[firefly123]

yesterday to sets of holiday lets started to clean them no prob next door rings me just checking your not coming to me the forecast is rain now if all your clients were like that you would have no work would you let the job go

[Tom White]

Dump, pick up two.

Seriously. 

Maybe I'd give them a chance and say, "If I don't clean them now, I'll remove you from my list" and give 'em some blurb about how the rain won't affect the quality of the clean.

But I'd probably just dump, to be honest.

[David stewart]

getting a few of these at the minute, had one come straight over as soon as i pulled up with a "dont even think about taking your gear out the day with that rain floating about", needless to say i havent darkened her door again

as a newbie to the profession, im just wondering what way do yous best describe how you can carry on wfp cleaning without the rain affecting the windows? most customers just let ya tear away but theres always those few who cant let you get on with it with out having a good old yap.

[paul13]

Rain does not affect the cleaning of your windows, we offer a 100% guarantee
if you are not happy with the clean when it stops raining we  will come back
and re clean affected windows.

[Fin Clearview]

I've had this a few times over the years, it happens. I find it helps (in the nicest poss way) by explaining the prospect of having to potentially find another job if every client did this this...it rains it's  England for christs sake!

[David Salkeld]

Rain does not affect the cleaning of your windows, we offer a 100% guarantee
if you are not happy with the clean when it stops raining we  will come back
and re clean affected windows.

Basically what I do. Just be honest and the truth is:
Rain does not affect the clean windows after WFP

David

[PurefectWindowCleaning]

My take on it is, if the customer does not want their windows cleaned... fair enough, its their windows and thier money. Just deal with it and move on to the next one.

If they are persistant then yeah get rid of them obviously.

[rosskesava]

I've got a few 'if it's going to rain....' type customers and also a few 'not this month.....' customers also. I see them as bonus work in addition to my regular work as they're near or next to work that gets done regardless. If they want their windows done, I do them but if not, it don't matter.

If those customers were somewhere where I had to drive any distance more than a few hundred yards or were in a place that's awkward to get to, or somewhere where it's difficult parking, etc, then I'd dump them.

For me, I don't have hard and fast rules about these types of customers unless it interferes with my regular work.

I picked up a real corker of a job two months ago and as a result, I've said goodbye to three customers. One is someone who I have to always chase for payment, one is incredibly fussy and the other I just don't like her attitude.

[Ian101]

Sometimes people say "dont want em cleaning in rain" but the real reson is maybe their a little skint and the rain excuse is a good one to use.

What I used to do with these is explain that rain dont effect the finish and if I dont do it now it will be another month before im back in this part of my round. (you may want to offer rain gurantee ??)

The ones who truly think rain will effect the quality of the job normally once thet have had a proper explanation of wfp will relent and say next month wow you was correct they dried fine.

The ones who still say NO are proberly the ones that you have already identified as slow payers / messers and the old "its gonna rain" comes in very handy for these people.

Also another point to mention is that most windows are well under the rood edge by a foot or so on some properties so light rain with no wind wont even touch the windows - look at your own windows next time its raining .... different if its windy as well.

Ive been going 2 1/2 years and have cleaned in rain from day 1 of wfp (2 years) now not sure if its a coincidence but i got very few "its gonna rain" and nowadays get no "its gonna rain" as I relegiously dropped the messers / slow payers as I went along and now got no messers and any slow payers are holidays or people who work away.

[Johnny B]

I get this all the time. I just say 'no problem, would you like me to call next time I am around, it will be in x weeks' time'. There is always another customer to go to.

I hold onto them at the moment, but once I have enough reliable customers I will refine and cull the persistent ones. In the meantime their money is as good as anyone's.

John

[AuRavelling79]

The problem here is fear.

If you have not enough work then it's fear of losing what you have.

If you have plenty of work that particular fear goes away and is replaced with the fear that you will be messed around.

Once you control that fear and channel it into dropping the messers and keeping the good then you will eventually have a round with well trained customers that gives a good daily rate of earnings.

It becomes even more important to drop the messers when you employ and funnily enough saying "I have staff to pay" actually increases my confidence to drop the messers.

[JackieW]

I view it that I am getting rid of the PREVIOUS 4  weeks worth of dirt. 

I am not making the windows clean for the future 4 weeks.

But it is understandable for a customer not to feel too happy about handing over money when it is or 'going'' to rain.

I generally say no problem but if they do it again I also say no problem but just never turn up again.

[Spruce]

I had a customer of my son's ring up on Friday asking for her windows to be cleaned as she was in to open the garage to gain access through to the back. It was raining when she phoned.

She told me she was happy for me the clean them in the rain as it didn't make a difference which we know anyway from past experience.
It was still a little damp when I got there, but the weather brighted up just afterwards and was fine for the rest of the day.

Now in future, she will leave the garage key hidden outside for us to clean the backs when she isn't in and we will post it through the letter box once we are finished.

I also believe the forecast rain is an excuse. I would skip the customer this time after saying it generally rains in the UK most days and is the reason why everything is so green. I would 'flag' her up as a potential messer and remove her from the round if this sort of thing becomes a pattern.

[Spruce]

The problem here is fear.

If you have not enough work then it's fear of losing what you have.

If you have plenty of work that particular fear goes away and is replaced with the fear that you will be messed around.

Once you control that fear and channel it into dropping the messers and keeping the good then you will eventually have a round with well trained customers that gives a good daily rate of earnings.

It becomes even more important to drop the messers when you employ and funnily enough saying "I have staff to pay" actually increases my confidence to drop the messers.

Good post Gold. 

[geefree]

I had exactly that last week.....

a lady text me asking me to go and clean today as her windows were unusally dirty early this time.

I made a special trip, sat outside her house having a coffee first... she text me and said leave it please it looks like rain....

i said i was outside and rain wont be a problem.... plus it does not look like rain...(sunny day etc)....

she was having none of it so i drove off ..... a couple of days later she text to clean again.....

I simply text back..... sorry it looks like rain today.

She got the message.

[Johnny B]

The problem here is fear.

If you have not enough work then it's fear of losing what you have.

If you have plenty of work that particular fear goes away and is replaced with the fear that you will be messed around.

Once you control that fear and channel it into dropping the messers and keeping the good then you will eventually have a round with well trained customers that gives a good daily rate of earnings.

It becomes even more important to drop the messers when you employ and funnily enough saying "I have staff to pay" actually increases my confidence to drop the messers.

I agree with you Malc. At the moment I don't have enough work, although I am canvassing at every opportunity. I have been building my new run for a year in Ireland, which, believe me, is in an awful economic pickle with many, many people in my area out of work or in real fear of losing their jobs, and benefits are being withheld  and cut like you would not believe. Simply put, there is very little money about, or the confidence to spend. Window cleaning really is at the bottom of the pile here.

Therefore, at the moment I am suffering the messers while I can at least get occasional work from them. Once I get enough good, reliable customers, they will be gone. It may take a while!

John