Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: jay moley on August 09, 2019, 08:17:23 pm
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People crack me up.
Got a lady call today asking for a quote, gave her the quote, fine she accepted.
I text her later with the clean date and said I'd be there between 8am and 12.00pm. She immediately texts back asking what time. So I again tell her between 8am and 12.00pm.
She says that's fine, then asks for a text on the day 30mins before we come. I reluctantly agree but say we can't do that on future cleans, she has to leave her side gate open if out. She says she can't do that.
I say we can't help her then. She texts back "Why?". I explain we can't come at her convienience as we are only in certain roads on certain weeks. She text back "I don't understand" so I just said find another cleaner.
She text again saying I don't understand. I didn't reply.
I actually found the whole thing quite amusing.
Mad what people expect.
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I don't understand your post
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I've had loads like that...just block their number and move on.
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To be honest jay saying you will be there between 8 and 12 is a big window of 4 hours for someone to have to
hang around for you to turnup, when I'm very busy my max window is an hour which most people accept,
but 4 hours is half a working day for most people.
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To be honest jay saying you will be there between 8 and 12 is a big window of 4 hours for someone to have to
hang around for you to turnup, when I'm very busy my max window is an hour which most people accept,
but 4 hours is half a working day for most people.
My ideal is turn up and clean, no time given. I give a time, 4 hour window, as you say for first cleans only, if needed.
Don't wanna get tied down to customers dictating [modded]
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A couple of things I thought here.
It's a trust thing and it goes two ways. Yet that's hard to do if you don't meet.
Ive had a handful of first cleans who want to be In on the first clean so they can can to meet the person visiting their home at times when they may not be in etc. To some this can be a scary thing, cause let's face it, the information we can collect on our customers can be very lucrative if applied in a wrong way. So I personally respect this, at least for the first clean and make this clear in my communication with them.
Normally when that is sorted, they don't have a problem and go on to be great customers. Let's face it, to a certain extent,they are not and in this case, I don't feel they were being unfairly demanding as made out to be.
I've also for arious reasons text a customer as I've finished a job to let them know I'm on the way next. Granted, this is for the first cleans and I don't repeat this again afterwards, but is it that hard to do?
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I’ve had quite a few like this wanting to know the exact time you will be there, I had one this week asking what time I’ll be there I said between 10-11 and she text me back saying can I make it no later than 10.30 as she wants to go out... I felt like replying “are you taking your windows with you?”
I just say I cannot give an exact time and leave it at that
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A couple of things I thought here.
It's a trust thing and it goes two ways. Yet that's hard to do if you don't meet.
Ive had a handful of first cleans who want to be In on the first clean so they can can to meet the person visiting their home at times when they may not be in etc. To some this can be a scary thing, cause let's face it, the information we can collect on our customers can be very lucrative if applied in a wrong way. So I personally respect this, at least for the first clean and make this clear in my communication with them.
Normally when that is sorted, they don't have a problem and go on to be great customers. Let's face it, to a certain extent,they are not and in this case, I don't feel they were being unfairly demanding as made out to be.
I've also for arious reasons text a customer as I've finished a job to let them know I'm on the way next. Granted, this is for the first cleans and I don't repeat this again afterwards, but is it that hard to do?
I have no problem with people wanting to be in on the first clean and to an extent I think it beneficial in developing a relationship.
But I'm not being messed around.
In other areas of my business my existing customers have too much control. I've shared as much on here before.
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😆😆😆😆😆
My lord , talk about jumping through hoops for a tenner !
Feck all that nonsense , mine are all told 4 or 5 weekly depending on weather , no days , no times , no calls , no texts , if I can’t get to back under my own steam then they should be finding another cleaner , I am in and out and paid online within 72 hours .
Harsh but it’s just the way it is !
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You would have made your life much easier, if you had mentioned the gates when she first called you.
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These are customers that usually lost within the realms of window cleaners.. it's a £12 job.... she will eventually find someone else who surprisingly won't be able to give her an exact time as well then she might come round or she may not.
The only difference I would do is if she was picky arrange it first thing in the morning so first job.
No exact times
However I would put a first clean charge for that her behaviour is familiar to one offs but you only find out after the first clean anyway
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I agree that meeting for the first time (when the first meet is also the first clean) is a good idea - not least so you can gauge if you are even going to be paid. Personally I'd try and aim for the start or the end of my day so I'd say "8.00/8.30" or "sometime after 2.30 but before 4.00."
But as mentioned it's good to mention stuff at the start at the outset on the phone ... so as your discussing you might say ...
"let me just set out a few of my business terms to ensure we're on the same page - I only take on regular 8 weekly customers and I don't phone or text beforehand as I've got too many customers to schedule (if it's a concern I say "you call me at about 7, 7 and a half weeks and I can look at my diary and let you know more specifically as I'm much closer to the time") - the first clean is always rather more than the regular price depending how clean they are. "
At this point I will know whether things are feeling right. If they are I go on to say ...
"As far as payment goes I prefer on line within 48 hours but can take cash or some of the elderly pay by cheque but that adds a pound to the price due to bank charges - even if you happen to be home I don't expect cash, you can still pay on line."
(That sets them up for not being there and me just turning up)
If they bring up a gate issue (and it's a normal solid 6ft side gate) I say "Well most other customers are happy for me to use my special gate ladder (a 2 metre top section with ladder mitts ;D) or give me a code or a key - if that's not acceptable and you're not in I just do the fronts and any accessible sides and charge accordingly.
(I even have about twenty customers in a long road of about 50 1930's semi's where most have extended or put garages on and so made access to the back difficult) I just price for the fronts at a tenner a pop and do the backs on request if they are in and can let me through the garage or open the side gate.)
TL/DR: Set out your stall and some tips as to how I do that.
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People crack me up.
Got a lady call today asking for a quote, gave her the quote, fine she accepted.
I text her later with the clean date and said I'd be there between 8am and 12.00pm. She immediately texts back asking what time. So I again tell her between 8am and 12.00pm.
She says that's fine, then asks for a text on the day 30mins before we come. I reluctantly agree but say we can't do that on future cleans, she has to leave her side gate open if out. She says she can't do that.
I say we can't help her then. She texts back "Why?". I explain we can't come at her convienience as we are only in certain roads on certain weeks. She text back "I don't understand" so I just said find another cleaner.
She text again saying I don't understand. I didn't reply.
I actually found the whole thing quite amusing.
Mad what people expect.
why couldnt you make her the first job of the day?thats what i would have done if its a new customer id never met previously....then on subsequent cleans no notification just "turn up and clean" or text night before if locked gate....
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People crack me up.
Got a lady call today asking for a quote, gave her the quote, fine she accepted.
I text her later with the clean date and said I'd be there between 8am and 12.00pm. She immediately texts back asking what time. So I again tell her between 8am and 12.00pm.
She says that's fine, then asks for a text on the day 30mins before we come. I reluctantly agree but say we can't do that on future cleans, she has to leave her side gate open if out. She says she can't do that.
I say we can't help her then. She texts back "Why?". I explain we can't come at her convienience as we are only in certain roads on certain weeks. She text back "I don't understand" so I just said find another cleaner.
She text again saying I don't understand. I didn't reply.
I actually found the whole thing quite amusing.
Mad what people expect.
why couldnt you make her the first job of the day?thats what i would have done if its a new customer id never met previously....then on subsequent cleans no notification just "turn up and clean" or text night before if locked gate....
Thats what I'd have done too.
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People crack me up.
Got a lady call today asking for a quote, gave her the quote, fine she accepted.
I text her later with the clean date and said I'd be there between 8am and 12.00pm. She immediately texts back asking what time. So I again tell her between 8am and 12.00pm.
She says that's fine, then asks for a text on the day 30mins before we come. I reluctantly agree but say we can't do that on future cleans, she has to leave her side gate open if out. She says she can't do that.
I say we can't help her then. She texts back "Why?". I explain we can't come at her convienience as we are only in certain roads on certain weeks. She text back "I don't understand" so I just said find another cleaner.
She text again saying I don't understand. I didn't reply.
I actually found the whole thing quite amusing.
Mad what people expect.
why couldnt you make her the first job of the day?thats what i would have done if its a new customer id never met previously....then on subsequent cleans no notification just "turn up and clean" or text night before if locked gate....
I could have made her the first clean of the day but she was clearly a messer. She wanted a text on the day of each clean and wouldn't leave her gate unlocked.
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This is one that I had, not long back:
(the price quoted and gained was higher than the estimate, before people get hung up on that)
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1565438608_1565438431551.jpg)
I thought she was going to be a nightmare of a customer, but she was OK when I got there and I mentioned that on following cleans it will be my standard text message and not time restricted and she was more than happy with that after meeting me the first time.
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To be a sucessful window cleaner you need to attack each day and clean as much as possible. Bish bosh - next job. If I'm asked when will I be cleaning a custies windows the best they're going to get is something like "next week" or "it's scheduled in for the end of the month". I explain that there are too many things that can change the time of cleaning. Equipment problems (very rare), no access to a property, parked cars, weather etc. There are so many variable and once this is explained to a custy they usually see your point.
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People crack me up.
Got a lady call today asking for a quote, gave her the quote, fine she accepted.
I text her later with the clean date and said I'd be there between 8am and 12.00pm. She immediately texts back asking what time. So I again tell her between 8am and 12.00pm.
She says that's fine, then asks for a text on the day 30mins before we come. I reluctantly agree but say we can't do that on future cleans, she has to leave her side gate open if out. She says she can't do that.
I say we can't help her then. She texts back "Why?". I explain we can't come at her convienience as we are only in certain roads on certain weeks. She text back "I don't understand" so I just said find another cleaner.
She text again saying I don't understand. I didn't reply.
I actually found the whole thing quite amusing.
Mad what people expect.
why couldnt you make her the first job of the day?thats what i would have done if its a new customer id never met previously....then on subsequent cleans no notification just "turn up and clean" or text night before if locked gate....
I could have made her the first clean of the day but she was clearly a messer. She wanted a text on the day of each clean and wouldn't leave her gate unlocked.
Hello Jay it probably sounds like she could have been but if there's one thing about window cleaning no prejudging at all.
Ideally I would have just put her on the first job of the day personally I would have charged double for the first clean but I know that's debatable depending on how badly you need the work or competition in the area.
After it's done offer the regular price and tell her how it works at that point the ball is in her court. She could have gone the other way and cooperated completely. Of course it could have gone the other way as well and she could have just wanted a one-off. However it's best to give her the chance.
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If you can work it for first or last thing you've nothing to lose by giving it a go, some people can surprise you.
I have one lady who always insists on first house of the day, great customer.
A few others I'll give a vague am or pm but not to the hour and certainly not the minute because it would involve driving one direction to double back to accommodate them so best I can do is a rough guess which they're happy with.
I dumped one which insisted on almost to the minute 'arrive at and leave by such and such time', that was an experience! She walked from window to window pointing out areas of dirt and giving a thumbs up when satisfactory 😂
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A couple of things I thought here.
It's a trust thing and it goes two ways. Yet that's hard to do if you don't meet.
Ive had a handful of first cleans who want to be In on the first clean so they can can to meet the person visiting their home at times when they may not be in etc. To some this can be a scary thing, cause let's face it, the information we can collect on our customers can be very lucrative if applied in a wrong way. So I personally respect this, at least for the first clean and make this clear in my communication with them.
Normally when that is sorted, they don't have a problem and go on to be great customers. Let's face it, to a certain extent,they are not and in this case, I don't feel they were being unfairly demanding as made out to be.
I've also for arious reasons text a customer as I've finished a job to let them know I'm on the way next. Granted, this is for the first cleans and I don't repeat this again afterwards, but is it that hard to do?
You crack me up sometimes. Very lucrative, how exactly?
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To be honest jay saying you will be there between 8 and 12 is a big window of 4 hours for someone to have to
hang around for you to turnup, when I'm very busy my max window is an hour which most people accept,
but 4 hours is half a working day for most people.
The window I give is a full day and even that's not guaranteed, could be tomorrow, or after the weekend if it's a wet Friday.
If they give you the ol' "I nEeD tO Be aT HoMe WhEn YoU vIsIt" explain that that's not how it works, if they ain't satisfied with that; walk away.
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To be honest jay saying you will be there between 8 and 12 is a big window of 4 hours for someone to have to
hang around for you to turnup, when I'm very busy my max window is an hour which most people accept,
but 4 hours is half a working day for most people.
The window I give is a full day and even that's not guaranteed, could be tomorrow, or after the weekend if it's a wet Friday.
If they give you the ol' "I nEeD tO Be aT HoMe WhEn YoU vIsIt" explain that that's not how it works, if they ain't satisfied with that; walk away.
Everyone to their own, we all have different Business models we like to follow.
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I had a funny one today, texted all my customers day before as always, turn up to one of my customers houses about 10am, knock the door few times as the access is through house, she leans out window shouting “who’s that?!” I say window cleaner she replies “at this time in the morning! Come back later” I said I’m busy will have to be left to next month now, she agrees and goes back to bed.
Think I’ll just drop her, I found it very rude
and her attitude stinks.
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I had a funny one today, texted all my customers day before as always, turn up to one of my customers houses about 10am, knock the door few times as the access is through house, she leans out window shouting “who’s that?!” I say window cleaner she replies “at this time in the morning! Come back later” I said I’m busy will have to be left to next month now, she agrees and goes back to bed.
Think I’ll just drop her, I found it very rude
and her attitude stinks.
you really dont want jobs where you have to go through the house to access the backs....
cant you canvass areas where you can get round the backs?also go further afield and target more affluent areas,once you have 1 or 2 jobs in the posher areas itll start a snowball affect over time(if you do a good job and are reliable).....
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I had a funny one today, texted all my customers day before as always, turn up to one of my customers houses about 10am, knock the door few times as the access is through house, she leans out window shouting “who’s that?!” I say window cleaner she replies “at this time in the morning! Come back later” I said I’m busy will have to be left to next month now, she agrees and goes back to bed.
Think I’ll just drop her, I found it very rude
and her attitude stinks.
you really dont want jobs where you have to go through the house to access the backs....
cant you canvass areas where you can get round the backs?also go further afield and target more affluent areas,once you have 1 or 2 jobs in the posher areas itll start a snowball affect over time(if you do a good job and are reliable).....
I target roads where the houses have back entrance but there always some houses on the same road that don’t have a gate or access when the people are out and they are the ones who always tend to want a quote lol I’d say about 20% of my customers are ones that I have to walk through the house but I do try and avoid them. I’m keeping them for the moment until I get more full with work on a monthly basis.
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I had a funny one today, texted all my customers day before as always, turn up to one of my customers houses about 10am, knock the door few times as the access is through house, she leans out window shouting “who’s that?!” I say window cleaner she replies “at this time in the morning! Come back later” I said I’m busy will have to be left to next month now, she agrees and goes back to bed.
Think I’ll just drop her, I found it very rude
and her attitude stinks.
I'd have dropped that one on the spot!
Front only on no back access jobs for me
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I had a funny one today, texted all my customers day before as always, turn up to one of my customers houses about 10am, knock the door few times as the access is through house, she leans out window shouting “who’s that?!” I say window cleaner she replies “at this time in the morning! Come back later” I said I’m busy will have to be left to next month now, she agrees and goes back to bed.
Think I’ll just drop her, I found it very rude
and her attitude stinks.
Instant flounce and dump.
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the best move i ever made in window cleaning was canvassing in more affluent areas,now i have 300+ jobs in the leafy suburbs/countryside........i sold most of my very local work over 10 years ago now...
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I had a funny one today, texted all my customers day before as always, turn up to one of my customers houses about 10am, knock the door few times as the access is through house, she leans out window shouting “who’s that?!” I say window cleaner she replies “at this time in the morning! Come back later” I said I’m busy will have to be left to next month now, she agrees and goes back to bed.
Think I’ll just drop her, I found it very rude
and her attitude stinks.
you really dont want jobs where you have to go through the house to access the backs....
cant you canvass areas where you can get round the backs?also go further afield and target more affluent areas,once you have 1 or 2 jobs in the posher areas itll start a snowball affect over time(if you do a good job and are reliable).....
I target roads where the houses have back entrance but there always some houses on the same road that don’t have a gate or access when the people are out and they are the ones who always tend to want a quote lol I’d say about 20% of my customers are ones that I have to walk through the house but I do try and avoid them. I’m keeping them for the moment until I get more full with work on a monthly basis.
just offer fronts only then.....if you get a few next door to each other you can still make a reasonably good hourly rate....if they ever want the backs cleaned charged extra for the hassle(double the front only price)...youll find they will only have the backs cleaned once or twice a year! ;D
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I had a funny one today, texted all my customers day before as always, turn up to one of my customers houses about 10am, knock the door few times as the access is through house, she leans out window shouting “who’s that?!” I say window cleaner she replies “at this time in the morning! Come back later” I said I’m busy will have to be left to next month now, she agrees and goes back to bed.
Think I’ll just drop her, I found it very rude
and her attitude stinks.
Instant flounce and dump.
I would drop customers like this too.
John
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To be honest jay saying you will be there between 8 and 12 is a big window of 4 hours for someone to have to
hang around for you to turnup, when I'm very busy my max window is an hour which most people accept,
but 4 hours is half a working day for most people.
I always try to be as accommodating as I reasonably can, and I can usually work around customers' requirements. Some however, seem not to be quite so flexible.
I have a run of shop fronts, and one wanted theirs cleaned as soon as they opened. It had a metal cage protecting the shop front which had to be removed first (not by me).
I turned up ten minutes after opening to find they were already in the process of being cleaned by a young lad working in the shop. This had happened before when a friend of mine had this shop, which was one of a number that I took over when he emigrated recently.
I walked in, said to the lady behind the counter "Hi, just letting you know that I am here, so I didn't let you down, but I can see your man has got there before me. I'm just leaving that with you." I then said (smiling) to the young lad "You're doing a grand job and keep up the good work!" and walked out.
John
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And then dumped them i hope?!
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And then dumped them i hope?!
Oh yes Simon! I tried to be so diplomatic that it hopefully took them until the following week when they were due again to realize that I wasn't going back!
John
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the best move i ever made in window cleaning was canvassing in more affluent areas,now i have 300+ jobs in the leafy suburbs/countryside........i sold most of my very local work over 10 years ago now...
How far away from where you live do you travel then daz ?
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This is precisely why we don’t txt any customers , to be fair this one would not have got past the quoting stage , you make a rod for your own back by doing this .
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the best move i ever made in window cleaning was canvassing in more affluent areas,now i have 300+ jobs in the leafy suburbs/countryside........i sold most of my very local work over 10 years ago now...
How far away from where you live do you travel then daz ?
Sounds like you earn more than daz even though your in crappy Yorkshire! Daz has jobs under a tenner earning him 40 squid an hour. I’d say your doing pretty well in comparison!! :D
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the best move i ever made in window cleaning was canvassing in more affluent areas,now i have 300+ jobs in the leafy suburbs/countryside........i sold most of my very local work over 10 years ago now...
How far away from where you live do you travel then daz ?
15 mins