Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Davew on November 20, 2007, 07:19:02 pm
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Just checked the weather and it's not too bad tomorrow so phoned a custy for access and she said "i can't see any point in cleaning them with all this rain about, phone back in a couple of weeks" i explained that i will simply go out of business. "oh but i still want them done" for fecks sake! >:(
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Just checked the weather and it's not too bad tomorrow so phoned a custy for access and she said "i can't see any point in cleaning them with all this rain about, phone back in a couple of weeks" i explained that i will simply go out of business. "oh but i still want them done" for fecks sake! >:(
before calling anyone else, offer a guarentee, or will have to charge 2 monthly clean at 50% more on the next visit as they will be harder to clean.
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I had 2 people today say no thanks because of potential rain. ::)
1 change to 8-weekly.
3 complain about wfp,
2 of which cancelled.
Could be worse Dave, you could be me. :(
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I had 2 people today say no thanks because of potential rain. ::)
1 change to 8-weekly.
3 complain about wfp,
2 of which cancelled.
Could be worse Dave, you could be me. :(
He does have a point Dave, yuo could be him so you are lucky really :P
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keep telling you squeaky go back to the proper way (trad) on domestic houses,you will never change their mind about it mate, hang on to the ones you still have before they all go with 'the bloke that does it properly!'
Lee
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If you care about doing a proper job Squeaks, want to walk away without worrying over the finish, want to put an end to sackings off custies, and ribbings off Tosh and Giles'y then ..... You what I'm going to say don't you ;) ;)
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If i had something else i could easily chuck it all in sometimes. I managed £15 monday
£60 today and will be playing catch up all week with a load of tossers who don't want it done. Sometimes this job's not all it's cracked up to be! :)
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No joke here Squeaky if i were you i would seriously think about buying another round and keeping the WFP freindly customers only.
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Squeky. I don't know which parts of Chepstow you do but I'd start looking for more up market areas where they will appreciate you more, but it'stoo late now till january at the earliest. Get out into the villages where window cleaners rarely go.
I've got to ask are you getting a quality finish? If you are then the finish lasts longer (which is the first selling point).
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im over a week behind van broke down trolly played up microbore split in the pole getting me soaked now the weather!! not calling anyone to give them the chance to cancel
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wtf are you doing Squeaky why are you losing custys all the time ????
most of us are getting new custys daily and not losing any regulars in fact
we have not lost or had any complaints for months sorry mate its true EDD
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Squeky. I don't know which parts of Chepstow you do but I'd start looking for more up market areas where they will appreciate you more, but it'stoo late now till january at the earliest. Get out into the villages where window cleaners rarely go.
I've got to ask are you getting a quality finish? If you are then the finish lasts longer (which is the first selling point).
I already do the posh areas!
Tosh is the council house king!
I don't go anywhere near the cheap places.
I do villages in the hills.
Yes, I'm getting a very good result too.
They just don't like wet windows. Fact.
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squeaky i had one who only wanted the windows done if i got up there and dried the glass and another who didnt like the wet glass so your not the only one mate
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I had one custy the other day come out when I was half way through the Job, screaming I was getting her bushes wet and there may be a frost tonight? ::) the grong and bushes were already soaking wet through the rain that morning, she moaned when I was still on ladders, that I leaned my ladders against the same bush.
Just no pleasing some people.
If they say not today it looks like rain, I give them 2 choices, double for next time around or would they like me to take them off my books, (its nice to be in a position were you can afford to do this?) faced with these 2 offers, most of the time they say carry on then.
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What a bunch of moaners!
My custies don't like the windows getting wet.
They don't like their bushes getting wet.
They don't want their walls getting wet.
They don't want the ground getting wet.
They won't have it in the rain either.
They'd rather I used a ladder and don't care if I fall off!
Ohh .... I'll crawl away and moan and be dictated to by my customers and wonder why I struggle to make a decent wage.
Good grief guys! Grow a spine, use wfp properly, explain it properly in writing and dump awkward customers immediately.
If you aren't convinced that wfp is good then how on earth will your customers be?
Rant over!
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Malc, if I dumped all the awkward customers I wouldn't have many left and wouldn't be able to make a wage, so that's pretty negative really.
Obviously you haven't had moaners yourself, otherwise you'd understand what the rest of us have to put up with.
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thanks squeaky
i was going over 2 wfp ,but have changed my mind after reading you recent post,s.
mike
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Mike.
Just because Rog has WFP problems, that shouldnt deter you from moving on.
Most people get on just fine with the poles.
Bob
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hi bod might give it a go in the new year
mike
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I am totally perplexed as to why Squeaks keeps losing work and not finding much new work, I am really, really puzzled ???
Rog is a good window cleaner, he isn't a cowboy corner cutter, yet he's hemorrhaging work left right and centre :-\
I have found none of the problems he is coming across.
There hasn't been a week gone by for a long time whereby I haven't picked up a new account.
Priced up 2 yesterday, one at £120 and one at £30...don't think i've got the £30 one, but I've got the £120 one.
My daughter's car was in the garage yesterday, I was walking home and got accosted by a women who wanted her windows cleaned, and her boss was also looking for a window cleaner...2 more to go and look at.
But you have to be firm with your customers, you tell them how their windows are going to be cleaned, not the other way around.
A lot comes down to how you are perceived by others and the image and confidence you radiate.
Squeaks for instance will often squeegee off windows downstairs if the customer is in, it may not be an obvious thing, but it sends out an unconscious signal that the system isn't a good one.
Some I know WFP and trad bottoms because they are trying to conserve water, but for them I think the unconscious signals are different, they have a very different reason for doing what they do.
I have several accounts (Kingsmark) where I put up the prices from £12 to £15, a couple were pension age or very close to it, not a problem from any of them, and they actually come out and rave about the system.
The one is an old dink of about 70...AND SHE PAYS VIA BACS TOO :o
Another lady in the same area, a £10 account and an absolute doddle, takes less than 10 minutes to do, Doesn't bat an eyelid about the cost, and loves the fact all her frames and doors are washed, water everywhere, doesn't bother her at all.
And that story is repeated over and over and over.
Raining?
Mmm, more of a problem, but I only work in conditions where I know it isn't so severe it will ruin my work. And I tell them that when they point out the conditions.
"Cloudy", says the customer, "Don't bother, come back next time."
"Bye bye." says I.
I keep pinching myself, I just can't believe things are so good sometimes, I keep wondering when something is going to come along and kick me in the arse...
In squeaks case it seems he has a booted foot firmly lodged up there permanently! Either that or a tattoo on his forehead that is only visible to customers that says, "Kick me when I'm down, I deserve it." :-\
Ian
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im with ian on this one .
i do ocationally loose a custy as they dont like the pole .but not many .
after 3 years poling i believe that it was my own negative thoughts or lack of confidence in the begining that put people off .now i get very few problems .
trad does do a good job every time .but have one bad fall and its all over .i was off 6 months after a fall from 12ft and still have pins .
as far as working in the rain ,that doesnt seem to be a problem either .i just tell em straight ."i need to make a living even when its raining ." most normal people relize this .and except that if they want a reliable regular service then i may well clean when raining .
i dont know what your doing squeak , .
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I had one today." your not doing them in this" It wasn't even raining at the time.
I can afford to stand firm. I said to her,"don't have them done then. She changed her mind and I carried on.
What they would really like is to have them done only when it suits them. You can't run a business on that basis. If one gets away with it, they would all want it.
I tell some customers that if I was charging what some other window cleaners charge, I could afford to have the winter off.
One way to frighten them is to say, "I have more work than I can do with the darker evenings, lets leave it till the clocks go forward again".
This scares them, they may not want them doing that day, but they don't want to leave it till March either.
This is the reason I don't trim the round. I could lose 20% of my customers without it having any financial consequence.
If customers think that you can afford to stay home every day it promises showers, they are giving you no consideration whatsoever, and deserve none in return. Users will be dropped. Dai
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Ian's right, I do a good job.
There seems to be no real reason for my lack of work.
I haven't picked up more than 7 or 8 new jobs all year.
The biggest one being £14.
The others have been small semis and the like (£8-10).
Ian gets asked to do places £30, £40 and much more.
Does my head in, it really does. >:(
I'm fed up with working I disagree off on the same old crap jobs, while others go out and do a few cushy jobs and earn two or three times as much.
I'm losing motivation as well as work. :(
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The woman mentioned at the start of this thread was a three story house that i picked up for fifteen quid. Only whilst half way through did she mention she had a cleaner but he charged twenty five and couldn't do the top windows! Cheerio then.
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thanks squeaky
i was going over 2 wfp ,but have changed my mind after reading you recent post,s.
mike
Mike if you want to talk to someont thats just changed to wfp give me a call on 01234 870 225, I dont seem to get many problems at all.
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We've never had a problem with rain and customers telling us not to do them. But then I always come on the day I say and my customers really like that. With wfp now it seems like an even better reason to work in the rain as the windows get wet anyway.
I'm picking up plenty of work to, but I think a uniform and sign written van helps with that.
Simon.