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Texting customers

Ralf

New member
Messages
17
Location
Darlington
Hi guys, just wondering if you choose to text your customers the night before to let them know you're coming and if so how you best word it? I've been texting customers but some say "Can you come this day at this time" and it just messes the whole schedule up

Cheers Ralf

 
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This on is up to you mate.

What i would say is if you dont have to then done, the only reason i text the odd one is for gate or to leave money out if they dont pay online.

Im sure you can work out how to word it yourself

Mine is "Hi, adam @thompsonwindow cleaning. will be round tomorrow to clean your windows, please unlock any gate if required for accesss, thanks"

It hasnt changed for ages, takes 3 seconds on predictive text to type it then add your recipitents, the whole process should take 30 secs

 
This on is up to you mate.
What i would say is if you dont have to then done, the only reason i text the odd one is for gate or to leave money out if they dont pay online.

Im sure you can work out how to word it yourself

Mine is "Hi, adam @thompsonwindow cleaning. will be round tomorrow to clean your windows, please unlock any gate if required for accesss, thanks"

It hasnt changed for ages, takes 3 seconds on predictive text to type it then add your recipitents, the whole process should take 30 secs
Cheers mate very useful do you ever find them cancelling on you at all? Has happened to me a couple of times

 
I message this just to access issue jobs but if they try to cancel i will give them a strike..2nd time and they are gone

"Hiya

Your windows are due to be cleaned tomorrow

Please leave the gate unlocked if you are not in

Thanks

Dave "

 
if anyone has time to txt all customers prior to the cleaning day they need to have a word with themselves! also having specific days for the next clean leaves little flexibility and makes life more difficult imho.

 
hard one isnt it i have people who have said from start o will you text me day before to say your coming not for access just so they know im coming most are good as gold and leave money as agreed or leave the gate etc but some use this as oppertunity to say "leave it this time" etc etc which cocks up the round as very often these houses are next to each other and i live in rural area tomorrows work is 23mile from home

 
I copy and paste and change a name. I only text about 10-15 customers and they are all for access issues or for them to know to leave payment somewhere and I copy and paste whichwver previous text I sent to the specific customer as they all get a diff text but sent each time I go.

As an example, 3 houses on one street (all side by side and have locked gates) receive this:

"Hi, we'll be cleaning windows in the area tomorrow (insert date), would it be possible to leave back gates unlocked so we can clean the rear windows.

Thank you"

Some customers get different versions depending on the request. But they all know me quite well and I can leave flowery worded texts and just get straight to the point.

I only text a few so I don't mind.

The most texting I do is to tell people to pay, quite a few customers want me to text them when I've done them so they can pay me as its a better reminder than a slip of paper or invoice that they'll put on the side and forget about.

 
hard one isnt it i have people who have said from start o will you text me day before to say your coming not for access just so they know im coming most are good as gold and leave money as agreed or leave the gate etc but some use this as oppertunity to say "leave it this time" etc etc which cocks up the round as very often these houses are next to each other and i live in rural area tomorrows work is 23mile from home
Anyone who messes me about like that would have to wait until it next suits me to do it

If for example it won't be back that way for 2 months then they wait 2 months

I won't mess up my round to accommodate them

Saying that most i would be able to do another time without impacting my day as i do the same areas at least once a week so would be passing but on principle i stopped being dictated to by customers a good while ago

"Can you leave it this week and do it next week as the cat isn't well" or some other bull excuse lol

"I can leave it this week no problem..see you in 2 months when you are due again"

 
I agree, if someone says leave it I leave it and if they repeat offend their price is going up.

When I take work on, I make a point of saying the price is for a regular 4 or 8 weekly clean, if I'm charging 10quid for a house every 4 weeks, and they start telling me to leave it, then they'll start getting a price I'd give someone for a 'one off clean'.

I have regular bills to pay. I can't be taking hits to my wage regularly.

 
if anyone has time to txt all customers prior to the cleaning day they need to have a word with themselves! also having specific days for the next clean leaves little flexibility and makes life more difficult imho.
I have time to text ALL clients. It takes 30 seconds to text ALL clients. I just click a couple of buttons on Cleaner Planner and done. No messers as they all been sacked off ages ago. Only replies I get ( of any) are 'Will do' or ocassionaly 'Sorry we are on holiday this week' anyone can have a pass if on vacation and had the decency to let me know before I get to the house.

As long as they are a decent enough punter no need to toss out the baby if you're going to collect 11 other payments for the year agro free.

 
o_Oo_O

I agree, if someone says leave it I leave it and if they repeat offend their price is going up.
When I take work on, I make a point of saying the price is for a regular 4 or 8 weekly clean, if I'm charging 10quid for a house every 4 weeks, and they start telling me to leave it, then they'll start getting a price I'd give someone for a 'one off clean'.

I have regular bills to pay. I can't be taking hits to my wage regularly.
I tell them this aswell I have 8 council houses in a row and this lady moved in the middle of the row 2 months ago collared me ok. A Saturday to do the clean did the how much clean over the headge?? I said it"s 10 quid 4 weekly I do them all regular see she said abosulutely add me to the round had one clean and now has text me saying "leave it now" it's hard enough to build a decent round and earn a living over winter without this all these "leave it" texts add up over a month!

 
o_Oo_OI tell them this aswell I have 8 council houses in a row and this lady moved in the middle of the row 2 months ago collared me ok. A Saturday to do the clean did the how much clean over the headge?? I said it"s 10 quid 4 weekly I do them all regular see she said abosulutely add me to the round had one clean and now has text me saying "leave it now" it's hard enough to build a decent round and earn a living over winter without this all these "leave it" texts add up over a month!
That's just part of the process, messers are there at every turn when trying to build up, it can feel like you are taking one step forward two steps back at times. I just focus on the amount of customers and and try to keep it moving forward. Best just to get rid of these people asap and get them out if your mind otherwise it starts to wear you down. Focus on the great customers you have and just think when I eventually get a full round of these my life is going to be much less stressfull. That's why you must determine how you do things, I love to turn up to unlocked gates no one in and get paid promptly online a full day like this and the job is a joy. On days whereby our messing with access issues or messers etc it's draining so try to rid yourself of the headaches as you go along.

I don't even take on certain jobs now that I would have done a while ago. A woman rang me for a quote not long back on a terrace, I had a quick look saw that there was no where to park as it was permit parking and yellow lines and horrible narrow little streets. The only way to do it would have been to park a good way away and trolley it. I rang her back and said no thanks I knew I would hate done that job everytime. Point is don't worry about things and concentrate on getting what you do want. Avoiding a messers like that is a blessing.

 
I'm currently got the package on cleaner planner to click a button to send all my customers a text for the week ahead........but still choose to send out individual texts.

It takes 15-20 mins and I can tweek them if necessary (access, hoping family all well, introducing new services etc etc)

I don't get a huge amount of messers

 
Best policy is to just rock up and do the job, then post a BACS slip. I only text if I need access through the house or they lock the back gate, in which case you have no choice but to text them.

Any customer texts back with some stalling technique or excuse not to do them, it could be that you are doing the cleans too frequently. I know a lot of windys on here have monthly cleans that they do, but in my opinion, bi monthly is far better and more resonable for the customer. Its only clean freak customers that request a monthly clean, I've found. Although I offer monthly cleans in my price list, most prefer bi monthly so if your getting a lot of messers, have a look at the frequency of their cleans

 
It takes a few months... most of mine don't even text back they just unlock gate, once trained it's so much easier!! 90% are ok and want your service so best way by far in my eyes, they all know what week of the month I come anyway so it's just letting them know what day in that week, no big surprise... the 10% messers are getting stronger (but extremely polite) replies this year and that seems to be working!!

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