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Lost a Custie to VISON!

adamangler

Wakefield Window Warrior
Messages
4,263
Location
Wakefield
At least im guessing its vision, any other additives it could be?

Went to a custies this morning, (big house decent paying job but never pay online and always have to chase for brass)

Anyway there fussy, have you done this bit that bit etc (too much brass)

Missus comes out as i pull up, can you wait 2 mins my husbands on his way home he wants to speak to you, ok....anyway he gets there says weve had a free clean from this company (massive company) and they used an additive in the water and we think its done a better job, windows look shinier etc.

I told them its something ive heard of but debated whether its any good or not. Custie insisted it was a better shine especially on the conny where it gets a lot of light. He said there perfectly clean when youve been they just dont have this shine.

Anyway he asked if i could do the same, i said to be honest no its not worth me buying and experimenting for one custie besides ive none on me now anyway. He said can you leave it and i will let you know what the wife wants to do later.

I said (after advice on here about taking no shite) no thanks ill leave it to the other company.

Now, im a bit gutted as it was one of my best priced jobs however i never liked doing them as they were fussy so meh..

I was a bit annoyed theyd been trying another company out in the first place, i get the feeling theyre just fussy people with too much money and didnt really appreciate getting turned away, why they couldnt have rang me to let me know ive no idea.

BUT got me thinking about using an additive, vision or whatever, would you guys consider using something in the same situation? or should i just forget about it and carry on with just pure?

 
I don't know anything about additives per se, but wouldn't have thought you can get cleaner than a good clean with pure water? (Or good squeegee work).

Technically an additive left on would be adding a surface layer and not relevant to the clean.

I don't think its bad they tried another firm in principle.

I've seen some houses; they claim are being cleaned every two-four weeks the jobs very bad if they're not lying and I'd rather they tried me, but loyalty stops them.

I bet your work is good, but in principle if a customer isn't happy they should try out other sources. As I say, I'm sure in your example they're just fussy ones and you couldn't please them if you were wagga with a platinum wagtail

 
They sound awkward. Good riddance. Replace them with loyal no nonsense customers.

 
Sometimes this job does kick you in the balls. They tried another company who did them for free! The free bit sounds iffy to me and they have probably undercut you Adam.

I have a story from yesterday. I 'had' 4 bungalows in a small cul-de-sac. Last month one died, leaving 3 to clean this month, or so I thought. I picked the 4th one up about 3 months ago and said I would ring the night before. Anyway, on Monday I get a text saying to leave them in the future as it wasn't working out. WTF I thought. So I text back and ask why. She texts back after a day saying they would like a weeks notice so they can arrange to do things. Apparently they stayed in all day once waiting for me :confused:. So I thought meh to that one. Soooo yesterday I turn up at the next door neighbours to clean. I've been cleaning for her for a long time, I always get a cuppa and a natter. She hands me my cuppa and says this will have to be the last time today. My first thought was she was moving or going in a home. Oh, why is that then I asked. My grandson is moving in with me and has bought an old house to do up and will be doing odd jobs for me for extra cash. If he doesn't do a very good job, I've got your number and I'll be in touch. I saw red, I said to her in mid conversation, could you just close the door while I clean that and then I'm done. I cleaned it, left a full cup of tea, reeled my hose in and went.

The silly thing is that I saw her as one of my most loyal customers! But, 2 doors have closed and 3 have opened up this week, so **** em!

There is no such thing as loyalty! If you can, keep them all at arms length.

Glad I got that off my chest /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
I lost one (£25 job) a few weeks ago with the 'my son will do them for me' excuse. Initially I was a little annoyed and started to consider my pricing, my method, had I said or done something to upset them.

The next day I went to do another £25 in the same village and got asked by the neighbour. I did that one and gained the neighbour on the other side. So I lost a £25 job and gained 2 x £25 jobs in the same village.

Just the way it is. I will say though, that if they leave me there is no return,..ever.

 
Sometimes this job does kick you in the balls. They tried another company who did them for free! The free bit sounds iffy to me and they have probably undercut you Adam.
I have a story from yesterday. I 'had' 4 bungalows in a small cul-de-sac. Last month one died, leaving 3 to clean this month, or so I thought. I picked the 4th one up about 3 months ago and said I would ring the night before. Anyway, on Monday I get a text saying to leave them in the future as it wasn't working out. WTF I thought. So I text back and ask why. She texts back after a day saying they would like a weeks notice so they can arrange to do things. Apparently they stayed in all day once waiting for me :confused:. So I thought meh to that one. Soooo yesterday I turn up at the next door neighbours to clean. I've been cleaning for her for a long time, I always get a cuppa and a natter. She hands me my cuppa and says this will have to be the last time today. My first thought was she was moving or going in a home. Oh, why is that then I asked. My grandson is moving in with me and has bought an old house to do up and will be doing odd jobs for me for extra cash. If he doesn't do a very good job, I've got your number and I'll be in touch. I saw red, I said to her in mid conversation, could you just close the door while I clean that and then I'm done. I cleaned it, left a full cup of tea, reeled my hose in and went.

The silly thing is that I saw her as one of my most loyal customers! But, 2 doors have closed and 3 have opened up this week, so **** em!

There is no such thing as loyalty! If you can, keep them all at arms length.

Glad I got that off my chest /emoticons/biggrin.png
Can't see what the problem is? We all like to save money when possible it's her perrogative, I've been with Sky for 15 years but got sick of the £70 a month bill and cancelled, I wouldn't like to be regarded as disloyal by them?
 
I think it appears to change hydrophobic glass to hydrophilic.

There is an additive which makes hydrophobic glass turn hydrophilic
We have used an additive in the water and it doesn't make any difference IMO. If it breaks the surface tension of the water then it could appear to change the characteristic of the glass as the water will run off it better. Neither of us liked the globules of water on the windows that appeared to be dirt.

I put it into the tank without my son knowing and he complained that something was wrong with the water when he returned to the van from cleaning his first house of the day.

Another cleaner has convinced this customer that the additive he has put in his water is a magic cleaner and your customer bought it. People can sometimes be very gullible and your customer is an example.

A certain brush manufacture did the same on this website and convinced many people that his brushes were so good that you only needed one pass on the glass and no rinsing. And lots of cleaners bought that brush and believed in it.

An old friend of the family was a carpet cleaner. He had 2 cleaning machines. One was quite old, didn't work as it used to and made a lot of noise. The second one he had was new, did a far better job and was quiet. He told me that his customers were happier with the machine that made the noise. The noise convinced them that it was working better.

I agree with @SPC. At some point we are all going to lose our best job. If you put an additive in your water and go back to that customer you are always going to be on your back foot with them. They will always be asking themselves what else have you not done that you should be doing. Just let it go and move on with your head held high.

Maybe if you were using hot water then you could have thrown in the sales pitch Ionics use about cleaning dishes with cold water............................

 
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Can't see what the problem is? We all like to save money when possible it's her perrogative, I've been with Sky for 15 years but got sick of the £70 a month bill and cancelled, I wouldn't like to be regarded as disloyal by them?
i think with this game it can get a bit more personal than talking to sky over the phone. You can get quite friendly with some custies, now i prefer to just do the job and go and not get too friendly but having said that ive a few who i actually do like and have a good convo with. I would like to think of them as more loyal, the kind of custies who maybe would cut you some slack, if another cleaner came along they would turn them away or at least give you the opportunity to sort any issues. A mutual respect if you like.

 
I think it appears to change hydrophobic glass to hydrophilic.


We have used an additive in the water and it doesn't make any difference IMO. If it breaks the surface tension of the water then it could appear to change the characteristic of the glass as the water will run off it better. Neither of us liked the globules of water on the windows that appeared to be dirt.

I put it into the tank without my son knowing and he complained that something was wrong with the water when he returned to the van from cleaning his first house of the day.

Another cleaner has convinced this customer that the additive he has put in his water is a magic cleaner and your customer bought it. People can sometimes be very gullible and your customer is an example.

A certain brush manufacture did the same on this website and convinced many people that his brushes were so good that you only needed one pass on the glass and no rinsing. And lots of cleaners bought that brush and believed in it.

An old friend of the family was a carpet cleaner. He had 2 cleaning machines. One was quite old, didn't work as it used to and made a lot of noise. The second one he had was new, did a far better job and was quiet. He told me that his customers were happier with the machine that made the noise. The noise convinced them that it was working better.

I agree with @SPC. At some point we are all going to lose our best job. If you put an additive in your water and go back to that customer you are always going to be on your back foot with them. They will always be asking themselves what else have you not done that you should be doing. Just let it go and move on with your head held high.

Maybe if you were using hot water then you could have thrown in the sales pitch Ionics use about cleaning dishes with cold water.

I think maybe youve hit the nail on the head here, marketting. The only problem here is i had no come back to say its just hype as from what ive read some windys have said vision is great also if they are convinced its shinier i cant really say no its not youre kidding yourself lol. good lesson though.

 
This is Vision and you get all this for only £ 15-99 But it`s top secret don't tell any one about it ok:eek:

 

 

 

 


Vision’ pure water additive is the first in a long line of additives to help window cleaners achieve better and faster results with water fed pole window cleaning.


There is no doubt that pure water does a fantastic job at cleaning windows, but have you ever felt that you need that extra ‘oomf’ or power?

At Jigsaw innovations we believe that window cleaning with pure water technology can sometimes be a bit of a puzzle. Many window cleaners experience difficulties in achieving spot and streak free windows on a constant basis. This is because certain windows have always required different techniques to achieve a spot free clean. Just one of the differences among many others is hydrophobic (water hating) and hydrophillic (water loving) glass. We aim to help all WFP window cleaners to consistently achieve great results, while being able to work faster and earn more.

‘Vision’ pure water additive is designed to be added directly to pure water at a ratio of 1 millilitre per 100 litres of pure (1-100,000). At this ratio you will notice the brush head will glide along the glass very smoothly, while also making windows more hydrophillic than usual which really speeds up the final rinse. Another benefit is cleaning power! With ‘vision’ added to your water, stubborn marks like bird mess and snail trails will come off easier which speeds up your working day and helps achieve all round better results. We’ve even added a pleasant and natural aroma of citrus so you can instantly tell if it is mixed thoroughly in your pure water.

  • Faster cleaning
  • Great shine
  • Added cleaning power
  • Reduced spotting issues
  • Most windows become more Hydrophilic
  • Does not raise TDS
  • Just one 250mill bottle Will dose up to 25,000 litres of pure water
  • Can be used along with Isopropanol
  • View attachment 4563 IM usless at keeping secrets :feet:

 
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I think maybe youve hit the nail on the head here, marketting. The only problem here is i had no come back to say its just hype as from what ive read some windys have said vision is great also if they are convinced its shinier i cant really say no its not youre kidding yourself lol. good lesson though.
We hadn't been long in wfp when a neighbour across the road from my brother in law asked me if I would do their windows with my pole system. This was 10 years ago.

When I'd finished even I was amased at how those windows shone. In fact, the husband was home that day, it was a Monday and that's his day off and phoned his wife at work to tell her how clean and brilliant their windows were after I had cleaned them. No hot water, no additives, just pure water, a Teleplus pole and a Vikan oval brush.

In those early days I could see at a glance which houses I cleaned on the estate and which I didn't just by looking at the shine of the windows.

I bet the sun was shining just right on that day - a free clean is an added bonus and some marketing hyperbole. When did he do this free clean? Shortly after you had cleaned the previous weeks dirt off?

All our windows shine after they have been cleaned and dried off.

 
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i think with this game it can get a bit more personal than talking to sky over the phone. You can get quite friendly with some custies, now i prefer to just do the job and go and not get too friendly but having said that ive a few who i actually do like and have a good convo with. I would like to think of them as more loyal, the kind of custies who maybe would cut you some slack, if another cleaner came along they would turn them away or at least give you the opportunity to sort any issues. A mutual respect if you like.
I work with a lady and we get recommended because we are friendly, I believe you can't be too nice, always got time for a cuppa with the custy's, doesn't do us any harm, if we lose one we lose one, some mess you about but the trouble is window cleaners take it personally, I don't let it get to me now.

 
Reading the data sheet, sounds like it's just soap: negatively charged ion of a naturally derived fat, I.e. A soap like substance. Also with a citrus smell, sounds a bit like flash ;-)

 
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if we lose one we lose one, some mess you about but the trouble is window cleaners take it personally, I don't let it get to me now.
Your customer base is always going to be fluid - like the water we clean windows with.

I totally agree with you by not taking it personally.

An ex customer who dumped me offered me a cool drink when I was cleaning the neighbours. That fine. If they dumped me when they owed money with an excuse of poor workmanship etc., then I know that's rubbish and I won't take them back on at a later date. I will still talk to them but I find they will usually avoid me as they are embarrassed (I have 3 of those) which saves me the trouble.

 
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