[Ian101]

 i just hate wasting time with scummy arse customers which we tend to have a lot of now,


coz i paying someone to chase them 2 or 3 times for payment.

Hi Richy .... I grew my customer base by 65 new customers last year but prob more like 125 as dumped all the dross as I went now I have NO non payers and very few that get to 2 cleans if any at all cos I went thru the painful job of dropping the scum last year ... your 2 comments quoted above sums up just what you dont want or need in your business.

If I was you I would bin em all now and canvass some proper customers be em big houses or small houses so long as they pay and the job is priced right then you cant go wrong

anyway you know this already ... you just need to get it sorted

[bobplum]

i still don't understand this allowing of 2 or 3 cleans and owing payment not just richy but a lot of people on here,if they owe one and you have chased it a little come the next clean knock no answer don't clean move on and don't clean till its paid.
my debt ratio to work is no more than 5%

[Pope vader]

richy

the best thing you can do is look at ur business and dump the crap and just have you and a lad in 1 van making money,  just do the best jobs and the ones that pay

you are the same as a mate of mine, who every time you meet him he ahs started a new business or is heading in a different direction,  i ahve know him 2 years he has gone form 4 vans, to him on his own,  he has started a proerty maninentance company to run along side his window cleaning business, because a custy asked him did he know a plumber,  that failed,  then then decided to have a commercial arm for the business, all becasue he got 1 contract in cornwall, rented offices, started web sites, etc, didnt get work, as was too expensive,   he then started a van signage business, because he can make 20 k a month,

i know he owes the back 17k business loans, and has only being going 3 years

just stick to one thing

is that not called Enterprising ?
Maybe he's not happy being a window cleaner and is looking for what does it for him.

I agree with have a focused plan for Richy and a post above about having a mixture of houses is spot on, but you have to give it to Richy at least he try's and sometimes fails(gets unlucky on some things), others on here say it cant work and never try anything then moan when other people make it.

i understand what you say about enterprising,  but starting a business on a whim, then failing is not enterprising to me,

[Ian101]

i still don't understand this allowing of 2 or 3 cleans and owing payment not just richy but a lot of people on here,if they owe one and you have chased it a little come the next clean knock no answer don't clean move on and don't clean till its paid.
my debt ratio to work is no more than 5%

5% .... TOO HIGH 

so your debt list must be about £500 then wot with your £10000 round 

[Window Washers]

It sounds like your business needs some direction. You seem to have resources with no clear target. When i first started i was very similar sold a lot started again got rid of custies had loads of ideas and ended up earning nothing. Its difficult to do when you have a good imagination but you need to pick one direction and stop thinking so much and have some stickability. Im going through this process myself. I had a round worth 13k a month now worth 8.5k. because as it turned out people didnt pay, canvassers got in rubbish work and i had what looked like a nice round that made no money because i was always shelling out. So i sold a bit to raise a few quid and dumped nearly 4k worth of work and down scaled a vehicle and EVEN staff, and now make more money. I will build slowly but have stopped setting stupid targets of 2k a month of new work as the quality deminishes. your idea of a maintenance plan could work i know someone who does it with carpets and this adds an extra 50k a year of regular work for his staff but that will be a slow process or very expensive as you will need good sales staff.
 i would make what you have an elite and very smoothly run business and then start the new thing as time goes on. I dont say alot on here normally as people are quick to raise the dagger or take offence so this post is simply from my personal experience.

You should post more often, it is nice to read

[Richard iSparkle]

 i just hate wasting time with scummy arse customers which we tend to have a lot of now,


coz i paying someone to chase them 2 or 3 times for payment.

Hi Richy .... I grew my customer base by 65 new customers last year but prob more like 125 as dumped all the dross as I went now I have NO non payers and very few that get to 2 cleans if any at all cos I went thru the painful job of dropping the scum last year ... your 2 comments quoted above sums up just what you dont want or need in your business.

If I was you I would bin em all now and canvass some proper customers be em big houses or small houses so long as they pay and the job is priced right then you cant go wrong

anyway you know this already ... you just need to get it sorted

hey ian,

we're probably the same as you in terms of number of new clients taken on and lost/culled.  i was shocked to see it's nearly 40% dropoff of customers from us over the first 6 months, but after that we're just left with the good ones.

i think that now we charge double for 1st clean and only offer standing order as  the payment method, we should sift out a lot of bad custies before they even start.

[H2GoKent]

I think the post was about Executive boxes (oops sorry houses).
I find that many of the people who live in these have less disposable income than a lot of owners of smaller homes.

In the 9 years I've been doing this I have found the best, most profitable resi work is often a run of small places in a row.

A lot of windys target the bigger houses, some of my custys have been canvassed a few times every month.
A lot of windys see these big places and think 'Wow they've got loads of dosh' whereas what a lot of them have is a big mortgage, with sometimes an ego to match.

You will get non-payers most places sometimes, the worst I had was in a well off area of large houses.

As some others have said new work is always problematic until it's honed down to the decent payers and reliable customers, it takes time.

When you first canvas you pick up all the awkward so and so's the other windys have dropped. 
And they always say things like , 'Oh I'm glad you've called it's really hard to get a window cleaner round here'  and after a month or two you know why they can't get one 

[richywilts]

I think the post was about Executive boxes (oops sorry houses).
I find that many of the people who live in these have less disposable income than a lot of owners of smaller homes.

In the 9 years I've been doing this I have found the best, most profitable resi work is often a run of small places in a row.

A lot of windys target the bigger houses, some of my custys have been canvassed a few times every month.
A lot of windys see these big places and think 'Wow they've got loads of dosh' whereas what a lot of them have is a big mortgage, with sometimes an ego to match.

You will get non-payers most places sometimes, the worst I had was in a well off area of large houses.

As some others have said new work is always problematic until it's honed down to the decent payers and reliable customers, it takes time.

When you first canvas you pick up all the awkward so and so's the other windys have dropped. 
And they always say things like , 'Oh I'm glad you've called it's really hard to get a window cleaner round here'  and after a month or two you know why they can't get one 

I understand what ur saying hence the reason I mentioned about setting up standing orders monthly but only cleaning every quarter so smaller payments, these houses I'm looking to target are the 1-6 million type pads so sure they have money

[H2GoKent]

Interesting idea about the standing order monthly/clean quarterly. That bit might work.
But I say again that often the most profitable work isn't always in the obvious places like 'big houses'
If you think about it, some of these people own these houses cos they are very good with money, and know how to hold onto it.
Even people with loads don't just chuck it about because they have it. They still know a fair price when they see it.
Some of my wealthiest customers are the tightest.
But I suppose the benefit could be you need less of them to make a decent round, but of course they take longer cos they're bigger.
But you could sell them a quality service, they wd pay extra for that...

[bobplum]

i still don't understand this allowing of 2 or 3 cleans and owing payment not just richy but a lot of people on here,if they owe one and you have chased it a little come the next clean knock no answer don't clean move on and don't clean till its paid.
my debt ratio to work is no more than 5%

5% .... TOO HIGH 

so your debt list must be about £500 then wot with your £10000 round 

10k a month pal and your still looking up at me with envy

[bobplum]

Iv been pondering targeting executive style houses as Im sick to death of effort of chasing round small sums of money and people saying can ya leave it this time on a six weekly schedule. I was thinking of targeting these larger properties for les frequent cleaning but offering gutter clearing,UPC cleaning,conservatory roof cleaning,driveway cleaning and internals and breaking down a figure and get them to pay monthly direct debit instead of shelling out for each seperate job in one go.

Does anyone offer this type of service, it's a bit more of a home maintenance service than window cleaning, I would be planning to offer a much more high class service with set dates,overshoes etc when doing internals,

Suppose it's a bit like home serve the plumbing company but for cleaning requirements

were about on the wesy are these

[richywilts]

BERWICK ROAD BOB MEADOWBANK AREA!!!!!!!

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

BERWICK ROAD BOB MEADOWBANK AREA!!!!!!!

richy i do all that area m8
fr number 1 / 1001 keep off my patch 

[Darranvps]

I pay 120 pounds for my luxury mansion cleaning two or three times a year!

[bobplum]

BERWICK ROAD BOB MEADOWBANK AREA!!!!!!!

you wont get past the guards