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Should I be concerned?

ECLM
WCF

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Part Timer said:
I have a very easy rule of thumb regarding pricing which is if I lost the job because someone was cheaper would it bother me. If the answer is yes then I will lower the price. Time is obviously the major factor on pricing but other factors come into play as well.
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Again, I agree there are other factors in play.  I think I have factored these in and I'm more than happy with £35 for this job that is local to other jobs.  I have yet to lose a job because someone is cheaper than me but I'm not sure I would lower the price to retain them.

 
cleaniac said:
So there you go, pricing is subjective in a free market. Unfortunately we over the last 30 years have  been programmed by the media in this Marxists, communistic way that a certain price is a rip off, and your a criminal for earning over x amount per hour. 
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I don't think it's criminal to earn over x amount per hour because there are ways to maximise our income (compact rounds etc).  I just don't think I want to price myself out of work by charging too much for individual jobs.  

I'm currently reviewing my work and am in the process of aligning some customers to my current rate, and optimising my rounds by having everyone of the same interval.  This is my way of increasing my income without having any sense that I'm pricing myself out of work ?

 
I personally price my jobs across the services I offer down to what is my time worth.

If you've ever had a job where your employer pays you peanuts.. sorry national minimum wage you'll want to gain a far greater income by self employment and having some extra pennies for yourself 

Be honest work hard and reap the rewards 

 
Davy G said:
It is very important to not be timid in business. Sometimes it might not always be easy to hold the nerve with pricing and people wanting to push out frequency for the same rate... Hold the line anyway.
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I quite agree a few years ago I had a customer ask me how much to clean the plastics on her house told her it would be £150 she said that’s to much I will find someone else , no problem carry on , about 6 months later she asked me to do them , I said I have had a price rise since I said £150 it will now be £175 she said you better do it quick before the price goes up again ??? just goes to show sticking to your guns is worth while , I have had quite a few ask for prices and they say it’s to much I will find someone else and then a short while later they phone up wanting the job done ime  not sure if they couldn’t find anyone else to do it or if they were dearer than me ??

 
Pjj said:
I quite agree a few years ago I had a customer ask me how much to clean the plastics on her house told her it would be £150 she said that’s to much I will find someone else , no problem carry on , about 6 months later she asked me to do them , I said I have had a price rise since I said £150 it will now be £175 she said you better do it quick before the price goes up again ??? just goes to show sticking to your guns is worth while , I have had quite a few ask for prices and they say it’s to much I will find someone else and then a short while later they phone up wanting the job done ime  not sure if they couldn’t find anyone else to do it or if they were dearer than me ??
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Some people have no idea that your overheads, living costs, fuel and time costs money and you have to increase prices as your paying more 

 
NewGuy said:
I don't think it's criminal to earn over x amount per hour because there are ways to maximise our income (compact rounds etc).  I just don't think I want to price myself out of work by charging too much for individual jobs.  

I'm currently reviewing my work and am in the process of aligning some customers to my current rate, and optimising my rounds by having everyone of the same interval.  This is my way of increasing my income without having any sense that I'm pricing myself out of work ?
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I have a question for you, how many clients do you have on your rounds? What's the average length of time they have been on your books?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Another thing I have just found out is what month it is makes a massive difference on add-ons. Say someone calls for a pvc clean in December well they are not going to be that bothered unless they are selling their house. Say they call in June then they will want it done quick because everyone is outside and will see it. If you price a tad to high they may try and get someone else to do it but plenty of work going about and not many folk that interested to do it. I've dodged folk and next year in the summer they have called me again because they can't get anyone else to do work for them because they want it on the cheap and I need to dodge them again. You can make good money May, June, July and August when most outside work is wanted done.

 
swc1 said:
I have a question for you, how many clients do you have on your rounds? What's the average length of time they have been on your books?
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If you're trying to determine if the timing is wrong for a new guy like me, I would mostly agree with you.  It makes sense to do what I'm doing when one has a full round and customers have been on my books for some time.

Last year was a steep learning curve.  I have picked up some great jobs and they are good payers.  However, I have got some unreliable customers, some that are just going to be a pain, some that only want 8 weekly because they cannot afford to pay.  Admittedly, there are some jobs that I know are under valued and I simply do not want to do them.

I have implemented a new regime this year.  Last year I think I got desperate in trying to sign up customers due to the pandemic and working part time due to the school closures.  This afforded me plenty of time to analyse what I have been doing, hence implementing my new regime - this consist of streamlining my intervals and being stricter with pricing.

I initially decided to leave my current customers as they are whilst concentrating on the new ones.  However, this is simply prolonging the issues with some of my current customers to deal with at a later date.

I have therefore decided to take 2 steps back, in order to take 4 steps forwards.  There will be some short term loss here.  However, I have only lost a handful of customers, the ones that I wanted to lose.  Everyone who I had hoped to keep are still on board.  They are all on 6 weekly now, some have had price increases, some prices have stayed the same (but shorter intervals).  The ones that I have lost are the 12-weeklys but these jobs were priced too low given the longer intervals.  I have lost one 8-weekly that was only a £15 job (again, priced wrong).  Last year, I did not stagger prices for differing intervals.  I have also dropped a few as their location wasn't working for me.

So yes, many of my customers have been with me for less than a year.  You could argue that I ought to have waited a little longer or wait until these customers have been on my books for a certain time.  However, I explained to my customers that the review of my business was done because I have been operational for a year - it was an annual review and changes will be implemented across the board rather than on an ad hoc basis for each customer.  It's much more efficient for me to do it in one big hit.  It should be noted that my changes are not affecting ALL my customers - just the ones that needs attention.

I am therefore down around 20 customers since I started but my revenue has increased by around 15%.  I still have some further customers to contact but these ones are mainly to shift them onto 6 weekly from 8 weekly.  I'm expecting to lose a few more but I do know the majority are loyal to me and do not want to lose me.  

I need to be in a certain position financially within the next 12 months.  I did not want to be in a position where I will lose a group of customers then.  For me personally, I was and am willing to chance it now and am prepared to lose some jobs.  I don't mind.  

As I say, I'm taking a few steps backward in order to progress more smartly going forward.  I am doing so without alienating the customers that I want to retain.

 
NewGuy said:
If you're trying to determine if the timing is wrong for a new guy like me, I would mostly agree with you.  It makes sense to do what I'm doing when one has a full round and customers have been on my books for some time.

Last year was a steep learning curve.  I have picked up some great jobs and they are good payers.  However, I have got some unreliable customers, some that are just going to be a pain, some that only want 8 weekly because they cannot afford to pay.  Admittedly, there are some jobs that I know are under valued and I simply do not want to do them.

I have implemented a new regime this year.  Last year I think I got desperate in trying to sign up customers due to the pandemic and working part time due to the school closures.  This afforded me plenty of time to analyse what I have been doing, hence implementing my new regime - this consist of streamlining my intervals and being stricter with pricing.

I initially decided to leave my current customers as they are whilst concentrating on the new ones.  However, this is simply prolonging the issues with some of my current customers to deal with at a later date.

I have therefore decided to take 2 steps back, in order to take 4 steps forwards.  There will be some short term loss here.  However, I have only lost a handful of customers, the ones that I wanted to lose.  Everyone who I had hoped to keep are still on board.  They are all on 6 weekly now, some have had price increases, some prices have stayed the same (but shorter intervals).  The ones that I have lost are the 12-weeklys but these jobs were priced too low given the longer intervals.  I have lost one 8-weekly that was only a £15 job (again, priced wrong).  Last year, I did not stagger prices for differing intervals.  I have also dropped a few as their location wasn't working for me.

So yes, many of my customers have been with me for less than a year.  You could argue that I ought to have waited a little longer or wait until these customers have been on my books for a certain time.  However, I explained to my customers that the review of my business was done because I have been operational for a year - it was an annual review and changes will be implemented across the board rather than on an ad hoc basis for each customer.  It's much more efficient for me to do it in one big hit.  It should be noted that my changes are not affecting ALL my customers - just the ones that needs attention.

I am therefore down around 20 customers since I started but my revenue has increased by around 15%.  I still have some further customers to contact but these ones are mainly to shift them onto 6 weekly from 8 weekly.  I'm expecting to lose a few more but I do know the majority are loyal to me and do not want to lose me.  

I need to be in a certain position financially within the next 12 months.  I did not want to be in a position where I will lose a group of customers then.  For me personally, I was and am willing to chance it now and am prepared to lose some jobs.  I don't mind.  

As I say, I'm taking a few steps backward in order to progress more smartly going forward.  I am doing so without alienating the customers that I want to retain.
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@NewGuyno it wasnt the notion that your tryin to fine tune the clients you currently have on the books. 

This is just a view from someone looking at your business from an outside view... 

From everything your posting you seem to have a decent outlook and plan for your business, but I notice your really over thinking things. You have pricing and your round frequency that you prefer in place. The thing that your missing is the big picture view.

Your striving to build a business but your focusing to much energy on the 20 clients you have, in the whole scheme of thing 20 clients is nothing, you have notified all of them of your current changes so let them  fall into place.

Focus on building new clients with the same focus you are spending on the clients that already have on your books. 

I understand you need to go at it a little different then some but In my opinion it's time to step up your game and focus on building a great marketing system that fit your needs and make your marketing (rinse and repeat.) 

This industry is about "time."

For your businesses to grow you need to focus your time on marketing to new clients until you reach your perfect scenario.

I've seen many many people hyper focus on little things and it was there down fall in business.

I think you have what is needed to succeed. Keep the view on the big picture for awhile until your books overflowing. 

Hope this helps you some how.

 
NewGuy said:
If you're trying to determine if the timing is wrong for a new guy like me, I would mostly agree with you.  It makes sense to do what I'm doing when one has a full round and customers have been on my books for some time.

Last year was a steep learning curve.  I have picked up some great jobs and they are good payers.  However, I have got some unreliable customers, some that are just going to be a pain, some that only want 8 weekly because they cannot afford to pay.  Admittedly, there are some jobs that I know are under valued and I simply do not want to do them.

I have implemented a new regime this year.  Last year I think I got desperate in trying to sign up customers due to the pandemic and working part time due to the school closures.  This afforded me plenty of time to analyse what I have been doing, hence implementing my new regime - this consist of streamlining my intervals and being stricter with pricing.

I initially decided to leave my current customers as they are whilst concentrating on the new ones.  However, this is simply prolonging the issues with some of my current customers to deal with at a later date.

I have therefore decided to take 2 steps back, in order to take 4 steps forwards.  There will be some short term loss here.  However, I have only lost a handful of customers, the ones that I wanted to lose.  Everyone who I had hoped to keep are still on board.  They are all on 6 weekly now, some have had price increases, some prices have stayed the same (but shorter intervals).  The ones that I have lost are the 12-weeklys but these jobs were priced too low given the longer intervals.  I have lost one 8-weekly that was only a £15 job (again, priced wrong).  Last year, I did not stagger prices for differing intervals.  I have also dropped a few as their location wasn't working for me.

So yes, many of my customers have been with me for less than a year.  You could argue that I ought to have waited a little longer or wait until these customers have been on my books for a certain time.  However, I explained to my customers that the review of my business was done because I have been operational for a year - it was an annual review and changes will be implemented across the board rather than on an ad hoc basis for each customer.  It's much more efficient for me to do it in one big hit.  It should be noted that my changes are not affecting ALL my customers - just the ones that needs attention.

I am therefore down around 20 customers since I started but my revenue has increased by around 15%.  I still have some further customers to contact but these ones are mainly to shift them onto 6 weekly from 8 weekly.  I'm expecting to lose a few more but I do know the majority are loyal to me and do not want to lose me.  

I need to be in a certain position financially within the next 12 months.  I did not want to be in a position where I will lose a group of customers then.  For me personally, I was and am willing to chance it now and am prepared to lose some jobs.  I don't mind.  

As I say, I'm taking a few steps backward in order to progress more smartly going forward.  I am doing so without alienating the customers that I want to retain.
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The sooner you move them to what you want the better from my experience. I’ve been going for 4 and a half years and been in the process of moving everyone to 6 weekly. My drop off rate has been higher than everyone else I’ve seen do it. Part of that I put down to being more expensive that a lot of cleaners in my area, partly because most cleaners around me seem to offer 4 or 8 weekly and finally  as DavyG said,  I believe another issue is the fact I’d been doing them on an 8 weekly cleaning cycle for so long. 
 

As @swc1has suggested I’m putting more effort now in to acquiring new customers on the new cycle. I’ve updated the website to say that I offer ‘regular 6 weekly, or one off cleans’ to help filter the enquiries that come through to me. 
 

Your Facebook campaign has been doing well so I’ve no doubt the short term extra effort now will be worth it in no time. 

 
NewGuy said:
If you're trying to determine if the timing is wrong for a new guy like me, I would mostly agree with you.  It makes sense to do what I'm doing when one has a full round and customers have been on my books for some time.

Last year was a steep learning curve.  I have picked up some great jobs and they are good payers.  However, I have got some unreliable customers, some that are just going to be a pain, some that only want 8 weekly because they cannot afford to pay.  Admittedly, there are some jobs that I know are under valued and I simply do not want to do them.

I have implemented a new regime this year.  Last year I think I got desperate in trying to sign up customers due to the pandemic and working part time due to the school closures.  This afforded me plenty of time to analyse what I have been doing, hence implementing my new regime - this consist of streamlining my intervals and being stricter with pricing.

I initially decided to leave my current customers as they are whilst concentrating on the new ones.  However, this is simply prolonging the issues with some of my current customers to deal with at a later date.

I have therefore decided to take 2 steps back, in order to take 4 steps forwards.  There will be some short term loss here.  However, I have only lost a handful of customers, the ones that I wanted to lose.  Everyone who I had hoped to keep are still on board.  They are all on 6 weekly now, some have had price increases, some prices have stayed the same (but shorter intervals).  The ones that I have lost are the 12-weeklys but these jobs were priced too low given the longer intervals.  I have lost one 8-weekly that was only a £15 job (again, priced wrong).  Last year, I did not stagger prices for differing intervals.  I have also dropped a few as their location wasn't working for me.

So yes, many of my customers have been with me for less than a year.  You could argue that I ought to have waited a little longer or wait until these customers have been on my books for a certain time.  However, I explained to my customers that the review of my business was done because I have been operational for a year - it was an annual review and changes will be implemented across the board rather than on an ad hoc basis for each customer.  It's much more efficient for me to do it in one big hit.  It should be noted that my changes are not affecting ALL my customers - just the ones that needs attention.

I am therefore down around 20 customers since I started but my revenue has increased by around 15%.  I still have some further customers to contact but these ones are mainly to shift them onto 6 weekly from 8 weekly.  I'm expecting to lose a few more but I do know the majority are loyal to me and do not want to lose me.  

I need to be in a certain position financially within the next 12 months.  I did not want to be in a position where I will lose a group of customers then.  For me personally, I was and am willing to chance it now and am prepared to lose some jobs.  I don't mind.  

As I say, I'm taking a few steps backward in order to progress more smartly going forward.  I am doing so without alienating the customers that I want to retain.
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Ok. I'm going to help here with a bit of advice new guy. 

You need to keep filling that funnel, 20 customers is no where near enough to maintain momentum, and to be in business for a year with just that amount of customers to be honest it's not going to work at that rate, in one year I would expect at least 150 new customers with an active new business push going.

I say it takes at least 4 years to start seeing 'stable' rounds. In that time your 20 customers will translate to probably 7 or 8 stable customers, and then another 4 years those 7 or 8 will be around 5 or 6 and so on..

So you really need to be getting the numbers through the door and getting the work stabilized to even have an audience, you don't have one yet and your thinking of strategic planning, price rises, honing and all that...You don't even have a customer base to work with yet, that's the sort of thing you do when you have a few hundred regular customers..not 20. 

 
swc1 said:
Your striving to build a business but your focusing to much energy on the 20 clients you have, in the whole scheme of thing 20 clients is nothing, you have notified all of them of your current changes so let them  fall into place.
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cleaniac said:
ou need to keep filling that funnel, 20 customers is no where near enough to maintain momentum
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I'm reading it that he has lost 20 customers, I might be wrong so a bit of clarification @NewGuy might help.

 

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