hi gents,so ive been window cleaning for 18 years.back when i started in 2008 i had minimal customers that required a text prior to cleaning resulting in fewer cancelations.
what ive noticed in recent years more customers are asking for a text the night before cleaning,for me this has resulted in many more cancelations,ive also noticed in the last couple of years the cancelations have increased much more,i feel this is due to the customers  having less dispoable  income and also spending half there life with there phome in the hand.
what are your views ? would you agree with what im saying ?

The only skipped cleans i  get are customers who are having work done on their property (or away on holiday and can't unlock gate).

Customers who skip for no reason got dumped years ago. I dont need/want people like that on my round.

We text around 15-20% of our customers, its a very big pet hate of mine when they cancel with a weak  excuse after a text, I figure we get Zero cancellations on a day with our rota calls, yet excuses like, gates locked, its gonna rain, dogs in and will bark, I find inexcusable,
 The I'm on holiday, doesn't wash, as the house is still there and the fronts are accessible, but what really annoys me is, I spend the time messaging them and they are so ignorant that even when they know we are due (We keep a very strict rotation), they can't be arsed to pre notify me of building work, holidays, carpet fitter, gardening work (you get the drift) prior to getting my message.

My solution which reconciles my annoyance is £1 or £2 price rise every time they cancel at short notice, even if they just had one, a late cancellation results in another, That way regular cancellers drop off the rota or pay over the odds for the job !!

This is why we don’t txt customers , when quoting I explain in detail they are agreeing to a regular 4-8 weekly clean all year round and we work in all weathers within reason , if they hesitate we don’t take them on , again we don’t take on jobs with access  issues if the gate has a lock we will need a key  or a code or won’t do the job simple as that . Only valid reasons for not doing a clean would be things like building work or decorating going on . If they cancel a clean due to looks like it might rain or they aren’t dirty they are reminded what they agreed to at the quoting stage if they still say leave it they are dumped  immediately, but this vary rarely happens probably less than 5 jobs in 10 years .

This is the answer. Set out your stall beforehand.

I rarely pre-notify. The handful that do are because I said yes at the outset

No one cancels for a frivolous reason or it's warning and dump time.

Ring them and ask them to quote you for a 2 man hot water system for 3 new vans.
Richard will come!

I always use pure freedom for hose, seems to be of good quality.

I say always, the last hose lasted nearly 10 years, and this current hose I’ve  only had for a few months.

I usually buy it from Daqua, but Doug closes in December to go home to South Africa and I needed the hose to kit out my van during the holidays. I replaced what was left of the not fit for purpose microbore hose from Spotless Window Cleaning Supplies with  Daqua’s microbore hose and the difference in quality was very noticeable right away.