[Johnny B]

I am getting a lot of this at the moment. It's not just 'not today', it's 'come back next week'. This translated means 'try again in a month or two's time and I might have them done then'.     

In good old England I very rarely had a 'not today thank you' from anyone in over 14 years.

Here in Ireland it is completely different. Here window cleaning is such a low priority with so many people, that I have to ask, be it by texting or knocking their door, to get permission to clean my customers' windows. It is not the done thing to just turn up and clean them.

I am starting up from scratch and, believe me, it is very, very tough to get a foothold here.
Therefore I am having to go with it and keep canvassing until I get as many good, reliable customers as I need. I am sure they are out there, and I will find them. I have a strategy to deal with this situation, and it will work to my advantage.   

John

[Pope vader]

johnny   what are you charging over there

[bobplum]

no sorry i don't agree with the grand scheme idea in this case,he as a new customer who is now dictating from the word go how the clean frequency will be carried out,if  all our customers took that approach and we and  as businesses took the "there's more important things in life"approach we would be out of business very quickly.
If it was a regular customer yes i can see the relaxed approach but a new customer no sorry i would not go back to either of them and i would stop texting customers as its been said before it just gives excuses not to have the windows cleaned

[John F]

I am getting a lot of this at the moment. It's not just 'not today', it's 'come back next week'. This translated means 'try again in a month or two's time and I might have them done then'.     

In good old England I very rarely had a 'not today thank you' from anyone in over 14 years.

Here in Ireland it is completely different. Here window cleaning is such a low priority with so many people, that I have to ask, be it by texting or knocking their door, to get permission to clean my customers' windows. It is not the done thing to just turn up and clean them.

I am starting up from scratch and, believe me, it is very, very tough to get a foothold here.
Therefore I am having to go with it and keep canvassing until I get as many good, reliable customers as I need. I am sure they are out there, and I will find them. I have a strategy to deal with this situation, and it will work to my advantage.   

John

takes a lot of guts to keep going with that sort of situation. respect

[StockClean]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

[bobplum]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

what happens if your sick,van problems,etc

[Johnny B]

johnny   what are you charging over there

For a small 3 bed semi, I charge around 12-15 euros. Larger properties go from 18 euro upwards. Apparently the going rate during the boom years (mid 90's to 2007) was around 25 euros, so I know I am not overcharging.

Most customers have actually said I am very cheap! I reasoned that if I charged lower than what they may have been used to, I would attract regular custom. At the same time, I would still make a decent living.

John

[bobplum]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

another one,if someone is cleaned on the 5th of the month do you clean them on the 5th of the next month,if so why tell them the next date,if you see what i am getting at?

[stuart mc]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

another one,if someone is cleaned on the 5th of the month do you clean them on the 5th of the next month,if so why tell them the next date,if you see what i am getting at?

bob that wouldn't work as the 5th could be a sunday, but you could do it on a 4 weekly cycle as they get a clean every 28 days

[AshWhite]

I'm not a window cleaner, but one thing I would say is that text messages are very impersonal, its easier to say 'No' to a text than it is in person - perhaps that is their downfall.

[Johnny B]

I am getting a lot of this at the moment. It's not just 'not today', it's 'come back next week'. This translated means 'try again in a month or two's time and I might have them done then'.     

In good old England I very rarely had a 'not today thank you' from anyone in over 14 years.

Here in Ireland it is completely different. Here window cleaning is such a low priority with so many people, that I have to ask, be it by texting or knocking their door, to get permission to clean my customers' windows. It is not the done thing to just turn up and clean them.

I am starting up from scratch and, believe me, it is very, very tough to get a foothold here.
Therefore I am having to go with it and keep canvassing until I get as many good, reliable customers as I need. I am sure they are out there, and I will find them. I have a strategy to deal with this situation, and it will work to my advantage.   

John

takes a lot of guts to keep going with that sort of situation. respect

Thanks for the encouraging words, KCleaning. I hope I didn't sound too negative in my earlier post! Yes it is tough going, but I am very, very determined to make it work.  

John.

[StockClean]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

what happens if your sick,van problems,etc

Well you ring them up to change the clean date. Silly question really.

[bobplum]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

another one,if someone is cleaned on the 5th of the month do you clean them on the 5th of the next month,if so why tell them the next date,if you see what i am getting at?

bob that wouldn't work as the 5th could be a sunday, but you could do it on a 4 weekly cycle as they get a clean every 28 days

this is what i cant grasp, what's the difference between calendar and cycle cleaning

[bobplum]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

what happens if your sick,van problems,etc

Well you ring them up to change the clean date. Silly question really.

 so you now have lets say 20 customers to call and change dates,ie you knock them back lets say one day so what happens to the lets say 20 customers you were going to clean on that day do you now ring and move them back a day and so on and so on, and is the phone calling just "time consuming" like texting the night before oh and there's no such thing as a silly question!

[mark blundell]

thanks for all the reply's i have text her saying it is a regular service although i can offer a 6 or 8 weekly with price adjusted..

as with pricing i know allot of you work on £1 - £1.50  per window according to most of the posts on here but is that for 4/6/8 weekly

quarterly? really how do you price that

[StockClean]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

what happens if your sick,van problems,etc

Well you ring them up to change the clean date. Silly question really.

 so you now have lets say 20 customers to call and change dates,ie you knock them back lets say one day so what happens to the lets say 20 customers you were going to clean on that day do you now ring and move them back a day and so on and so on, and is the phone calling just "time consuming" like texting the night before oh and there's no such thing as a silly question!

Its no different from any other situation. You have answered your own question. Weather you text your customers the night before or if you give them dates, if your unwell their aint much you can do about it. Even if you decide to just to turn up, your day still gets disrupted due to unforcees occurances. If the jobs cant be done due to illness then they have to be written off.

I think what you really mean is that you may not feel like working that day and you dont want to commit yourself to a day you might decide you want to have off.

the thing is i am never too unwell to work. I have worked outside in the rain, with a splitting headache, runny nose, even worked once with a broken wrist. I can say i have probbably had 5 days out from work in the whole 8 years i have been in this trade.

[mark blundell]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

what happens if your sick,van problems,etc

Well you ring them up to change the clean date. Silly question really.

 so you now have lets say 20 customers to call and change dates,ie you knock them back lets say one day so what happens to the lets say 20 customers you were going to clean on that day do you now ring and move them back a day and so on and so on, and is the phone calling just "time consuming" like texting the night before oh and there's no such thing as a silly question!

Its no different from any other situation. You have answered your own question. Weather you text your customers the night before or if you give them dates, if your unwell their aint much you can do about it. Even if you decide to just to turn up, your day still gets disrupted due to unforcees occurances. If the jobs cant be done due to illness then they have to be written off.

I think what you really mean is that you may not feel like working that day and you dont want to commit yourself to a day you might decide you want to have off.

the thing is i am never too unwell to work. I have worked outside in the rain, with a splitting headache, runny nose, even worked once with a broken wrist. I can say i have probbably had 5 days out from work in the whole 8 years i have been in this trade.

I like the idea of if i don't fancy it today i will catch up tomorrow whats wrong with that?

I work to live not live to work. working outside in the rain, with a splitting headache, runny nose, WHY

i wanted to work for myself so i don't have to do that.

[StockClean]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

another one,if someone is cleaned on the 5th of the month do you clean them on the 5th of the next month,if so why tell them the next date,if you see what i am getting at?

bob that wouldn't work as the 5th could be a sunday, but you could do it on a 4 weekly cycle as they get a clean every 28 days

this is what i cant grasp, what's the difference between calendar and cycle cleaning

What we do is we take the four weeks in the month. and split up the jobs.

so one round will be done the 1st monday of every month/other month

one round the 1st tuesday of every month/other month

1st wed, 1st thurs,1st fri, 2nd monday etc etc etc.

and it would continue for the four weeks of every month.

[StockClean]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

what happens if your sick,van problems,etc

Well you ring them up to change the clean date. Silly question really.

 so you now have lets say 20 customers to call and change dates,ie you knock them back lets say one day so what happens to the lets say 20 customers you were going to clean on that day do you now ring and move them back a day and so on and so on, and is the phone calling just "time consuming" like texting the night before oh and there's no such thing as a silly question!

Its no different from any other situation. You have answered your own question. Weather you text your customers the night before or if you give them dates, if your unwell their aint much you can do about it. Even if you decide to just to turn up, your day still gets disrupted due to unforcees occurances. If the jobs cant be done due to illness then they have to be written off.

I think what you really mean is that you may not feel like working that day and you dont want to commit yourself to a day you might decide you want to have off.

the thing is i am never too unwell to work. I have worked outside in the rain, with a splitting headache, runny nose, even worked once with a broken wrist. I can say i have probbably had 5 days out from work in the whole 8 years i have been in this trade.

I like the idea of if i don't fancy it today i will catch up tomorrow whats wrong with that?

I work to live not live to work. working outside in the rain, with a splitting headache, runny nose, WHY

i wanted to work for myself so i don't have to do that.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.

However why is it ok then to say, I might not fancy cleaning today, ill do them next week or tomorrow; yet you expect your customers to not turn round to you and say, can you miss me please this time, or not today i dont fancy having them cleaned?

One rule for one, and not the other? perhaps!

[Paul Coleman]

Like i have said before on this forum. If you shedual the cleans into a clander system, all you have to do is give them the next clean date.

When we leave a bill with a customer, on the bill is a big arrow pointing to their next clean date. This works very very well, as every customer knows when to expect us, things like bad weather and stuff are not affected.

It truly is the only way you can make the business work well in my opinion. Sending texts is time consuming. I dont need to do anything, i leave the bill, customer notes the next window clean date, i clean them again on the date that was given, next bill is left, new date.......you get it the cycle is on going.

I give all my customers the option to have quarterly cleans. bi monthly cleans, and monthly cleans.

By far the quarterly cleans are the most lucrative, bi monthly cleans are the most popular, and monthly cleans are nice to have.

Customer should always be able to choose what sort of service they want.

what happens if your sick,van problems,etc

Well you ring them up to change the clean date. Silly question really.

 so you now have lets say 20 customers to call and change dates,ie you knock them back lets say one day so what happens to the lets say 20 customers you were going to clean on that day do you now ring and move them back a day and so on and so on, and is the phone calling just "time consuming" like texting the night before oh and there's no such thing as a silly question!

Its no different from any other situation. You have answered your own question. Weather you text your customers the night before or if you give them dates, if your unwell their aint much you can do about it. Even if you decide to just to turn up, your day still gets disrupted due to unforcees occurances. If the jobs cant be done due to illness then they have to be written off.

I think what you really mean is that you may not feel like working that day and you dont want to commit yourself to a day you might decide you want to have off.

the thing is i am never too unwell to work. I have worked outside in the rain, with a splitting headache, runny nose, even worked once with a broken wrist. I can say i have probbably had 5 days out from work in the whole 8 years i have been in this trade.

I like the idea of if i don't fancy it today i will catch up tomorrow whats wrong with that?

I work to live not live to work. working outside in the rain, with a splitting headache, runny nose, WHY

i wanted to work for myself so i don't have to do that.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.

However why is it ok then to say, I might not fancy cleaning today, ill do them next week or tomorrow; yet you expect your customers to not turn round to you and say, can you miss me please this time, or not today i dont fancy having them cleaned?

One rule for one, and not the other? perhaps!

I would really hate to work the way you do Marc.  It seems to work very well for you but it would feel awful for me.  Although earning good money is helpful, I also like to have a bit more choice over when I slow down for a couple of days to recuperate.  I  work your way for a small part of my business with the rest of the work falling into line around it, but to do it for all my work wouldn't suit me.  Mind you, my work schedules are probably very different from yours.  Sometimes I work hard all weekend to do commercial jobs that can't be done in the week.  If something like that happens two consecutive weekends, I need a day off in the week just to recuperate and catch up with other things indoors as I live on my own.
I also work the domestics differently.  I keep the pre-notifying down to a minimum.
It sounds like you have a more organised and rigid work system compared to me.
That's the beauty of this business.  We can run it in the way that best suits our own needs and our personalities.  I don't know about your work history prior to window cleaning but I spent many years doing shift work and using clockcards to clock in and out.  When I went self-employed, I promised myself a bit of flexibility and freedom.  So I guess some of the ways we all run our businesses depends on where we are coming from too.