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My mate is off to Cyprus Friday, I'll warn him to be wary of the little ginge with a bad attitude ?
?. The bad attitude is correct, the little isn’t. I’m 6ft 1 and 17 half stone ?.

Lovely place. No poxy burger kings or McDonald’s. More upmarket than Benedoom or chavereef ?

Am only up to date and back on track today from the bad weather we had..heyho...a window cleaners life for me!!!!!
In over 25 years on the glass, I’ve never understood the ‘up to date’ or ‘back on track’.

When I get back from holiday I’ll pick up where I left off and won’t be arsed about ‘catching up’ etc.

Never had a problem as always told the Customers that I’m going on holiday, gonna be late round next time.

Normally have 4 holidays a year and not once lost a customer over it ?

 
It was mate... my 'profiling' video on youtube. However unlike yourself I do text everyone the night before...  if you only took on jobs where the gate was always unlocked around here you'd never take on a job @Pjj.  Ignoring commercial (as I dont do any) I text everyone.  I set up the job lists for the week on Cleaner planner and then hit them all on 'text local' 

The 'no, it's going to rain tomorrow and my cats got her period' ones are straight out the window...  (you'll know these on a first clean)  

However out of 200 texts you'll get one or two saying 'sorry cant open gate on holiday this week'  to which the reply is 'No problem, have a great trip, see you next month'  this has saved you driving to a job you cant do today but is a good egg the other 11 cleans of the year. 

In my world @Pjj you're making a rod for your own back if you don't text the night before.  






Guess ime lucky I have built my business around customers that don’t have locked gates or if they do I have a key or the code for the lock ,all my work is very compact so Ime never more than a few hundred yards away from the next job so no time is waisted if the job cannot be done for some reason , but still don’t see the need to txt them to let them know Ime coming , as others have said it you dont turn up for some reason , then you have to re txt them explaining why you haven’t been . There’s no right or wrong with this it’s just personal preference I find it far easier to just turn up but if ones are happy and want to txt customers then that’s fine to . 

 
‘My cats got her period’ ???.

I got a reply from a customer last week of ‘I’m on holiday, you’ll have to do them in 3 weeks time when more convenient for me’

I replied ‘No sorry, I won’t be in your area then, I’ll text you when I’m due next’

She replied ‘not waiting that long, suggest you change your attitude!’

I replied ‘suggest you change your window cleaner to someone who’s prepared to be spoken to like sh*t,

goodbye and good ridence’

Big bugbear of mine is rudeness and bad manners (not the group, I’m a skin and love them ?).

Anyway, talking of holidays, better get back to my pint of keo as I lay on my sun bed in Cyprus ??


I'm not a skin, still love Bad Manners!! :))

 
Had one today. Newish client, done it 6 times, easy to do as I do two opposite. Month before last I text that I'll be round tomorrow and get a text asking me to leave them this time as they're on holiday. Odd I thought because the bathroom window was open. Text her last night at 6:00. Get a text at 11:30 this morning asking me to leave them this month because she can't afford it this time. I'm going to be lenient this time. Next cancellation and she's off the round. £14 down in takings today.

 
Had one today. Newish client, done it 6 times, easy to do as I do two opposite. Month before last I text that I'll be round tomorrow and get a text asking me to leave them this time as they're on holiday. Odd I thought because the bathroom window was open. Text her last night at 6:00. Get a text at 11:30 this morning asking me to leave them this month because she can't afford it this time. I'm going to be lenient this time. Next cancellation and she's off the round. £14 down in takings today.




I would have dumped it after the first time , if there is a genuine reason fair enough but that job is now a 12 weekly job next time it’s done we don’t do that time scale and it will have 3x the amount of dirt on it and they will expect it cleaned for the original price ,

 
I never text the night before apart from the odd few. Haven’t done for the last twenty years and I’m not about to start now. It’s just another unneeded waste of time. In my experience texting gives people the option to dodge a clean.


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If I get a hint that a customer is trying to dodge a clean then I don't want that kind of Customer they are taken off the list my customers like to be contacted and it helps me I hardly go collecting now.

 
If I get a hint that a customer is trying to dodge a clean then I don't want that kind of Customer they are taken off the list my customers like to be contacted and it helps me I hardly go collecting now.
Fair dos. Everyone’s got their own way of working that they are comfortable with. All issues are sorted before I commence a first so it would be just a case of letting them know I’m coming. I just don’t see the benefit of taking the time to text customers something that they already know.


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Fair dos. Everyone’s got their own way of working that they are comfortable with. All issues are sorted before I commence a first so it would be just a case of letting them know I’m coming. I just don’t see the benefit of taking the time to text customers something that they already know.


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That's the whole point if I don't text then they don't know about leaving the Gate unlocked or they don't know they have to pay me, there are even occasions when I can switch things around if one or 2 won't be in, I find preparation saves  an awful lot of work the next day.

 
I've gained many customers who weren't happy leaving gates open for days on end. The text the night before thing helped clinch the deal. It also sorts out the time wasters who text with excuses. It's one of my marketing things to text and majority of customers seem to like it
I had a customer leave me a review tonight, she mentioned it in the review. Some of the older lads just do it the old school way. I can pretty much guarantee that most of them would just whip out a step ladder and climb a locked gate anyway. I might if a customer forgets, depends what mood i'm in. I'm sure I said it further up the thread already but if a customer doesn't want me there I don't wanna be there! Lads who have been going a long time have a solid rep behind them but I think anyone starting out who doesn't send reminder texts will set themselves at a disadvantage 

 
That's the whole point if I don't text then they don't know about leaving the Gate unlocked or they don't know they have to pay me, there are even occasions when I can switch things around if one or 2 won't be in, I find preparation saves  an awful lot of work the next day.
I suppose it depends on the type of work you have. If you do a lot of driving between jobs and have a very sparse round then turning up unannounced only to find you can’t get into the back or even worse they don’t want it doing at could mean you’ve wasted a lot of time. For me it’s the opposite and my next job is only a few doors away if that so no biggee and sending texts to all my jobs would probs take more time than any time wasted for uncompleted jobs.


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I had a customer leav of compacte me a review tonight, she mentioned it in the review. Some of the older lads just do it the old school way. I can pretty much guarantee that most of them would just whip out a step ladder and climb a locked gate anyway. I might if a customer forgets, depends what mood i'm in. I'm sure I said it further up the thread already but if a cu that I textstomer doesn't want me there I don't wanna be there! Lads who have been going a long time have a solid rep behind them but I think anyone starting out who doesn't send reminder texts will set themselves at a disadvantage 
Spot on this, the amount of compacted work I have is diminishing as I prefer Internet enquiries, the fact that I am willing to come out to people means I can charge more, all of my work is on my Routes and a lot of customers have said they like it that I text.

 
Spot on this, the amount of compacted work I have is diminishing as I prefer Internet enquiries, the fact that I am willing to come out to people means I can charge more, all of my work is on my Routes and a lot of customers have said they like it that I text.
By diminishing do you mean they are cancelling on you and what do you class as compact. In my world compact means a days work for two all in walking distance at least.


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By diminishing do you mean they are cancelling on you and what do you class as compact. In my world compact means a days work for two all in walking distance at least.


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Agree with this. Two of us working today and my van moved 3 times, and I’m talking about 500-600 yards.

To be fair, I’ve been in this game many years now and it takes years to get it that compact.

 

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