[TVCS]

Picked up some good work in April and had to do a newbie today.   
Did my own windows a couple of days ago and to be honest with you, it wasnt my best work.  My water is reading at about 2ppm.  And there was a few spots here and there. 

Anyway, my mobile went this morning and it was mrs newbie.  " You said you would be here first thing this morning!!!" 
I explained that I had told her I would be with her IN the morning as I have other houses in that area that day etc. 

She gets off the phone and all in all she was slightly snotty with me.  So , I get to her about 11.30 ish and start running out the hoses.  She comes over and asks why the hoses.  (I did explain it all to her when I quoted).  so I tell her again and she sort of shakes her head abit and wanders off.  All the windows had not been cleaned for about 6 years (her words) and they were all black as soot.  It was a nice house but some awkward windows so I had priced it at £30.    Anyway in the back of my mind I kept thinking of all the spots on my own windows and they are kept pretty clean.  And I was sure she was going to be really picky.   
She followed me round and mentioned on a couple of occasions that they were being left wet.   The sun was shining so I asured her that they would dry before I left and they would all be good.   Next I could see her and her husband going from room to room inside the house checking all the glass.    I finished and started to pack up and she came out with a grin from ear to ear.  Gave me my money with an extra £10 and said what a wonderful job I had done, and wants me to go back on  a monthly basis.  (she had originally booked an 8 wk clean) 

Sorry not to cut this long and boring story short but the point of it is,  its Nice now and again to get a tip or just a thank you for a job well done  instead of tuts and moans about wet windows . 

My love of wfp ling has been restored.

[jonah]

Its good you were patient , and carried on doing the job, keeping professional . 

[paulscotney]

Hi,  had this lots of times. Never had a complaint. As long as u make a BIG  job of first clean and use loads of water the customers love u. I did trad for 9 years or so mainly commercial (6 months houses) but never ever had the same enthusiasm from the punters and whenever the sun shines very low esp autumn windows that have been trad look a bag of crap.

[davids3511]

I have had a few that were quite agressive at the quoting stage (not over price) who I had marked down as trouble customers only to turn out quite nice once they had been done once or twice.

I think pople are generally unsure of strangers but once you have been once or twice and they see you are serious about doing a good job you become a bit more accepted and less of a stranger.

[L.J.Thorpe]

Hi,  had this lots of times. Never had a complaint. As long as u make a BIG  job of first clean and use loads of water the customers love u. I did trad for 9 years or so mainly commercial (6 months houses) but never ever had the same enthusiasm from the punters and whenever the sun shines very low esp autumn windows that have been trad look a bag of crap.

frame this quote for all new wfp users
sometimes the pole really does knock em out
similar story last week
not so frosty to start but she was jumping up and down when i finished
gushing about how clean it all looked
they had not been done for 4 yrs
 

[TVCS]

Dont get me wrong .  I have been wfpling for over 18 months.  But the initial body language of this custy started me worrying cos I'm usually quite good at spotting trouble makers.   
I know why my windows were spotty, cos I did them all with about a thimble of water.   you know, end of the week and a dribble in the tank sort of thing. 

[paulscotney]

Yes I stand by this.............
Quote from: paulscotney on Today at 10:09:06pm
Hi,  had this lots of times. Never had a complaint. As long as u make a BIG  job of first clean and use loads of water the customers love u. I did trad for 9 years or so mainly commercial (6 months houses) but never ever had the same enthusiasm from the punters and whenever the sun shines very low esp autumn windows that have been trad look a bag of crap.

frame this quote for all new wfp users
sometimes the pole really does knock em out Grin
similar story last week
not so frosty to start but she was jumping up and down when i finished
gushing about how clean it all looked
they had not been done for 4 years.

Too true. I am not an expert but I have 9 yrs maybe 10 yrs of trad experience (commercial mainly) but from my 6 months experience of WFP and what I have read on this forum it would seem to me that some WFP ers have problems, for the excusable reason if u don't have much money to get a decent system , because they skimp on the water. I read articles saying clean con roofs with tap water. WHY.I have a 500 l tank, I don't mind filling it up  Do a good job for good money and everyone is happy.

[m.b.s.]

yes it is nice i got one yesterday how said they were well imprest with it .
she had cleaned her inside windows on tuesday and thought i had been but i didnt clean till wednesday so kept clean for 6 weeks
nice to have a compliment and i have had a few since going wfp

[mr D]

well done staying with her. ive had what i thought to be nutty akward customas soooo many times turn out to be real darlings. its so tempting to cut your losses b4 its to late lol.

i'm trad only so dont worry its not just you wfp guys that get the nut jobs that dont belive your gonna do a good job.

its just a shame there are the odd ones that go the other way. nice as pie but turn out to be off there rocker!!!! :

[mark dew]

As long as u make a BIG  job of first clean

I agree that the 1st clean is going to shape how the job works out in future. I roll my eyes when i read about people saying there is no point going back and checking the windows. because it's 'a waste of time.'
I've detailed a house after using wfp for 8 cleans until they dried spot free. (I mentioned this house on another thread that i charged £40 and they wanted a discount cos i take 25 minutes.)
I would say 40% of 1st cleans i do have spots and runs after being checked later on, so i'm under no illusion that wfp makes everything perfect. But it can be, once the windows have been made clean the 1st time.
Spend the time doing the job properly the 1st time, no matter what, or how long it takes and you will reap the rewards for as long as the job lasts.
That 25 minute job for £40 used to take me 2 hours trad and almost 1 1/2 hours wfp + detailing for those first 8 months. Now i fly and i know they are good.
Using wfp on a 1st clean and hoping for the best is tantamount to playing russian roulette with our business. I don't see the point in risking a newly gained job for the sake of returning later that day to check and maybe tidy up.

[Tony Warren]

Got my first tip for a long time the other week on a first clean, felt good to be appreciated for a change.

About the 2ppm i wouldn't worry about it, mine comes out of the membrane at this so i don't even bother running it through a DI filter, don't have any problems with the result, get the odd run every now and again but its nothing to do with the TDS.

[groundhog]

When you win over a skeptical customer, they tend to become the best kind of customer you can get. I have many that I have won over and they are very loyal and recommend me to all of their rich friends!! It's worth taking the time to get that first clean perfect, just to win over this type of customer, and it can really pay dividends in the long term!!! Well done tvcs mate! ps when you giving me another bout on fight night 3? 

[peter holley]

yes ....when i first converted wfp i used to try and convince them it would work with all the info on how it works .... but they couldnt realy understand what i was on about...

now i just do the job and let them see for themselves..

having a neat and clean van written up showing you are dedicated and proffesional also helps

[frames to panes]

Yes I stand by this.............
Quote from: paulscotney on Today at 10:09:06 I read articles saying clean con roofs with tap water. WHY.I have a 500 l tank, I don't mind filling it up  Do a good job for good money and everyone is happy.

Why chuck your pure water away on a green roof when the customers tap water does the same job? Pure water makes no difference to a conservatory roof unless it's glass.

[TVCS]

Got home today to find a message on answer phone from the above mentioned custy.  This is the jist of the messge
" Thank you very much for the smashing job you did on our windows, I have been speaking to our neighbour and she wants you to call in to give her a quote.  And my sister has asked me to for you details too........................"

I havent seen her sisters house but her neighbours house is the size of a Tesco store.  I love word of mouth advertising, dont you.

[Londoner]

On fist cleans I tend to head off any question of the hoses by saying that I am going to give all the frames and windows a really good scrub.

I have seen customers looking at them a bit suspiciously, and I have seen them going round checking all the windows as well.

The thing is, if you pass the first clean you are almost certainly home and dry.

[WCE]

On fist cleans I tend to head off any question of the hoses by saying that I am going to give all the frames and windows a really good scrub.

I have seen customers looking at them a bit suspiciously, and I have seen them going round checking all the windows as well.

The thing is, if you pass the first clean you are almost certainly home and dry.

I find that the people who give you moat grief in my area are the ones who have been cleaned previously by wfp and the WC dose not really know what they are doing (usually seems to be they haven't rinsed enough) and have therefore done a bad job. With these customers as soon as I know they have doubts I tell them that it was the operator not the equipment that was the problem and tell them that if the clean I do isn't up to scratch I will give them a refund and put right any wrongs. To date I have had about 25 customers come to me in this situation and haven't had a problem with any so far. Once they see the results they are happy. Generally with new customers, I have found that rather than blind them with science I just state that we use filter the contaminates from the water to make it pure and that it's these contaminates that would cause marks to be left on the windows. I then tell them that the windows will dry clean and streak free. I find that if you start to tell them to much there is a danger talking yourself out of a job (to much information for them to take in) or end up spending 20 mins answering questions about the kit etc.  I also make a point of calling back personally to collect the money after the first  clean (once the windows have dried) This gives the customer the chance to check the windows and 99% of the time they are more than happy. I find that by calling back I get a lot of tips off the back of a first clean. They are glad that you have made the effort to come back and check everything is ok and they reward your efforts with a nice tip.   That makes the effort worthwhile and yes it is nice. A great feeling!

[jonah]

On fist cleans I tend to head off any question of the hoses by saying that I am going to give all the frames and windows a really good scrub.

I have seen customers looking at them a bit suspiciously, and I have seen them going round checking all the windows as well.

The thing is, if you pass the first clean you are almost certainly home and dry.

Vince could I email you ? need some advice