Too regular ?

[dazmond]

Remember every job costs US money to drive there,clean their windows and chase payments....

We need to get paid on a regular basis or we go to the wall....simple as that.

 

[spruce]

Remember every job costs US money to drive there,clean their windows and chase payments....

We need to get paid on a regular basis or we go to the wall....simple as that.

I agree. One bad year, each customer cost me £2.45 to clean in expenses alone to rock up for the clean, which didn't account for time and wage costs.

But some customers put their proverbial ostriches' head in the sand (they don't) and pretend they don't have a problem until the sky falls down on them.

It's only when the debts mount up that they go into panic mode. It's usually too late then. Then are those who just know how to play the financial system. We don't want those as customers, either. The way we find them is when they don't pay us. We don't get caught a second time with them. We don't do credit checks on each new customer.

I dumped a slow payer recently. I discovered she had registered herself as a limited company. I'm not too sure how bad debt would work in her case, so I decided to end our business relationship. (The director/s of limited companies aren't personally responsible for the debt they create; their business is. How that would apply to a named individual as a limited company, I don't know. But I'm not going to find out after I'm a clean down.)

This is why we don't clean again until payment has been received for the previous clean. If they take time to pay for their clean, then I get nervous. At one time we went to 2 cleans, but not now. I have only ever had one customer phone me and cancel, advising that she is skint. So many others make some stupid excuse blaming me for the payment delay.

Our bad debt is extremely low every year. I'm not going to lose sleep over the odd non-payment. If someone has messed us around with payment, I will suck it up until payment comes. Then I will drop them.

 

[Iron Giant]

We can't second guess what's happening in a person's financial situation but I need to get across that I'm running a business and need to set out basic rules of how I operate to keep my business viable...

I've been guilty of being too soft in the past with certain customers and I've found out that they were not as skint as they made out to be when they skipped cleans or were very late in paying me AGAIN(luxury holidays abroad etc)and as soon as it was price rise time they dumped me because I was over their idea of what they were willing to pay for a window cleaning service

I've also had customers who just can't tell me to my face they can't afford me and are in financial difficulty and ending up paying me very late after numerous reminders again and again after being good solid customers for many years with no problems

I've recently dumped a long time customer who owed me £66-00. I got my money after 4 months but no apology,3 text reminders and 2 letters sent through the post. He always promised to pay me when I seen him but would not use my card machine,no cash on him and always promised to 'wire me the money now' but ignored all correspondence...

I'm sure most of us have all been through this over the years, what still baffles me to this day is the ones who drop saying they have had a change of circumstances and need to cancel then within 6 months there are two brand new cars on the drive,

They will have dropped me because they think my prices have reached a limit at which they aren't willing to pay but in the grand scheme of things £2 extra a month is a lot less than two brand new cars,

A former customer whom I have known most of my life and was always a slow payer but I let it slide because I have known her since we were kids and I always got my money albeit usually waiting 3 weeks, in April my final text let her know she would have to sign up to GoCardless or she would be removed from my rounds, I heard nothing back, until 3 weeks ago asking if I was still cleaning her windows this was after 9 years I am surprised I put up with it so long,

Then not long after I saw that she had written a glowing review for her new window cleaner on Facebook I must have asked quite a few times over the years and just like my text reminders for payment they got ignored

 

[chad]

View attachment 30870
Clean the whole house trad aswell , its never looked so good

View attachment 30870
Clean the whole house trad aswell , its never looked so good

 

[chad]

Sounds like goodbye from me

Jog her on mate. Waste of your precious time

 

[chad]

Agreed i have around 20 houses on her street so am going to stop completely and let them approach me when they are ready and then they will be hit with the one off clean pricing

20 good paying regulars on same street. They pay your bills ! she thinks she is doing you a favour.You answered it yourself mate.Jog her on, and dont give it a second thought.

 

[chad]

How you treat a customer depends on your personality and the type of person you are.

When I was a kid about 65 plus years ago, we had a friend who was a welder on Mufulira copper mine on the Copperbelt in what is now Zambia.
He was in his forties back then and did weight lifting most afternoons after work. He was all muscle. At least, that what we as children perceived him to be like. He said what he liked, and no one dared to challenge him. Maybe that's what gave him his confidence.

Not every one of us can have the verbal confidence like you have because we haven't the strength and body shape to send a message that nobody messes us around.

Some customer's nonsense you put up with longer than others. It's the way business relationships work. If you can't afford to lose that customer, then you might stick with him a little longer. I agreed with @P4dstar , tell them to let you know when they want cleaning again, and you will try to fit them in. If they call back, then give them a new one of price. We have found when a customer asks for 2 consecutive cleans to be cancelled, they are under financial pressure. We don't usually hear from them again when we ask them to call us. Problem solved.

Some people maybe struggling financially now or their financial future, perceived or not, doesn't look great. We are going to get more and more asking for an extended cleaning schedule. We have had a long term commercial customer cancel winter cleaning for his business and his house cleaning over winter to be done when requested. Previously it had to be done every 4 weeks, come what may.

We had another customer we had for nearly 18 years go bad. Her husband was divorcing her. Suddenly her whole financial situation changed. "I'm out of here, and you are on your own now." She messed around being a mobile hairdresser, but relied on his income for nearly everything. She had everything, then, suddenly, nothing. She had all her eggs in his basket, and he found a younger chick while working away in Sweden.

How you treat a customer depends on your personality and the type of person you are.

When I was a kid about 65 plus years ago, we had a friend who was a welder on Mufulira copper mine on the Copperbelt in what is now Zambia.
He was in his forties back then and did weight lifting most afternoons after work. He was all muscle. At least, that what we as children perceived him to be like. He said what he liked, and no one dared to challenge him. Maybe that's what gave him his confidence.

Not every one of us can have the verbal confidence like you have because we haven't the strength and body shape to send a message that nobody messes us around.

Some customer's nonsense you put up with longer than others. It's the way business relationships work. If you can't afford to lose that customer, then you might stick with him a little longer. I agreed with @P4dstar , tell them to let you know when they want cleaning again, and you will try to fit them in. If they call back, then give them a new one of price. We have found when a customer asks for 2 consecutive cleans to be cancelled, they are under financial pressure. We don't usually hear from them again when we ask them to call us. Problem solved.

Some people maybe struggling financially now or their financial future, perceived or not, doesn't look great. We are going to get more and more asking for an extended cleaning schedule. We have had a long term commercial customer cancel winter cleaning for his business and his house cleaning over winter to be done when requested. Previously it had to be done every 4 weeks, come what may.

We had another customer we had for nearly 18 years go bad. Her husband was divorcing her. Suddenly her whole financial situation changed. "I'm out of here, and you are on your own now." She messed around being a mobile hairdresser, but relied on his income for nearly everything. She had everything, then, suddenly, nothing. She had all her eggs in his basket, and he found a younger chick while working away in Sweden.

Great speaker sir. Very well thought and spoken

 

[johnny bravo]

Harsh JB! If someone is buying your work they’re in need of work. They’re in need of work because they need to be paid. I should hope you don’t actually do that, certainly don’t advocate for it.

They are customers that still pay just not straight after the clean. If they owe 2 cleans they do pay. Ive been at it too long now. i have a chap i pass work onto and hes very happy with the extra customers i pass on to him .
I dont have bad customers just a few who need reminding

 

[BigFoot]

Agreed i have around 20 houses on her street so am going to stop completely and let them approach me when they are ready and then they will be hit with the one off clean pricing

Good choice if you have a number of customers on the same street it could creat a catalyst for others changing cleaning schedule. I usually let them know I only clean to my 4weekly schedule as it’s logistical most accept and keep to schedule some don’t and I have to swallow that but you have to run the buisness not the other way round. Best of luck