Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: SonOfFormby on August 26, 2007, 05:18:58 pm
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I have bought £1500 of business for 4K from a local W/C.He has been ever so helpful,showing me the round, introducing me to customers etc,all we have spoken to have accepted the change in W/C no problem.Only concerns I have are that all cleans are about 4-6 weeks behind as of now, and I cant start til 3rd September,and it's going to take about 3 weeks from then til I have cleaned all customers once,and most have not been cleaned by WFP before. Anyone foresee anything really bad happening due to these circumstances?
Thanks in advance
Lee
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I have bought £1500 of business for 4K from a local W/C.He has been ever so helpful,showing me the round, introducing me to customers etc,all we have spoken to have accepted the change in W/C no problem.Only concerns I have are that all cleans are about 4-6 weeks behind as of now, and I cant start til 3rd September,and it's going to take about 3 weeks from then til I have cleaned all customers once,and most have not been cleaned by WFP before. Anyone foresee anything really bad happening due to these circumstances?
Thanks in advance
Lee
Nothing too bad but allow for anything up to 10% dropping out. Half of them due to not accepting WFP and the other half due to not being serviced recently. The actual loss will probably be less than that. However, even at 10% loss, that is still £1,350 per month bought for £4,000 - about 3x . It's not the cheapest round purchase you could get, but if the round is decently priced and access to properties is OK, you will be able to make it pay once the first couple of cleans are out the way. It may pay you to write to everyone on the round with an intro letter about when you will be starting and a brief explanation of WFP (especiaaly the bit about not judging the results until the third clean has dried off - just in case). Writing to them may not be so daunting to set up. Get all their names and addresses set up on a database and use the mailmerge facility in your word processor to print address labels. Assuming that there are 100 customers, the postage will only cost £24.00 if you do it 2nd class. Perhaps a one off cost to you of 30p per letter making £30.00. If that keeps just one waverer then it will be cost effective over the year. I believe it is inevitable that you will lose a tiny bit of the work but you can minimise this.
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Have you told them you are WFP
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Try and get some practice in first, you will be suprised how tiring it is for the first few weeks. Be ready for disapointing results too. It's a simple process but still takes time to get the hang of it.
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If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.
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If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.
Possibly, but not if he markets it well and explains thingsa properly (preferably in writing). I tend to stress that WFP has been used succesfully on high rise and industrial units for over 10 years (so they must be OK, mustn't they? :) ) and that the tightening up of safety laws in 2005 means that it is now advisable to avoid ladder work where reasonably practical. Please note how I have worded that last bit because if you come out with something like "ladders are banned", you could be shooting yourself in the foot. People know that most W/Cs still use ladders and even if there was a total ladder ban (which there isn't), the fact that most W/Cs still use them will make you look a liar. If they think you're a liar, that could break the trust between customer and W/C before the service even starts.
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If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.
I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.
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You could also say that most wcs will be using this method in the not to distant future due to H&S regs changing all the time,i didn`t give a bit explanation to my customers unless they asked i simply just turned up and used it,most of my customers travel to london or abroad to work so they are completley unaware of what method is used they just know that when i`ve been they have clean window`s.If i was you i wouldn`t go over the top about it with customers just say this is the safe way of cleaning windows now,i`m not trying to start an argument about how much you`ll lose but taking over work is different than converting existing custmomers,don`t forget they`ll have to like the look of you and then they`ll have to exept the new way of working so you have 2 obsticles to overcome,i`m not trying to put the wind up you i`m just pointing out facts from the customers point of view.
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Have you told them you are WFP
do you think I should,or just clean,and let the results speak for themself.
Lee
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If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.
I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.
Just from changing to WFP....... GULP!!
Lee
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Have you told them you are WFP
do you think I should,or just clean,and let the results speak for themself.
Lee
I would say definitely tell them but don't appear to make a big issue of it. I have found that the more I have tried to explain WFP to a WFP naive customer, the more it sounds like BS (methinks he doth protesteth too much ;D ) .
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If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.
I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.
Just from changing to WFP....... GULP!!
Lee
BTW. What part of Sussex you working? I'm up near Gatwick.
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I live in Bexhill but i work T.Wells and surounding areas,i`ll be up Gatwick way on friday morning when i`m off on my holls,Yipee.
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If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.
I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.
Just from changing to WFP....... GULP!!
Sunny Eastbourne ;D
Lee
Lee
BTW. What part of Sussex you working? I'm up near Gatwick.
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LEE
Just clean as though its the normal thing, a carpenter wont come to your home and start explaining about his band saw. Most would of probably have seen wfp poles by now. Also you are quite lucky the weather is warm at the moment so most will start drying straight away.
I only explain if asked
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What about putting the WFP explaination letter through customers letterbox after 1st clean,or is this too impersonal,as I said Im starting off behind as it is and wont really have time to explain to 150 customers the ins and outs of it,but obviously at same time dont want to lose too many :o :o
Lee
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I live in Bexhill but i work T.Wells and surounding areas,i`ll be up Gatwick way on friday morning when i`m off on my holls,Yipee.
going anywhere nice NWH.....Mind you anywhere is nice after the summer we've had ::)
Lee
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I wouldn`t give explanation letters you have to approach it like it`s the normal way of working now,the best time of year to start WFP is sept-oct in my opinion they`ll have a couple of cleans and then you`ve got the short days coming.I would much rather start WFP now rather than say march-april.
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I always go to the caribean in feb-march as it gives us something to look forward to after a long cold winter,and then in august-sept we rent a villa in calagaldana in menorca,more often than not your almost certain to get the sun so you have 1 last week of sun before we start our winter time.
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I always go to the caribean in feb-march as it gives us something to look forward to after a long cold winter,and then in august-sept we rent a villa in calagaldana in menorca,more often than not your almost certain to get the sun so you have 1 last week of sun before we start our winter time.
Hmm,I'm definately looking forward to my new career now ;D
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i agree with dave, i havnt told one customer that's this is a new way, i just clean the windows and say it will dry clear.
i had a few ask questions and told them that last time i cleaned them and they went in i did them this way and they dried fine, they was quite surprised. thats if you have cleaned them before
if you act like something is wrong they will pick it up, if you act like its normal they will pick that up also, dont bother with letters
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Completely agree with Alex,the customer will definatley pick up on the fact that this way of cleaning is new to you.Just carry on as if it`s no big thing and it is now the way it`s done,if you over sell it to them they will check for every mark or run to prove you wrong or make it look like you`ve wasted your money.
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Completely agree with Alex,the customer will definatley pick up on the fact that this way of cleaning is new to you.Just carry on as if it`s no big thing and it is now the way it`s done,if you over sell it to them they will check for every mark or run to prove you wrong or make it look like you`ve wasted your money.
You may have a point about this as they are all new customers anyway. The way I did things was when I converted an existing customer base. The two situations are indeed different and maybe need to be handled differently.
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The thing is with them being taken over from a wc that`s been doing them trad for years is there`s no trust there from the customer to the new wc,they will only take you on face value and nothing else if they don`t like the look of you you`ve had it,this is the nature of our job especially if you knock doors.It`s like when people knock doors that homeowner has got to take an instant liking to you or your dead in the water.
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If you can do trad, it might be an idea to do the downs trad to begin with. It means that you can put more effort into the upstairs windows with wfp and still have enough water to last the day, and that the downstairs will be guaranteed to be clean. Most people would notice that their downstairs have got run lines down the middle more so than their upstairs.
After you have the ups sorted then convert the downs.
If you're going to clean the frames then sell this part of wfp as well. Like ,"You never used to get the frames done and now you do, look they look like new."
Simon.
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only problem with cleaning upstairs wfp and downstairs trad. would be that it looks like you yourself dont trust the wfp system. if you did you'd have no problem doing the whole house wfp and cos they feel you dont trust the system they wont, and will look out for errors.
i think you'd be best turning up on the morning of starting and just work as you would normally and when you speak to them, epolagise on being late and explain some of the reasons. if they ask about the system, explain as you work tell them it may take a few cleans to get perfect results, but when you do they will be perfect and will stay cleaner for the whole month instead of just a week or two.
i work trad, so i havent had to go through explaining to people, but thats just the way i'd do things if i was in your situation.
spend time getting to know each customer a little too. just because you have a lot of work to get around, spend 5 minutes talking to a customer if they talk to you. do this while working if possible - but try not to rush off. you'll benefit from talking to customers and making friends and building trust with them the first few times, and occasionally after that just o keep a good relationship. this way they are less likely to drop you for a lower priced window cleaner because you are seen as a friend and not just the man who cleans their windows
good luck
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If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.
Possibly, but not if he markets it well and explains thingsa properly (preferably in writing). I tend to stress that WFP has been used succesfully on high rise and industrial units for over 10 years (so they must be OK, mustn't they? :) ) and that the tightening up of safety laws in 2005 means that it is now advisable to avoid ladder work where reasonably practical. Please note how I have worded that last bit because if you come out with something like "ladders are banned", you could be shooting yourself in the foot. People know that most W/Cs still use ladders and even if there was a total ladder ban (which there isn't), the fact that most W/Cs still use them will make you look a liar. If they think you're a liar, that could break the trust between customer and W/C before the service even starts.
Tightening up on ladders since 2005. Thats the best way I've heard it described! I remember a guy by mine buying wfp then telling the whole area ladders were banned only for his machine to break down and him having to explain why he was using ladders when it was illegal.
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I'm water fed pole and trad, and all though the pole is good, when you are changing a lot of work over, it's a nightmare. You need to use loads of water to do a decant job. If you leave your customers living room and kitchen windows all streaky the first time you go, you have to ask yourself will they seriously give you another chance. There are window cleaners out there that only do tops with the pole and trad downstairs.
On another thread you mentioned you was looking at a 250L tank van mount. At that sort of size your looking at upstairs only on the first clean. Otherwise you'll need to refill halfway through the day.
Simon