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How do I start and make a round efficient?

JakdeDiamond

Member
Messages
73
Location
Buckinghamshire
Hi guys, 

I've used the search bar but can't really find what I'm looking for as I can't really explain the question in a few words. 

Basically what I am wanting to know is, when I have started advertising, canvassing and building customers, how can I then fit those customers into an efficient schedule. 

I am looking to offer 4 weekly cleaning and for example if I pick up 5 customers on Street A on Monday, then canvass Street B on Tuesday.  Street C next Monday. 

Over time some more customers from street A decide they want my services and call me up asking for me to fit them in. 

I obviously don't want to go to Street A 4 times a month just to fit them in, so my question is how are you guys approaching this situation? Would the best route be to just tell the customer that I am scheduled to clean their street on X day each month? making them wait?

I feel like I'm missing something super simple here, but want to get off on the right foot! 

Thanks for taking the time to read, 

Jake

 
Depends what the customer wants. They can have them done now, and the next one will usually then be late to get it synced with the existing jobs, or they can wait till i'm round next.

Just go with 6 weeks from the off. 4 weeks ends up being too often for most customers, so you end up offering 8 weeks too and then you are forever messing around with schedules.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes what you have said is what I did when I started the only other option if you have spare time is to dk it straight away then give it a miss when you do the street so the next clean will be a bit longer but most dont mind doing it this way the jobs in the bag and they won’t get anyone else .

 
Perfect, thanks for clearing that up guys. I thought I had the right idea but better safe than sorry. 

Is that the general consensus to do 6 weeks instead of 4? To be fair I did think a lot of people would struggle to warrant as often in the current climate. 

I appreciate it a lot ?

 
Perfect, thanks for clearing that up guys. I thought I had the right idea but better safe than sorry. 

Is that the general consensus to do 6 weeks instead of 4? To be fair I did think a lot of people would struggle to warrant as often in the current climate. 

I appreciate it a lot ?
I think time scale is dependent ware in the country you are down hear most want 4 weekly , we only offer 4 or 8 weekly for domestic , but different areas seam to want different things 

 
I only started a month or two ago. I run my schedule with customers on a 6 weekly basis and they are happy with that! Picked up only one 4 weekly job and cleaned customers windows this afternoon! 

 
We only offer monthly (4 weeks) but I describe it as 4-5 weeks to account for delays caused by bad weather.

As for rounds; I do everyone in order(organised in to rounds to cut down logistics), and new customers get cleaned when I am next in there area.

We also don't give customers a day or date. Its just roughly a month from there last clean.

6 weekly is fine, but throw in a week of horrendous British weather, on a month your off for two weeks, and it runs more than 2 months since there last clean, and I would start getting calls wondering were I was. So I do my best to keep it to 4 weekly.

I will also turn away work to avoid overbooking myself.

 
To start with you will do more miles than customers, until you get X amount of customers its difficult, i found that scheduling comes easier the more customers you get.

Work out how many you can do a day on each round, when somebody says 'are you taking new customers, can you fit me in' my answer is "yes i can, im next in your area in x weeks, but if you need it sooner i can fit you in but it will then be X weeks until your next clean as i have to keep areas compact" 

Some will say thank ill wait till your here again, some will say great do me asap then again when your here in 3 weeks, some will say great fit me in asap then miss me in 3weeks but start my regular clean the time after.

Dont think that everybody has to be 4weeks to the day from their first clean. Customers are alot more accomodating than you think especially if you go the extra mile and they value you.

2 customers this week i noticed had filthy garage doors, 3-4 minutes to give em a rinse and mentioned it to them 'garage door was dusty so give it a rinse, no charge' resulted in 2x £5 tips and 2x "can you do it every 2-3 cleans if we pay extra"

The little things people appreciate 

 
I obviously don't want to go to Street A 4 times a month just to fit them in
Why not, if that’s where the work is? You may find as you’re canvassing that some streets yield better results than others. You may find yourself, for example, working in street A every Monday, but in street B only every other week. And don’t forget that when starting out, you’ve got 4, 6 or 8 weeks of work to fill (depending on the frequency you decide to go with) and not just one week. It’s only when your work is filling up that you need to think about doing a new job then waiting for longer than the usual frequency before doing that job again. 

 
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