[davids3511]

Haven't lost one in years but two went this week. One was a £30.00 went for £20.00 and one was £10.00 went for £6.00.

I find when you let slow payers do their thing for years and then try to tighten up, ie get the £10.00 job to pay the current month and the clean of 5 weeks ago on the day, they take umberage and dump you. I'm coming round to the way of thinking never to let them get into the habit of paying late in the first place.

[sean mcc]

I agree i always think they begrudge giving you 2 months money

[davids3511]

It's that but I also think the they get arsey that you dare dictate when you get paid rather than when they can be bothered to pay. I think if this is nipped in the bud right at the beginning they don't get into bad habits.

[dave0123]

i give customers 8 days to pay after 5 days i send a reminder txt.. you find they actually read the text cus they think its a friend texting   then if they still dont pay or ignore it id enforce a late payment charge or sumat.


Have to be honest i have had to send a few txts as this is a new thing ive started but it has seemed to work! as people have forgotten after couple days.. suppose we all do its easily done.

[Johnny B]

I've got one (in particular) at the moment. She owes for two inside and out cleans, plus one outside only. Total 65 euro. She always has a different excuse for deferring payment, and when I relent, her kids start laughing under their breath.

I was busy Saturday morning, when she rang me 9 times, all of which I ignored. On the tenth time I was free, so I answered. Pleading and in tears by the sound of her, she begged me to go and clean her windows as soon as possible, as they are really dirty (I bet they are too!)

She tried to make me promise to clean them, then as she is starting a new job in 3 weeks' time, will pay me then. Yeah right thinks I! I politely but firmly told her that I cannot afford to do a job and wait to be paid. I said I will go round Tuesday and when the money is in my hand, I will clean them for her.

We will see.

John (ex-soft touch).  

[C o z y]

You know the script mate, once a messer...........

[Carl2009]

I have "lost" a lot of work recently. I've dropped 1 as they were messers, 2 have moved and 2 have stopped me temporarily as they have building work on (whether they'll come back, well we'll see) but the rest, around 6, have said money is tight. I've not had this since I started in April 2009.

Today I lost a £12 bungalow to someone who can do it for £5. I'd only done a first clean 3 weeks ago. I asked the custie who the cleaner was and he didn't know the name of the guy. I reckon it's one of the summer crew. I explained that I can't and don't want to compete with these guys - in any case i'd rather let them tie themselves up earning £100 a day whilst I do my own daily target.

It's a wet day today but the rest of the week is busy. Hopefully i'll pick up a few more over the next month, but new business is definitely slower coming this year.

[lal]

I've got one (in particular) at the moment. She owes for two inside and out cleans, plus one outside only. Total 65 euro. She always has a different excuse for deferring payment, and when I relent, her kids start laughing under their breath.

I was busy Saturday morning, when she rang me 9 times, all of which I ignored. On the tenth time I was free, so I answered. Pleading and in tears by the sound of her, she begged me to go and clean her windows as soon as possible, as they are really dirty (I bet they are too!)

She tried to make me promise to clean them, then as she is starting a new job in 3 weeks' time, will pay me then. Yeah right thinks I! I politely but firmly told her that I cannot afford to do a job and wait to be paid. I said I will go round Tuesday and when the money is in my hand, I will clean them for her.

We will see.

John (ex-soft touch).  
John your wasting your time with this one, cut your loss's and keep away from her, she's taking the P out of your goodwill.

[Tomboler]

I've got one (in particular) at the moment. She owes for two inside and out cleans, plus one outside only. Total 65 euro. She always has a different excuse for deferring payment, and when I relent, her kids start laughing under their breath.

I was busy Saturday morning, when she rang me 9 times, all of which I ignored. On the tenth time I was free, so I answered. Pleading and in tears by the sound of her, she begged me to go and clean her windows as soon as possible, as they are really dirty (I bet they are too!)

She tried to make me promise to clean them, then as she is starting a new job in 3 weeks' time, will pay me then. Yeah right thinks I! I politely but firmly told her that I cannot afford to do a job and wait to be paid. I said I will go round Tuesday and when the money is in my hand, I will clean them for her.

We will see.

John (ex-soft touch).  
John your wasting your time with this one, cut your loss's and keep away from her, she's taking the P out of your goodwill.

with customers like this its best to getting an exclusion order banning them from contacting or coming anywhere near you, for your own safety/sanity..

[Johnny B]

Chris, lal and Rawhide, I agree with you all.

I am a very tolerant person, but have had too many take advantage and it stops now. I will still try to be a nice guy, but no longer will I be anyone's fool.

I will turn up tomorrow (she is local to me) and only do the windows after the money has been placed in my hand. If it isn't, I will repeat to her what I told her on Saturday, and add that when she has the money she can call me.

If she isn't home (most likely) I will put a note in her door with the date and the time I arrived, to let her know that I  turned up as requested, adding the gist of the above paragraph.

John.

[Tomboler]

John, If I were you I wouldn't do it, just move on, its only window cleaning, find a normal customer who wants their windows cleaning and is happy to pay for the service, it's not worth the mental energy spent dealing with these fruits

[andyM]

I do wonder how some of these problem/late paying customers function in other areas of their lives?
I had one woman who started off leaving the cash outside for me.
Then when she "forgot", I would leave a self-addressed envelope and then further down the line she would "forget" to post a cheque.
Final straw was when I didn't receive payment after a month so sent a txt before next clean was due.
No payment received, so I didn't clean.
Sent another txt a month later.........and payment finally turned up 3 months after I had cleaned.
Is it really that hard to put a cheque in the envelope and post it into the little red postbox? 
 

[Johnny B]

Back on topic, I canvassed a street today, and the lady at the first door, although she had a window cleaner already, appeared very interested in changing over to me due to the fact that her current windy doesn't wipe the sills. Her windows were only cleaned last week, but the sills definitely let the side down.

I quoted her 22 euro, which turned out to be 3 euro less than he was charging. She only told me what he charged after I gave her my quote, so I don't feel that I have undercut him. I did tell her that 25 was a fair price. Apparently he also does gardening work for her, and she was less than impressed when he dumped the garden waste into a neighbouring garden, causing a bit of a kerfuffle!

She seemed very happy with me, we had a good chat, and she said that when the windows are due again she will give me a ring. Happy days, I hope!

John.

[Johnny B]

John, If I were you I wouldn't do it, just move on, its only window cleaning, find a normal customer who wants their windows cleaning and is happy to pay for the service, it's not worth the mental energy spent dealing with these fruits

Good advice. If I get no joy tomorrow, that will be it. I have had some others like her who thankfully now are history.

Regards,
John
 

[lal]

John, If I were you I wouldn't do it, just move on, its only window cleaning, find a normal customer who wants their windows cleaning and is happy to pay for the service, it's not worth the mental energy spent dealing with these fruits


   + 1

[lal]

Back on topic, I canvassed a street today, and the lady at the first door, although she had a window cleaner already, appeared very interested in changing over to me due to the fact that her current windy doesn't wipe the sills. Her windows were only cleaned last week, but the sills definitely let the side down.

I quoted her 22 euro, which turned out to be 3 euro less than he was charging. She only told me what he charged after I gave her my quote, so I don't feel that I have undercut him. I did tell her that 25 was a fair price. Apparently he also does gardening work for her, and she was less than impressed when he dumped the garden waste into a neighbouring garden, causing a bit of a kerfuffle!

She seemed very happy with me, we had a good chat, and she said that when the windows are due again she will give me a ring. Happy days, I hope!

John.
hi John do you advertise as well as canvass, I started WFP here in galway before xmas, but its tough getting the work.  lal

[Johnny B]

Hi lal,

I am old school in many ways. I am 100% trad, and picked up work initially by canvassing. Lately I have picked up more by word of mouth recommendation, but I still have to canvass occasionally (did a couple of hours this afternoon). I prefer canvassing to leaflet drops because a) I prefer meeting people face-to-face and b) it's the quickest way to get customers. 

I started up in August 2011 after moving from England, so I am 20 months in now, and currently have 372 customers, about half of which are regular(ish), and the rest phone me as and when. 

It is definitely harder to get good, reliable, regular customers these days. In England it was much, much easier to build a decent run. I believe that flexibility is key, as not everyone wants to see us every month, and I believe that as long as you are making money from even periodical customers, they are worth having. The really hard bit, I have found, is spotting the difference between these and the messers.

Any other tips I can pass on, please ask away.

Regards,
John


       

     

[lal]

Hi John,
thanks for your reply, I moved here sept 2011 from London, got married last summer etc etc, bought a van
with system got it sign written, advertised in local paper, did a bit of canvassing with no  luck, got a few jobs from the sign writing on van, sign writing on van definetly works. I feel i started to late last year with winter and rain,
and boy we get alot of rain here on the west coast of ireland, but now with summer coming i want to really push
it and give it  my all to get the work. I find the majority of customers are once a year, and the minority are six
monthly with the occasional three monthly, but i've been advised by a local tradesman it can take a couple of years to get established here, so you just have to keep plodding on, anyway speak soon John.

Regards lal

[Johnny B]

Hi lal,

You make some very good points. Canvassing is not easy at the best of times, but I believe it is   more so as we are non-locals, and therefore probably viewed with some apprehension, maybe even suspicion until people get used to seeing us out and about regularly and realize that we conducting a serious business.  

Sign writing does seems to be a very good way of advertising. I haven't had mine done yet, but is is interesting that I recently picked up a new customer whose door  I had originally knocked over a year ago when I was was sent away quite abruptly.

She later explained that because I have a white unsigned van she mistakenly thought I was a member of the travelling community (there are loads in my area, and quite a few are my customers btw) who unfortunately, get tarred with the same brush for the misconduct of some.

I have picked up a few customers most weeks, but it has been slow going, and you probably nailed it by identifying the time of year and the near-incessant rain. Then it got to the time for what I thought would be second cleans, to be met with almost everyone turning me away because they weren't expecting me back so soon, necessitating more canvassing.

I thought it would take about two years to get established here. In my experience, I reckon on adding at least another year on top, which isn't so bad given the economic plight Ireland is in.

As you say, keep plodding away, remembering that each forward step means getting closer to your target.  

Regards,
John