[dazmond]

i read most of the posts on the other thread and can see its a hot topic for you lot!!


this is what i do.if a customer of mine says "i dont want my windows cleaning BECAUSE its forecast bad weather tomorrow" or "no point cleaning them as its going to rain later" get DUMPED STRAIGHT AWAY!!!

if they dont want them cleaning because its tipping down when i turn up then i will "miss them out" until next month.

obviously if a customer is having building work done,going on holiday etc,etc and pre notify then they get missed until next time.

i have virtually zero problems of this nature on my round.


i had one the other month though.it was a sunny dry day and i turned up monthly as usual and she says"no point cleaning them darren as the weather is going to be bad for the rest of the week from tomorrow"

i dumped her straight away.id been cleaning her windows for years but ive never liked her and it was underpriced to be fair so dumped.she was gobsmacked!!i felt good walking away though.i think she felt i would just roll over and say "ok mrs smith ill try and see if you want them cleaning next month weather permitting!"

i just dont need customers like these.


most of my customers are just so used to me cleaning in allsorts of weather they dont even pass comment and just pay up and/or make me a brew if they have time.


regards



dazmond

[William McCafferty]

I also think that this summers record rainfall will benefit all window cleaners, I am getting a lot of my customers who are commenting, that the bad weather is having a hard time on me and my business.

I tell them the truth, that I am not 1 job behind on my round, because even though it has rained every day for the last 8 weeks or so, it has not rained every hour of every day, and I can clean in those gaps.

so in the coming years when we have normal rain fall, they will not question me turning up if it is going to rain later in the day or next week.

of course you will still attract customers who will prefer you didn't clean them, but they have a choise, they can always sack you and get another cleaner.

[Crystal-clear]

i know its crazy isnt it daz, sometimes they think we come to only clean there house dont they?

dont clean it today cos its going to rain tomorrow they must be crazy sure if everyone says that we will be out of a job and how do they think we can offer cleans for £10 its because everyone has it done otherwise its more cost if they want it when they want it,

i used to try and explain how it works now i just say with a smile on my face , great stuff ill see you next time and it will be double normally they think twice some even say get me the third time round not a problem thats 300% lol and the best part is we dont give you anymore credit so that 300% will have to be paid upfront

and they seem gobsmacked your totally right they need a wake up call
if anyone is having these sort of problems the faster you remove them the better your round becomes.

[john stracey]

you can do this if you have a mature business and enough custards i am just about getting there now after 18 months of running my round properly ie wfp

[ben M]

i read most of the posts on the other thread and can see its a hot topic for you lot!!


this is what i do.if a customer of mine says "i dont want my windows cleaning BECAUSE its forecast bad weather tomorrow" or "no point cleaning them as its going to rain later" get DUMPED STRAIGHT AWAY!!!

if they dont want them cleaning because its tipping down when i turn up then i will "miss them out" until next month.

obviously if a customer is having building work done,going on holiday etc,etc and pre notify then they get missed until next time.

i have virtually zero problems of this nature on my round.


i had one the other month though.it was a sunny dry day and i turned up monthly as usual and she says"no point cleaning them darren as the weather is going to be bad for the rest of the week from tomorrow"

i dumped her straight away.id been cleaning her windows for years but ive never liked her and it was underpriced to be fair so dumped.she was gobsmacked!!i felt good walking away though.i think she felt i would just roll over and say "ok mrs smith ill try and see if you want them cleaning next month weather permitting!"

i just dont need customers like these.


most of my customers are just so used to me cleaning in allsorts of weather they dont even pass comment and just pay up and/or make me a brew if they have time.


regards



dazmond

easy to say when you have 350+ customers. Not everybody can afford to dump customers like you do! 

[Crystal-clear]

i read most of the posts on the other thread and can see its a hot topic for you lot!!


this is what i do.if a customer of mine says "i dont want my windows cleaning BECAUSE its forecast bad weather tomorrow" or "no point cleaning them as its going to rain later" get DUMPED STRAIGHT AWAY!!!

if they dont want them cleaning because its tipping down when i turn up then i will "miss them out" until next month.

obviously if a customer is having building work done,going on holiday etc,etc and pre notify then they get missed until next time.

i have virtually zero problems of this nature on my round.


i had one the other month though.it was a sunny dry day and i turned up monthly as usual and she says"no point cleaning them darren as the weather is going to be bad for the rest of the week from tomorrow"

i dumped her straight away.id been cleaning her windows for years but ive never liked her and it was underpriced to be fair so dumped.she was gobsmacked!!i felt good walking away though.i think she felt i would just roll over and say "ok mrs smith ill try and see if you want them cleaning next month weather permitting!"

i just dont need customers like these.


most of my customers are just so used to me cleaning in allsorts of weather they dont even pass comment and just pay up and/or make me a brew if they have time.


regards



dazmond

easy to say when you have 350+ customers. Not everybody can afford to dump customers like you do! 

i never used to put up with it from day one from the first 20 customers even.

start now and replace for decent people who understand how your business works, my frequency is 8 weeks regardless of weather i just keep having to explain my self as some customers pretend i never said that.

honestly the sooner you get rid of the customers who want to controll you the sooner your business thrives

[Spruce]

Hi Ben,

I'm sure Daz will have to agree with you to a point, as the majority of his run has been with him for years. He has had the advantage of time to weed the messers out. My own experience is that the longer you are in window cleaning the less nonsense you tend to put up with.

The trouble is that these types of customers waste so much of our time that we loose sight of our goal - look for more customers.

If you get cancelled by a customer - spend half hour canvassing for more work that day. Don't go home early.

To start with you may have to just move on to your next customer and clean them when next time around as usual. Mostly you will find that this is an excuse. You may get them cleaned the following time no problem and then the issue will probably start again; there will be another excuse, builders coming etc.
Now you know where you are. You need to either renegotiate their cleaning times. "Would it be better for you if I skipped you every other time." If she jumps at this then you need to increase the price a little, but point out that you will still be saving her £X on her annual cleaning bill.

If this continues then you could also ask Mrs ........ if she would like to be put on your personalised window cleaning list, where you clean her windows as and when she wants them doing. She chooses the time and day. This is exciting and she will jump at this if its all about money (which it nearly always is).  Then explain that this personalised service will cost £x (say 4x usual cleaning price as an example) and let her choose. They may get the message or tell you to sod off. Either way, they were a number on your books, but probably cost you more to service than you earnt from it. By that time you would have replaced her with a better customer, so they are easier to let go of.

They have proved to you that they weren't worth you cleaning services.

I'm sure that probably one or 2 of Dazmond's customers that he dumped could have turned out to be good customers in the end, but when you have a good round, could you really be bothered to waste your time on dozens incase a couple turn out right.

Hopefully in a few years time you will see this thread and say - now I understand.  

[Spruce]

Hi Crystal clear,

When I commented before I didn't see your post.

With a frequency of 8 weeks, the customer is messing you around trying to skip a clean. There is definitely another hidden issue - money. In your case I would also dump and move on.

Most new cleaners try a 4 week cycle so cleaning on an 8 week cycle instead of 4 is still ok. (I work on a 6 week cycle now as I had too many customers to keep to a 4 week schedule, but explain to the miss one do one customer that they might not get cleaned every 3 months due to weather etc. Often they stay at 6 weeks.)

Spruce

[ben M]

Hi Ben,

I'm sure Daz will have to agree with you to a point, as the majority of his run has been with him for years. He has had the advantage of time to weed the messers out. My own experience is that the longer you are in window cleaning the less nonsense you tend to put up with.

The trouble is that these types of customers waste so much of our time that we loose sight of our goal - look for more customers.

If you get cancelled by a customer - spend half hour canvassing for more work that day. Don't go home early.

To start with you may have to just move on to your next customer and clean them when next time around as usual. Mostly you will find that this is an excuse. You may get them cleaned the following time no problem and then the issue will probably start again; there will be another excuse, builders coming etc.
Now you know where you are. You need to either renegotiate their cleaning times. "Would it be better for you if I skipped you every other time." If she jumps at this then you need to increase the price a little, but point out that you will still be saving her £X on her annual cleaning bill.

If this continues then you could also ask Mrs ........ if she would like to be put on your personalised window cleaning list, where you clean her windows as and when she wants them doing. She chooses the time and day. This is exciting and she will jump at this if its all about money (which it nearly always is).  Then explain that this personalised service will cost £x (say 4x usual cleaning price as an example) and let her choose. They may get the message or tell you to sod off. Either way, they were a number on your books, but probably cost you more to service than you earnt from it. By that time you would have replaced her with a better customer, so they are easier to let go of.

They have proved to you that they weren't worth you cleaning services.

I'm sure that probably one or 2 of Dazmond's customers that he dumped could have turned out to be good customers in the end, but when you have a good round, could you really be bothered to waste your time on dozens incase a couple turn out right.

Hopefully in a few years time you will see this thread and say - now I understand.  

Hi Spurce,

Don't get me wrong, i understand perfectly his thread but when you haven't got a full round and still looking for custys, you can't dump so easily a customer, if you know what i mean!  

[Spruce]

Ben,

I know what you are saying, but people who mess you around cost you in the end. If the majority of your customer tell you to leave it this time, you are in trouble, not them.

What Crystal is saying is don't let them gain control of your business.

They won't not vacuum the carpets that morning because visitors who are coming later will bring muck in and it will be a waste of time.
They won't not strip the bed and wash the sheets because they are going to sleep in the bed again tonight and it will also be a waste of time.

They are messers and aren't worth having. If you have 50 customers and 10 mess you around, trust me you only have 40 customers. No matter how you think otherwise, that's the bottom line as they ae the ones you can rely on. Now work to replace those 10 with reliable customers - now you have 50 genuine customers.

Spruce 

[ben M]

Ben,

I know what you are saying, but people who mess you around cost you in the end. If the majority of your customer tell you to leave it this time, you are in trouble, not them.

What Crystal is saying is don't let them gain control of your business.

They won't not vacuum the carpets that morning because visitors who are coming later will bring muck in and it will be a waste of time.
They won't not strip the bed and wash the sheets because they are going to sleep in the bed again tonight and it will also be a waste of time.

They are messers and aren't worth having. If you have 50 customers and 10 mess you around, trust me you only have 40 customers. No matter how you think otherwise, that's the bottom line as they ae the ones you can rely on. Now work to replace those 10 with reliable customers - now you have 50 genuine customers.

Spruce  

Yes you are right Spruce, very good advice,thank you!  

[Spruce]

A few years back there was a thread on here asking us if we knew how much each customer cost us. I didn't.

I then took the total cost of all my expenses that I had submitted on my tax return for that previous year and divided that by the total number of cleans that I had done. The cost to arrive at each customer's door that year was £2.97. (That was the cost of vehicle depreciation, fuel, insurance, MOT, usual wear and tear WFP stuff but no significant WFP purchases were made that year. Diesel was around 90p a litre then.) £2.97 didn't include anything for my wages.

Now, if you get to this house and you get turned away, how long does it take you to pack away and move onto the next house - 10 minutes? 20 minutes?

So that year, that one messer cost me £2.97 plus 20 minutes of lost earning - say 4 or £5.00. For you it will be the same time as you would have taken to do the front of that house in this poster's example. How many times have you got to do that clean after that to make up for your lost earnings? Can you make up for them?

Now you can see why Crystal Clear takes his attitude.

Spruce.

[Crystal-clear]

Ben,

They won't not vacuum the carpets that morning because visitors who are coming later will bring muck in and it will be a waste of time.
They won't not strip the bed and wash the sheets because they are going to sleep in the bed again tonight and it will also be a waste of time.

Spruce 

This is brilliant ,