Bad customers turn up trumps

[Danfire]

Went out yesterday morning with the intention to get a few done but could only get into one and the next one wasn't home until lunchtime...nothing else was due so I canvassed and picked up a big house that had just sold and thought "what can I do now"?...The idea struck me to phone some of the houses I had vowed never to do again because of their tendency to ask to skip more than four or five cleans...got a yes from all of them, whacked 20% on top of their old prices and they were clueless because of the infrequency of the previous cleans...sometimes it pays to have a few unreliable customers.

 

[Parky]

Brilliant.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Slick Dan, I always try to text the night before a clean just to ensure that they leave the gate open etc.

How is the new lad working out for you?

 

[Diwrnach]

I probably text 3/4 of my customers so I know it will all be smooth the next day, and if they are not in or forgot to open back gate I clean the front and charge less, so a £10 full clean ends up being £8 front only and I put it on the invoice, they can't moan as they knew I was coming, so far they have all paid and apologised for not leaving gate open or whatever.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

If they know, or I have text and the gate is not open they get done what can be done and then I always bill the same amount ass a full clean.

If they question it I explain that diesel / time / equipment to do their house windows did not cost me any less so why should their bill be any less?

They only ever forget once! /emoticons/tongue.png

 

[Danfire]

I do call or text the night before, this day was trying to catch up on a few stragglers...there were a few very elderly I was hoping to catch in that I had left answerphone messages for...none of them were in and they are so old they might have even shuffled off this mortal coil between cleans and I ain't taking no chances of getting stiffed by a stiff...my new blokes doing good, can't fault his work other than his speed but he's only been out three days so I'm sure that'll improve as he gets more practice, he prefers it to his last part time number doing house removals as its a shorter day for more money.

 

[TolishAPurd]

I do call or text the night before, this day was trying to catch up on a few stragglers...there were a few very elderly I was hoping to catch in that I had left answerphone messages for...none of them were in and they are so old they might have even shuffled off this mortal coil between cleans and I ain't taking no chances of getting stiffed by a stiff...my new blokes doing good, can't fault his work other than his speed but he's only been out three days so I'm sure that'll improve as he gets more practice.

On the staffing front i'm in exactly the same boat as you mate. I gave him the tools and told him to practice over the weekend and he worked like a trooper today. Can't fault his work other than the odd cobweb missed, and his speed has doubled.

 

[Danfire]

On the staffing front i'm in exactly the same boat as you mate. I gave him the tools and told him to practice over the weekend and he worked like a trooper today. Can't fault his work other than the odd cobweb missed, and his speed has doubled.

I'm probably too fussy and I instilled that ethos into my man, he is cleaning fussy like me but I know it can be done quicker. I've just got to keep my fingers crossed one of us doesn't get transferred to another watch that needs to swap a staff member as that'll balls things up for our days off.

 

[TolishAPurd]

I'm probably too fussy and I instilled that ethos into my man, he is cleaning fussy like me but I know it can be done quicker. I've just got to keep my fingers crossed one of us doesn't get transferred to another watch that needs to swap a staff member as that'll balls things up for our days off.

Exactly the same here mate, but I figure if I get him 100% fussy now, he'll slack off 10% and be 90% fussy which is good enough for me./emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

When I first employed one of my lads back when he was personable enough however, he was slow and not terribly good (he was only doing trad work)

I decided I was going to let him go within a week and gave him a couple of days notice, that night my wife said I was being un-reasonable, so I went to see him and told him I had decided to keep him on for a full month to see if he would get it.

Over the past year I have sacked him twice, he's quit three times and we've had more heated debates than a married couple.

After all that he is now one of the best traditional window cleaners you will ever meet and has just come back to my employ to run the New Street project in Birmingham for me this past month.

What do I surmise from all this? Patience will pay dividends. I don't think you can tell truly within the first 90 days if they are truly going to make it or not.

 

[Diwrnach]

90 days??? I'll give them a week if I'm feeling generous.

 

[armagh27]

Did a house there today used to clean it at £6 a time but the stopped the regular and said they would give me a phone they seen me today and asked could I fit them in I said no probs cleaned away then went to get paid is it still £6 the answer received no s that's the regulars price it's £11 now lol but if you want that price I can put you back on the rota there next door neighbour who windows I clean said he liked my style and gave me a £5 tip quids in allover lol