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One off clean now she wants it regular

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Cameronmalson1985

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A lady asked me for a quote to clean her windows. I asked is it a regular clean to which she replied no a one off. £18 one off or £9 for monthly clean.  She now said can I have a monthly clean but can I cancel whenever I want. Alarm bells is ringing. Am I being paranoid that she’s going to have first clean then cancel. Thank you. 

 
Charge her £18 for a first clean and if like you fear she cancels after you won't have been stung. I bet she won't take you up on it! 

 
It depends what she means by cancel:

  • If she means stop the window cleaning service  completely - any customer has the right to this & this is why many charge more for first cleans.
  • If she means cancel by saying "not this time" just because she doesn't feel like having the windows cleaned that's a right pain in the backside. In this scenario just offer her a longer interval (say 8 weekly - from 4 weekly) and charge a bit more (say 25%). If she continues to keep cancelling drop her as a customer.
 
Yeh for me I always say 1st clean & one off clean are the same price, as the end result is the same. Then it’s up to them afterwards if they want a regular clean. 

 
Cameronmalson1985 said:
A lady asked me for a quote to clean her windows. I asked is it a regular clean to which she replied no a one off. £18 one off or £9 for monthly clean.  She now said can I have a monthly clean but can I cancel whenever I want. Alarm bells is ringing. Am I being paranoid that she’s going to have first clean then cancel. Thank you. 
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She will cancel your service after the first clean. As per others, first clean and one off is the same price. Then a regular maintenance clean is £9 every 4 weeks or £12 every 8 weeks.

You have to set your stall out and then quote your customer accordingly. When you are new you can't afford to pay customer games.

Every new customer is a first clean and you need to charge more for that. Then offer a maintenance clean 4 weeks later for X or in 8 weeks time for Y.

When we ask if it is a regular service they require or just a one off, virtually every one off was baited as a regular. After the clean is finished they will invariably say, " we have your phone number and will contact you when we need you next time." It also depends on what a customer feels is regular - once a year can also be classed as regular.

The other flashing warning light is when they have been looking for a window cleaner for ages and they just can't find one. Those tend to be one offs as well, especially when you know 2 or 3 other windies have customers on the same street.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
There are lots of ways this plays out.  I have heard of people doing first cleans for the same price as normal cleans. I have heard of people charging double,  I have heard of people charging 50% more and 20% more. I have even heard of the odd fruit loop doing a first clean free lol. I very rarely hear of someone stating that they give people the option on a first clean to decide what they want to pay.

 
She’s gonna cancel pal... stop yourself asking if it’s one off or regular, just assume it’s regular. Try asking how often they want them cleaned on future quotes mate. It is safe to assume they will want their windows cleaning again in the future and you’re trying to build a good relationship to do business with people not just turn up and clean some windows once never to be seen again. This is working a treat for me. There are multiple outcomes from this question;

1) every few months - advise that you normally do 4/8 weeks, you can put them on an 8 week cycle which is £XX... the first clean costs a little more as this is a deep clean to bring them to standard but every 8 weeks would only be £XX after that.

2) Once or twice a year - No problem Mr customer. “This clean will cost £XX and will be a full deep clean to bring your windows to a good standard”. I am making this price from my 8 week price, plus first clean charge plus skinflint tax although i’m Working on how much that should be. “Should you decide to go for a regular clean it would only be £XX every couple of months” (don’t waste my time giving skinflint’s like this the option of monthly but you never know if they will go for 8 weekly)

3) How often do you suggest? Or What do people normally do? - I normally come round over 4 weeks. This is our cheapest option and you have the benefit that you never need to look out of dirty windows. If they think 4 weeks is too quick you can give them the 8 week price And let them choose.

4) every 6 weeks or so - I give these guys the breakdown of 4/8 week prices. If it suits me I slip them into 6 weeks somewhere in between the 2 prices but only after trying for 4 weeks first.

The others who know the drill will ask straight for 4/8 weeks, these people have normally had a windy before and know the score so they’re really easy.

I’m still learning myself but the above is from what I’ve picked up from the experienced guys on here mainly.

 
P4dstar said:
She’s gonna cancel pal... stop yourself asking if it’s one off or regular, just assume it’s regular. Try asking how often they want them cleaned on future quotes mate. It is safe to assume they will want their windows cleaning again in the future and you’re trying to build a good relationship to do business with people not just turn up and clean some windows once never to be seen again. This is working a treat for me. There are multiple outcomes from this question;

1) every few months - advise that you normally do 4/8 weeks, you can put them on an 8 week cycle which is £XX... the first clean costs a little more as this is a deep clean to bring them to standard but every 8 weeks would only be £XX after that.

2) Once or twice a year - No problem Mr customer. “This clean will cost £XX and will be a full deep clean to bring your windows to a good standard”. I am making this price from my 8 week price, plus first clean charge plus skinflint tax although i’m Working on how much that should be. “Should you decide to go for a regular clean it would only be £XX every couple of months” (don’t waste my time giving skinflint’s like this the option of monthly but you never know if they will go for 8 weekly)

3) How often do you suggest? Or What do people normally do? - I normally come round over 4 weeks. This is our cheapest option and you have the benefit that you never need to look out of dirty windows. If they think 4 weeks is too quick you can give them the 8 week price And let them choose.

4) every 6 weeks or so - I give these guys the breakdown of 4/8 week prices. If it suits me I slip them into 6 weeks somewhere in between the 2 prices but only after trying for 4 weeks first.

The others who know the drill will ask straight for 4/8 weeks, these people have normally had a windy before and know the score so they’re really easy.

I’m still learning myself but the above is from what I’ve picked up from the experienced guys on here mainly.
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Thank you mate that was really helpful. After having a chat with her she’s said she would like them done through the summer but will cancel come winter. 

 
Cameronmalson1985 said:
Thank you mate that was really helpful. After having a chat with her she’s said she would like them done through the summer but will cancel come winter. 
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Well there’s a curve ball... not the kind of customer you want long term but she will fill a hole for you over the next few months.

I’ve got a mates mum who asked for every 4 weeks during summer and longer between cleans during winter, some people don’t realise our bills don’t just stop in winter  :1f644:

 
Cameronmalson1985 said:
Thank you mate that was really helpful. After having a chat with her she’s said she would like them done through the summer but will cancel come winter. 
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Not necessarily a problem. I have some holiday cottages that I window clean on this basis. Just make sure that you charge above your normal rate to compensate for the fact that you won't have the work over winter.

In reality if you're doing the cleans on an 8 weekly frequency this just means you'll miss one clean per year.

 
Cameronmalson1985 said:
Thank you mate that was really helpful. After having a chat with her she’s said she would like them done through the summer but will cancel come winter. 
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I didn't have a problem with this in the early days tbh. It gave me more work in the summer and less in the winter when the day light hours are less and poorer weather.

 
spruce said:
I didn't have a problem with this in the early days tbh. It gave me more work in the summer and less in the winter when the day light hours are less and poorer weather.
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I feel some customers treat us like landscape Gardner’s sometimes. Social media is full of people asking for someone to cut their lawn at the moment, poor sods get binned every winter! 

 
In my old job (flat roofing) surprising the amount of people who asked, ‘and what do you do through the winter, take time off or find another job?’

Yeh like my bills just stop between November-March and I don’t spend any social money.

Although flat roofing not ideal in winter weather..

 
P4dstar said:
I feel some customers treat us like landscape Gardner’s sometimes. Social media is full of people asking for someone to cut their lawn at the moment, poor sods get binned every winter! 
Click to expand...


We have a couple who have set up a contract which the customer pays a monthly fee for 12 months which runs from June to the following June. So during the summer the guys work their socks off and they pitch up in winter ocassionally to do the odd tidy up job. They do pruning in Feb/March. Most take a longish holiday in winter to sunny climes.

Another really hard working lad uses the winter time to do fencing jobs and other gardening stuff that he can do such as painting fencing. He always seems to be busy in winter.

 
The way I see it its property maintenance and to come on the rounds a customer will have them done once per month to stop the windows becoming dirty.

You cant keep them perfect unless you do them once per week or even more often.

If a customer see's it as a luxury or something they want "as and when" then they are not the customer for me, no hard feelings just incompatible.

I picked a new customer last week and she dropped the line "last fella just didn't come back" with a puzzled expression on her face???

I immediately stopped taking details from her and put down my book and asked " do you have them done every month?" to which she replied "yeah-well most anyway".

I told straight that skipping cleans is the reason the last guy stopped and most guys will take you off the books for that reason, I then explained that we all have expensive business running costs that go out every month regardless, so any customer that skips a clean is lost profit for us and we cannot afford that.

Before I re-opened my book to take further details I asked if she is willing to commit to having them done every time? She agreed. I gave her a very good first clean that surpassed the last guy by a lot, we'll see what happens there.

I think that once a customer is dropped by a window cleaner a few times and then is explained why they then will become "conditioned" and could end up being a very good customer in order to keep a good window cleaner coming back.

 
I don’t know what the beef is with one off cleans as long as they are priced right. I personally have started pricing myself out of them purely because I just haven’t got the time and can usually make more from my regular stuff. I know we all want regular work and we are lucky that most of time in our trade we get it. A lot of other trades are based on one off jobs and have to spend a lot of time and money advertising and looking for work. I’d rather do a one off clean than talk someone into something that they don’t want or maybe can’t afford then get messed around later down the line because of it. I do a council estate in Stockport and have been stung loads in the past by the ones that just want their windows cleaned once dirty and not on a regular basis. I now know the area and it’s habitants quite well and I can spot the one offs or messers a mile off now. Up until recently when I wasn’t as busy I’d only offer certain people one offs and told them I didn’t have time for them regularly in my books as I knew they were messers and are only good for one clean.


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Don't get many, but I did a one off today in a cul-de-sac where I was doing the others, this chap who's lived there for years and has just sold the house and I've never cleaned before came out and asked us to do them as a one off so that they are nice and clean for the new buyers.
Apparently his brother-in-law used to do them "for a pint", anyway I just charged double the usual price and he agreed, and they weren't even that dirty to be fair.
Also left him a card for the new residents, so chance of a bit of continuity.

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