Aversion to one off customers......

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

For a long time I would avoid the one off customers like the plague 'No sorry, I only do regular cleans' and so on.

I am starting to struggle with this mentality, are we pre-programmed as window cleaners to only take on contract cleans?

This past couple of months I have started to mellow on it a bit.

Just yesterday I get an email to go quote a one off, less than a two minute drive, 4 front windows 4 back windows, 2 doors. Spray Ubik liberally, scrub up with brush rinse till all bubbles are gone. 15 minutes later £30 extra in my pocket for the day. Asked customer why she only wants a one off and she told me she only bothers having them done once a year so booked her in for next year as well.

I think there is great potential in the 'one off' spring clean types. 'Ok missus the windows and frames is £40, shall I do the insides at the same time? ....can I quote you for the conservatory whilst I'm here......and I notice you have some weeds there growing out the gutters......' Could turn into some nice day rate work.

In fact I will be changing my web site this week to 'One off and contract cleans' as not everyone out there want's to commit to a monthly deal but I reckon a few of them will once they get to know you.

 

[TolishAPurd]

Yep, I've been happy to do them from day one.I'm convinced that lots of opportunities get missed by folk that don't do one offs. ALthough I can understand the people whose rounds are totally full. The only thing with me is I don't aim to impress, or try to win them over. I'm friendly as always, I give them my card say "next time you want them doing, just give me a call". The price is heavily inflated, if the dirt on the frames doesnt come off with a wipe- it stays, and if theres a streak- I don't care. My attitude is that if someone wants perfect windows, then they need to have perfect conditions- i.e. once a month. I cram about 4/5 ist cleans into a day, average price £25-£35, no matter how small house is.

One example of an opportunity is a one off clean I did the other day for the second time. Each time I am there the guy across the street has collared me to do his front of his house. I ended up earning £60 in one hour- and thats happened twice now. Both times we have had a friendly chat and he has said he wants it regular and says "I'll email you about it". ....he never does, lol, but at that price I'm charging I don't care.

 

[Dave B]

I do one offs quite a bit..always do them when it suits me though

 

[MrBump]

I hate one-offs and always say no. You do most of the hard work on the first clean so makes me feel conned. Saying that I took one on last week for this week for some unknown reason to me I said yes when I usually say no. Only £40, charged double but instantly thought from now on it will be triple for a one-off! I think I will go with the attitude of, I'm not scrubbing the frames very hard, just concentrating on the glass, but at the same time I want to uphold my reputation so have to do a decent job. If he recommends me to someone its worth it I guess, otherwise maybe I'll just use it to test out a new brush or something..

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

You can only be 'conned' by yourself Bumpy, by you undercharging for the job.

I think you are about right, 3 or 4 times the monthly seems fair, if your only doubling up the you will always leave feeling 'soiled' :turd:

If you're finishing up at 2 ish as I do and someone wants to put £30 or £40 in your pocket for an extra half an hour then why not? is my attitude.

 

[MrBump]

Yeah although they baulked even at double, so triple would put them off... Hmm triple it is!! /emoticons/biggrin.png Plus half an hour for you is an hour and a half for me as I'm a slow goer /emoticons/tongue.png

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Oh no Mr B, I go for the slow and steady, I don't rush, don't do hectic, just slow and methodical.

That's the whole point of 3 or 4 cleans for a one off, make em choke, just give them the price an smile.

If it were the same for one clean as it is for a monthly then who would bother having us monthly?

 

[Dave B]

It doesn't actually take that much longer but i make it more than worthwhile to do it

 

[Jacob]

i have around 40 in-active customers who all are one off's keep them in my books and a lot of them ring my about every 3-4 months to me come Again and do their Windows, some just book a new slot every time i go there but i dont consider them a regular. think its good Money when the weekly earnings are low and they then call it suddenly becomes much better.

do add a fee to the one off like most others.

 

[boarcity]

be careful, the extra effort needed on one-offs can sap the strength for days afterwards . last week i allowed 9 or 10 new jobs onto the tuesdays diary load without thinking what id done ,only 2 resulted in becoming part of the regular round and my workers and i were knackered rest of the week

 

[Tuffers]

be careful, the extra effort needed on one-offs can sap the strength for days afterwards . last week i allowed 9 or 10 new jobs onto the tuesdays diary load without thinking what id done ,only 2 resulted in becoming part of the regular round and my workers and i were knackered rest of the week

Wimps, the lot of ya /emoticons/tongue.png

 

[peter rogers]

i always do my best to accomadate one offs but just charge double

 

[Tuffers]

I've been toying with an idea. Instead of offering a 4 weekly clean at say £10 why not offer a 12 weekly at £30. Of course if you're just starting out you would need a hell of a lot of work, but if you're established it would free up time to take on more work and earn the same in a shorter amount of time. Of course 12 weekly will take longer to clean, but not that much longer. Look at it like this, a 3 bed semi takes say 10-15 minutes to clean, then you have your travelling and set up / pack up time. If you did it 2 times less over a 12 week period, you would save travel time, set up / pack up time but spend another 5 minutes or so cleaning but earn the same.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Double aint enough mate, all the work is done in a first clean so just double really dont cut it. Has to be a least triple.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Sounds like whimps talk Tuffers!! Less setting up, less packing up same money wah wah wah.....!




/emoticons/tongue.png/emoticons/smile.png)/emoticons/tongue.png

 

[MrBump]

Not saying you rush Green, just saying I am super slow, what seems to take someone twenty minutes takes me over an hour. Although that makes even more of a mockery as you take your time and still do it 3 times as fast as I can :rofl: Its a decent sized house friday, but even if it takes me 2 hours, £20 an hour isn't the worst wage in the world as a one off. I do wish I'd charged triple though, have a 3 month minimum or I back charge for one-offs so should stick to that on one-offs too really.

 

[TolishAPurd]

be careful, the extra effort needed on one-offs can sap the strength for days afterwards . last week i allowed 9 or 10 new jobs onto the tuesdays diary load without thinking what id done ,only 2 resulted in becoming part of the regular round and my workers and i were knackered rest of the week

You still not charging double for firsts boar?

 

[boarcity]

You still not charging double for firsts boar?

iv never charged extra for 1st cleans , but i do for one offs ,double . but last week i had raked in a load of new jobs in 1 day via somebodys recommendation-this person sang my praises on FB ,

but in this deluge of new jobs i lost my marbles and neglected to ask do you want a 1 off or what? and then suddenly 9 or 10 new jobs were added onto an already busy Tuesday list. that day was a killer ,my workers said "whats the idea of this ??" and no doubt cursed me behind my back. we recovered over the weekend and its all forgotten now!

 

[TolishAPurd]

iv never charged extra for 1st cleans , but i do for one offs ,double . but last week i had raked in a load of new jobs in 1 day via somebodys recommendation-this person sang my praises on FB ,
but in this deluge of new jobs i lost my marbles and neglected to ask do you want a 1 off or what? and then suddenly 9 or 10 new jobs were added onto an already busy Tuesday list. that day was a killer ,my workers said "whats the idea of this ??" and no doubt cursed me behind my back. we recovered over the weekend and its all forgotten now!

I treat all first cleans as one offs, only exceptions are that they have only just lost the last windy (so windows are clean enough), or they have just had new windows (assuming no labels/anything else).

 

[Tuffers]

Sounds like whimps talk Tuffers!! Less setting up, less packing up same money wah wah wah.....!


/emoticons/tongue.png/emoticons/smile.png)/emoticons/tongue.png

I worry about you Green.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Well between you and my mum that's two of you Tuffers! /emoticons/smile.png)