[DaveWilkinson]

Its a nice idea to "own" a round or area, the only thing that spoils it is in todays society customers have the right to choose who cleans there windows and most wc's have accepted that fact and I think its better that way.

If you live on a wc's patch and he carn't clean windows to save his life does that mean you can only get a bad job done or no job, you can not go and get a good wc .

What about if you got the local painter to paint your window frames and he did a bad job, would you keep using him because he is the local guy, or would you ring another painter

Every other trade i can think of works any area they want, trading standards advice is to get 3 quotes, they dont say go with the cheapest either but a customer has the right to make sure he is being quoted a fair price and to choose who he lets do the job.

I dont agree with going out and targeting another wc round and undercutting them, but thats more to do with respect for fellow wc and because I consider prices today dont leave any margin for price wars.

Final thought.....why is commercial ok to compete over price but domestic isn't

DAve

[brett walker]

Poaching, i would look at it more as expanding your business i have heard for years from winodw cleanes in one of my areas say that this is my area patch work etc.  I tell them no-one owns an area its up to the customer who they wish to clean their windows and what service they require
If they are loosing customers they should be looking at their own standards and asking themselves why they are loosing business
If you are a good window cleaner and you do your job as you should you will have loyal customers you will soon sort out the time wasters, then when people come along canvassing poaching looking for new business whatever we want to call it you will still have your loyal customer base.

If someone cancels your service for a petty reason for another wc they are not worth having there are plenty of customers out there

Undercutting is a sticky subject are we yet again telling the customer what they can pay is it not up to them if they want to pay more or less and if they want to shop around as we all do.   I will be the first to admit i charge as much as i can because of the standard of my work so i cant complain about undercutting, so this just leads us back to someone saying this is my patch so it seems to go round in circles.

At the end of the day in your area and my area there are loads of window cleaners as you would have noticed some of them will pass the time of day and some of them look at you as if they want to kill you we are all in the same job, even if you buy a round it doesnt give you sole rights its all about business and earning a crust

regards 

Brett

[Dave hook]

If youre good at your job theres no need to canvass, word of mouth will get you more work than canvassing anyday. Ive never canvassed in my life not even when i started out. I worked for a chap when I was younger saved my wages, bought a round then expanded by word of mouth and people noticing the uniform etc.. Thats how it should be done and if we all did it no wcs would fall out about who cleans/owns what!!!! Youve gotta speculate to accumalate, not undercut or poach thats pathetic!!!

[Majestic]

Dougster

I do work in Blackpool , whats the name of the company

[Londoner]

Every road I work in has at least one and often several other window cleaners also working it. Most are one/two man outfits like myself. We don't get in each others way but I suspect thats going to change.

Loads of people are moving towards van mounted WFP systems and are effectively moving up a gear. Other people who would never considered doing trad are now seeing a business opportunity in window cleaning as a commercial venture.

This is being fuelled by a number of franchise companies who are telling people outside the trade that there are fortunes to be made (provided you first pay them a fortune) in window cleaning.Where do you think they are are going to get the work from?

They will  need to take the work away from someone else. Their arguement is that with slick sales techniques, flash vans and smart uniforms they will have the advantage. Like a lot of other businesses, its survival of the fittest.

Add to that our Eastern European cousins who will soon tire of labouring on building sites for £40 a day and will be looking elsewhere.

The shrinking jobs market is driving people to look for alternatives to feed their families. Many of the people on this forum came into the trade this way.

Poaching if you want to call it that, competition if you prefer is here to stay. We have had it all our own way in the past but that doesn't mean it will always be like it.

[Ian_Giles]

i just started out a few weeks ago .... ive knocked on doors of people who already have window cleaners and i just smile and say "ok well is it ok if i leave a card and if your normal guy dosnt show ,then you know i am here" .... its there choice ... but i am to provide a good friendly reliable service ..so anyone thats not going to provide that will lose out ........... having said that  i have got a house to clean on saturday and yesterday i saw the chap and he said .." ive just had a flyer from a WFP company who will do my windows (same price as me ,but i am Trad ) but it says that it will take a couple of cleans to get clean maybee even 3 ! so i will stick with you "  ...... im not bothered but ive only just started and i already got competion . you never know if the house you knock at already has a window cleaner

I think that Lucy has it right, this is honest canvassing, I think it only becomes poaching when you offer to undercut the opposition even when you haven't seen the property!!
I have been going donkeys years, and get on fine with all but one of my fellow window cleaners, none of us go out to undercut the others, nor would we dream of going up to one of outr competitors customers and offering to deliberately undercut them to try and get the job. (except that one guy that is )

That doesn't stop us competing for new work, nothing wrong with that, my the best man win (even Squeaky! )
Where you get an undercutting culture, eventually the customer suffers as the only way of making money is to cut corners...

Ian

[dougster]

john 
     didnt manage to get the name of the company, but will do the next time i phone them