How many leaflets over a year?

[P4dstar]

When your turnover is growing month on month it can be easy to think you're raking in the money, the key thing is the profit, if you're not making a decent profit then eventually turnover will stop growing and this is when you find that the business fails as it wasn't making enough / any profit.  

Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity  : )

Haha long time since I've heard that phrase. Very true in most circles but surely not for window cleaning. Our overheads are so low if you're increasing gross and not net this should only be because you've chosen to invest in better equipment etc do you not think?

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

It was Lee Prior. I remember Green Pro telling me about it.

I see a lot of people on CIU like to lay in to him every time he posts. I think a lot of it is jealousy. That said it is obvious to see he grew really fast and rather uncontrollably, just look at the reviews. I also saw a TV advert somewhere for him, not sure how that worked out. Cool idea though.

The reviews are meaningless. I have about 6 reviews on Google and 3 or 4 are horrendous. I’ve 2,000 customers though. It’s generally wingers  that leave bad reviews and as I don’t encourage genuine customers to leave reviews it tends to just be disgruntled ones that do. 
 

 

[P4dstar]

The reviews are meaningless. I have about 6 reviews on Google and 3 or 4 are horrendous. I’ve 2,000 customers though. It’s generally wingers that leave bad reviews and as I don’t encourage genuine customers to leave reviews it tends to just be disgruntled ones that do.

I don't think reviews matter to mere mortals like me and you as we'll only ever get a handful. Pryors has 50ish reviews and a low score. It just sort of shows a consistent amount of people have found fault. It is generally wingers I agree and most people know that. I tried to find you to see how harsh they've been but can't find a Google profile like that in Hampshire... Just cos I'm nosey haha

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

I don't think reviews matter to mere mortals like me and you as we'll only ever get a handful. Pryors has 50ish reviews and a low score. It just sort of shows a consistent amount of people have found fault. It is generally wingers I agree and most people know that. I tried to find you to see how harsh they've been but can't find a Google profile like that in Hampshire... Just cos I'm nosey haha

I don’t agree. The bad reviews look like the type of things that just happen. My average is 3.2 with a couple of friends leaving 5 stars. My average would be lower than theirs otherwise.

 If you go through my back posts their is a van pic so I’m easy to find. Where are you in Hants?

 

[P4dstar]

I don’t agree. The bad reviews look like the type of things that just happen. My average is 3.2 with a couple of friends leaving 5 stars. My average would be lower than theirs otherwise.

 If you go through my back posts their is a van pic so I’m easy to find. Where are you in Hants?

I ignore reviews when looking at small businesses because you never know. But I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. He covers your area, if I were searching for a window cleaner in Basingstoke and came across both I would choose 3.2 stars with very few reviews over 50 reviews in the same ball park... Yours could easily be a mistake, 50 reviews couldn't. Found you, I think your reviews are a bit harsh, very subjective and not really actual.

I'm not from your way, I'm up in Gloucestershire mate. Spotted is says you're in Basingstoke and wanted to be nosey is all haha ?

 

[RyeCleanLiam]

It was Lee Pryor and yes he did remortgage his house and put all the money into marketing his business, which was pretty much all leaflets. He said at the time he had 4 vans on the road and was making no money for him myself whatsoever. So he took the risk to go bigger and now has 17 vans at the last time I saw him and he's says he's stopping at 20 vans. He says all from leafleting. He said the TV ad was fun to do but pointless for gaining work.

 

[Pjj]

It was Lee Pryor and yes he did remortgage his house and put all the money into marketing his business, which was pretty much all leaflets. He said at the time he had 4 vans on the road and was making no money for him myself whatsoever. So he took the risk to go bigger and now has 17 vans at the last time I saw him and he's says he's stopping at 20 vans. He says all from leafleting. He said the TV ad was fun to do but pointless for gaining work.

17 vans ?.. thought it was 12 ? That’s what he said on ciu ,he didn’t re mortgage his house he sold it and moved back in with his parents ,to raise the funds for his million leaflet drops , and expansion plans .

 

[RyeCleanLiam]

17 vans ?.. thought it was 12 ? That’s what he said on ciu ,he didn’t re mortgage his house he sold it and moved back in with his parents ,to raise the funds for his million leaflet drops , and expansion plans .

Sorry I meant he sold his house not remortgage and yes he moved in with his parents. When he did a talk at the Cleaning Expo he said 17 so that's where I got that from.

 

[Pjj]

Sorry I meant he sold his house not remortgage and yes he moved in with his parents. When he did a talk at the Cleaning Expo he said 17 so that's where I got that from.

Ok must have got some more since his post then ???

 

[RyeCleanLiam]

Ok must have got some more since his post then ???

Could be me that misheard TBF lol I know he defo said his aim was 20 vans ?

 

[Pjj]

Could be me that misheard TBF lol I know he defo said his aim was 20 vans ?

Yes he did  say 20 vans was his goal rather him than me couldn’t be doing with that ??

 

[spruce]

It was Lee Prior. I remember Green Pro telling me about it.

I see a lot of people on CIU like to lay in to him every time he posts. I think a lot of it is jealousy. That said it is obvious to see he grew really fast and rather uncontrollably, just look at the reviews. I also saw a TV advert somewhere for him, not sure how that worked out. Cool idea though.

I believe he sold his house and moved back with his parents to fund the company. I can remember asking who among us would do that?

Sorry, I wrote this before I saw @RyeCleanLiam's post. Apologies. I think he has his own place now again.

 

[Chris33]

The reviews are meaningless. I have about 6 reviews on Google and 3 or 4 are horrendous. I’ve 2,000 customers though. It’s generally wingers  that leave bad reviews and as I don’t encourage genuine customers to leave reviews it tends to just be disgruntled ones that do. 
 

Your right. Hes adding a crazy amount of quality work regardless of those reviews. Lee is a nice guy and it seems to be working out very well for him. 

 

[P4dstar]

Your right. Hes adding a crazy amount of quality work regardless of those reviews. Lee is a nice guy and it seems to be working out very well for him. 

I agree whole heartedly. I think my point has been taken the wrong way. I was saying the level of poor reviews show the struggle and problems he has faced growing so fast. Realistically any window cleaner who's van is out and about will pick up plenty of work, he has 11 of those. People don't sit at home and think "I'm just gonna check this company out before I go and ask that bloke for a price in the street". The reviews are a sign of the difficulties they have clearly faced along the way but kudos to him for doing it.

 

[harunh]

I agree whole heartedly. I think my point has been taken the wrong way. I was saying the level of poor reviews show the struggle and problems he has faced growing so fast. Realistically any window cleaner who's van is out and about will pick up plenty of work, he has 11 of those. People don't sit at home and think "I'm just gonna check this company out before I go and ask that bloke for a price in the street". The reviews are a sign of the difficulties they have clearly faced along the way but kudos to him for doing it.

Lee will be picking up plenty of work with walk ups with the amount of vans he has, the more vans u have the more exposure u get,  we have over 200 jobs within 1 mile of each other so I  have 5 vans all together within a 1 mile radius, when people see you and then they see another van with all the same signs on the vans they feel more at ease to approach u and ask for a price for there windows.

No one checks reviews out.. especially for window cleaners... if your spending £5,000 on a new kitchen or something then yes people will check the reviews etc, but a lot of people will not bother to check reviews for window cleaners.

 

[harunh]

I believe he sold his house and moved back with his parents to fund the company. I can remember asking who among us would do that?

Sorry, I wrote this before I saw @RyeCleanLiam's post. Apologies. I think he has his own place now again.

If he sold his house to do that then he certainly is a big risk taker and that risk has certainly paid off by the looks of it, hes working his way up to have a self ran business by the looks of it, well done to this guy and massive respect to him for having over 10 plus vans on the road ,,,,its not easy managing 2 vans.... nevermind 10+ ! haha 

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

I agree whole heartedly. I think my point has been taken the wrong way. I was saying the level of poor reviews show the struggle and problems he has faced growing so fast. Realistically any window cleaner who's van is out and about will pick up plenty of work, he has 11 of those. People don't sit at home and think "I'm just gonna check this company out before I go and ask that bloke for a price in the street". The reviews are a sign of the difficulties they have clearly faced along the way but kudos to him for doing it.

Even there though I don’t agree. He has a “take no sh1t” attitude to customers and some don’t like it and take to social media. The more you customers you get, the more ***** you have to deal with. He could drown those out if he put the effort into getting customers to leave reviews. I don’t think bad reviews are a symptom of growing too quick is what I’m saying. More a symptom of taking no nonsense from “messers”.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

If he sold his house to do that then he certainly is a big risk taker and that risk has certainly paid off by the looks of it, hes working his way up to have a self ran business by the looks of it, well done to this guy and massive respect to him for having over 10 plus vans on the road ,,,,its not easy managing 2 vans.... nevermind 10+ ! haha 

Don't be surprised if he goes pop and the bank calls in the debt. Growing too fast usually has a negative effect later on but if he can grind it out for another 3yrs then he may be okay. You have got to admire him for risking all to do it though. 

 

[P4dstar]

Even there though I don’t agree. He has a “take no sh1t” attitude to customers and some don’t like it and take to social media. The more you customers you get, the more ***** you have to deal with. He could drown those out if he put the effort into getting customers to leave reviews. I don’t think bad reviews are a symptom of growing too quick is what I’m saying. More a symptom of taking no nonsense from “messers”.

I see what you're saying and I agree, either way could be right. It's guesswork at best. Let's be honest we will never know but I could have as easily come to that conclusion.

No one checks reviews out.. especially for window cleaners... if your spending £5,000 on a new kitchen or something then yes people will check the reviews etc, but a lot of people will not bother to check reviews for window cleaners.

Is that not what I was saying... ??‍?

 

[Teaboy]

Don't be surprised if he goes pop and the bank calls in the debt. Growing too fast usually has a negative effect later on but if he can grind it out for another 3yrs then he may be okay. You have got to admire him for risking all to do it though. 

out of interest, what debt do you think he is in??

its all internally financed to my knowledge, Im pretty sure the vans arent even on hp

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

As far as I know and unless things have changed Lee isn't in debt to anyone.He sold his house and used the equity he had in it to invest in the business.The business owes him back this money but he chooses not to take it at the minute and reinvests the profit in to further growth.