Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: simon knight on April 06, 2009, 04:20:10 pm
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Situation:
I'm at the front cleaning for a regular. Woman crosses the road and says: "Can you do mine next?"
She goes on to say that she has a window cleaner but he's in hospital and she's not sure when he's going to come next.
OK; I did her windows (and judging from them it's the first time they've seen a clean in a year).
I gave her my card and explained that I didn't want to nick someone's elses account and that she should call me when she had given up on her usual w/c.
I think so far so good!
However her house is a doddle and I do about 5 or 6 in her road. Now on the basis she's obviously given her chap a good year to call I'm reckoning she'll go another year before I get the call because I sense she's a nice lady who'll give him every chance.
At what point do I move in with the attitude: "You're account is now my account" ?
It's not that I especially need the extra in the road but it's so "do-able" for me that I feel reluctant to not earn an extra £20 while I'm there. But at the same time don't want to take his work!
What's the answer?
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wait n see sounds best mate or try and find the WC and explain situation
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I would consider it fair game after a year, I would consider it yours now Simon
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Throw twenty pounds on the floor, screw it under your heel into some mud, and then walk away without looking back. You'll always be poor, but your pride and self respect will be intact. When you get home tell mr's k, and she'll be that pleased you'll probably get one of her special dinners.
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why not ask who the wc is and his address, then send him a get well card
good will goes a long way
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i kowe a windy how wos of for 9 muths and most of his custys tuk hm back as it tuk that long to get his smased arm sorted it all plats and pins now , so if hes got genuin probs id let him have em back
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I think Tomy is right. I'll take the work. But, as and when (if) he returns I'll hand it back if:
1. He's genuinely out of hospital (and needs to re-group his customers to carry on with his livelihood).
2. Custy wants him back.
In short I'll act as caretaker and give him the benefit of the doubt.
Me: Saint Simon 8)
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If he hasnt been back in a year, doubt he will be back take the work !
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No ones in hospital for a year anyway, looks like hes dumped her or dumped w/c.
Otherwise if he is in hospital for that long then chances are he wont want to do w/c again.
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In all fairness ZaNo and Shoreshine people can be hospitalised for a year...unusual, but it does happen!
Anyway, I'm not back in the road for 2 months and then I'll knock on her door and ask the question:
Do I or don't I clean your windows? And let her decide. If it's a yes then I'll consider her my account...if, as and when "he" decides to return to the scene...then again it'll be her choice as to who she wants to stick with.
I just "smell" that he's been doing her windows for years and that he's genuinely in a position where for a while he can't. As I say I think it's one I play by ear and see what's what.
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I'd offer to keep cleaning, but say that if/when the other guy turns up just to let you know. He may never get back on his feet and you'll gain the work long term,... if he does and you've handled it right, you'll gain a lot of goodwill and he may throw work your way in the future.
If you can find out his name/number give him a call and offer to do some "caretaker" work on his round while he's out,...
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you can't garantee any work to be perminant, so take it on as you are there anyway, tell her that you have no problem if he comes back and she goes back to him, she will tell her friends what a good guy you are ;D
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How would you feel if you were laid up and someone started taking your work,id try and get in touch with him and explain and if you are short of work offer to do some of his untill he is well,or if hes jacked in just take the work ;D
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you can't garantee any work to be perminant, so take it on as you are there anyway, tell her that you have no problem if he comes back and she goes back to him, she will tell her friends what a good guy you are ;D
That one gets my vote, a win-win situation. You get the work the customer doesn't feel guilty, you don't get any hassle from the guy, and if he doesn't come back on the scene it's yours fair and square.
I can't believe any of us would go looking for someone to ask if it's allright to do a job they haven't touched in a year...
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the year is guesswork by Simon it could be 6 months or less
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Yeah but the point is still the same I think. :-\
You should do the right thing and give the guy the option by telling the custies if they want him back no problem. But you're right if you contact him it could work in both your favours, you could 'babysit' the work for him...
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Yeah but if someone in hospital for a year in all fairness, he should have got someone by now to COVER his work otherwise surely he knows his business is going down the pan, that would have been the right thing to do, so its his mistake that, his custys are coming to you in the first place, i bet most of his round is gone by now to newbies that have flyered.
p.s unless hes been in a coma for a year then fair play.
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I have three new custies who have not seen there old w/c since last Oct.
Took them on because if he was that concerned he would have called them with a reason....or got someone else to do it for him.
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my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.
pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO
guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.
its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.
now who wants to slate me first?
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i was laid up last year for three months last year i let my customers
know and kept them updated to when i was coming back to work,i kept
90% the 10% i lost well its par for the course really.
if you want to keep your customers you find some way of keeping
contact if you havent bothered for months well your asking for
trouble poor customer service really.
i would just crack on end of the day customer decides who they want to
use
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business is business, but you dont need to be that desperate for work, there is still room for being a good person in life otherwise you might be rich - but to everyone around you wont be thought very highly of !
I know where you are coming from , but i would rather feel i had some principles too, and if the guy was genuinely ill i dont think i would nick all his work , id at least offer to pay for it or something , maybe 1x or like simon says caretake it for now...it would be a temptation but i hope i would be a big enough person to do what simon is doing!!
What goes around comes around!!
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fair play gary thats is exactly what you should do imo
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i was laid up last year for three months last year i let my customers
know and kept them updated to when i was coming back to work,i kept
90% the 10% i lost well its par for the course really.
if you want to keep your customers you find some way of keeping
contact if you havent bothered for months well your asking for
trouble poor customer service really.
i would just crack on end of the day customer decides who they want to
use
Fair enough comment, at the end of the day it all comes down to why this guy is not there??
If he has a genuine reason id try help him out somehow. otherwise take it all... But if hes fell of a ladder or something id give it back if ever he tries to come back...
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my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.
pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO
guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.
its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.
now who wants to slate me first?
??? ??? ???
I think the majority of people here said something similar to you.
Just take the job, if you say to the custy 'if your old guy comes back, etc etc' it makes you look good, but doesn't change what the custy will do. If they are gonna take him back they'll do it. And let's face it he won't be.
But by appearing kind you give yourself an advantage.
Did no-one ever tell you the key to sales is sincerity, once you've got that faked you've made it.
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business is business, but you dont need to be that desperate for work, there is still room for being a good person in life otherwise you might be rich - but to everyone around you wont be thought very highly of !
I know where you are coming from , but i would rather feel i had some principles too, and if the guy was genuinely ill i dont think i would nick all his work , id at least offer to pay for it or something , maybe 1x or like simon says caretake it for now...it would be a temptation but i hope i would be a big enough person to do what simon is doing!!
What goes around comes around!!
I just cant agree with that at all. the thing I love about this forum is that it seems to be a crime being successfull!!!!!!
Who said I wasnt a nice guy with no priciples. we never undercut we never slate other WC. I simply work harder to build my business. My attitude is we are never full. i am not desperate for work at all quite the opposite in fact.
As it goes me and my team were out knocking tonight ( as we are 7 days a week). one woman I wrote up on the door said the WC who does most of the road hadnt been for 6 months. I said well i dont think hes coming back, ( a fair comment imo) thus i signed her up and I cant waite to get the rest of the street. now why the hell should I care about a total stranger running a poor business when I can have those customers and money in my business. If im in hospital it all still gets done,,, why? because I had the gutts to build a bigger business go all the way and employ staff, our customers simply dont get missed
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its all down to the customer far as im concerned if the guy
goes back to work and they decide to go back with him so be it no complaints
from me you will always replace it with another job.
we dont really own any of the domestic work we do really its only
on loan not going to clean the same houses forever i have lost some
because they dont like wfp some people just didnt want there windows
cleaned anymore for whatever reason and some of my customers
have unfortunately died.
cant see the point in taking any of it personally just keep moving
on and upwards
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Did no-one ever tell you the key to sales is sincerity, once you've got that faked you've made it.
I love it! ;D
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my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.
pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO
guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.
its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.
now who wants to slate me first?
I didn't see any six shooters in your van :)
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my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.
pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO
guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.
its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.
now who wants to slate me first?
I didn't see any six shooters in your van :)
when did you see in my van?
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my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.
pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO
guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.
its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.
now who wants to slate me first?
Ah! The really important things in life eh Lee?
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never said they were the important things, just nice to have as reward for your hard work believe me i know.
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What lee doesn't know yet is that there is always a bigger badder wolf. This is the kind of mouthing off that your employees pick up on, and one day, taking a leaf out of your book, will give them the justification they need to take the lot away from you. As you taught them this culture you will have to admire them.
A bit of humility helps, even if you don't feel humble.
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never said they were the important things, just nice to have as reward for your hard work believe me i know.
But in your post I quoted in my last post above you show them as being less important than the pride, self respect and good will that would prompt you to - with good grace - expect the customer to choose to take on the old cleaner in the circumstances of hospitalisation outlined.
I don't know your family situation Lee, but to go home and tell your wife/son/daughter that you had shown human decency is a far far better thing than turning up with a big TV - even if the kids are impressionable enough to think otherwise.
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slumpbuster there it is again success is a crime!!!!!!!that would be a fair comment in most cases.
answer me this
if they are paid well, 30k for a 32 hour week (employed)
given sick pay, holiday pay, lads days out on me EVERY quarter, best team of the month prize the list really does go on.
Q why would they throw that away to be a one man band with all the financial risk time to build up and all the negatives that go hand in hand with being self employed. when they can just turn up work get paid???? and getting back to the earlier posts in the thread if one of my guys is in hospital his job is there waiting when he is better. oh and my customers are all contracted as are my staff.
and i really dont appreciate being told im mouthing off by giving my opinion on the thread. that is after all why we are on here is it not? never once have I personally insulted anyone on here as you have just done to me.
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never said they were the important things, just nice to have as reward for your hard work believe me i know.
But in your post I quoted in my last post above you show them as being less important than the pride, self respect and good will that would prompt you to - with good grace - expect the customer to choose to take on the old cleaner in the circumstances of hospitalisation outlined.
I don't know your family situation Lee, but to go home and tell your wife/son/daughter that you had shown human decency is a far far better thing than turning up with a big TV - even if the kids are impressionable enough to think otherwise.
malc the important things in my life love me back. matierial things dont. at the end of the day customers make their own minds up i think we all know that.
You know what of course i dont like hearing somone is in hospital or loosing their business. that person could have decided to employ someone to help out or something. but that person may be a stranger to me and i have my own family to feed and they will always come before a stranger.
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slumpbuster there it is again success is a crime!!!!!!!that would be a fair comment in most cases.
answer me this
if they are paid well, 30k for a 32 hour week (employed)
given sick pay, holiday pay, lads days out on me EVERY quarter, best team of the month prize the list really does go on.
Q why would they throw that away to be a one man band with all the financial risk time to build up and all the negatives that go hand in hand with being self employed. when they can just turn up work get paid???? and getting back to the earlier posts in the thread if one of my guys is in hospital his job is there waiting when he is better. oh and my customers are all contracted as are my staff.
and i really dont appreciate being told im mouthing off by giving my opinion on the thread. that is after all why we are on here is it not? never once have I personally insulted anyone on here as you have just done to me.
I applaud your business prowess, Lee (as shown to the whole forum as an example of what can be acheived) - but especially with that level of success, don't you feel mean taking work from a guy in hospital?
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slumpbuster there it is again success is a crime!!!!!!!that would be a fair comment in most cases.
answer me this
if they are paid well, 30k for a 32 hour week (employed)
given sick pay, holiday pay, lads days out on me EVERY quarter, best team of the month prize the list really does go on.
Q why would they throw that away to be a one man band with all the financial risk time to build up and all the negatives that go hand in hand with being self employed. when they can just turn up work get paid???? and getting back to the earlier posts in the thread if one of my guys is in hospital his job is there waiting when he is better. oh and my customers are all contracted as are my staff.
and i really dont appreciate being told im mouthing off by giving my opinion on the thread. that is after all why we are on here is it not? never once have I personally insulted anyone on here as you have just done to me.
I applaud your business prowess, Lee (as shown to the whole forum as an example of what can be acheived) - but especially with that level of success, don't you feel mean taking work from a guy in hospital?
as far as i know i have never taken work from a guy in hospital. i was simply giving my opinion on picking up work from other window cleaners who havnt been for ages as per the posts earlier in the thread.
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Simon Knight was quite specific Lee, he asked what to do in a situation which included a hospitalised w/c.
Your first post talked about dog eat dog, how you would take on any and all work, porsches and holidays and TV's.
Maybe you didn't read the first post properly?
I agree that if some windy has shown torpidity and/or lack of customer service then he/she deserves to lose that custy - but IMO you came flying out of the batcave without thinking it through! ;)
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Simon Knight was quite specific Lee, he asked what to do in a situation which included a hospitalised w/c.
Your first post talked about dog eat dog, how you would take on any and all work, porsches and holidays and TV's.
Maybe you didn't read the first post properly?
I agree that if some windy has shown torpidity and/or lack of customer service then he/she deserves to lose that custy - but IMO you came flying out of the batcave without thinking it through! ;)
that was my point ... i never said dont take work, just not in this situation...
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Um, You guys lost your marbles. Once you take on a custy he/she is your responsibility, Nothing else. If after a year you havent bothered to deal with your customers responsibly then your business is OVER. I mean what more do i have to say the CUSTY was coming to a w/c because the other hadnt bothered to turn up for a YEAR, she doesnt give a shoot she just wants her windows cleaned.
What are you saying its not right because hes in hospital so that house cant be anyones until he decides he feels like cleaning windows again or bothers to tell every custy he aint coming back??
How long will you have to wait 1 year? 2 years? 3?? before you deicide to take it.
Man JUST TAKE IT, they want there windows cleaned, there w/c hasnt cleaned them. what is wrong with that?
If a gardener didnt cut your lawn for a year, then whats that say? the gardener doesnt care about you or your grass!!!!
Nuff said 8)
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Good post.
Being realistic about it all the customer wants their windows cleaned, the previous window cleaner is either in a position where for health reasons he cannot clean the windows or he simply isnt going to clean them (thats obvious, they havent been done for a year).
Id clean them and if I was the other cleaner id expect to have lost them if I suddenly had a brain storm a year down the line and went back to work.
When Im approached by potential custys and they havent seen their cleaner for 4 months thats to me is fair game. IMO they aint coming back.
Matt
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Thanks for all the input guys. I have decided what I'll do:
Act as though she's my customer and if he comes back on the scene then it's up to her to decide who she wants.