why wouldnt you phone the customer ?
they all asked to be phoned prior to having their windows cleaned so that they can leave the gate open on the day.
im looking at £200 for the wook X2 the rate.
I will phone/text for a gate to be left unlocked but I avoid it as much as possible.
I suppose what it comes down to is; Would you rather have a round where you rarely have to pre-arrange or a round where you have to do it most of the time?
Things that have happened when pre-arranging
1) They "forget" to leave the gate unlocked ("forget" being an excuse because they didn't want them done this time).
2) They are on holiday. It's peak holiday season and half the customers are away. Your daily income is £80 down on what you expected. You can't go to the next batch of work that you were planning to do the next day because they mostly need to be phoned too and there won't be any access.
3) You phone. There is no answer. They do not have a voicemail service. You have to spend the evening remembering to phone them back again. About 9 PM someone finally picks up the phone and says "Oh. Can you leave them this time please?" You feel like telling them to go forth and multiply but of course, you don't.
4) You phone (landline) and leave a message on the voicemail requesting access the next day. You turn up, it's a job on its own a bit away from the rest so you've put yourself out a fair bit. No access. It eventually transpires that they didn't get the message till too late. This is because you often only become aware of the message when you pickup the phone due to the only warning being the intermittent dial tone.
5) You have pre-arranged a number of jobs and start doing the day's work. Part way through you start feeling totally knackered and really feel as if you need a very early finish. You can't though because you've promised to turn up and even though you feel a bit rough, you still have to do the work.
6) You start full of beans and fly through the work. At the end of all the pre-arranged work you feel as if you would like to get another 3 or 4 houses in. You can't though because the next work in your schedule also has to be pre-arranged.
Sound familiar to anyone else?
I didn't make it up. All the above have happened.
On my own round I can filter it so that very little needs to be pre-arranged. I will do it but with some reluctance and very sparingly.
I'm not a dinosaur either. I just believe that the business is mine to build into my life in the most convenient way that I am able. As soon as I relinquish control of a big part of my business to the customers, it becomes far more difficult to run. It also becomes much less cost effective.
I spent too many years in factories etc. having to do what I was told. I don't intend to do the same while self-employed.
Has anyone seen my soap box?
