"Help"Rescheduling Customers??

Hi All,

How do you handle the rescheduling customers? my example is this:

My Van decided it didn't want to play anymore on the way home on Thursday and spent the whole day Friday in the local Renault dealership having a pedicure LOL £100.25p later it decides to come home this morning

So ALL the customers I had scheduled for a clean on Friday will have to be done at some point this week[delusional], now this week I'm fully booked anyway but after a bit off juggling the customers around I've decided Ill do last Fridays customers this coming Wednesday! so in effect they will be 6 days late from the scheduled 8 weekly clean. I tell all my new customers that your cleans will always be 8weeks give or take 2-3 days either side of your last clean.

So the question is: In your opinion/experience how do your customers feel/react if their clean is a few days later/earlier than the agreed interval? I contacted them all explaining the situation on Friday and the one's who replied, replied along the lines of "absolutely no problem and thanks for letting us know".

I have no problem and I think nor will the customer about cleaning a few days later than the schedule dictated, but how would you guys handle the next clean? do you!

A: Carry out the clean and leave the schedule as it is, so in affect the next clean will now be in seven weeks rather than 8 weeks? and hope the customer doesn't notice/care?

OR

B: Carry out the clean and then re-input/reschedule the customers for a clean in 8 weeks time? (Something i find a bit of a pain to be honest).

I hope this makes sense????????????????

As always your opinions and advise will be very much appreciated as this is one of the few things I struggle with as i'm a bit "Anal[crazy]" and this side of me cant help but think 8weeks means 8weeks :wondering:

Cheers Greener

well i quite often have to do this as i work part time and with the weather being as it is sometimes its just not possible for me to do them every 4 weeks or 8 weeks as agreed, with the 4 weeklys i just put them down for 4 weeks form the day they got done, with the 8 weeklys i wouldnt bother and just do them in 7 weeks, customers would probably notice 3 weeks rather than 4 but i doubt any would bother too much about 7 rather than 8.

Its up to you though, if altering them from there original schedule is going to throw off your entire round then just apologise if they query it and say next time is going to be 3 weeks instead of 4 im afraid as my van broke down and most normal human being will be fine, if any do kick off then offer to reduce the price of the clean for that next time but i doubt it will come to that.

Or if say they were 6 days late, next time do them a couple of day earlier so there 4 days late, then 2 then back to normal

I just have all my work lists and schedule on my ipad.

I start at the start and finish at the end. Rinse and repeat. Usually bang on once a month as I work through the bad weather.

I find customers would only bat an eye lid if I was early. One week late and no one minds/cares.

Sorry to hear about your van trouble. As been mentioned already most don't give a fig if you are behind anyway.

However it's wise you don't put too much pressure on yourself trying to catch back as rushing about only lets your mate frank run rampant /emoticons/biggrin.png

I am always late. So mine are just glad I have appeared. No matter what I do I just can't keep it in line.

I thought using George would have helped, but after a few months seeing a block of red undone work just stresses me out. I do the oldest first but by the time that is done there are more falling behind.

I am decided to use excel and my own scheduling system. I will only schedule work Mon to Fri but make each day larger to match what I would have earnt. Then if there is a problem I can catch up on Friday and Saturday if needed.

If you are too strict with your schedule you just make a rod for your own back. Most people don't care half as much as you think they do, so don't worry about it. When I sell my service to a new customer, I call ita monthly round, but I say I can be anything between 4 and 6 weeks due to weather and other factors. People are always happy with this.

I am not usually behind but if i get delayed i just do it when i do it and then again when it is due 5 weeks after the time i actually cleaned them so i would just move them forward that amount on my spreadsheet

Only if i was so far behind that they went into the next week as i don't have dates on my jobs just week 1 week 2 etc

just do them on your next working day and shift the other days to the next and so forth if that makes sense

I have a few 'good earners' that have to be done on time. So those end up in my outlook calendar to ensure they get done. I foolishly make promises like, "I be there next week", now some good areas have been broken up and it has got complicated.

I have just had a two week holiday so I am well and truly done for now....

But I have a plan. Today I am looking at my customer base and pushing them back into sensible days. Some will be later still, whilst others quicker but I really need to sort it.

If I have a pre-booked large job I will do it as agreed but work the Friday to make up.

I don't mind being a week over but it can start running away from you.

just do them on your next working day and shift the other days to the next and so forth if that makes sense

Click to expand...

Yes it does, and I agree, but with George you can then end up with a number showing undone. If Saturday is your only free day it takes time to get it sorted again.

oh this is a george thing i just a spreadsheet lol /emoticons/tongue.png i decide when theuy get cleaned

oh this is a george thing i just a spreadsheet lol /emoticons/tongue.png i decide when theuy get cleaned

Click to expand...

Yes.

So I am changing to an excel spreadsheet too. It will be more flexible.

word of warning.. twkes long time to input the data lol

Once the data is in it is just a case of copy/paste

Once the data is in it is just a case of copy/paste

Click to expand...

Well yesterday (and most of last night) I put everyone onto a spreadsheet. Today I need to sort them back into sensible working days.

Hi All,
How do you handle the rescheduling customers? my example is this:

My Van decided it didn't want to play anymore on the way home on Thursday and spent the whole day Friday in the local Renault dealership having a pedicure LOL £100.25p later it decides to come home this morning

So ALL the customers I had scheduled for a clean on Friday will have to be done at some point this week[delusional], now this week I'm fully booked anyway but after a bit off juggling the customers around I've decided Ill do last Fridays customers this coming Wednesday! so in effect they will be 6 days late from the scheduled 8 weekly clean. I tell all my new customers that your cleans will always be 8weeks give or take 2-3 days either side of your last clean.

So the question is: In your opinion/experience how do your customers feel/react if their clean is a few days later/earlier than the agreed interval? I contacted them all explaining the situation on Friday and the one's who replied, replied along the lines of "absolutely no problem and thanks for letting us know".

I have no problem and I think nor will the customer about cleaning a few days later than the schedule dictated, but how would you guys handle the next clean? do you!

A: Carry out the clean and leave the schedule as it is, so in affect the next clean will now be in seven weeks rather than 8 weeks? and hope the customer doesn't notice/care?

OR

B: Carry out the clean and then re-input/reschedule the customers for a clean in 8 weeks time? (Something i find a bit of a pain to be honest).

I hope this makes sense????????????????

As always your opinions and advise will be very much appreciated as this is one of the few things I struggle with as i'm a bit "Anal[crazy]" and this side of me cant help but think 8weeks means 8weeks :wondering:

Cheers Greener

Click to expand...

I just start at the start and work through til the end, no one gets priority if i am late, if you are behind you are behind, cant do much about that

I made a working spread sheet when I first started and it works a treat /emoticons/wink.png its all dated Mon to Sat up to the end off 2016 so when I get a new customer I just add them onto the next convenient day that suits both of us, I then use a handy app i found that lets you put in that date and then you can put in the frequencies you want the date for i.e 4weeks, 6weeks, or 8weeks ect ect it then gives you that date, so I then find that date on my spread sheet and add the info, I generally add the next 6-8 cleans.

The only problem I have is when I lose a days work due to bad weather or in this example the van breaking down if I can get them cleaned with in the next 2-3 days then I feel I don't need to touch the schedule, but if I cant get to them for around another week as in this case then I probably need to amend the whole schedule relating to those customers who in effect I'm cleaning a week later than the original schedule dictated and this is a total pain. Its not laziness or anything like that, its just very confusing because as I said in my first post, Im fully booked next week and need to add another whole days work in that I missed due to the van breakdown this is not impossible, but its the knock on effect for that week further down the schedule. Hence my original questions.

Do I:

A: Carry out the clean and leave the schedule as it is, so in affect the next clean will now be in seven weeks rather than 8 weeks? and hope the customer doesn't notice/care?

OR

B: Carry out the clean and then re-input/reschedule the customers for a clean in 8 weeks time? (Something i find a bit of a pain to be honest).

I unfortunately it cant be as simple as if I miss a day for what ever reason then just write that day off and start again the next day so on and so on, simply because some customers can only have a clean at certain days of the week because they need to be in i.e only on a Friday or Wednesday.

[crazy][delusional]:bangheadwall: ;-)

Go for 'A'

They wont even notice is my guess.

Hi All,
How do you handle the rescheduling customers? my example is this:

My Van decided it didn't want to play anymore on the way home on Thursday and spent the whole day Friday in the local Renault dealership having a pedicure LOL £100.25p later it decides to come home this morning

So ALL the customers I had scheduled for a clean on Friday will have to be done at some point this week[delusional], now this week I'm fully booked anyway but after a bit off juggling the customers around I've decided Ill do last Fridays customers this coming Wednesday! so in effect they will be 6 days late from the scheduled 8 weekly clean. I tell all my new customers that your cleans will always be 8weeks give or take 2-3 days either side of your last clean.

So the question is: In your opinion/experience how do your customers feel/react if their clean is a few days later/earlier than the agreed interval? I contacted them all explaining the situation on Friday and the one's who replied, replied along the lines of "absolutely no problem and thanks for letting us know".

I have no problem and I think nor will the customer about cleaning a few days later than the schedule dictated, but how would you guys handle the next clean? do you!

A: Carry out the clean and leave the schedule as it is, so in affect the next clean will now be in seven weeks rather than 8 weeks? and hope the customer doesn't notice/care?

OR

B: Carry out the clean and then re-input/reschedule the customers for a clean in 8 weeks time? (Something i find a bit of a pain to be honest).

I hope this makes sense????????????????

As always your opinions and advise will be very much appreciated as this is one of the few things I struggle with as i'm a bit "Anal[crazy]" and this side of me cant help but think 8weeks means 8weeks :wondering:

Cheers Greener

Click to expand...

I carry on where i left off, so in your case I would be a day behind with everyone.

If you manage to keep to your schedule for the next 8 weeks, then everyone will be back on schedule.

@SPCleaning says ; it important to make sure that the demanding/higher price ones are done on time. This is especially important if you get a long way behind through circumstances beyond your control.

@TolishAPurd says, keep your schedule easy to manage. Some program a 5 day working week and use the 6th day to play catchup if that's necessary.

As @SPCleaning cleaning says, having a tight cleaning schedule can make you very stressed out when you are behind.

Its only window cleaning. If you get a day or a week behind, it isn't a train smash and it won't impact on the local economy at at all. As a customer said to me one day when I was very stressed out - don't worry, the windows will still be there when you can come.

When I get the job, I tell customer it's bimonthly give or take a week. Got flexibility then innit.

I'm always behind. Given up worrying about it now. The amount of excuses I've made.

No one seems to mind.