was this wrong

[me5380]

hi,i took a new client on the end of last week ,He has just started a window cleaning business and wanted me to advise and canvass for him,he was not in a posistion to build his round up slowly and he wanted his work to be comact and easy to get round.

After a bit of thinking i decided the way forward was to do a first time clean for just £3.50 and then normal £6.00 after ,This way he was liable to pick more work up on the same street etc and the response rate would be far greater.I know about 20% of his work may drop of after first clean but that will still leave him with 80% more work than he had llast week.

Anyway i found a nice little area to canvass for him and ended up picking him 37 new customers up in two days.

The problem is that he has upset another wc and he had hassle saying he was undercutting on purpose and how could he compete with this.

This is not the case,we just came up with a strong marketing plan and after first clean he will be charging the average for that area and at the end of the day he has now got to go and clean for £3.50 which will be hard to start with,

Does anyone think our marketing plan was underhand

 

[windyman]

Not underhand, but I do think it was flawed.

Most window cleaners will tell you no way should you charge less for the first clean!!! This is a big mistake. It's the hardest clean, takes twice as long as a normal clean, and people can get you to do the hard work for dirt cheap, then cancel you. Some window cleaners charge MORE for first clean, even up to twice as much. I think this is your first mistake. Do you or your client have any experience window cleaning?

As for undercutting the other guy, then there are no laws on it. But personally, the way I run my business is that if someone has a WC & are happy with them, I move on I don't undercut. I know others will disagree with me & say business is business, which is true. But this is the way I work & has served me well. I like to befriend other WCs, not hack them off.

 

[me5380]

i dont think it is flawed,i understand about about the time it takes to clean first time but the guy who is doing them had no customers last week he now has these to be getting on with and they are all within walking distance.

Marketing would always nearly come at a cost in this case its the hourly rate that will go down.

he did factor this in his marketing budget so it was allowed for and yes he will loose a few after first clean but no way will he loose all and he is charghing no more than the going rate.

I have only charged him £6.50 per customer as i know i will get twice as many customers for him than i usually would in the same space of time and i didnt want to rip the guy off.

 

[windyman]

Fair play yea.

I'm just never sure why a WC would pay someone to do this for them, no offence.

I have started up a WC business twice (had one then moved), and have started from scratch both times, and quickly got to a profiable business which I can live well on.

I always like to see the house, give my price etc. No one else could do this for me. If I took next week off to canvass, I could easily get 37 customers.

Anyways, I don't think you were underhand. This is your job & looks like you've done it for this guy.

 

[Belfastcleaning]

Did this guy pay up front or have any say in the Pricing? I would be raging if you told me you got me 37 stinking first cleans for £3.50 each

 

[bluemonkey]

so what if he has upset other window cleaner, the other clean is just worried about losing loads of work and he know he cant get back

i know commercial window cleaners that offer the first month free, and get loads of work,

if offering a cheap first clean gets him loads of work that stays then great for him, a lot of window cleaners who say you must charge double, and have a mim price of £10 always seem to of been going for years and have full rounds so can turn away work,

 

[Ryan]

It is cheap

i just charge a flat rate so if the house is £10 its a monthly price so the first clean is £10 and then its £10 a month after this

end of the day if customers are loyal and have it done every month this is great :]

3.50 is cheap and i would't do a front for that lol i can do 4 houses and make £40 in 2 hrs and it would take me 12 houses to make that much which would take me around 5hrs or so

 

[jambo113]

if its just one windy dont worry about it as long as its not 3or4 moaning then hill get trouble. ive had over 7000 leaflets posted round my area and i bet at least 5000 of them already had window cleaners and ive only ever had one anoyed bloke ring me up and after 5 mins on the phone to him he ended up apollogising to me and said good luck. as for the idea of 3.50 first cleans its a bit risky but like you said his now got 37 custmers youll just have to see how it spans out. keep in touch with the bloke and try and find out after a couple of months how many his dropped.

p.s do you canvass grimsby 37 in 2 days is quite good

 

[me5380]

if its just one windy dont worry about it as long as its not 3or4 moaning then hill get trouble. ive had over 7000 leaflets posted round my area and i bet at least 5000 of them already had window cleaners and ive only ever had one anoyed bloke ring me up and after 5 mins on the phone to him he ended up apollogising to me and said good luck. as for the idea of 3.50 first cleans its a bit risky but like you said his now got 37 custmers youll just have to see how it spans out. keep in touch with the bloke and try and find out after a couple of months how many his dropped.

p.s do you canvass grimsby 37 in 2 days is quite good

lol,no to far wish i could canvass eveywhere window cleaners are crying out for good canvassers and most of them seem to be ok i think this is because window cleaning is very cash rich,i am worried long term though cos i already work for a bloke that wants to get 4 vans out this year,the problem is it is not so cash rich for him as he will have to pay me also pay a employee to clean so he wont earn any cash for himself for at least 8 week.

if its just one windy dont worry about it as long as its not 3or4 moaning then hill get trouble. ive had over 7000 leaflets posted round my area and i bet at least 5000 of them already had window cleaners and ive only ever had one anoyed bloke ring me up and after 5 mins on the phone to him he ended up apollogising to me and said good luck. as for the idea of 3.50 first cleans its a bit risky but like you said his now got 37 custmers youll just have to see how it spans out. keep in touch with the bloke and try and find out after a couple of months how many his dropped.

p.s do you canvass grimsby 37 in 2 days is quite good

yeah 37 was good but that was only cos price was so cheap,its true what they say people buy the offer,(how many times u been supermarket and bought something cos u thought u were getting a good deal)and in truth i dont think he will loose that many as long as he does a good job,i think the key is to get people intrested first and show them what u can do

 

[simon]

your right about buying the deal lol my ex would buy all sorts of **** we didn't need if it was on offer. but i charge x 1.5 at least for 1st cleans & explain why & never had a refusal. no one owns an area its all free to canvas & you usually only get work if their man isn't doing a good job & that his fault not yours but customers are usually pretty loyal if your regular

 

[jambo113]

8 weeks before your customer starts earning isnt to bad i didnt take a wage until my 4th month i put every penny back into the business for equipment and advertising

 

[best]

i generaly ask do you have a window cleaner, if the answer is yes i will not give them a quote.

 

[AS Window Cleaning]

don't forget this other bloke who is complaining doesn't know what's happened or how you've worked it, all he knows is some numpty has come along stupid cheap and making him look expensive.

we've all prob had it happen at some stage to us, or if not you will do. I just had a large 20 quid bungalow lost to a new outfit at 10 pounds. they won't keep it up for long, and it's first customer I've lost, prob ever, due to this sort of under cutting.

it happens, good luck to them, fortunately most my custys are loyal enough to stick with us. and this geezer will have to put his price up.

I have always charged half as much again for first cleans, this offsets the extra time takes to clean, and customers seem to appreciate you more, and are less inclined to mess you about. not had 1 refuse me because of first clean price.

but each to their own, I can see where your coming from with getting customers quicker, but I'd worry a lot of work for quite likely one clean, then they'll more than likely drop. similar to groupon really.....

be interesting to see how many stick with him.

don't get too upset by this other window cleaner, but try to understand where he is coming from! one day that could be you lol.

i generaly ask do you have a window cleaner, if the answer is yes i will not give them a quote.

admirable stance there. you can canvass around my customers any time, lol

I tend to. not quote if they are only after cheaper quote. I make a point of saying that we don't undercut from the word go.

my wife canvassed somebody, they had a window cleaner, cool left them to it. next week cleaned their neighbours (new job) and they asked for quote. told them won't undercut, fair enough.

turns out they not happy with him, he chargeS 9.50, we quoted £16.50 for same, but they still gave us job based on reputation! /emoticons/ohmy.png

so if they aren't happy with current windy service, I'd rather I get it (for better price) than someone else get a foothold.

 

[Belfastcleaning]

I had a new one I told her £7, oh but the other window cleaner in the street only charges £5 she said but go ahead anyway... While I was going round the windows I noticed her checking a few. By time I was on last window she was out in street talking to some other old women... When I'd done I said well that's you finished.. She says you never done that bottom window, it's still all dirty.. So asked her to show me.. I got my stuff out done the window again.. And said that's inside love... Customers can really **** ya off at times but as long as they want to pay me I don't mind