[John Mart]

Having had a settled round for a year or two before making the decision to expand I had pretty much zero problems with total b e l l ends but now with so many new ones you pick up total dorks and actually when I take them on, often my spidey senses are tingling. But I still take them in the pursuit of growth.

But how do I stop myself getting wound up by them? How does Soupy or Lee Pryor deal with it? Lee obviously has a short fuse  so he must get annoyed at times.

Answers on a postcard?

[Soupy]

Haha. Not sure if you mean staff or customers.

[John Mart]

Haha. Not sure if you mean staff or customers.

Both but mostly customers.

I’ve had perhaps 3 or 4 issues this week.

[dazmond]

you still get messers/idiots when your a one man band with 25 years of window cleaning behind you....

ive had one this week......a seemingly nice couple with a couple of kids,keep fobbing me off(for a tenner!!)promising to pay online blah,blah blah.......never got cash,dont have cheque book.......he s a local landscaper with sign written van etc.....had enough now....he ll get the middle finger next time i see him,,,to55er......

ill NEVER clean their windows again...ive also had a few others that ive managed to get paid then dumped.....

i also worked out the other day that ive written off over £1,500 in my 25 years of window cleaning due to non payments......

99% of customers are good solid customers thankfully.......

[Marc Stock]

For what my opinion is worth...

I found that the only time customers became a problem was when i decided they were a problem.

These days; if a customer has a complaint or an issue that needs rectifying. I dont dwell on it; or let it become a problem; i just sort the issue to make the customer happy. There is little point getting new customers to grow if you cant look after your existing customers or cant deal with solving thier issues.

[John Mart]

For what my opinion is worth...

I found that the only time customers became a problem was when i decided they were a problem.

These days; if a customer has a complaint or an issue that needs rectifying. I dont dwell on it; or let it become a problem; i just sort the issue to make the customer happy. There is little point getting new customers to grow if you cant look after your existing customers or cant deal with solving thier issues.

I’m talking about real nutters. Not just a complaint.

Example. Windows cleaned three weeks ago. We’ve had storms in the last week too. A couple of days ago (2 1/2 weeks after clean) he emails to say he’s not happy with the results and cancelling and won’t be paying in full. Now how do you solve that?

[Shrek]

The messers we encounter unfortunately have it in their personality to be like that so I just think it’s part of the job .
A bit like having a night out , the majority of times you will have a great time but one night there will be a right tosser there.
I just either write the debt off or I get paid then just stop cleaning for them

[John Mart]

The messers we encounter unfortunately have it in their personality to be like that so I just think it’s part of the job .
A bit like having a night out , the majority of times you will have a great time but one night there will be a right tosser there.
I just either write the debt off or I get paid then just stop cleaning for them

See, I won’t write it off. If there’s a problem I’ll go back, but I won’t write it off.

[Shrek]

For what my opinion is worth...

I found that the only time customers became a problem was when i decided they were a problem.

These days; if a customer has a complaint or an issue that needs rectifying. I dont dwell on it; or let it become a problem; i just sort the issue to make the customer happy. There is little point getting new customers to grow if you cant look after your existing customers or cant deal with solving thier issues.

I’m talking about real nutters. Not just a complaint.

Example. Windows cleaned three weeks ago. We’ve had storms in the last week too. A couple of days ago (2 1/2 weeks after clean) he emails to say he’s not happy with the results and cancelling and won’t be paying in full. Now how do you solve that?

Just accept the part payment and move on lol , don’t let customers get to you it’s just not worth it

[John Mart]

For what my opinion is worth...

I found that the only time customers became a problem was when i decided they were a problem.

These days; if a customer has a complaint or an issue that needs rectifying. I dont dwell on it; or let it become a problem; i just sort the issue to make the customer happy. There is little point getting new customers to grow if you cant look after your existing customers or cant deal with solving thier issues.

I’m talking about real nutters. Not just a complaint.

Example. Windows cleaned three weeks ago. We’ve had storms in the last week too. A couple of days ago (2 1/2 weeks after clean) he emails to say he’s not happy with the results and cancelling and won’t be paying in full. Now how do you solve that?

Just accept the part payment and move on lol , don’t let customers get to you it’s just not worth it

But he’s just a chancer. 

[John Mart]

you still get messers/idiots when your a one man band with 25 years of window cleaning behind you....

ive had one this week......a seemingly nice couple with a couple of kids,keep fobbing me off(for a tenner!!)promising to pay online blah,blah blah.......never got cash,dont have cheque book.......he s a local landscaper with sign written van etc.....had enough now....he ll get the middle finger next time i see him,,,to55er......

ill NEVER clean their windows again...ive also had a few others that ive managed to get paid then dumped.....

i also worked out the other day that ive written off over £1,500 in my 25 years of window cleaning due to non payments......

99% of customers are good solid customers thankfully.......

I reckon it’s more like 85%. But you’ve filtered out the other 14% over the years.

[dazmond]

For what my opinion is worth...

I found that the only time customers became a problem was when i decided they were a problem.

These days; if a customer has a complaint or an issue that needs rectifying. I dont dwell on it; or let it become a problem; i just sort the issue to make the customer happy. There is little point getting new customers to grow if you cant look after your existing customers or cant deal with solving thier issues.

usually the issue is non payment(or very late payments time and time again along with empty promises to set up standing order,etc)....very rarely anything else.....

[dazmond]

you still get messers/idiots when your a one man band with 25 years of window cleaning behind you....

ive had one this week......a seemingly nice couple with a couple of kids,keep fobbing me off(for a tenner!!)promising to pay online blah,blah blah.......never got cash,dont have cheque book.......he s a local landscaper with sign written van etc.....had enough now....he ll get the middle finger next time i see him,,,to55er......

ill NEVER clean their windows again...ive also had a few others that ive managed to get paid then dumped.....

i also worked out the other day that ive written off over £1,500 in my 25 years of window cleaning due to non payments......

99% of customers are good solid customers thankfully.......

I reckon it’s more like 85%. But you’ve filtered out the other 14% over the years.

probably true that mate.......i dont normally get that annoyed but its the way their so nice to your face but have no intentions of paying you that winds me up....

[Stoots]

I've lost loads of money when trying to expand. Messer after messer after non payer.

You just have to accept you have the throw a lot of poop at the wall and see what sticks.

I don't know how you cope with it, it pes me right off and makes me feel like quitting. But you just keep on going regardless.

[Crystal-clear]

I will answer for the big boys ages ago from a much smaller scale
The secret is don't clean it yourself employee or subcontract cleans you will always get those that are looking for a way not to pay
When you're doing everything mate including your accounts checking who's paid maintaining your vehicle doing all the cleaning and then one person becomes you know it really will get to you
I know it's more expense but if you're ready to expand you should try subcontracting the workout the subcontractor will only clean he doesn't get emotional his motivation is only to clean and to be paid by you,you will still get a complaint but you will mentally be able to deal with it better and actually focus on "customer service"
I know what this customer said to you was crazy but if you didn't actually clean it you could deal with it a lot better and you wouldn't get as annoyed
Because you know you did a good job and you know deep down they're just trying to pull a fast one so you can't help but be emotional.. just imagine you didn't clean it you fully trust the employee or the subcontractor so saying something like this will come off the tongue a lot easier " I'm so sorry about that sir that is very unusual we would like to offer you a 50% no questions asked reduction of your bill" all you're doing here is covering your initial clean cost perhaps employment costs or subcontractor costs
Honestly mate if you're expanding you'll have a much less stressful time it will cost you more money but get some help it's well worth it
That's I disagreeumption as to how the big boys stay motivated end of the day mate you don't see big company directors serving customers behind the till yet they expect the staff to deal with crazy complaints in exceptional manner just imagine if they were behind the till they would freak out

[John Mart]

I will answer for the big boys ages ago from a much smaller scale
The secret is don't clean it yourself employee or subcontract cleans you will always get those that are looking for a way not to pay
When you're doing everything mate including your accounts checking who's paid maintaining your vehicle doing all the cleaning and then one person becomes you know it really will get to you
I know it's more expense but if you're ready to expand you should try subcontracting the workout the subcontractor will only clean he doesn't get emotional his motivation is only to clean and to be paid by you,you will still get a complaint but you will mentally be able to deal with it better and actually focus on "customer service"
I know what this customer said to you was crazy but if you didn't actually clean it you could deal with it a lot better and you wouldn't get as annoyed
Because you know you did a good job and you know deep down they're just trying to pull a fast one so you can't help but be emotional.. just imagine you didn't clean it you fully trust the employee or the subcontractor so saying something like this will come off the tongue a lot easier " I'm so sorry about that sir that is very unusual we would like to offer you a 50% no questions asked reduction of your bill" all you're doing here is covering your initial clean cost perhaps employment costs or subcontractor costs
Honestly mate if you're expanding you'll have a much less stressful time it will cost you more money but get some help it's well worth it
That's I disagreeumption as to how the big boys stay motivated end of the day mate you don't see big company directors serving customers behind the till yet they expect the staff to deal with crazy complaints in exceptional manner just imagine if they were behind the till they would freak out

The annoying thing is that you’re probably right. I did actually do that this week on a fascia clean where she complained that we didn’t clean her rafters (no soffits) so knocked £60 off despite her lying about how long the job took. She said 90 minutes but the tracker said two hours.

[Crystal-clear]

I will answer for the big boys ages ago from a much smaller scale
The secret is don't clean it yourself employee or subcontract cleans you will always get those that are looking for a way not to pay
When you're doing everything mate including your accounts checking who's paid maintaining your vehicle doing all the cleaning and then one person becomes you know it really will get to you
I know it's more expense but if you're ready to expand you should try subcontracting the workout the subcontractor will only clean he doesn't get emotional his motivation is only to clean and to be paid by you,you will still get a complaint but you will mentally be able to deal with it better and actually focus on "customer service"
I know what this customer said to you was crazy but if you didn't actually clean it you could deal with it a lot better and you wouldn't get as annoyed
Because you know you did a good job and you know deep down they're just trying to pull a fast one so you can't help but be emotional.. just imagine you didn't clean it you fully trust the employee or the subcontractor so saying something like this will come off the tongue a lot easier " I'm so sorry about that sir that is very unusual we would like to offer you a 50% no questions asked reduction of your bill" all you're doing here is covering your initial clean cost perhaps employment costs or subcontractor costs
Honestly mate if you're expanding you'll have a much less stressful time it will cost you more money but get some help it's well worth it
That's I disagreeumption as to how the big boys stay motivated end of the day mate you don't see big company directors serving customers behind the till yet they expect the staff to deal with crazy complaints in exceptional manner just imagine if they were behind the till they would freak out

The annoying thing is that you’re probably right. I did actually do that this week on a fascia clean where she complained that we didn’t clean her rafters (no soffits) so knocked £60 off despite her lying about how long the job took. She said 90 minutes but the tracker said two hours.

That's it mate. I'm not happy with my £10 window clean "god I'm so sorry to hear that listen will like to give you that clean for free"
Remember you didn't do it so you won't get emotional

[tlwcs]

Write it off and move on. The last thing you want is him as a customer.
If Im messed about now I give them my local competitions number saying my books are full.
 

[Lee Pryor]

I dont have a short fuse at all. I get frustrated by haters thats all.

Anyway.

The fact is when you expand especially fast small problems become big problems quickly. The business model has to change to cope with that. I pay my office staff to deal with customers ect day to day. I do not answer the phone or deal with any customers. I just deal with the bigger picture things, the numbers, the goals and planning........ You are probably feeling the stress as you are taking on too much yourself, a clasic mistake in many businesses. Learn to let go,  delegate and free yourself up to cover the more important things.

I found over the years there are key times that you become the very thing holding the development back because there is only so much 1 person in any position can do. Learn how it should be done then teach someone else  and step aside to the next roll. That is how I have managed to completely remove myself from almost every process in the business. I can go on holiday or take 5 weeks off following surgery (as I just have) and return to not only find everything fine but growth in my absense.

When you take on a large amount of new customers there is always a period of settling down afterwards where you clear out the messers and the new ones get used to your routine with them.

The problems being talked about here I wouldnt even hear about day to day in my business, thats someone elses job to sort out. I would go mad otherwise.

Put people and processes in place, let them do it and you wont need a thicker skin. Well at least until you come on here to share your achievements and be torn to pieces by people who wouldnt have a clue where to start to do what your doing.

Just remember if it was easy to really grow and expand everyone would be doing it. Its bloody hard, expensive and a million miles from what most on here experience day to day.

You can do it. Remind yourself of that every day. I do....

[Bungle]

You can't make it up sometimes!

I had a text this week cancelling,  I've been cleaning the house for over 2 years. 'Hi Bungle, we no longer require window cleaning services, thank you for all your work. Katie'

This sounded a bit suss as the interfering old hag next door but one cancelled last week due to her 'nephew' starting a window cleaning round up.

So I text Katie back asking why she's cancelled. I get a reply that the house is on the market plus the old window cleaner (who'd disappeared) has turned up again!!!

So, you put your house on the market and hire the old window cleaner until it's sold? Fecking hate lies I do!

I've just texted her back (after 2 days). "I've found this reply a kick in the teeth to be honest!! If I did a crap job or was overpricing then I'd appreciate to be told! Thanks for your previous custom."

Once she left her front door open when she went to work and I rang her to tell her so.

No loyalty in this game. I should know better, but I always get suckered!