[Moderator David@stives]

Flashy leaflets and shiny vans dont get you the work, it is you that does that, Hold your head up, believe in yourelf and go and get them

[Ste M]

as dave says, if anything all that could put people off as customers think they will charge the earth, attitude and a good service is paramount in our game

[davids3511]

custys are not interested in shiny new vans etc.they just want clean windows at a fair price!at least they are like that where i work!i have been doing a lot of them for years though!

ok say you lost 10 custys.its hardly the end of the world!get out and leaflet and canvass in different areas!!

i cant stand defeatists!maybe you ve not got the interest to turn your business around?

ok if its not for you anymore sell it!but what are you gonna do instead?

regards

dazmond

That's it Daz, you tell 'im....

[paul rulton]

Paul J, dont throw the towel in just yet fella   there is plenty of work out there 4 every1  
if ur good at wot u do u will get through this   just keep going m8.
all the best  

[jonnyald]

yeah dont throw in the towel . 



whenever i think its getting tuff in my working life  i start thinking of lithuania
   i once had a lithu g/f  and  been over to lithuania myself and you think lifes tough here ,  lifes a doddle here compared to that place. saw a train that used to ship locals to Siberia   

[Sapphire Window Cleaning]

Paul J, dont throw the towel in just yet fella   there is plenty of work out there 4 every1  
if ur good at wot u do u will get through this   just keep going m8.
all the best  

There's more customers than all the window cleaners can cope with. thats a fact Paul.
just need a little motivation, I have lost customers in the past and yes it gets dis-heartening, but dust yourself down fella and move on to getting more customers.
You will get them.



Matt

[geoffreyspecht]

sorry 2 hear that m8  no chance u could build it up again? may b worth a try 

i live in a small town population 25000.there is at least 25 windows working area and im still picking up work . stop moaning and get on with it  plenty of work out there if u look for it.

[Johnny B]

Paul-J, If I started losing customers, I would be asking myself why. Do I do a thorough, high quality job, that my customers are happy with? Am I reliable? Am I charging a fair price for my services? Does my attitude reflect a professional approach to my work? Do I give my customers the personal touch? Am I polite and
have a good rapport with my customers? Do I take the time to have a chat (if only briefly) with them if they have the need or am I too busy to give them any time?  

Ask yourself these questions and be honest with yourself about them. If you can answer 'yes' to all these, you really shouldn't be losing any customers unless they have a genuine reason for having to let you go. If the answer to any are 'no', then you have identified an issue which may require some adjustment. You can still save your business and even improve it beyond what it was before with a little forethought and a few (minor) changes. Don't give up, keep going.  

Best wishes,
John.    

[mark dew]

Paul yourself together man!! 
If you are only losing work to wfp operators and not trad, then the only reason can be that you don't / can't clean all the windows. Above conny roofs etc.
Don't you like the job anymore or is it just the time of the month? 
Get yourself a backpack, small ro and 25ft pole and reinvent yourself. Every window above the conservatory is worth an extra pound.
Offer gutter and fascia cleaning. Open up your options.

Paul-J, If I started losing customers, I would be asking myself why. Do I do a thorough, high quality job, that my customers are happy with? Am I reliable? Am I charging a fair price for my services? Does my attitude reflect a professional approach to my work? Do I give my customers the personal touch? Am I polite and
have a good rapport with my customers? Do I take the time to have a chat (if only briefly) with them if they have the need or am I too busy to give them any time?   

Ask yourself these questions and be honest with yourself about them. If you can answer 'yes' to all these, you really shouldn't be losing any customers unless they have a genuine reason for having to let you go. If the answer to any are 'no', then you have identified an issue which may require some adjustment. You can still save your business and even improve it beyond what it was before with a little forethought and a few (minor) changes. Don't give up, keep going. 

Best wishes,
John.   

Good advice. Be objective and if you are happy with the answers and clean every window, consider it a blip. And go out canvassing yourself.

[Window Washers]

Flashy leaflets and shiny vans dont get you the work, it is you that does that, Hold your head up, believe in yourelf and go and get them

I would listen to them words, and say them to yourself whilst looking in a mirror, brush yourself down and get out there and don't let them win.

Quitters never win, and winners never quit.

Ian

[G Griffin]

 Having re-read the original post, it sounds as though a reluctance to go wfp is his biggest problem.
   No complaints about his work trad but losing work to wfp guys suggests some issues with ladder use. Is it missing inaccessible windows, walking on slates, damage to gutters, dirty frames? Find out and offer a solution rather than jack it in.
    A lot of trad WC`s are full of trepidation when making the switch but your customers seem to prefer it!  Take advantage. And you could still offer a trad service.   
    But if you don`t want to fork the cash out, can`t be bothered to learn a new skill and just want to get a job (or try something else) then I can understand that.
     
             Good luck anyway.

[MikeyL]

If you are packing it in then I also might be interested here's my email spooky678@hotmail.com

[Jack Wallace]

This is a prime example of how things have changed over the last few years.

When I started you could pick your area and gradually built a round, competition was not something that was often a problem.

Now things are different, new guys are coming into this business but are doing it in a different way. They market, they look professional and they keep pushing for new work.

There is only one answer to this. Retaliate! Either accept the fact that this industry has changed and move with the times, or sit back, carry on as before and watch things get away from you.
Losing customers is part of the job, they come and go for lots of reasons, (mostly legit ones) so you need to replace them. However all the people looking for a wc will naturally go for the first option they come across, ie. The ones doing the marketing. 
Window cleaning is now a business. You don’t work for someone else so they wont keep you employed. You need to do it for yourself.
Either that or someone with ambition will move in and take over. Business Fact!

[G Griffin]

  I`d want to know why I was losing customers. I can probably guess why he`s not expanding (reasons already mentioned) but residential tend to be fairly loyal.  And with no complaints  .

[williamx]

When I started up over 7 years with wfp, I was of the first in my area, now they are everywere.

Last week there was 5 different cleaners working on the same road, I also counted another 7 cleaners in the same day.

I do not advertise anymore apart from networking and direct mail shots to targeted companies, yet every week I get phone calls from new clients.

Mind you I do have a new shiny van with fantastic logos.

If you are losing business to the compertition, then they are doing or offering something that you are not.

I would look at your business and find out what is missing and then fix it.

The majority of customers do not move from one window cleaner to another unless there is a good reason, the normal reason will be price or quality of service.

[Ian Lancaster]

After 6 years as a trad window cleaner I've reluctantly called it a day!

I've found over the last few years the amount of window cleaners in the area has majorly increased, trad and WFP. I've gradually been losing customers to the WFP guys which encouraged me to invest in my business and take the plunge and get myself a system. However before I bought the system I thought I'd do a little market research and find out just how much compition there is.

What can I say, I was stunned to see so many WFP window cleaners in my area.....12! And that was in a 3 mile radius of where I live! God knows how many there are in the whole city (Bristol)?!

So that's pretty much it for me, far to much compition out there to warrant investing £££ and and losing to many customers to continue on as a trad.

Another one bites the dust

A whole 12??

In my area (Sittingbourne) within the 3 mile radius there are about 10-15 window cleaners, without the 7 of us! (and soon to be 8 - looking for 7th franchisee now)

There will always be competition, if you can't compete you aren't cut out for self employment.  After 6 years I would have thought your business was worth fighting for.  Every time you lose a customer, get out there and get two more.  Two is not that hard to find, and instead of your business fading away it will go from strength to strength.  All you need is a bit of motivation, the market may be well serviced, but it's almost unlimited.

When I first started I had no competition, I could walk down any street and get every third house or more.  Now it's totally different, but the work is still there, you just have to put in a bit more effort.  All these new starts will be in a worse position than you, they need to build enough work from scratch to make a living, and with no previous experience most of them will get disheartened and give up.

You have the advantage of a solid established customer base.  Why throw it away? Build on it and grow.

[Ian Lancaster]

Paul

Don't be so defeatist, there is loads you can do to gain new work, there is tons of work in Bristol, you just have to go about a strategy to find it

Dont just count the wfp guys, how many are still trad ? probably not as many as you think, a 3 sq mile in Bristol is huge.

Dave

3 mile radius is 28.278 sq miles

[LWC]

Paul

Don't be so defeatist, there is loads you can do to gain new work, there is tons of work in Bristol, you just have to go about a strategy to find it

Dont just count the wfp guys, how many are still trad ? probably not as many as you think, a 3 sq mile in Bristol is huge.

Dave

3 mile radius is 28.278 sq miles

And how many houses would there be in that area! Plus further a field. Goodness me dont give up! The summer brigade will die out soon enough. You need to be there strong to show them whos boss. Or maybe your just part of the summer brigade yourself.

[Moderator David@stives]

I travel over 200 miles for some of my work

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

There is always the problem of the newbie pricing well below the job's value. The original poster might trad a house for £10, new guy, with his new equipment comes along & thinks (especially if he's been given all the wfp hype) Hmmm, I can do that in 5 minutes, that'll be £5 mrs.!!

So that's half price to the customer! A few things can happen here, he might not do as good a job but he's half the price, the price of work gets ruined & can take some time to recover, he must get the work to pay for his investment & so (at this stage) is happy to work for the price he sets as he could always gradually increase it once he's netted so many customers.

If you still have the "want" to go forward you could-

1. Stay trad & market trad. Turn the tide on your competition & promote trad whilst also informing all the negatives of wfp, even if some are "white lies" Be aggressive, it's your business at stake!

2. Invest in wfp, even if it's a backpack & a DI vessel. Promote yourself with wfp & do the same as in option 1 but the other way round. Go after your competitions work while maintaining what you've already got.

In all cases- Be professional, look professional & be friendly & polite to all customers.

Been a good thread this, keep us informed.