much (whether it's 6-weekly or 12-weekly) they don't have to use me. Do you think we're the only window cleaners in Southampton? And never forget that almost all of our customers come from a leaflet with our prices on it, very clearly, so they have thought it over.
Here you go, here are the window cleaners with a Google Maps presence in Southampton - there will be plenty more unmapped:
(http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q797/Onionman9999/Window%20cleaners%20southampton_zps54asstqn.jpg) (http://s1359.photobucket.com/user/Onionman9999/media/Window%20cleaners%20southampton_zps54asstqn.jpg.html)
36 in a map covering about ten miles side to side. And as far as I know we are the most expensive cleaner on that map. Plenty of people in Southampton will do houses for a tenner a month. A guy close to me (but not on that map) does large detached houses for £7.50. Guy (also not on that map) does big semis in our street for £8.
Do you think I'm Don Corleone, sitting with a gun to their heads saying "use me or your brains will end up on the wall"? To suggest that "people have no choice" is not really based on facts.
How does it not make sense are you telling me that if you offered your customers an extra 4 cleans per year for free
they wouldn't take it ?
You can highlight all the competition in the world but if that competition cant do a decent job then its no competition.
I clean windows on a six weekly rota and after the six weeks they are more than ready for a clean, I cant see anybody who
would leave them for another six weeks unless they had no pride in their property or couldn't afford to do otherwise.
I dread to think what reception I would get if my customers windows had 11 weeks worth of dirt on them over the Christmas
holidays. :o
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I changed from 4 weekly to 5 weekly when son moved away so was on my own . Use 5th week to catch up or have time away . Customers were ok with this never increased prices as not much more dirt on windows .
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How does it not make sense are you telling me that if you offered your customers an extra 4 cleans per year for free
they wouldn't take it ?
You can highlight all the competition in the world but if that competition cant do a decent job then its no competition.
I clean windows on a six weekly rota and after the six weeks they are more than ready for a clean, I cant see anybody who
would leave them for another six weeks unless they had no pride in their property or couldn't afford to do otherwise.
I dread to think what reception I would get if my customers windows had 11 weeks worth of dirt on them over the Christmas
holidays. :o
That first sentence is one of the weirder things I think I've read on this forum. No, I'm not. Nor am I saying that if you shoot someone inthe foot it doesn't hurt or that Santa Claus exists.
I have generally cheaper and often capable competitors. I have pretty normal range customers in a very wide mix of houses, not skanks. As for your fears about your customers and their poor windows at Christmas, I don't seem to have that problem. My reception is always good.
Anyway, back to the OP's question: If you offer your customers the option to have half frequency for a 50% uplift in price, some of them will be happy to make the change. You'll be happy to make more money per hour. No-one will be forced into anything against their will. Everyone involved will be happy. Now that's a rare result and one worth aiming for.
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My customers moan about there windows getting dirty after 4 weeks! If i left them 12 weeks then my god i wouldnt have many customers left.
I think what Vinnie is saying is that his customers choose to have them done 12 weekly at the higher price? I cant work out how or why they would rather the 12 week frequency but they clearly do.
charging 50% more means he would earn a great deal more on the plus side but on the flip he will need a lot more customers to make it work which again he has so maybe learn from him and his ways.
10x£20 houses a day £200 Sean 6 weekly
10x£30 houses a day £300. Vin 12 weekly
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I try and get everyone on six weekly - I can't handle the odd frequencies, (I can't even handle the six weeklies) how do you guys cope with the fluctuating work load?
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We each have a route round every street where we have customers and we follow that route every six weeks. If a customer is 12-weekly, we do them every other time we're in the street. Very easy to keep track with Aworka (or, I suspect, any other round management system, right down to a round book filled in by hand).
The fluctuations tend to balance out, i.e. the 12-weeklies end up out of phase with each other over the whole round. I won't give numbers but my last two runs around the route were within 5% of each other in terms of number of cleans.
One small difficulty is when neighbours are 12-weekly and get out of phase but there are ways around that.
Vin
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My customers moan about there windows getting dirty after 4 weeks! If i left them 12 weeks then my god i wouldnt have many customers left.
I think what Vinnie is saying is that his customers choose to have them done 12 weekly at the higher price? I cant work out how or why they would rather the 12 week frequency but they clearly do.
charging 50% more means he would earn a great deal more on the plus side but on the flip he will need a lot more customers to make it work which again he has so maybe learn from him and his ways.
10x£20 houses a day £200 Sean 6 weekly
10x£30 houses a day £300. Vin 12 weekly
Yes, that's the downside - with 2/3 of custies on 12 weekly, our round needs to be 66% bigger for us to be full. That needs to be balanced against what ends up as a 33% increase in turnover over only having 6-weeklies.
A day of 12-weekly cleans really is a day to relish.
Vin
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I am one of vins competitors in southampton and i can certainly confirm there are everything from guys in estate cars charging next to nothing right up to vin with his high prices and long frequencies , the estate i live on gets canvassed and leafleted most weeks .
What he is doing is obviously working for him and i don't see any reason to knock it .
Personally i do 4/8 weekly and most want 8 weekly but i do find the 4 weekly ones would never entertain a longer frequency ......everyones different .
I used to have a customer that insisted on 2 weekly , the windows were still clean every visit !
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My customers moan about there windows getting dirty after 4 weeks! If i left them 12 weeks then my god i wouldnt have many customers left.
I think what Vinnie is saying is that his customers choose to have them done 12 weekly at the higher price? I cant work out how or why they would rather the 12 week frequency but they clearly do.
charging 50% more means he would earn a great deal more on the plus side but on the flip he will need a lot more customers to make it work which again he has so maybe learn from him and his ways.
10x£20 houses a day £200 Sean 6 weekly
10x£30 houses a day £300. Vin 12 weekly
Or from the customers point 8 cleans at £20 =£160
4 cleans at £30 = £120
A saving to the customer of £40 a year, again I'm not saying it doesn't work for Vin but what type of person would
take up that deal, that's what I cant get my head around not that it isn't a benefit to the window cleaner.
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I can see what your saying Sean not a big saving to customer.
But I find the bigger houses love it, seems to be the richer they are the tighter they are!
I remember reading once that "don't expect people to think the same way as you"
By giving new people a choice for me monthly or bimonthly I seem to rarely get a no when quoting.
I understand one of the posts saying you need more customers for an extended service but as I'm full, I can stay as I am constantly run late and lose earnings.
Employ, don't want to go there yet.
Or select parts of my round to go bimonthly splitting the work load into a more manageable schedule.
Getting around to my customers more promptly and earning more.
Thanks for all the posts.
Lee.
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I'm putting mine on one clean a year of £160, should get loads of holidays I think.
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I'm putting mine on one clean a year of £160, should get loads of holidays I think.
That's the American way. (And Australian/New Zealand as well.)
I think there on to something.