[jonah]

i haven't lost any yet but i had a customer asking me if i can reduce my charge. Or to be precise can i clean the main house and a new one they own for £40 instead of the £40 + £10 for the other 1.
I've never timed myself but he said i only take 25/30 minutes and they think it is a bit much.
I would normally say no. but i agreed to do them both for £45 as the main house has 8 extra windows that i can reach now i use wfp.
I work quick and am gone asap but i have noticed the last 2 months several mentioning how quick i am.
I just tell them i'm quick at my job and don't hang about.
Although i'm always on the look out for work i would quite happily be prepared to lose any customer who has issues with me doing a quick job, as long as the quality isn't sacrificed.

try this the next time you visit the dentist !   " Noticed you filled those two teeth a bit quick £70 !   Now if you do my root canal in with same price nothing will be said !

[Paul Coleman]

Well I lost one today that I didn't see coming.  They've been with me since my first year (1991/92).  I've been charging £31 for it since they added on a conservatory.  The job was actually underpriced - mainly because I've had it so long.
It isn't so much that the job is a big loss.  It isn't, because it's priced a bit low and it was the last of my jobs that had an H & S issue that I felt a bit uncomfortable with.  It's more that this is just not the sort of customer that I would expect to cancel.  They sold their business a year or so back and are fairly comfortably retired (or so I thought).  He is fit and does some external DIY (was repointing some brickwork a few months back) and they have definitely retired fairly early.  It is a bit of a wrench because they were probably my longest standing customers.
I don't usually ask for a reason why someone cancels.  I said to him that although it was not any of my business as to why he had cancelled, could he please say if it was anything to do with my workmanship etc because if it was anything to do with something I could change, then I would like the opportunity to do so.  He assured me that there was absolutely no problem with my service.  It can be a bit scarey asking such a question in case I hear something I don't want to hear but, for such a longstanding customer, I needed to do it.

I always ask anyone that cancels the reason why, am shocked you said that Shiner, asking people helps to run the business better, some lie, some tell the truth over time you get to work out which is which, but this is valuable info you are missing out on there IMO

Ian

It's pretty rare to get a cancellation though Ian - except for when they move or die.  When I do ask, I prefer to ask if there was a problem with my service rather than the more generic "Why did you cancel?" because asking why could be asking about something that's none of my business.  They sometimes tell me why they're cancelling anyway without me asking.  For instance, I lost another one a few months back to retirement/time to do it himself.  Sometimes when I lose one, I'm glad to be rid so I don't ask in case they change their mind   

[AuRavelling79]

It's a long time since I had a cancellation, but I know that fuel and food prices are the alarm bells ringing in my head, so they prolly ring in other people's too.

Therefore the window cleaner is not high priority at the mo' for a few.

Just bear in mind it's only a handful out of a round of say 200 domestics and it gives some perspective.