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Losing Customers

rafterys2003

Member
Messages
78
Location
West Midlands
Hope everyone is well

Ive been struggling a little bit lately so I thought Id start a new topic to see if anyone could offer any advice or is experiencing the same thing. Been in the window cleaning business over 5 years now but lately I've reached a point where I'm growing concerned because I always seem to be losing customers. The reason for this I have found is that most people only seem to want one clean every now and then. Where as I offer a 4 weekly service and do a good job as far as I'm told but it always seems like I get a new customer and then a few months later they cancel. When I ask why it's always the same excuse such as "oooh I'm having money troubles". It's been going on since I started but as I say lately it's started to get me very down because everytime I feel like I'm building a bigger customer base it falls back down again. I have considered the idea of offering an 8 weekly service but that means I'd have to gain double the amount of customers I have now, in order to hold my net profit, which I can't see happening and I fear it would give alot of my customers an incentive to stop 4 weekly which would impact me even worse financially. Price wise I charge £10 for a standard 3 bedroom with 4 windows on the front and back (Inc doors) and a couple on the side. £15 if it includes a conservatory. As far as I know that's quite competitive or am I charging too much ? I have around 170 customers and have worked very hard canvassing to get there. It feels like a big victory when gain a new one so it's quite a blow when I keep getting texts saying they want to cancel.

Anyone else have/had this problem ? As always any help is greatly appreciated.

 
Can’t say on price as depends your location in the country but they’re similar to mine 

I don’t lose many at all unless they move or die probably less than 5 a year, mainly younger professional types who have plenty of Money but don’t like the idea of a 4 weekly clean for some reason!

My advice is don’t let it get you down if you do a good job you should come good eventually

 
Hope everyone is well

Ive been struggling a little bit lately so I thought Id start a new topic to see if anyone could offer any advice or is experiencing the same thing. Been in the window cleaning business over 5 years now but lately I've reached a point where I'm growing concerned because I always seem to be losing customers. The reason for this I have found is that most people only seem to want one clean every now and then. Where as I offer a 4 weekly service and do a good job as far as I'm told but it always seems like I get a new customer and then a few months later they cancel. When I ask why it's always the same excuse such as "oooh I'm having money troubles". It's been going on since I started but as I say lately it's started to get me very down because everytime I feel like I'm building a bigger customer base it falls back down again. I have considered the idea of offering an 8 weekly service but that means I'd have to gain double the amount of customers I have now, in order to hold my net profit, which I can't see happening and I fear it would give alot of my customers an incentive to stop 4 weekly which would impact me even worse financially. Price wise I charge £10 for a standard 3 bedroom with 4 windows on the front and back (Inc doors) and a couple on the side. £15 if it includes a conservatory. As far as I know that's quite competitive or am I charging too much ? I have around 170 customers and have worked very hard canvassing to get there. It feels like a big victory when gain a new one so it's quite a blow when I keep getting texts saying they want to cancel.

Anyone else have/had this problem ? As always any help is greatly appreciated.
Hi mate, as regards your pricing it wouldn't be expensive whatever part of the country you're in. If anything you seem cheap. We've all got jobs that are too cheap. I feel like the world is collapsing round me when I lose one, sometimes when I'm driving past I check to see if the windows are dirty or not, did it last week and the 2 I checked were minging. I find as one door closes another one opens. Get out and canvass until you're at saturation point. I'm mainly 4 weekly but it takes me 5/6 weeks to get round. The only thing I can think of why you're losing customers is quality? Scrub and rinse plenty!

@steve garwoodgot a Ducati Scrambler now ✊

 
I firmly believe that for me customer retention is much better since I decided fairly quickly after starting seven years ago to go set my round at 6 weekly being the standard. My profits improved dramatically as well as I charged slightly more per job and filled in the spaces created in the diary, again at slightly higher prices. Even a couple of pounds extra can amount to several thousand pounds extra income per year.

This has been discussed and debated to death on several occasions in the past few years on the forum. I've invited people to get an accountant to scrutinise the facts. To date I don't think anyone has. I suggest take some time and use the search bar.

 
Hi mate, as regards your pricing it wouldn't be expensive whatever part of the country you're in. If anything you seem cheap. We've all got jobs that are too cheap. I feel like the world is collapsing round me when I lose one, sometimes when I'm driving past I check to see if the windows are dirty or not, did it last week and the 2 I checked were minging. I find as one door closes another one opens. Get out and canvass until you're at saturation point. I'm mainly 4 weekly but it takes me 5/6 weeks to get round. The only thing I can think of why you're losing customers is quality? Scrub and rinse plenty!

@steve garwoodgot a Ducati Scrambler now ✊
Hello Tuffers, great to see you back! Hopefully you can help bring back the humour this forum had a few years back.

Bet that Ducati growls ?

Still have my CBR 650S, but sold my Bandit 1200.

Now let’s get back Evie stevie, Tolish a purd, Mr. Bump and kick out the bragging!

You still full time? Have you switched from Birmingham fc to Millwall? ??

 
Offer 8 weekly at a 25% increase to any customers leaving. That way although you lose a bit you retain the customer and in truth the clean won’t take 25% longer to complete. Short term you may take a hit but if you can fill up on 8 weekly you’ll eventually be better off. 
Obviously depends on your area and how easy it is to pick up new customers 

 
Hope everyone is well

Ive been struggling a little bit lately so I thought Id start a new topic to see if anyone could offer any advice or is experiencing the same thing. Been in the window cleaning business over 5 years now but lately I've reached a point where I'm growing concerned because I always seem to be losing customers. The reason for this I have found is that most people only seem to want one clean every now and then. Where as I offer a 4 weekly service and do a good job as far as I'm told but it always seems like I get a new customer and then a few months later they cancel. When I ask why it's always the same excuse such as "oooh I'm having money troubles". It's been going on since I started but as I say lately it's started to get me very down because everytime I feel like I'm building a bigger customer base it falls back down again. I have considered the idea of offering an 8 weekly service but that means I'd have to gain double the amount of customers I have now, in order to hold my net profit, which I can't see happening and I fear it would give alot of my customers an incentive to stop 4 weekly which would impact me even worse financially. Price wise I charge £10 for a standard 3 bedroom with 4 windows on the front and back (Inc doors) and a couple on the side. £15 if it includes a conservatory. As far as I know that's quite competitive or am I charging too much ? I have around 170 customers and have worked very hard canvassing to get there. It feels like a big victory when gain a new one so it's quite a blow when I keep getting texts saying they want to cancel.

Anyone else have/had this problem ? As always any help is greatly appreciated.
I offer B-monthly/8 weekly mate but you charge more for it. So a £10 job is £15, £15 is £20, etc. They still save money but it makes up a bit of the shortcoming, but over time you will find you prefer doing them. I know I do. It takes me the same amount of time as a monthly clean but I make a extra £5 for the time spent. I would start offering this option and then see if it helps retention! 

 
Hello Tuffers, great to see you back! Hopefully you can help bring back the humour this forum had a few years back.

Bet that Ducati growls ?

Still have my CBR 650S, but sold my Bandit 1200.

Now let’s get back Evie stevie, Tolish a purd, Mr. Bump and kick out the bragging!

You still full time? Have you switched from Birmingham fc to Millwall? ??
I look in everyday but felt this guy needed some help, so logged in again.

The Ducati has a Termignoni exhaust with the baffle out, **** me it growls and pops. Haven't got a power wheelie out of it so far ☹️ Bought it locally in April with 1600 miles on it and 6 years old. Still got the gixxer. Looking at a Superduke but they're well expensive! 
 

Blues are going up this year ?Troy will smash this league. 
 

I've read all the bragging posts along with the bull posts ?who is this Scottish geezer? ?

 
Offer 8 weekly at a 25% increase to any customers leaving. That way although you lose a bit you retain the customer and in truth the clean won’t take 25% longer to complete. Short term you may take a hit but if you can fill up on 8 weekly you’ll eventually be better off. 
Obviously depends on your area and how easy it is to pick up new customers 
I agree with this but go for a bigger increase than 25% ?

 
Hope everyone is well

Ive been struggling a little bit lately so I thought Id start a new topic to see if anyone could offer any advice or is experiencing the same thing. Been in the window cleaning business over 5 years now but lately I've reached a point where I'm growing concerned because I always seem to be losing customers. The reason for this I have found is that most people only seem to want one clean every now and then. Where as I offer a 4 weekly service and do a good job as far as I'm told but it always seems like I get a new customer and then a few months later they cancel. When I ask why it's always the same excuse such as "oooh I'm having money troubles". It's been going on since I started but as I say lately it's started to get me very down because everytime I feel like I'm building a bigger customer base it falls back down again. I have considered the idea of offering an 8 weekly service but that means I'd have to gain double the amount of customers I have now, in order to hold my net profit, which I can't see happening and I fear it would give alot of my customers an incentive to stop 4 weekly which would impact me even worse financially. Price wise I charge £10 for a standard 3 bedroom with 4 windows on the front and back (Inc doors) and a couple on the side. £15 if it includes a conservatory. As far as I know that's quite competitive or am I charging too much ? I have around 170 customers and have worked very hard canvassing to get there. It feels like a big victory when gain a new one so it's quite a blow when I keep getting texts saying they want to cancel.

Anyone else have/had this problem ? As always any help is greatly appreciated.
I have this problem with some areas, mostly dodgy council estates. It was surprisingly predictable. Fine for a while at first then late or missing payments for a few months then either cancel or just ignore payment reminders and not answer the door. I lost most of the houses in those estates in less than a year.

Instead I canvass nicer estates with more expensive houses, on new estates mainly, and I rarely ever lose any except for when they sell the house. 

 
Hope everyone is well

Ive been struggling a little bit lately so I thought Id start a new topic to see if anyone could offer any advice or is experiencing the same thing. Been in the window cleaning business over 5 years now but lately I've reached a point where I'm growing concerned because I always seem to be losing customers. The reason for this I have found is that most people only seem to want one clean every now and then. Where as I offer a 4 weekly service and do a good job as far as I'm told but it always seems like I get a new customer and then a few months later they cancel. When I ask why it's always the same excuse such as "oooh I'm having money troubles". It's been going on since I started but as I say lately it's started to get me very down because everytime I feel like I'm building a bigger customer base it falls back down again. I have considered the idea of offering an 8 weekly service but that means I'd have to gain double the amount of customers I have now, in order to hold my net profit, which I can't see happening and I fear it would give alot of my customers an incentive to stop 4 weekly which would impact me even worse financially. Price wise I charge £10 for a standard 3 bedroom with 4 windows on the front and back (Inc doors) and a couple on the side. £15 if it includes a conservatory. As far as I know that's quite competitive or am I charging too much ? I have around 170 customers and have worked very hard canvassing to get there. It feels like a big victory when gain a new one so it's quite a blow when I keep getting texts saying they want to cancel.

Anyone else have/had this problem ? As always any help is greatly appreciated.
We all lose customers through poor finances, commitment issues, death, under cutting and so on however you've got to keep your head held high and push forward regardless.

Are you only offering a window cleaning service or do you have add ons such as pressure washing, gutters etc as you'll get more income per job as apposed to just window cleans and the customer loss won't dwell on you so much.

Depending on where you live the living wage may be less than a neighbouring country or city and thinking about your work radius or demographic may help 

 
I agree with this but go for a bigger increase than 25% ?
Or go for the same price increase but for 6 weekly. If the price and frequency are both set for 6 weekly from day one there's no need to stretch anything in the diary and most customers  will be quite happy to pay a small amount extra, with the small annual savings to them overall. It's definitely no harder to clean the windows in my area at 6 than it is at 4. It is at 8 though.

The customer doesn't have to wait for nearly two months which is a long time between cleans to maintain acceptably clean windows on 8 weekly. The tradesman gets paid at an acceptable frequency. I wouldn't want to have to wait 8 weeks as a customer, or as a tradesman when it's my livelihood.

This subject needs much more thought than a lot of people realise. Preferably along with consultation with a good accountant.

Totally different for the coastal guys as we've said before.

 
Or go for the same price increase but for 6 weekly. If the price and frequency are both set for 6 weekly from day one there's no need to stretch anything in the diary and most customers  will be quite happy to pay a small amount extra, with the small annual savings to them overall. It's definitely no harder to clean the windows in my area at 6 than it is at 4. It is at 8 though.

The customer doesn't have to wait for nearly two months which is a long time between cleans to maintain acceptably clean windows on 8 weekly. The tradesman gets paid at an acceptable frequency. I wouldn't want to have to wait 8 weeks as a customer, or as a tradesman when it's my livelihood.

This subject needs much more thought than a lot of people realise. Preferably along with consultation with a good accountant.

Totally different for the coastal guys as we've said before.
See I know a few who do 6 weekly. If I was to build a new round I would consider it. However, I do disagree about 8 weekly being too long. We have plenty of customers on that frequency & they love it. Plus, the clean lasts that long. In the few it hasn’t they’ve just switched to monthly, so no real loss. However, it does require a lot more customers. I’ve only started pushing it recently, when I could afford to. I do wonder if 6 weekly would be better if your trying to build.
 

How many cleans a year does that work out at? 8? How do you budget out, since bills are monthly. Do you divided the yearly total by 12? 

 
I'm just certain that at least for me 6 is the sweet spot. It's no problem with the diary.
A road, estate or village for instance that is done in work week 8 simply gets moved forward in the diary to work week 14 for the next clean.  Of course we have to work around weather stoppages, hol's and stuff.  That's the same whatever the frequency. Just start back where we left off.

Makes no difference that most bills are paid monthly, they simply get paid when due. You're right that it works out at about 8 washes a year.

It's the total money that comes into the business account over the year that matters though. For that same reason the amount of visits to each individual house annually is not the most important thing. It's the overall amount of jobs completed in a week that's the important detail, and the fact that each one is charged slightly higher than at 4. Plus it gives a larger bank of customers if things do go sketchy with the economy.

Just in case anyone might think I'm bragging. That's not the case. I'm trying to help my fellow tradesmen to get the most out of their hard work. I have put an awful lot of thought and study into this aspect of the business.

Up to us all to run things how we want to of course.

 
Wow ! I didn't expect so many replies this must be a big issue for window cleaners. I have stuck to my guns since I started thinking it would be for the best but it just feels like I have too many customers hanging by a thread and as soon as I get new ones ok already thinking oh it won't last so what's the point. The logical thing to do it seems would be to offer an 8 weekly round in addition to the 4 weekly. Trouble is I do find it difficult to gain new ones especially on the scale I would need and I'm guessing about half of my customers would want to go on the 8 week round. I suppose what I'm gonna have to do is look at all of my customers and see which ones I predict would go to 8 weekly. Then I'd have an idea of the profit damage and how many new customers I'd need to get back to fill the gap. It just a big risk.

 
I don't think you're bragging I really appreciate all this advice from everyone and obviously everyone has different opinions. I guess different frequencies and prices have to be matched to the right area ? I will give it alot of thought but I'm thinking probably gonna be 8 weekly with a 25% increase just because I don't think I could get away with 50%.

 
We all lose customers through poor finances, commitment issues, death, under cutting and so on however you've got to keep your head held high and push forward regardless.

Are you only offering a window cleaning service or do you have add ons such as pressure washing, gutters etc as you'll get more income per job as apposed to just window cleans and the customer loss won't dwell on you so much.

Depending on where you live the living wage may be less than a neighbouring country or city and thinking about your work radius or demographic may help 
I do offer gutter cleaning and that's what's keeping my monthly average steady at the moment but I'd prefer not to as I have to book them in on weekends which I try to take off.

 
I don't think you're bragging I really appreciate all this advice from everyone and obviously everyone has different opinions. I guess different frequencies and prices have to be matched to the right area ? I will give it alot of thought but I'm thinking probably gonna be 8 weekly with a 25% increase just because I don't think I could get away with 50%.
You're probably right that you wouldn't get an extra 50% at 8 weekly. I tried it several years ago without success even though they would save per annum. The answer I kept getting was "I'm not paying that much to have my windows cleaned!" A slight price increase at 6 went under the radar but benefits me hugely.?The human mind is a strange machine. Look at how prices for goods and fuel are mostly just under the round figure even if only by a penny. I mostly do the same with my pricing now to the tune of a couple of quid over or under the round figure. My customer recruitment has improved since I did.

 
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If I get new work,  I always Offer monthly or bi-monthly at an increased price. 
If a customer is cancelling frequently, I’ll offer to do it Bi-monthly at a higher price, and I’m usually successful.

If they still keep cancelling its time to think about Dumping them, unless you need the money to pay the bills. 

Don’t worry to much though, I can guarantee that your thinking about your window cleaning, far more than most of your customers are??

 

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