[Clear Vision]

This may sound like a stupid question, but how on earth can I expand my business??

I mainly clean domestic houses and the very ocasional comercial job.

I have roughly 180 houses that I need to clean on a monthly basis. Where I live people are not willing to pay a high/good price to have their windows cleaned.

The average price of a house that I clean is £6.38. 

Most months I'm strugling to finish my round as the weather plays a major part. (north scotland)

So, if I can only just manage my round every month how can I expand. Do I need to ditch all my customers that I charge £6.38 & under and try to replace them with better & bigger jobs???

I just feel as though I'm not moving anywhere fast.

Any sugestions are more than welcome.

[Trevor Knight]

Hi there,

Ok, firstly read the posting I have just put under giving quotes over the telephone, that will help you with your exisiting set up.

There are many factors to look at to expand your business:

Can I take someone on part time to increase the work load?
Am I able to increase the prices on all my customers by 50p, this will have a knock on effect, i.e 180 customers x 50p = £90 per month = £1080 per year! This increase would help fund a part time helper, say 2 days a month.

Can you get your customers to introduce you to their work environment. I asked my customers years ago and got 5 good commercial contracts from their recommendations.

Are you making use of your existing customers? Conservatory cleaning, gutter cleaning? This is your wet weather work.

When I first took on someone I bit the bullet and basically paid them my own wages from my turnover. However, once I had trained them up I used to get them to work 2 days a week on their own while I went out canvassing building up the round and putting money back into the business.

From that I then had enough work for two people so I dropped out myself and got them to do the work (commission only basis) while I kept expanding the business.

I now have over 2000 customers, have 3 vans on the road and enjoy a healthly lifestyle of the back of it.

Its taken me 15 years and a lot of blood and tears not to mention a recession!

Stick at it, its worth it in the end!!

Best of luck,

Trev

[poleman]

If you word it right, high insurance ete and say I have not put the price up in years, then double the price? Yes its bold move but even if you lost half of your work you will be on the same money then it frees you up to plan for even more better work

Andy

[Moderator David@stives]

Or do what poleman did , sold all his work and then chased bigger fish.

Now that was a bold move

Dave

[squeaky-clean 1]

Hi Trev

Well done you must have worked hard to build a customer base like that, lots of drive and ambition, work does'nt just just drop in your lap you must have walked a lot of streets.
.
i would like to expand like yourself but how do you cope with VAT do you charge job price plus VAT to your domestic customers or loose the VAT in your priceing.?

Belinda

[Jeff Brimble]

"Do I need to ditch all my customers that I charge £6.38 & under and try to replace them with better & bigger jobs??? "
Ditch them by putting up the prices. Put your card thro each next doors letterbox and give one in person to each customer and ask them to pass it on.
And put your prices up, do it. Get yourself "George" on a pc and a palm.

[poleman]

Or do what poleman did , sold all his work and then chased bigger fish.

Now that was a bold move

Dave

Someone has a good memory

[Clear Vision]

Thanks for that trevor.

I agree with you that I should take on someone for maybe 2 days a week!

But when I first started out it took my probably 2 whole months to get up to speed. So if I was to take on someone with no expirience it wouldn't be worth it? Or would it?

How do you pay pay them? How much should they get?

The main problem that I have is I get quite lonley working on my own and there seems to be no insentive. I find myself going home early.

If I had someone with me that will give me the required motivation to progress.

I know where I want to be but i'm inpatient.

Im 22 and have been cleaning for 3 and a half years on my own and not really getting anywhere. I love being my own boss but just wish I was a bit better off and able to expand in the right direction.

I got my first comercial job! I am really pleased. But it's only twice a year

Great money in it!!!!! Is comercial the way for me to go?

[Andrew McCann]

Please dont shoot the messenger (me) on this one.

I have cheap window cleaners coming out my ears around here charging around £4 to 5 for a large semi so I have lots of competition.

Before I ever cleaned a window I decided that I wasnt going to work for that sort of money and looked for ways to appeal to the quality concious customer.

I bought 3 printed tee-shirts .. around £40 for the 3.  2 printed sweat shirts £30 ish and 10000 A5 leaflets  ..£110.00    I also had my estate car rear and rear side windows sign written.. £50.00  So. for just over £200 I already carried the impression that I was "different"  I then hit the streets and canvassed my butt off.. quoting and in around %70 of cases getting double what the "others" were charging.  I needed it... it took me over an hour to clean one semi at the start.
 

A lot here say that image doesnt matter..  the fact is IT DOES..  you do have to back it up with your workmanship though to make it really work for you.

The nights are light at the moment so its an ideal time to go canvassing. Why not try it for a couple of hours every evening and quote another £3.00 on average on top of your present prices. I think you may be surprised. One thing.. dont go canvassing in the areas you already do. Nothing worse than charging different prices for the same type houses in the same street. These rotten customers talk!!!   


Then as you gain the better payers you can either sell off your lower ones or take a part timer on to do them.. hopefully at somewhere your new higher prices.  Honestly its a confidence game. Look and act the part.. back it up with good workmanship and you wont go wrong.

Old saying but its true.. it your Attitude that determines youe Altitude. Errr or it goes something like that. 

Cheers

Andrew

[Trevor Knight]

Thanks for that trevor.

I agree with you that I should take on someone for maybe 2 days a week!

But when I first started out it took my probably 2 whole months to get up to speed. So if I was to take on someone with no expirience it wouldn't be worth it? Or would it?

You have two options: Get a no experience cleaner, pay little and train hard, hope they stick at it and maybe from an acorn you will grow a big tree, or it may just shrivel and die?

Or! Pay an experienced cleaner a decent wage to work with you for a couple of days and start to free up your time, which you can then use to canvass and expand. This way you spend less time teaching and more time expanding.

How do you pay pay them? How much should they get? Pay what you can afford and what the going rate is in your area.

The main problem that I have is I get quite lonley working on my own and there seems to be no insentive. I find myself going home early. Expanding is hard work and takes alot of effort, you need to focus and get on with it. set small targets and work to them instead of going home. When your bored think, ok, I will go home only after getting a new customer first and go knock on doors!
If I had someone with me that will give me the required motivation to progress.

I know where I want to be but i'm inpatient.  Going home isn't going to help !

Im 22 and have been cleaning for 3 and a half years on my own and not really getting anywhere. I love being my own boss but just wish I was a bit better off and able to expand in the right direction.

I got my first comercial job! I am really pleased. But it's only twice a year

Great money in it!!!!! Is comercial the way for me to go?
You can expand in whichever direction you want, yes, commercial is very rewarding but very hard to keep. They are a business and likewise are always looking to save a few quid!

Don't take my comments to harsh, I am just getting the message across that you have to want it, go for it and most of all, STAY FOCUSED!!

Good Luck,

Trev

[Trevor Knight]

Hi Trev

Well done you must have worked hard to build a customer base like that, lots of drive and ambition, work does'nt just just drop in your lap you must have walked a lot of streets.
.
i would like to expand like yourself but how do you cope with VAT do you charge job price plus VAT to your domestic customers or loose the VAT in your priceing.?

Belinda

Hi Belinda,

Yes the good ole VAT man, well all I will say is commercial you add, domestic is included. Its not going to work adding VAT to domestic, its just too much hassle explaining.

I have walked a few roads in my time and I still have people do it for me every week.

I am no where near finished in my expansion and will be looking to achieve a great deal more yet!

I have a rule, every week of every year has to be an increase on the same week from the past year. I look for organic growth of 15% year on year and also set targets for new business.

Good luck with your expansion, please feel free to call me if there is anything you want to discuss, my office is always open, unless your the VAT man 

Best wishes,

Trev

[shammy davis jnr]

some good points there the way i have went about it over the years is i look at it that every customer you do has a aunt,cousin,daughter,son,grampa,office where they work  so from one door you have at your tips a potential five new customers and a contract
look the part ,dont smoke swear carry on round your doors and always be polite they will canvas for you
remember small acorns grow in to big trees good luck im sure you will get there  and im sure a lot will agree that it gets you down at times but hey this is what you do so be good at it ..its a motavation thing

[Clear Vision]

Thanks for all coments so far!

Any other points/sugestions on how to expand ect more than welcome.

Clear Vision

[matt]

my advice

put your prices up by a quid each

it all helps

[AuRavelling79]

Wot matt just said.


Write a note saying due to exceptionally increased fuel costs, insurance and bank charges I have no option but to increase my prices. Even though I have absorbed some of these charges I have to pass a proportion onto my valued customers. I am sure you understand and I remain committed to providing a professional and reliable service.

Add at least a £1 and sometimes £1.50 or £2.


If your average customer is £6.38 and you add 20% then rounded up you get £7.50/£8.00. You will lose a few - some will let you clean every other month (for which you add another percentage again - but overall you will get a substantial price increase for less work.

And next year? Add another £1 or £2!

[mick40]

clear vision what part of scotland are you in???

[jinky230]

clear vision it is easy to say put prices up and if you lose a lot of work what the hell

but in scotland you can only push them so far, you need to section your round and put a percentage up at a time this way any problems are limited to that section.As each section takes the increase then move on to the next section
they will take a £1 rise easily this way you do not have a lot of headaches at the same time.The reason we all worry about moving prices up is if you have a tight round and you lose a few then this opens a space for the fly by night window cleaners to come in at reduced prices then you have another problem.

try increasing your day time working hours  and work weekends, I know this is a hassle but it will allow a day or 2 during the week to go hunting for new areas.If you can financialy take someone on and reduce your workload thats great , but most guys at this level need all they can get to pay bills etc, you could try it for a couple of months to see  -if the extra work comes in to pay the extra wages
after a couple of months you will know what is a about  in your area this is a way to increase domestic, to increase commercial then this is down to spending cash, but first things first and that is to increase turnover to pay for the other routes  into moving your business forward

hope this helps jinky

[Clear Vision]

Mick40,

Im in Inverness!


Thanks jinky. I agree but the problem with putting all my prices up is that I hadn't put them up for 3 years

I started to put some up just before christmas and some went up this year.

So I couldn't really add a £1 on to the customers I have jus put up?

Clear Vision

[Mike_Boxall]

Like many have said, word of mouth advertising is one of the best. Offer to do the customers windows for free for each new customer the recommend. If they recommend 10 customers that's nearly £70 they'll have saved (and even more once you've put your prices up!). You may well get the odd new customer that drops off after a month or 2 but most will stay and become long term customers if you do a consistently good and relaible job.

Regards

Mike

[mick40]

im not too far from inverness.im up near Tain.have been gonna try inverness for a while now,loads of new builds going on there.