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Should I be concerned?

ECLM
WCF

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NewGuy said:
Hi

I quoted a bungalow yesterday at £40 and told the owner it's 6 weekly only.

She texted me today and asked that I add her to my round for every 6 weeks initially.

I didn't quote a "first clean" price as I will only do so where I feel the job will take far more time than a regular clean.

But her using "initially" has set alarm bells ringing and thinking she's only going to use me for one clean only.  This is why I ought have have quoted a "first clean" price (I know, I know!). 

Would anyone else be concerned about the use of "initially"?

I think I'm going to decline the job on the basis of this singular word.  

I'm curious as to what others would do in this instance.
Click to expand...
No one knows for sure if the new customer we take on is going to be a messer or not.

We have to prove ourselves to them in the same way they have to prove themselves to us. This takes time.

This is why we opt for an initial first clean price. If the regular clean requested turns into a one off then you haven't lost out too much financially. She might not like you or the job you do so she is covering her bases. No problem with that. If she fails the test then at least you have 'dodged a bullet' early in the business relationship.

We have all been caught with regular cleans turning out to be one offs. I've even had a few text messages a couple of weeks after the clean cancelling our service. Don't beat yourself up if this happens to you. Just move on with your proverbial head held high. It's all part of the sifting process.

 
I don't worry about what customers might or might NOT do in the future. I focus on what work I have in the diary for that day and the next. Life and work can change at a minutes notice and I cant be worrying about something or someone in weeks ahead..

 
Patrick Flaherty said:
I don't worry about what customers might or might NOT do in the future. I focus on what work I have in the diary for that day and the next. Life and work can change at a minutes notice and I cant be worrying about something or someone in weeks ahead..
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This is completely different to how I work. My round is pretty much full so when and if I take a customer on at this point I'm also vetting them and their property just as much as they are me. For me this job is a marathon not a sprint so I'm looking for potential long term customers. I do agree about the life can change in a minutes notice though that is certainly true!

 
Yep, my focus is on securing long term customers and therefore look at the bigger picture. I don't focus on what I'm earning on a given day. My focus is on what I could potentially earn over the course of the year. 

If customers only want a one off clean, I'll charge them double. I don't want customers to hire me on the premise of a long term service and dump me immediately after the first clean purely to secure a cheaper rate. 

It's a different matter if I get dumped because circumstances change or they are not happy with me. 

 
I generally do not quote a 1st clean price if the customer has made it clear that they want a regular clean. 

I just go in at the price I want to get, no less. 

Now £40 for a bungalow imo is well priced, and isn't cheap, even by Surrey standards.

The fact that she has agreed to go ahead at that price shows me that she is a customer who cares about the look of her property, and her saying" inntally" indicates to me that she is hoping your not going to let her down with shoddy work, or tardiness.

Even if it takes you an hour and a half £40 is still much better than most earn for the same time worked in a full time job with more responsibilities. By the time you have done a few cleans it will probably take you 20 mins. 

The next thing you need to do aggressively canvass, and leaflet drop her immediate neighbours. Compact, fast, high priced work is what you want.

You don't want to be one of those local window cleaners with a flashy van etc, always driving about. Time on the road is money lost in the pocket. It might look like being busy to everyone else, but you can't kid experienced window cleaners who know otherwise.

Nothing like only doing 6 miles for the day having completed a whole road of houses in 4 hours.

Work smart. That's what i say!!!!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Suhrly said:
This is completely different to how I work. My round is pretty much full so when and if I take a customer on at this point I'm also vetting them and their property just as much as they are me. For me this job is a marathon not a sprint so I'm looking for potential long term customers. I do agree about the life can change in a minutes notice though that is certainly true!
Click to expand...
I'm the same. Always looking at the road ahead, not down at my feet. I've got to be trying to plan ahead and achieve something. Though when I'm resting I can do nothing with gusto. Plans change of course as life throws down different challenges.

My father was totally different. No real plans. Always chasing the short term money and very good at getting it, but never had the wisdom or foresight to build on it. As soon as things started to go well he'd ease off the pedal and come to a stop. Go back to nothing and then start some other short term venture to come to nothing, and so it went on.

He bought a small farm on the west coast of Ireland in the late 1960s. He paid £1000 for 17 acres of good dry land with two simple cottages and a well. A beautiful view out over the Atlantic to Mutton Island. You could throw a stone into the sea from it and it had a beautiful, long golden beach a quarter mile to one side and another one two hundred yards from the other side. A prime site for a small working farm and/or an equestrian centre or holiday park for camping. He did nothing with it, sold it after a couple of years for £3000. The buyer straightaway sold the site for one bungalow for more than he paid my father for the whole farm. The £3000 was frittered away. My father had little more than the clothes he stood in for the rest of his life.

 
cleaniac said:
I generally do not quote a 1st clean price if the customer has made it clear that they want a regular clean. 

I just go in at the price I want to get, no less. 

Now £40 for a bungalow imo is well priced, and isn't cheap, even by Surrey standards.

The fact that she has agreed to go ahead at that price shows me that she is a customer who cares about the look of her property, and her saying" inntally" indicates to me that she is hoping your not going to let her down with shoddy work, or tardiness.

Even if it takes you an hour and a half £40 is still much better than most earn for the same time worked in a full time job with more responsibilities. By the time you have done a few cleans it will probably take you 20 mins. 

The next thing you need to do aggressively canvass, and leaflet drop her immediate neighbours. Compact, fast, high priced work is what you want.

You don't want to be one of those local window cleaners with a flashy van etc, always driving about. Time on the road is money lost in the pocket. It might look like being busy to everyone else, but you can't kid experienced window cleaners who know otherwise.

Nothing like only doing 6 miles for the day having completed a whole road of houses in 4 hours.

Work smart. That's what i say!!!!
Click to expand...
I had a nice reply typed out for you and then accidentally deleted it...can't be bothered to re-type but yes, thanks for your views ?

PS - re the "work smart" comment. Trust me I am but a compact round will take years of work. Give me time!

 
Crystalalan said:
Its weird isn`t it sometimes celebs are totally different to how they are on TV. Apparently Gordon Ramsay is really calm and pleasant in real life. Maybe he acts up for the cameras on purpose to make for good viewing.
Click to expand...
? Annie his wife, she was scary. You didn't want to be missing out windows on her watch..

 
NewGuy said:
Hi

I quoted a bungalow yesterday at £40 and told the owner it's 6 weekly only.

She texted me today and asked that I add her to my round for every 6 weeks initially.

I didn't quote a "first clean" price as I will only do so where I feel the job will take far more time than a regular clean.

But her using "initially" has set alarm bells ringing and thinking she's only going to use me for one clean only.  This is why I ought have have quoted a "first clean" price (I know, I know!). 

Would anyone else be concerned about the use of "initially"?

I think I'm going to decline the job on the basis of this singular word.  

I'm curious as to what others would do in this instance.
Click to expand...
I carry out an awful lot of one off cleans for estate agents, those moving house and retail

The way I see it is it's all money coming in to pay the bills.

You're not always going to attract the regular repeat customer, Don't be offended if they don't use you again, its money in the pocket mate 

 
Apw1210 said:
I carry out an awful lot of one off cleans for estate agents, those moving house and retail

The way I see it is it's all money coming in to pay the bills.

You're not always going to attract the regular repeat customer, Don't be offended if they don't use you again, its money in the pocket mate 
Click to expand...
I used to avoid one offs as I was chasing the repeat business but then I realised the same thing, it’s all money, charge properly and tag them onto a local round and you’re quids in, rarely do they take that much longer anyway!

 

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