[TVCS]

Hi folks. 
Finally got my round down from over 120 custies to just 10.   
Gave some away and sold some, but its great looking on george now.  Not too many in yellow

Its funny.  I built this round with very little canvassing or leafleting or any advertising at all,  nearly all by word of mouth, and now another firm has got it handed to them on a plate. 

The jobs start at £50 and up so I think it is a perfect round on top of my other work.

Actually looking forward to winter now.  Frozen pipes, never mind.  I can do my months work in 2 and a half days.

[Chris Galloway]

Isn;t the idea to go from 10 to 120 cuties?

confused   

[d s windowcleaning]

i can see where your coming from tvcs ,,,,,,,, BUT what if you lost 4 this week for whatever reason , its a big drop unless your other job can cover your loss .

[windowwashers]

eggs in one basket comes to mind on this one, but if that what you want fair play to you 

[Chris Cottrell]

ive heard of a guy locally that only does 3/4 McD's 7 days a week

[johns window kleen]

Is he obese?

[Chris Cottrell]

Is he obese?

aparently well set financially

[windowwashers]

ive heard of a guy locally that only does 3/4 McD's 7 days a week

depends what you need /want to earn I guess, this guy that only does 3/4 McD's i feel sorry for him in the future as in this market his business model is  on very very very shakey ground to the point he does not need money or is very stupid/nieve (maybe spelt wrong).

Ian

[Paul Coleman]

Isn;t the idea to go from 10 to 120 cuties?

confused   

Wow.  You're a glutton for punishment 

[TVCS]

Well basically over the last 3 - 4 months we have been trying to get our foot in the door with local housing associations, cleaning thier properties when they kick out the druggies or alcofrolics.

This has taken off like mad and now we have the contract for the re-decorating of these properties too. 

We work for 2 local housing assoc now and so we havent the time for the window round. 

The reason we have kept the 10 best custies is because the old cash flow has dried up.    What we earn on the windows now covers most of our monthly bills.

MAybe that has explained a little.
Ant

[baldeagle]

Nearly thirty years ago, I met somebody who lectured on courses for those intending to start small businesses.

He told me, "Never rely on one customer for more than 15 per cent of your income, 'cos if they go down the pan, you could very easily follow them"

Just a thought.....

Baldeagle

[Pj]

So where did all the big Banks go wrong then?? :

[Moderator David@stives]

!0 good customers is not a bad idea, generally you should focus your attentions to your top 5 % of customers.

[seandyer2003]

Hi folks. 
Finally got my round down from over 120 custies to just 10.   
Gave some away and sold some, but its great looking on george now.  Not too many in yellow

Its funny.  I built this round with very little canvassing or leafleting or any advertising at all,  nearly all by word of mouth, and now another firm has got it handed to them on a plate. 

The jobs start at £50 and up so I think it is a perfect round on top of my other work.

Actually looking forward to winter now.  Frozen pipes, never mind.  I can do my months work in 2 and a half days.

hope you sont mind me asking, but are they big accounts??  they must be pretty decent?

[Paul Coleman]

Nearly thirty years ago, I met somebody who lectured on courses for those intending to start small businesses.

He told me, "Never rely on one customer for more than 15 per cent of your income, 'cos if they go down the pan, you could very easily follow them"

Just a thought.....

Baldeagle

Interesting that the 15% figure should get a mention because that is about the most turnover any individual customer has supplied for my business.  I didn't realise it was an unwritten rule but it does sound about right as an absolute maximum.  I did once have a customer who supplied rather more than that but it didn't matter because I hadn't long started anyway.  As my business grew the percentage dropped to more acceptable levels.

[TVCS]

They are big accounts, I could have sold them withthe others but they are all really good custies ( loaded ) and really nice too.  It makes a nice change from cleaning up after p**heads and the like.

[matt]

Well basically over the last 3 - 4 months we have been trying to get our foot in the door with local housing associations, cleaning thier properties when they kick out the druggies or alcofrolics.

i used to do work for a local housing assoc, doing refurb work, the dirty junkies were really bad, rather you than me, i honestly mean that

[seandyer2003]

Alot of my friends worked for the biggest housing association in the north, doing building, decorating plastering etc, and some of the properties were absolutely minging!! i wouldnt fancy that - some are bad enough outside in the garden etc, wouldnt  wanna be inside!!

[TVCS]

The dirtyer the better.  £££££