Some customers!

[laurend]

So, finally decided to increase prices on some of my work .

Had the work since 2011 and not put prices up at all.

Finally printed a letter explaining the increase will be £2 from January.

Handed letter to my first customer yesterday and the response was priceless.

After telling him about price increase he looked at me, said " well merry Christmas then!" And shut the door.

Considering I've not put price up in 5 years and he's never tipped a penny at Christmas I was gob smacked.

Anyone else had similar?

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[spruce]

Don't concern yourself with it @laurend. Sounds as though you've lost the customer; just replace with another. If you haven't lost it, then it won't be long before you do. You may struggle to get payment on the next clean, so I would knock and get the go ahead to clean at the new price before I proceeded.

Some people just have a perception of what they should pay for window cleaning. That perception maybe 20 years old. They are entitled to their perception, which is bolstered when they see some money forum users bragging about how much they pay for window cleaning. (Whether those prices as genuine or not is another story - the internet is full of trolls.)

If they think that the maximum they should and will pay for a 3 bed semi is £5, then let them go and find someone else who will clean them at that price.

I've related this before, but we had a customer with a 3 bed semi with a conservatory on the back. When we got the round 11 years ago he was paying £6 all in. After a period of time cleaning them we raised the price to £8.50. He was not happy but tolerated that, just. We were quoting and getting similar properties at £12, so we weren't overcharging.

We then pushed the price up to £10 a couple of years later and that was the final straw. We dumped us.

When son in law joined us 5 years ago we gave him some work in the next street. He stopped SIL and asked him to come and give him a price for window cleaning. SIL told him we cleaned the street and he would pass the enquiry on. He specificed that he he believed £6 was a fair price. When SIL past the enquiry on I just smiled. Never even bothered to acknowledge it.

This customer has now retired. He replaced his car with a new one every couple of years, his wife was a accountant. He is a member of the local Golf club and we see his new Astra with personalised plates in the car park quite often when we pass by. I just smile every time I see him, not because I have any animosity toward him (both he and his wife are very nice people), but because he feels we are all a bunch of thieving bandits.

He cleans his own windows as he hasn't found a window cleaner yet that charges a fair price. /emoticons/biggrin.png

Neighbours also talk and this can make things difficult for price increases if they all know each other.

We bought this round from trad cleaners who cleaned glass only. They never touched the frames. They were minging to put it mildly. The round generally was very under priced but was very compact work. We changed it onto wfp and spent ages getting each customer's windows 100% on the first visit.

Miss Nosey Parker commented that the new window cleaners won't last long as they are taking to long cleaning each house. The second clean was much faster but within a couple of months the 2 weeklies now only wanted it done every 4 weeks as the windows were still clean.

After 6 months we decided it was time to get the pricing more inline with new work coming in. Miss Nosey Parker informed us that they would not be paying the new price and that she would make sure all our other customers wouldn't pay it either. On talking to the guy we bought the work from, he confirmed that they had twice tried to increase prices but were blackmailed into cleaning at the old price. (Had we known that I'm sure we would have seen the price we paid as too high.)

Anyway we put the prices up and sure enough we lost most of our customers. We carried on with a few in the area that retained us. After a while we started to get a few of our customers ask us back again at the new price. Over the course of the following year we got the vast majority back in dribs and drabs but not all. We also got some we never had before so overall we did better out of it.

Miss Nosy Parker gives us the cold shoulder every time we cross paths. We greet her but she refuses to even acknowledge our presence. But the worst one for her was that her mother in law chose to be one of those that stuck with us from day one and she is still our customer today. Again, I honestly don't have any bad feelings for Miss Nosey Parker. It makes me smile because its her pride that's her issue, its not me.

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[adamangler]

That's an excellent post spruce and it outlines the fact people's perceptions are generally stuck in the last century price wise.

The other week I was cleaning g a new clean it a street, 3 bed semi £12. when I recognised an old friend from donkeys years ago in another driveway. we got chatting, he owns a very successful building company (brand new bmw x5 giving it away) he asked how much for windows, I said for your £10 mate. he literally laughed, I said you've got a nice car though lol. with a straight face he said I wouldn't be able to afford a nice car if I paid that much for my windows. he was genuinely shocked and looked at me as though I was trying to rip him off.

My auntie pays £3 for her house, told her my prices her response was bloody he'll we won't be using you then!

In some areas it's just engrained in the mentality that window cleaning is beer money job especially up north, near old mining areas etc when I suspect a lot turned to it during the 80s etc when all the pits closed and that

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

View attachment 8909

Was called to quote this.

This is a wanabbe (newish money - just married combined his and hers for first house but think they're posh types) modern yuppies but wearing Crocs for want of a better description.

You can see the two PITA veluxs in the roof and a 3rd on the back.

I thought 'weathers nice i'm in a good mood i'll be generous. £14. INCLUDING velux.

Oh no it's not worth amy more that £10. That's what the last window cleaner charged and there are otheres doing it for that.

So why did you call for a quote if you have already decided a price? I asked.

Oh, incase you were cheaper. He says.

I laughed, said have a good afternoon and walked off

TBH £14 is well under should be at least £18 on a 4 weekly but I was in a good mood. )

 

[Tuffers]

Had a 4 weekly £10 text last night telling me she wanted her windows cleaned every 8 weeks in future. I replied that it's not worth my while driving over every 8 weeks for a tenner. She replied "ok". I clean her mothers house every 8 weeks and I think they've been talking. I'll probably lose that one too, but hey ho.....

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

There are still people out their that don't see are industry in a professional way and thats how they come to the price they think they should be paying. A lot are also very tight and don"t like to think of the window cleaner earning good money in the opinion of some we are bottom of the ladder.

I am going to be putting up quite a bit of my work in the first part of next year.

A lot of my commercial work has to be re tendered and quoted for every year or two one of the managers said to me "you need to put your prices up a least every couple of years as a company we expect it to rise 2-3% each year and if you don't it can look unprofessional"

year on year your business costs will rise as well as your living costs if you don't put them up you could end up earning less than you were say 5-7 years ago.

it doesn't help when putting prices up that there are so many at this now and some people are willing to price jobs really low just to get them.

 

[spruce]

Had a 4 weekly £10 text last night telling me she wanted her windows cleaned every 8 weeks in future. I replied that it's not worth my while driving over every 8 weeks for a tenner. She replied "ok". I clean her mothers house every 8 weeks and I think they've been talking. I'll probably lose that one too, but hey ho.....

The vast majority of the work we got after this round we purchased was from recommendations because this is what worked for us in the sales industry. Recommendations open doors as you immediately have a known 'history' with your new customer.

This can also work for and against you when increasing prices. Once we start to increase prices the majority of the round know in advance of our discussion as they been informed via the grape vine. Some expect it whilst other have had time to stew on why they shouldn't be paying a price increase and why its not justified.

If you don't deal with people fairly then they can take offense which can have a ripple effect though the round. They usually decide the price on the number of windows they have and use that to compare prices with their neighbours and friends. "You charge more for mine than XXXX and she has more windows." Access issues never seem to be a factor for higher pricing.

You raised our prices but you haven't raised my Mom's prices; that's not fair. Why? Because your mother is an elderly widow now on her own and not as financially well off as she once was. We also clean her next door neighbour's but she can only have us clean every second time because she can't afford it; she's a single working mom with 2 children. She a genuine lady, always smiling no matter what life throws at her. Rides around on her bicycle no matter what the weather. Works two jobs. If I put up your Mom's price then I know XXXX next door could well feel I've put her in an embarrassing situation and I wouldn't feel happy about that.

"Oh."

"Why do you charge £x for mine and yet you charge less for my friend in the next village?" "Because we invariably have to call back for your money as you don't do internet banking and you won't send us a cheque. You sometimes aren't there on collection night and even although you know we are coming, don't have any money. The people in that estate are mostly council house tenants/ex council house tenants, been there all their lives and pay for the ones who aren't in that we clean. We do a couple of day's work on that estate and usually end up with just a couple of collections. If they aren't in when we collect, they have given the money to their neighbours to pay for them. "

"Oh."

 

[spruce]

View attachment 12761Was called to quote this.

This is a wanabbe (newish money - just married combined his and hers for first house but think they're posh types) modern yuppies but wearing Crocs for want of a better description.

You can see the two PITA veluxs in the roof and a 3rd on the back.

I thought 'weathers nice i'm in a good mood i'll be generous. £14. INCLUDING velux.

Oh no it's not worth amy more that £10. That's what the last window cleaner charged and there are otheres doing it for that.

So why did you call for a quote if you have already decided a price? I asked.

Oh, incase you were cheaper. He says.

I laughed, said have a good afternoon and walked off

TBH £14 is well under should be at least £18 on a 4 weekly but I was in a good mood. /emoticons/smile.png)

I think you dodged a bullet with that one @Green Pro Clean Ltd. Those Velux windows would be a nightmare, especially with those cables blocking access. Someone's law also states that on the day you come to clean, that car with be parked there and no one home to move it.

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[PJ Bullard]

@Green Pro Clean Ltd I feel you buddy. For that house I would want £20 including veluxes - £17 without.

Some people by the sounds of it are total idiots. But to be honest I haven't ever met many like that. I live in SW London/Surrey border and most of my typical houses are £15 - £20

At the end of the day if I got a custy saying some BS like 'oh I wanted it for £7 or £8', I would just say - sorry Im running a business, bye.

I've never raised my prices becasue I quote high to start with (well its not high but its a decent amount).

Tell you what, Im glad I dont live in Wakefield after the reading the wakefield warroirs post - thats grim :turd:

 

[Leeds]

just don't worry about it, move on. If you act as if you have too much work as it is, then you soon will! believe me!

Do you want to go with a company that has premium customers coming out of its ears, or do you want one thats struggling and scraping and will do it at any price?? I don't trust trampy struggling budget businesses - theres a reason they're in that position, and its not usually a good one. Cant put a price on reputation, trust and professionalism.

 

[adamangler]

@Green Pro Clean Ltd I feel you buddy. For that house I would want £20 including veluxes - £17 without.
Some people by the sounds of it are total idiots. But to be honest I haven't ever met many like that. I live in SW London/Surrey border and most of my typical houses are £15 - £20

At the end of the day if I got a custy saying some BS like 'oh I wanted it for £7 or £8', I would just say - sorry Im running a business, bye.

I've never raised my prices becasue I quote high to start with (well its not high but its a decent amount).

Tell you what, Im glad I dont live in Wakefield after the reading the wakefield warroirs post - thats grim :turd:

Yeh it would be grim if everyone was like that and sometimes it does feel that way.

But luckily I only need to find about 300 customers who will pay a decent rate to have a good round.

I wouldn't fancy my chances at 20 quid for that one on the picture though, maybe £12.

 

[spruce]

That's an excellent post spruce and it outlines the fact people's perceptions are generally stuck in the last century price wise.
The other week I was cleaning g a new clean it a street, 3 bed semi £12. when I recognised an old friend from donkeys years ago in another driveway. we got chatting, he owns a very successful building company (brand new bmw x5 giving it away) he asked how much for windows, I said for your £10 mate. he literally laughed, I said you've got a nice car though lol. with a straight face he said I wouldn't be able to afford a nice car if I paid that much for my windows. he was genuinely shocked and looked at me as though I was trying to rip him off.

My auntie pays £3 for her house, told her my prices her response was bloody he'll we won't be using you then!

In some areas it's just engrained in the mentality that window cleaning is beer money job especially up north, near old mining areas etc when I suspect a lot turned to it during the 80s etc when all the pits closed and that

In our part of the world we had a couple of firemen and some part time council workers also window cleaning for beer money.

The council worker got offered a full time job with the council and suddenly a whole street of his old customers became ours.

The firemen just slowly disappeared. Maybe they didn't like working off ladders anymore. /emoticons/biggrin.png

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[dmw]

A window cleaner I know did a cul-de-sac and had the audacity to increase his prices for the first time in years and on the following clean was presented with a petition from disgruntled customers demanding a price freeze or else they'd sack him...he later sold it on, felt sorry for the buyer though.

 

[PJ Bullard]

Agree with @meridion - by having higher prices, you give the impression your better and if you couple this with a uniform with your company name, website, fb page, a sign written van/car and proffessional reciepts with company stamping (as I have) - you are giving the impression that your the best.

I read in a self help book many years ago that affluent people LOVE to pay more for their services, products and basically everything and I've never forgotten this. They love to pay high amounts of money becasue it makes the service or product mean more to them.