Offered to buy round

[alorawindowcleaning]

Hi everyone, ive been offered to buy a round, 100 customers £3000 they are traditional (i do WFP) but i can do traditional. At the moment im charging on average £18 for a semi, they charge £15 for semi and £10 bungalow. This is all compact work apparently.

Whats a good move? Do i buy it and put the prices up and try convert them to WFP? Or is there another way to go about this. All advice would be appreciated

 

[ched999uk]

Depends on how desperate you are for new customers but there are a few things to consider. How do they pay (cash collected in evening), does the seller have contact details, how long have they been customers, when where they last cleaned, what frequency (2 week, 4 week). Are they in an area you cover? Are they willing to introduce you to the customers?
If you do take them on, I would say don't do trad as it will take longer. Do them wfp and explain how it works and to let you know if there are any problems.

 

[alorawindowcleaning]

thanks for the advice, i know they are monthly cleans and apparently all in 1 town.

I only have around 30-40 customers, been going for 1 month now

 

[ched999uk]

thanks for the advice, i know they are monthly cleans and apparently all in 1 town.

I only have around 30-40 customers, been going for 1 month now

Maybe offer to pay as you go so to speak. i.e. you pay them what the customer pays you for x number of cleans - takes a bit of trust on their end but so does £3k from you for, hopefully some customers and not made up details....
Have a search on here for buying a round as there will be lots of other posts.

 

[spruce]

Hi everyone, ive been offered to buy a round, 100 customers £3000 they are traditional (i do WFP) but i can do traditional. At the moment im charging on average £18 for a semi, they charge £15 for semi and £10 bungalow. This is all compact work apparently.

Whats a good move? Do i buy it and put the prices up and try convert them to WFP? Or is there another way to go about this. All advice would be appreciated

Why is he selling?

You are just buying goodwill, nothing more. Nothing is guaranteed. You take the risk of how things pan out. You can't even claim the cost of the round as a tax expense. Most customers will be OK with a new cleaner using a new method, but part of the deal would be that the seller introduce you to each of the customers on the round.

BTW. His customers shouldn't be told he is selling the round, and you shouldn't tell them you have bought his round; you are just taking it over if you decide to buy it.

Some 18 years ago, we purchased a trad round. My son was introduced by the seller, and the cleaner worked the round with my son. We didn't tell them anything about converting them to wfp. The previous cleaners were glass only cleaners, so the frames were minging.

WFP was new and nobody had heard of it. On the first day I was very disheartened as I cleaned each house 2 to 3 times and I had to tell our new customers they didn't have to pay us until they were happy with the results. They were very sceptical of the new system. Added to this, WFP was new to us as well, purchased because this round consisted of mainly dormer houses. Today, nearly everyone knows about wfp so that shouldn't be a problem. However, there will be some diehards.

Being a trad cleaner, I was very impressed with how clean the windows were of the houses that I had cleaned the previous day. My spirits rose when each customer came out to pay me and asked me to continue to clean their windows this new way. Overall, we did OK with this round. We lost a few, but we also gained many more than we lost. We got some of the lost ones back when they discovered that a brush connected to their outside tap didn't work.

I passed some of this work onto another cleaner and his wife about 8 years ago. One customer told him he was only to use WFP, not trad.

If buying this round is what you decide to do, I would leave the prices the way they are for a while. Once the customers get to know you, then you can confidently raise them. Even at a lower price, compact work can end up being more financially rewarding than work scattered about.

 

[RickyG]

Just bear in mind everyone of will em be almost like a first clean on frames going over to pole flushing years of **** out the nooks & crannies, even convinces the die hards it’s a better way to do it

 

[Nosey]

Last year I sold a thousand worth of work for 4 times the amount. Was all traditional and the buyer was wfp only. I don’t know how they have got on with it. But can’t imagine it of being straight forward for him to retain all the customers. They are a big regional cleaner now and have flourished in our region and beyond within 3 years from just being two men and a van. Has over 15 vans on the road now I hear. He was happy to take the risk. But he obviously wants to expand on a big scale and fast. It depends on what you are looking for. Compact work with good prices are what we all want. I think the prices sound good and it being a hundred jobs. But you need to get all the details before making the decision. Frequency, payment method, do they have all the details, how long they have done them for? Etc.. If all seems above board and you have the funds to be able to part with then buying a round is definitely the way to go to upscale your business quickly. But as other people have said it’s only on a goodwill basis, so does come with risks and doesn’t stop the customers going elsewhere even if they just don’t like the look of your face no offence.

 

[ched999uk]

Just been offered some work today! Had a phone call from a windy saying one of his customers gave him my flyer that I had dropped through their letterbox. I thought he was going to have a moan but he wanted to sell some work! He and his Dad drive from Burnley to local to me, in a village where I have a few jobs - must be about 60 min drive and 45 miles for them. He's going to email details over but looking for 4 times income. It will be interesting to see what info he sends over.

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

Just been offered some work today! Had a phone call from a windy saying one of his customers gave him my flyer that I had dropped through their letterbox. I thought he was going to have a moan but he wanted to sell some work! He and his Dad drive from Burnley to local to me, in a village where I have a few jobs - must be about 60 min drive and 45 miles for them. He's going to email details over but looking for 4 times income. It will be interesting to see what info he sends over.

Total value?
How many jobs?
How are they done?
How long does it take?
How do customers pay?
How long has it been established (oldest & newest customer)?
How frequent are the jobs?
Are they on time or often late? (This is important because it might be ‘4 weekly’ but if the customer is use to more like 6 weeks they’ll notice)
Are customers texted before?
Do they card them or text them after?
Do they allow build up of debt and if so how many cleans?
Will they discount the cost for any customers that turn around at handover & say ‘ohh just leave it’?

I am guaranteed to have missed stuff. But this should help ?

Edit: When was the price last increased/set?

 

[Pjj]

Total value?
How many jobs?
How are they done?
How long does it take?
How do customers pay?
How long has it been established (oldest & newest customer)?
How frequent are the jobs?
Are they on time or often late? (This is important because it might be ‘4 weekly’ but if the customer is use to more like 6 weeks they’ll notice)
Are customers texted before?
Do they card them or text them after?
Do they allow build up of debt and if so how many cleans?
Will they discount the cost for any customers that turn around at handover & say ‘ohh just leave it’?

I am guaranteed to have missed stuff. But this should help ?

Edit: When was the price last increased/set?

Now theses are the questions that you should be asking ?

 

[johnny bravo]

if some customers know they are being Sold on to some one else they may not be too happy someone is making money via selling them on . i have sold rounds . took guy round and just said he was covering some of my work as i have too much. They seemed ok with that . he still has most of the sold customers
i sometimes think i should have kept them on and advertised for a helper. But that can be a headache if you dont get the right person

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

if some customers know they are being Sold on to some one else they may not be too happy someone is making money via selling them on . i have sold rounds . took guy round and just said he was covering some of my work as i have too much. They seemed ok with that . he still has most of the sold customers
i sometimes think i should have kept them on and advertised for a helper. But that can be a headache if you dont get the right person

I would never tell the customer you ‘sold’ the round, unless they directly ask. Just that someone else is taking over. Can even phrase if like ‘ohh I can’t get to you anymore but don’t worry I found you someone else so you don’t have to’. Then they are all grateful! ?

 

[Pjj]

if some customers know they are being Sold on to some one else they may not be too happy someone is making money via selling them on . i have sold rounds . took guy round and just said he was covering some of my work as i have too much. They seemed ok with that . he still has most of the sold customers
i sometimes think i should have kept them on and advertised for a helper. But that can be a headache if you dont get the right person

That’s a sensible way to do it

 

[johnny bravo]

ive told a few custies how we sometimes sell work on to someone else. they could not believe it. they did not realise that we can make money by selling customers on to a new windie. same with our wages some would be gob smacked if they knew how much per hr we can make. Most will think we are not worth that per hr / This is why we do it .

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

ive told a few custies how we sometimes sell work on to someone else. they could not believe it. they did not realise that we can make money by selling customers on to a new windie. same with our wages some would be gob smacked if they knew how much per hr we can make. Most will think we are not worth that per hr / This is why we do it .

What you make per hour is not the same as what someone else is paid per hour. A worker at McDs, for instance, makes the company far more money than they are paid per hour. Please don’t get me wrong, we still have a very good job! But it’s not Apples to Apples.

 

[Jaygti]

ive told a few custies how we sometimes sell work on to someone else. they could not believe it. they did not realise that we can make money by selling customers on to a new windie. same with our wages some would be gob smacked if they knew how much per hr we can make. Most will think we are not worth that per hr / This is why we do it .

The hourly rate looks good, when you take into account-no holiday pay, no sick pay, no pension contributions, bad weather , van overheads, cleaning equipment and unpayed work, such as accounts, filling tank, changing resin and filters, etc it’s nowhere near as good.

 

[spruce]

ive told a few custies how we sometimes sell work on to someone else. they could not believe it. they did not realise that we can make money by selling customers on to a new windie. same with our wages some would be gob smacked if they knew how much per hr we can make. Most will think we are not worth that per hr / This is why we do it .

I think you have to be very careful due to the latest data protection regulations. The moment you sell personal data, you come into conflict with these data protection laws. Our customers have the right and the power to take control of the data you have on them. Telling them you are selling that data to another window cleaner is opening a can of worms.

This is why it is important for you to introduce the new window cleaner to each of your customers and possibly to work alongside for a clean. The way I see it is that you need to get each customer's permission to transfer their data to another window cleaner.

 

[Base Window Cleaners]

Buy it.
1 round averages say £1500 Monthly
£18000 per year
Cost to take over the round £3000
6 Fold Profit on the investment
Leave the windows perfect on the first clean - everyone is happy - you earn £1500
Second clean £1500 - Investment paid off
Take the seller with you on the first round and say you are taking over the job.
When you are in that area you will pick up more customers
In April put the price up £1 or £2 or £3
Go get it.