Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: ants on February 03, 2010, 06:34:29 pm
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Just got a letter frpm one of my custies.
Just so you are aware,somebody has been round undercutting you by £1.
I think he was called Kenklean or something.
Iwill be staying with you.
Linda.
Dont know if ken klean comes on here but use your common sense man where will it all end if we all start that game.
I built my round from scratch door knocking etc and i know you gotta do it but never through undercuting.
To be fair i dont know if he asked what i charged 1st or if he just gave a price
It was nice to get the letter though.Now i dont know if i should lower my price as a thank-you to her?What do ya think?
[Teesside area]
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Just got a letter frpm one of my custies.
Just so you are aware,somebody has been round undercutting you by £1.
I think he was called Kenklean or something.
Iwill be staying with you.
Linda.
Dont know if ken klean comes on here but use your common sense man where will it all end if we all start that game.
I built my round from scratch door knocking etc and i know you gotta do it but never through undercuting.
To be fair i dont know if he asked what i charged 1st or if he just gave a price
It was nice to get the letter though.Now i dont know if i should lower my price as a thank-you to her?What do ya think?
[Teesside area]
I would not lower the price, maybe give her a bit extra on the next clean ;D
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just giv her doors the once over just as a thank u.
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just giv her doors the once over just as a thank u.
He probs does this any way,
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dont lower your price . its scum like poachers and undercutters that ruin it for the established guys . they dont realise we can all start undercutting and before you know it were all working for peanuts . the only winner is the custy
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Yeah thats my point,and yes i always do the doors
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dont lower your price . its scum like poachers and undercutters that ruin it for the established guys . they dont realise we can all start undercutting and before you know it were all working for peanuts . the only winner is the custy
Mallet you hit your head, thats I think the first serious reply you have made on here.
Oh and where is todays tip and yesterdays ???
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Hi, KentKleen here, just to clear a few things up, I have been leafleting areas around Redcar with great response. I NEVER ask anyone IF they have a window cleaner I respond to text messages and phone calls and give out my quote!!!! You must be doing a good job if your customer is staying with you!! I am offering a service that includes the frames sills and doors cleaned every visit and alot of people have taken me up on that. 40 new customers last week!!Can you explain how I am undercutting?? 01642 290814 or 07938926125
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It was Linda that said you were undercutting. The minx.
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heres my top tip get your wage on the mighty whites to smash those soft southern spurs pansies. 3 . 1 happy tradding 8)
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JUST HAD A CHAT WITH DAVID FROM KENT KLEEN HES NOT GOING ROUND UNDERCUTTING.
Turns out the custie asked for a quote after he dropped a leaflet,nowt wrong with that,arnt people strange?
Hes a nice bloke so we can stop slagging him.Another happy ending.
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Thanks :)
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Hi
If I was Kentkleen I would use the opportunity to raise my quote prices a little so I would earn a little extra. 40 new customers at an extra £1 each - money for nothing.
There's a lot of new buildings being put up in Redcar, so there is plenty of new customers out there.
Spruce.
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Nobody slagged him. It`s that bloody Linda causing all this. She`s trouble she is.
And to think you were going to lower your price for her!
Hope you`re proud of your self Linda >:(.
Gerry ;D
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just wonderng whatyou guys think of this senario, I have an estate were i do 80 houses (about 70& of tota houses) did it this week, andd almost every customer has complained about a new cleaner showin up and being very forceful trying to get the job.
I have 1 very old woman who said he did hers but only because she felt pushd into it, and was quite workd up about it, fotunatly her husband came home later that day and told him where to go.
I have had 2 customers told me he cleaned their windows while they were out and then tried to pick up the money, unsucessfully thankfully, but iv done another 2 houses which were very clean and i reckon its been done there too but im yet to make contact with them custies.
Iv also had almost all customers say he has said things to them like:
That fella a bad window cleaner sure i can do them better
I can do them cheaper than him,
Im getting wound up about it!!
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just wonderng whatyou guys think of this senario, I have an estate were i do 80 houses (about 70& of tota houses) did it this week, andd almost every customer has complained about a new cleaner showin up and being very forceful trying to get the job.
I have 1 very old woman who said he did hers but only because she felt pushd into it, and was quite workd up about it, fotunatly her husband came home later that day and told him where to go.
I have had 2 customers told me he cleaned their windows while they were out and then tried to pick up the money, unsucessfully thankfully, but iv done another 2 houses which were very clean and i reckon its been done there too but im yet to make contact with them custies.
Iv also had almost all customers say he has said things to them like:
That fella a bad window cleaner sure i can do them better
I can do them cheaper than him,
Im getting wound up about it!!
I had a similar thing to you, I went to every customer I had in the area and asked if he had been, they all said yes but where sticking with me, this is why I always have a good connection with my customers as they will stay loyal. Dont get too wound up about it,
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Whilst deliberately undercutting is not pleasant, lets face it happens in all walks of business life and quite frankly thats business. So I am not sure why a few of you are getting so upset about. Just keep doing what you do and if your customers value it they will stick with you.
I am also not aware that there are a set of price lists for every small area of the UK that all window cleaners are able to consult before quoting on jobs so they can avoid upsetting there overly sensitive competitors, please!! ::)
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I have never delibratly undercut.
In fact, if a potential custy says "my current cleaner does it for £10" i will normally say "my price would be £13"
One customer who approaced me and asked for a quote told me that his current cleaners are charging £20. I told him £30.
He went for my price, because he had seen my cleaning the neighbours, and seen that i did the frames & sills.
If someone knocked on my custys and offered to do it a couple of quid cheaper, i am pretty sure that the majority of my custys would stay with me. as they know i am regular [they can set their watch by me ;D] and i make a good job ;D
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Whilst deliberately undercutting is not pleasant, lets face it happens in all walks of business life and quite frankly thats business. So I am not sure why a few of you are getting so upset about. Just keep doing what you do and if your customers value it they will stick with you.
I am also not aware that there are a set of price lists for every small area of the UK that all window cleaners are able to consult before quoting on jobs so they can avoid upsetting there overly sensitive competitors, please!! ::)
I agree,I do not go out to undercut,or take any other cleaners work,But if i door knock and they ask for a price (even if they have a cleaner) I give it,I tell them to dump there existing cleaner before accepting me,but plenty of people have suggested to me to go out and undercut previous cleaners,but i refuse to do it infact i have gained quite a few jobs quoting more,even double what their existing cleaner charges because i clean the frames and sills.
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Look if If I go out and quote on a job I quote what is worth to me, I do not care if they have an existing service provider or whether I am cheaper or more expensive. They have asked for a quote and they have got it at my price. Now if that upsets some of you sensitive little souls, go and get some paye work cause you clearly can`t handle it in competitive service business.
How many of you are out there constantly changing your electric/credit card/car insurance provider for a cheaper one??? oh but thats ok is`nt it.
If I am quoting on a big contract and I manage to find out what they are currently paying and I believe I can comfortably do the work cheaper and still make a healthy profit, I will thank you. Do I care if it upsets my competitor? No, why cause it ain`t personal its business and it happens to me all the time, get a grip some of you.
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Look if If I go out and quote on a job I quote what is worth to me, I do not care if they have an existing service provider or whether I am cheaper or more expensive. They have asked for a quote and they have got it at my price. Now if that upsets some of you sensitive little souls, go and get some paye work cause you clearly can`t handle it in competitive service business.
How many of you are out there constantly changing your electric/credit card/car insurance provider for a cheaper one??? oh but thats ok is`nt it.
If I am quoting on a big contract and I manage to find out what they are currently paying and I believe I can comfortably do the work cheaper and still make a healthy profit, I will thank you. Do I care if it upsets my competitor? No, why cause it ain`t personal its business and it happens to me all the time, get a grip some of you.
You are correct and I fully agree with you but when you are undercutting you are not competing with EON or United Utilities. The local nutter may well be the guy you take the job from and a burnt out van, smashed front window or a good kicking will cost you more than any job will make for you (unless it is a very good job and that is a different story).
For an easier life I try not to take jobs from others and I certainly will not do any job cheaper. It would kill me to know they were paying the last cleaner £12 while I was only getting £10.00.
I read on here a while back about some guy who was called to give a price on an estate he had leafletted. He turned up to price one dark evening and two lads jumped him in an alley, kicked the crap out of him and warned him not to come back. There are nutters out there.
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I agree mate in general, but how do you know the nutter until you cross his path eh. You can`t live life like that as you may never cross paths with the nutter, if you do deal with it then.
Of course you should`nt go out deliberately targeting a persons job to simply undercut him, but it will happen indirectly & my point is that should not stop you quoting, more fool you if you do as you will never get on in business with such an approach.
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he is not undercutting, he is a quid cheaper than you.
there are parts of this BUSINESS i will never understand.
if your customer gets a quote and its cheaper than you charge the W/C doing it is undercutting scum. is there a supermarket forum out there with blokes from tescos saying that about asda because of the prices of tea bags.
ever thought you may be a Quid too dear?
this is a business not a social club, if i can put in a sensible quote i frankly dont care if they have a window cleaner and if i am cheaper or dearer than them. happy customer dont change, customer who feel over charged or cheated will seek other quotes.
the other one is "my patch"
again on the supermarket forum " tescos stop building new store as it is on asdas patch"
every street has potential customers on it, no window cleaner cleans every house in a road.
the new window cleaner gets wrong everytime for trying to increase his BUSINESS
i have heard stories over the years of window cleaners driving out other window cleaners. one picked up some shops that where unhappy the old window cleaner so the old one offered 4 months free cleans to drive the new one away. good and friendly i think not.
if you charge a sensible price and keep your customers happy you wont lose them to other window cleaners, the way some on here talk about how they behave towards them and the silly claims of hourly rates, it no wonder you lose customers.
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Well said steve...i dont think a lot of wc's grasp the concept of running a competative business.
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if you go round canvassing in a new area how are you supposed to know if youre undercutting anyone?
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Look if If I go out and quote on a job I quote what is worth to me, I do not care if they have an existing service provider or whether I am cheaper or more expensive. They have asked for a quote and they have got it at my price. Now if that upsets some of you sensitive little souls, go and get some paye work cause you clearly can`t handle it in competitive service business.
I would say the same, unless I knew and was friendly with the window cleaner concerned. People like Squeaks, Ian_Giles, Elite_Mike, Tommo, and a few others I wouldn't quote for their work if I knew it was 'theirs'.
And I know for a fact that Ian_Giles has refused to follow up a quote for a factory unit of 'mine', which was nice of him (I am about 40% more expensive than what he quoted for it ;D). Though he did unknowingly undercut me on a domestic job; the bugger.
Ian needs to get his prices right! ;D
I think you`re worried about getting a kicking off Squeaky.
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Hi, KentKleen here, just to clear a few things up, I have been leafleting areas around Redcar with great response. I NEVER ask anyone IF they have a window cleaner I respond to text messages and phone calls and give out my quote!!!! You must be doing a good job if your customer is staying with you!! I am offering a service that includes the frames sills and doors cleaned every visit and alot of people have taken me up on that. 40 new customers last week!!Can you explain how I am undercutting?? 01642 290814 or 07938926125
Hi Kentkleen
Of subject a bit but I just wondered if you could give me some pointers on leaflets? Do you use pictures etc or just keep it simple?
Sounds like you've had a great response - how many did you put out to get a response of 40 customers in one week?
Cheers, Mike
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I have never delibratly undercut.
In fact, if a potential custy says "my current cleaner does it for £10" i will normally say "my price would be £13"
One customer who approaced me and asked for a quote told me that his current cleaners are charging £20. I told him £30.
He went for my price, because he had seen my cleaning the neighbours, and seen that i did the frames & sills.
If someone knocked on my custys and offered to do it a couple of quid cheaper, i am pretty sure that the majority of my custys would stay with me. as they know i am regular [they can set their watch by me ;D] and i make a good job ;D
Thats a good way of looking at it. Adding value to the whole industry rather than it dragging us all down.
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Hi, Mike, yes great response, i have been out this afternoon with leaflets, delivered around 400 already got 5 new jobs from them ranginging fron £6.50 bungalow to £10 3 bed semi.
Very simple leaflet with my business name on top then explain that I clean all frames, sills and doors using a pure water cleaning system. Fully insured then my contact details, Make them myself on the pc, A5 size and can produce them for £ 30 per 3000
hope this helps
p.s for the 40 i delivered over 1500 leaflets and 11 of the 40 where friends/refferals from the original; work i picked up from the leaflets.
Its just a matter of leg work 8)
regards
Dave
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how long you been going dave?
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Hi, just since january. :D did trad windy cleaning for around 4 years but had a break for a while. Are you busy there over in stockton?
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Hi, Mike, yes great response, i have been out this afternoon with leaflets, delivered around 400 already got 5 new jobs from them ranginging fron £6.50 bungalow to £10 3 bed semi.
Very simple leaflet with my business name on top then explain that I clean all frames, sills and doors using a pure water cleaning system. Fully insured then my contact details, Make them myself on the pc, A5 size and can produce them for £ 30 per 3000
hope this helps
p.s for the 40 i delivered over 1500 leaflets and 11 of the 40 where friends/refferals from the original; work i picked up from the leaflets.
Its just a matter of leg work 8)
regards
Dave
Fair play to you Dave, that is a great return in anyone's book :)
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Hi, just since january. :D did trad windy cleaning for around 4 years but had a break for a while. Are you busy there over in stockton?
yea dont come over here all taken ;D unless you want to canvass for me
given them results ;D
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think i have just been lucky and hit an area that needs some windys!! thanks ;)
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i never undercut at all and tbh 100% of quotes i have given to customers who were unhappy with a previous cleaner have been more expensive, im not aiming to be a busy fool by no means.