Was told i needed a thick skin,boy were they right!

[kingsley taylor]

Hi fellas,

my son and i set away in march and have built up a steady little round,mainly by word of mouth and people seeing us,a little advertising and a few leaflet drops

we took over a small round from my brother in law and he did warn me of miserable customers and bad payers,i thought oh well get used to it but jesus i could tear my hair out at times.

knocking on doors for payment and seeing they are in but they never come to the door,getting new customers who at first are so pleased theyve got a reliable window cleaner then a few month down the line they miserable as hell with you because you are reliable and on time every month and my biggest insult "can you leave it this month,they are still quite clean!"

please tell me you get use to this and it doesnt wind you up as much

 

[Dave B]

Hi fellas,my son and i set away in march and have built up a steady little round,mainly by word of mouth and people seeing us,a little advertising and a few leaflet drops

we took over a small round from my brother in law and he did warn me of miserable customers and bad payers,i thought oh well get used to it but jesus i could tear my hair out at times.

knocking on doors for payment and seeing they are in but they never come to the door,getting new customers who at first are so pleased theyve got a reliable window cleaner then a few month down the line they miserable as hell with you because you are reliable and on time every month and my biggest insult "can you leave it this month,they are still quite clean!"

please tell me you get use to this and it doesnt wind you up as much

Can you leave it this month they are still clean:rofl:

That is when i will offer to go to 2 monthly if they want

If that doesn't suit them then get another cleaner who will tolerate being messed about

 

[High-tower]

I'm always astounded so many guys have rounds that are monthly...

 

[A Pane In The Glass]

I have lots of monthlys, replace the rubbish with good mate and don't be afraid to do so

 

[Hawke]

Yeah you start to realise there's ones a good reason they couldn't get a window cleaner - bad payers/too chatty/too pernickity/messers!!

Comes with a new round and building up work from scratch. You'll weed them out and in a while you'll look back and winder why you put up with them for so long!

 

[koopmaster]

Once you get a few hundred customers you can deal with the odd skip this month. Also after a few years you tend to have seen all and done ALL .... and you tend to be a bit tougher on the wasters... I had a bi-monthly a week or so ago who's windows where filthy from builders and she came out and said not today... ok see you next year I said.... lol when she realised I was coming back in 2 months she said ok ok clean my windows...

But I was already walking away...

She's either going to fire me or never ask me to leave them again... I suspect she will never ask me to leave them again no matter what lol... tough love but I don't have time to be messed about...

 

[Clearview Lee]

You get all sorts along the journey. I'm a decent chap and always try to see it from the customers viewpoint so I can better understand them and their situation. I find most people are genuine when they think they need a monthly window cleaner as they think the windows get filthy again in a month when they actually don't. Also, a month seems a long time in one's mind but in reality they fly by, so when they see the window cleaner turn up again and again and again it can seem like he was only there last week!

If I wasn't a window cleaner but wanted clean windows, I honestly don't think I'd want them cleaned every month either. Every few months most probably. But when you're in this game for a living you just can't have customers dictating when they want them doing like that.

You need to be free to let jobs go with the certainty that new ones will come, cos there are people that really do want them done every month. You just Gotta find them ones.

Last month one of my two monthlies said the same thing, I said 'look, I'm going to change you to a three monthly but I don't do any longer than that' so she knows now.

Good luck mate

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[jayjay76]

Hi fellas,my son and i set away in march and have built up a steady little round,mainly by word of mouth and people seeing us,a little advertising and a few leaflet drops

we took over a small round from my brother in law and he did warn me of miserable customers and bad payers,i thought oh well get used to it but jesus i could tear my hair out at times.

knocking on doors for payment and seeing they are in but they never come to the door,getting new customers who at first are so pleased theyve got a reliable window cleaner then a few month down the line they miserable as hell with you because you are reliable and on time every month and my biggest insult "can you leave it this month,they are still quite clean!"

please tell me you get use to this and it doesnt wind you up as much

Had one today which is becoming my favourite lol " not today we've got your number " ha don't think it works that way

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[Clearview Lee]

People are absolutely free to do exactly what I want to do. You also have to understand that a lot of people are unhappy with their window cleaner, and will start messing him about just to get rid. It's all okay though and just the nature of the beast. Just gotta keep on keeping on...

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[Clisty1989]

Had one today which is becoming my favourite lol " not today we've got your number " ha don't think it works that way

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Get them a lot, if I have there number, they go on my block list

 

[jayjay76]

Get them a lot, if I have there number, they go on my block list

I'm thinking ok I'll sit at home and await your call for the privilege to clean your windows again lol

I don't have a problem with not wanting them doing it's their right to choose, but it's them thinking they can just call me when they need me lol

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[Clearview Lee]

I'm thinking ok I'll sit at home and await your call for the privilege to clean your windows again lol
I don't have a problem with not wanting them doing it's their right to choose, but it's them thinking they can just call me when they need me lol

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I'm just honest with these people, and explain that I totally understand them, but unfortunately I need to know what money I have coming in each month like everyone else with their monthly wage otherwise it just doesn't work out for me as a business.

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[barry baker]

Try to build things up on the commercial side mate.houses are a pain

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[adamangler]

What you need to do is decide how you want to work and want you want to accept from the start at stick to it 100% any problems try to pull them in lime if they won't get rid of them asap and get looking for someone else

Firstly bin cash collections. I don't take em on at all, I have a few cash payers but zero collections.

That will solve most of your problems. if they don't pay online send numerous text reminders. if they still don't pay send a small claims letter and then dump them.

Dont mess about on this, don't let anyone of the hook, clean get paid or clean don't get paid dump replace

 

[kingsley taylor]

Cheers fellas,

i guess its just something we gonna have to get used to eh,dont suppose it helps when both my son and myself are quiet fellas just looking to earn a wage,and do a good job with as little aggro as possible,we definitley gonna have to toughen up!

 

[chris clean]

The way I have dealt with bad payers and the pains in butt that say not this time refularly etc is not to cancel any of them but instead sent them messages saying my prices have gone up. Not just 50p or a quid more like 4 or 5 pound. Some have cancelled and a couple to my surprise said ok so even when they are a pain I'm doing a 10 pond house for 15 and happy /emoticons/smile.png

 

[Clearview Lee]

Try to build things up on the commercial side mate.houses are a pain

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I need more commercials, but never seem to get any! The ones I have just got built up from one my mate gave me years ago. How do you go about picking up offices etc??

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[Clearview Lee]

What you need to do is decide how you want to work and want you want to accept from the start at stick to it 100% any problems try to pull them in lime if they won't get rid of them asap and get looking for someone else
Firstly bin cash collections. I don't take em on at all, I have a few cash payers but zero collections.

That will solve most of your problems. if they don't pay online send numerous text reminders. if they still don't pay send a small claims letter and then dump them.

Dont mess about on this, don't let anyone of the hook, clean get paid or clean don't get paid dump replace

How about egging?

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[Chris33]

Personally I don't mind collecting in my town. Say one day I get the whole round here,it would take no more than an evening or two once a month to get it all in. For a one man round anyway.

Online payers bring their own set of issues-they sometimes opt for this option out of sheer delay tactics. The time to contact them all that are overdue, and get the cash in..a big compact local collection could have been made.

Out of town is different,you'll really want them all as online payers imo. Fuel,time etc..start really coming into play.

As per these bad payers,I've had a fair share now and what I'm doing is highlighting the ones in red (on my work sheet) that I wana replace. With the onus being to replace them with a house at least a quid dearer,so you grow and get rid of stress all in one I guess. They get a letter explaining why they are not on round now, they simply need to know they are ***** I think.haha.

I do not do more than two cleans before payment and in some cases would want the cash up front now. If you have a bad payers we can't be letting that due amount go up and up,we have a responsibility to manage the situation as well I think.

First clean tickets with info on them IE non payers will be prosecuted etc..think outside the box a bit.

I know one guy who stopped doing a house here after the debt grew to 65 quid! Yeah and that was all 5 quid cleans . Burnt much?

 

[The window cleaning kid]

I'm taking a new approach to the ones that p*ss around, as this used to get my back up.

My thinking is that there will always be them ones that mess you around with times/ dates and payments,.

But its all money.

I still have holes in the diary and these people can fit in on them days when I have nothing on.... I wasn't doing anything any way.

could even do some flyer drops or canvas before/after.

All slips and emailed invoices have 5 days to pay written on them, I give it 7 days then a text is sent or they are re-email the invoice.

Gocardless will be happening in the new year, just for them bad payers and if they don't like it then when the rounds full they can find another windy.

 

[steve garwood]

Don't personally agree you have to gain commercial work to run smoothly, I also do not agree you have to get rid of cash payments.

Apart from a chain of dental surgery's, all my work is domestic.

I also have loads of cash payers.

The key is simply to keep going and dump any rubbish. Eventually the round will be customized to how you want it to be.

Been going over 20 years, and it works for me /emoticons/smile.png