[DASERVICES]

A lot of window cleaners are fearfull of raising their prices as the customer will find someone cheeper. The customer does not value their windows cleaned so when prices are increased they are shocked.

Customers should expect their window cleaners to raise their prices each year, how do you overcome this obstacle if you raise then each year.

[kris martin]

what i say is if they need raising, raise them..   if you loose some then you should still be earning the same amount of money with a little more time on your hands... get some more work in that time better priced...

[geefree]

I want to increase them at the moment, but i dare not pass on the increase in the cost of fuel, living etc......at this time , as i fear i may simply push them into a decision they are already contemplating at this time..... so far i have not lost any customers in this "credit crunch"..... but i feel putting the prices up, will not help me.

although i want to.

Gary.

[dave0123]

im in the same boat as gazza,

should of done it this time last year lol : nevermind.

[kris martin]

i know what you mean but i think most wc will be ok because it is generally small money, i've had one customer go monthly on me which i was really shocked about and she blamed it on the credit crunch, there loaded aswell....   

[dave0123]

lets hope so kris,

i think people who have young kids might cancel or move to every few months because of money and christmas is coming dont forget  im quite worried as am just about to employ lol.

but i think gardeners will go before window cleaners, people dont like going up ladders but anyone can cut there lawn on the ground

dave

[dmlservices]

usually raise about every 2 years, due for a rise but holding of until things improve .



daz

[p1w1]

I have just nearly finished raising my prices on my round i too was worried with the credit crunch etc..but after reading some post about price increases etc a month or so ago and people that have recently put theres up i thought i would go ahead anyway. I raised them by £1 on each house barring a couple this was my first raise in about 2.5 years and up to now i have had only 3 customers go bi-monthly but none have cancelled the ones that have gone by-monthly i added an extra £3 explaining that they would still be better off overall and i do it because windows will be more dirty and they have all accepted that and thought it was also fair. I have about 40 houses left to inform but i feel more confident that they will be ok too, it is a big dilema for people to take the risk but for me and i'm based in the south east i have had no problems with it at all..but at the end of the day if your business needs to put up its prices then it has to be done.. just thought i would write this incase some of you are still deciding if you should go ahead with a price increase or not as maybe it may help you with a decission

paul

[seandyer2003]

i was planning a price rise of around 10% or £1 whatever was more in january but wondering whether to just do it now as things might be worse after xmas money wise, i am going to make it a habit to raise annually though in line with tax etc in april, customers are used to prices going up at asda, the petrol pump, british gas etc, i dont think the window cleaner adding a £1 to there clean is the straw that will break the camels back, they will most likely expect it, those that dont are probably not worth having....and you will have more money on your round anyway, ive never heard of anyone losing out by putting prices up sensibly.

[Dean Aspects]

All depends on the job normal run of the mill residential i put up £1 this year and same will happen next year and the year after as some of them are underpriced at my new pricing level but i have more than enough work so can afford to lose a few
my larger properties get a 5% (inline with inflation)increase every year same with commercial although these are ones i would rather not lose they still have to go up so i am not losing out in real terms
I do all my price rises in April same as my tax year just so i remember to do it

[Glyn H]

Every year at the rate of inflation ie, 3%

[windowwashers]

as and when they need to increase they are increased

[Central Window Cleaners]

We have just raised all our prices by £1 and only lost a couple so far. First time in 4 years so won't be waiting that long again. Will be looking at 50p a year from now on customer won't mind so much then.

[David Slater]

We have just raised all our prices by £1 and only lost a couple so far. First time in 4 years so won't be waiting that long again. Will be looking at 50p a year from now on customer won't mind so much then.

I'd agree with that.

This is the horrible situation of inflation.
Everybody else is raising their prices (gas. electric, petrol, council tax, food) so you MUST raise your prices just to stand still financially. If you dont raise your prices you're not working "for the same money" you're working for less....unless you can get British Gas or Shell or Tesco not to charge you extra!

If you want to earn "the same" from your customer you need to be looking at an inflation rate increase (around 5%) Most business's will do this yearly because if you leave it, the increases can look very dramatic.

 If you want to "earn more" from the same customer, then you need more than inflation.
....but this has nothing to do with economic impacts and more to do with what you think you can get away with, to increase your bottom line.

Two very different subjects.

[Glyn H]

That’s not raising your prices Glyn, that’s just keeping up with inflation.

For those that don’t even do that you are taking a 3% (aprox) pay cut per year!

Raising your prices should mean the amount above inflation.

Some of our jobs increase by £60.00 a month with a 3% increase

[Roger Slater]

I raise my prices every year by 8%.