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mlscontractcleaner

  • Posts: 1483
Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« on: July 16, 2011, 06:31:29 pm »
I know most on here will say yes of course I can; someone could offer to clean all my customers for a quid a throw and not one would leave me cause I'm the dog's watsits at window cleaning and my customers are the best customers since sliced bread ......... but ........... If one of these " a fiver a house " lads came a knocking would your customers consider swapping over to them, especially if you charge upwards of a tenner to clean their windows.

We all know that you can't run a profitable business charging stupidly low fees but all our customers would see is window cleaning for less than half of what they're paying now, so I ask again, are you 100% sure that your customers would stick with you or might their loyalty be tested by the offer of much cheaper window cleaning ??? ??? ???
Come and talk dirty to us!!!

Dougaldum

  • Posts: 496
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2011, 06:35:59 pm »
a big fat no you can not  :-\

mlscontractcleaner

  • Posts: 1483
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2011, 06:53:57 pm »
Oh dear, twenty one viewers and only one can answer with any confidence lol!!!!
Come and talk dirty to us!!!

mci services

Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2011, 06:55:43 pm »
nope

mlscontractcleaner

  • Posts: 1483
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2011, 06:58:34 pm »
This aint what I was expecting to hear; I honestly thought you'd all come on and tell me that your customers are the most loyal in the world.


Must just be mine then I guess ;)
Come and talk dirty to us!!!

Pure Glass

  • Posts: 384
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2011, 07:07:37 pm »
My average customer price is 12.50, and have around 260 customers, but I know that if some muppet wants to clean my customer for a fiver then off they'll go I'm afraid

I think that there are those that are very loyal, but you only find out once your business has been threatened and they tell you- but how often does that happen?

I would hope that I'm not going to lose a chunk in 1 go, and that's thje beaitu of this job- you lose 50 quid a month to a newbie cheapskate-so you go canvassing for a couple of hours and replace them.

So back to you original question, loyalty in most cases, but some custys see it as a way to cut another household bill-same as you and I do with our electric or gas

Steve

Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2011, 07:13:14 pm »
Nothing in life is 100% sure. Of course some MAY go. I think the point is however, how much does it matter to you if you loose 10%.

Personally, It doesn't worry me in the slightest.

edward1

  • Posts: 423
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2011, 07:31:04 pm »
after 20 yrs ,one of the lessons i keep being taught is that customers are only loyal while it suits them.

so never forget its a buisness and thats all there  is to it.

some are loyal but mostly we are just the window cleaner.

Llaaww

  • Posts: 2260
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2011, 07:42:35 pm »
after 20 yrs ,one of the lessons i keep being taught is that customers are only loyal while it suits them.

so never forget its a buisness and thats all there  is to it.

some are loyal but mostly we are just the window cleaner.


ditto
if it is dirty it is fair game

Mike #1

  • Posts: 4668
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2011, 07:59:17 pm »
95% of my custys yes the other 5% really not sure , but with most i get on really well with and when they are in  i try and chat for 10 mins or so and get know them,  and ensure  they know about me and my family which i think makes a big difference i am not just the window cleaner , they know me by my first name their kids know me when its snowing typically i will have snowball fight with the kids in the street or have kick about with the football  ;D ;D ;D

Perfect Windows

  • Posts: 4334
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2011, 08:06:38 pm »
If you've given good service and your customer has been bitten once by terrible windys, you won't lose them to a lower priced knocker.  More than one of my £20 customers has told me they've turned down fiver a time cleaners because they are long enough in the tooth to know that they won't see the cleaner twice.

People are wising up to the fact that you can't get your windows done reliably for much less than the going rate in your area; if it's that cheap, they won't be coming back.

So, in short, I believe there's more to loyalty than just price.

Vin

sf

  • Posts: 347
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2011, 08:06:58 pm »
would like to say yes 100%.Some will never change their window cleaner.I would say two 3rds  of my customers are loyal and would stick with me due to the fact they trust me, some pay 3 months up front.The other 3rd i think could easily be swayed by a much lower price.Always a bad sign if customer tries to haggle over price from the off.

cozy

Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #12 on: July 16, 2011, 08:21:26 pm »
If you've given good service and your customer has been bitten once by terrible windys, you won't lose them to a lower priced knocker.  More than one of my £20 customers has told me they've turned down fiver a time cleaners because they are long enough in the tooth to know that they won't see the cleaner twice.

People are wising up to the fact that you can't get your windows done reliably for much less than the going rate in your area; if it's that cheap, they won't be coming back.

So, in short, I believe there's more to loyalty than just price.

Vin

I agree. a lot of custies have said things like "If it aint broke don't fix it", also, most can work out what will happen if they change and the new guy is cr@p. They aren't being loyal, just careful  ;D

G Griffin

  • Posts: 40745
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #13 on: July 16, 2011, 08:25:00 pm »
I`ve got lots of customers (probably because I`m so cheap  :D) and they are different people, so I couldn`t really say- who, how many, what % would stay loyal or not.
Another thing is, they can -and will- often surprise you, without predicting what they are going to do.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

bobby p

Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #14 on: July 16, 2011, 08:47:59 pm »
I`ve got lots of customers (probably because I`m so cheap  :D) and they are different people, so I couldn`t really say- who, how many, what % would stay loyal or not.
Another thing is, they can -and will- often surprise you, without predicting what they are going to do.
roughly how low are you griff?   im about 2 quid below average  the places i work.   i would say the loyalty side  comes from creating an image of just  becoming "a part of the family"  to a customer, by small talk

 last week a customer told me a windie had showed up pretending to be one of my lot- he cleaned away but then he got the price wrong,was a fiver too high.(this alerted the customer ) he was  a chancer by all accounts,with a clipboard and big silver van-  i admired his bottle but doubt he can get a foothold with his technique

steve rix

  • Posts: 816
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #15 on: July 16, 2011, 08:55:21 pm »
If the price differential was not too great then yes.
We have one hotel we charge £400 for, they were quoted less than 50% of this and still sdais no thanks. This was because they had been done over by a windy in the past.

cozy

Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #16 on: July 16, 2011, 08:58:33 pm »
I`ve got lots of customers (probably because I`m so cheap  :D) and they are different people, so I couldn`t really say- who, how many, what % would stay loyal or not.
Another thing is, they can -and will- often surprise you, without predicting what they are going to do.
roughly how low are you griff?   im about 2 quid below average  the places i work.   i would say the loyalty side  comes from creating an image of just  becoming "a part of the family"  to a customer, by small talk

 last week a customer told me a windie had showed up pretending to be one of my lot- he cleaned away but then he got the price wrong,was a fiver too high.(this alerted the customer ) he was  a chancer by all accounts,with a clipboard and big silver van-  i admired his bottle but doubt he can get a foothold with his technique

How sad is that? They drive around and clean your custies and try and collect? How desperate can you get? Is competition up your way that bad Bobby? I can't imagine some plonker doing that. :o

bobby p

Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #17 on: July 16, 2011, 09:08:28 pm »
either hes desperate or Mad !   he tried to bamboozle the old bird customer with his clipboard pricelist  but then confessed to her that he wasnt me- ended up getting a fiver off the customer out of pity and  told not to come again

 he might have been more successful if he had come in low priced  ,luckily for me,im already bottom drawer priced  . i have probably had my loyalty reinforced by this man, in a way i owe him a favour  ;)

David Kent @ KentKleen

  • Posts: 1712
Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #18 on: July 16, 2011, 10:24:57 pm »
some people shop at aldi others m&s.
Some will have a cheaper windie others will use KentKleen  ;D


Paul Coleman

Re: Can you rely on customer loyalty???
« Reply #19 on: July 16, 2011, 10:30:28 pm »
I know most on here will say yes of course I can; someone could offer to clean all my customers for a quid a throw and not one would leave me cause I'm the dog's watsits at window cleaning and my customers are the best customers since sliced bread ......... but ........... If one of these " a fiver a house " lads came a knocking would your customers consider swapping over to them, especially if you charge upwards of a tenner to clean their windows.

We all know that you can't run a profitable business charging stupidly low fees but all our customers would see is window cleaning for less than half of what they're paying now, so I ask again, are you 100% sure that your customers would stick with you or might their loyalty be tested by the offer of much cheaper window cleaning ??? ??? ???

The simple answer is "no".  Until about 8 years ago I might have said "yes" though.  What I went through around that time made me a bit more hard nosed.