Any1 see themselves having over 5,000 regular customers

[Deleted member 257]

You could reduce the price a little for the 8 weekers for the more regular clean. And do only 6, otherwise you end up in the same mess on a longer frequency... and hope the added efficiency would make up for losing a few. I did it, although only a less than 200 custies and a small proportion of 8 weeklies, but has been worth it easily...

 

[Tuffers]

I would love to do that as am pushing 500 custys now and having to sub some of it out to a mate while I look for someone to work for me properly

Have monthly and 2 monthly 

The monthly wouldn't mind going 6 weekly but how do I get the 2 monthly to go 6 weekly?

That could be a problem unless the 2 monthly would go for 3 monthly? My problem is I've always been 4/8 weekly with a handful of 6 weekly and 12 weekly.

 

[Dave B]

I want to have all on 1 frequency 

I don't offer 2 monthly to new customers

Monthly or nowt

 

[Den]

I want to have all on 1 frequency 

I don't offer 2 monthly to new customers

Monthly or nowt

I’m 4 and 8 weekly all new customers I recommend 8 weekly now as I’m so busy. 

 

[Incheck]

Cheers chap, wife is getting better, series of operations ?. I could do with making some of my 8 weekly wait 12 weeks until I'm back into a routine. I hate letting people down and the fear of losing customers due to being unreliable. I've had one of my 8 weekly keep pestering me asking when I'm coming. The problem I have and probably others is if you have both 4 and 8 weekly customers in the same road you want to clean them on the same due date. If I take a week off the 4 weekly go to 5 weeks between the clean and 8 weekly go to 10 weeks between the clean. The ones who go to 10 weeks are the ones who still expect you to come every 8 weeks. It's not doable over a coarse of a year. We all need holidays, bank holidays, Xmas etc and this is what puts a spanner in the works. I've got to try and chill and be a bit more meh.

I’m sorry to hear this fella. Dont let the world get on top of you. Its part of the parcel with being a small trader, there is no safety measures or people to pick up the pieces. Any customer who’s known you long enough should know this. You’re not a miracle man nobody is. I’m sure you will figure it out somehow. Whatever happens. Dont put yourself down, if you cant put your wife first in life then whats it all about. If people drop off the round, so be it, just let it go. Try to re-establish some sort of balance in your mind in order to relax and move forward at a reasonable pace.

this is why i now prefer ad ons. As part timer said, more than a handful is a waste. We have 250-300 regulars, the rest is ad ons thankfully. I cant be regularly commited to any more people on a regular basis than that. Its just too much and would fry my brain.

i envy the guys who just show up with no reminder texts and if the customers out front only it is bill through the door. No phone needed & an easier time of it mentally.

 

[dazmond]

I'm in a pickle ATM. After Xmas I took time out (holiday and Mrs ill). I ended up being a month behind. A load of 8 weekly work became due at the same time as the 4 weekly work. I decided to clean all due work. I did have some 8 weekly fall on a 4 weekly and then some other 8 weekly fall on the next 4 weekly. All 8 weekly now fall on the same 4 weekly. I'm forever juggling work about. I can do without it if I'm honest. I always take on more work when it comes my way. I probably have too much work for one man.

what i would of done was move all my schedule forward a month and take it from there....im off to mexico in june and ill be taking 2 weeks off.....ill simply move  ALL my work forward 2 weeks.....keep it SIMPLE mate!

also i dont cram every day/week with work,i work approx 20-25 hrs a week window cleaning and this earns me around £45k a year(turnover)....i can easily live on this so no need to flog myself to death working long hours every day....also i find i work much more efficiently if i keep my working days short(5-6 hours a day spent window cleaning).....

 

[Poles Apart]

That would be a nightmare for me, I spend time every evening organising access, payments as I need to organise my round it's important I couldn't possibly organise others with vans or allow them to do it. 

 

[Tuffers]

what i would of done was move all my schedule forward a month and take it from there....im off to mexico in june and ill be taking 2 weeks off.....ill simply move  ALL my work forward 2 weeks.....keep it SIMPLE mate!

also i dont cram every day/week with work,i work approx 20-25 hrs a week window cleaning and this earns me around £45k a year(turnover)....i can easily live on this so no need to flog myself to death working long hours every day....also i find i work much more efficiently if i keep my working days short(5-6 hours a day spent window cleaning).....

No way would I be able to cope with moving all my work forward by 2 weeks. I'd struggle to fit one extra day into 5 days let alone a week's worth. I'm always behind it seems.

 

[Dave B]

I’m 4 and 8 weekly all new customers I recommend 8 weekly now as I’m so busy. 

Glad to see you're getting busy mate

Your son out n his own van now?

 

[dazmond]

No way would I be able to cope with moving all my work forward by 2 weeks. I'd struggle to fit one extra day into 5 days let alone a week's worth. I'm always behind it seems.

No way would I be able to cope with moving all my work forward by 2 weeks. I'd struggle to fit one extra day into 5 days let alone a week's worth. I'm always behind it seems.

do you use round software?i use cleaner planner and it takes 2 clicks to move ALL my work forward a week or two.....

what do you mean you wouldnt be able to cope?your just moving your whole schedule forward thats all....no drama.......no confusion.....its very simple....

 

[steve garwood]

6-7 weeks, no other options available.

No juggling around.

When I have a holiday, I just say ‘be roughly ten days late next time’.

Never had a problem ?

 

[Den]

Glad to see you're getting busy mate

Your son out n his own van now?

It’s mental mate can’t keep up often selling work on, probably going to give my son most of the work and just keep 4 days a week for myself. 

 

[dazmond]

if your struggling to get round your work as a one man band and you have no plans to employ then you have to trim your round IMO....a good way to do this is increase prices....your bound to lose some work....sell the less desirable/ pain in the **** work or give it away to a fellow window cleaner....your doing yourself no favours keeping hold of it,if your always behind then your cleaning windows that  are dirtier than they need to be....

i have around 350 jobs(domestic and commercial) ranging from run of the mill work and large domestic on 4 weekly,6 weekly,8 weekly,12 weekly frequencies and a few annual/bi annual jobs and i can easily keep on schedule every week working minimal hours......

like ive already said i move ALL my jobs forward with the click of a button when its holiday time/or sickness/injury.......so i just start back where i left off,i will juggle a few longer frequency jobs around here and there to suit me but i mainly work my round in the same order from A-Z week in/week out.....

 

[RWCleaning]

How many customers would Lee Pryor have approximately?

 

[Incheck]

Steve Garwoods always had a comfortable mentality & thinks along the same lines as me, if you're late you're late and you just start from there and plod along, you'll never get lost time back no matter how hard you try or you end up stressed and in a right pickle. In the words of gandalf himself “a wizard is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to”

quote this to your customers if they say you're late and they will probably laugh. 

2-3 months late is how you lose customers but 2-3 weeks is nothing. People have busy lives, they probably wont even notice half the time. We are self employed if there is no flexibility to it then we may as well be working for some other geezer. 

 

[Damo]

Anyone see themselves having over 5,000 regular window cleaning customers one day?

I believe the sky is the limit in the window cleaning game , the scope in window cleaning is phenomenal ! !

One day yes  

 

[Ash87]

I used to offer 4 and 8 weekly but got fed up chasing myself and falling behind with the 4 weekly stuff, iv just changed all my round to 6 weekly and no other option .im findìng it so much easier now and when i have my holiday next month i will pick up where i left off and plod along until i stop again . 

 

[steve garwood]

I used to offer 4 and 8 weekly but got fed up chasing myself and falling behind with the 4 weekly stuff, iv just changed all my round to 6 weekly and no other option .im findìng it so much easier now and when i have my holiday next month i will pick up where i left off and plod along until i stop again . 

Bang on mate. Never understood this ‘oh I’m 5 days of schedule’.

Or those who have set dates for cleaning.

I personally think it’s unnecessary and just puts pressure on yourself 

 

[Cleanco]

For me the whole getting behind thing is to do with the financial side rather than keeping the work on time as it leads to lost revenue if you just carry on were you left off and don’t catch up. Most customers don’t even notice if your slightly out of sync(only bother if you turn up early) but say for example you do £350 per day. If you drop two days and don’t catch it back up that’s £700 in lost revenue which for some could be the difference between the bills getting paid or not so they may have no choice. You soon learn though when your self employed to make allowances for these circumstances and have a healthy expendable income so that you can choose weather or not you want to catch it up. 

 

[harunh]

One day yes ?

You must be half way there already ?

 

[Damo]

You must be half way there already ?

Haha not far off yes, I also have the possibility of buying two small rounds from a company whom we’ve already dealt with so that would push us along nicely.