[Rob @ Cleaner Planner]

Hi all,

Rob here, developer of Cleaner Planner. I see some of you are curious about CP so I just thought I'd pop by to say hello and throw a few thoughts into the ring (in case you're interested!)

So... I know all the other window cleaning software inside out but I don't know a great deal about Cleaners Mate yet. I gather it's desktop based and aimed primarily at carpet cleaners?

Sounds like we offer similar features for managing and promoting your business such as SMS and Mailchimp integration. Cleaner Planner also has GoCardless integration (big plus for window cleaners - do you guys use GoCardless?) and Dropbox backup which is a neat way backing up your data both to the cloud and your PC/Mac (in addition to the hourly backups I take my side).

However, where Cleaner Planner will really move the game forward for you guys (I think, by the sounds of it) is:

1. Web-based - you can access it anywhere, and if you employ, you can set up your cleaners and/or admin staff as users so you don't all have to share the same PC!

2. Mobile app - available in the app stores for Android, iPhone and iPad. It's super fast and runs offline during the day, so you can run it off a WiFi tablet (you don't need 3G).

Cleaner Planner is provided on a monthly fee basis to ensure ongoing development and support is sustainable. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime.

Now, I've been chatting with Matt Gibson (OP) via email (thanks again for getting in touch and signing up for the free trial Matt ) as I'm really keen to find out how I need to tweak Cleaner Planner (if at all) in order for it to be absolutely spot on for pressure washing businesses as well as window cleaners (who have been my main focus so far).

The key areas Matt has where he would like his ideal software to help him out were:

* Quoting & follow up - the ability to create and email professional quotes directly from the system and *crucially* to be able to easily track open quotes for follow up and booking in.

* Chasing repeat work - the ability to see a list of customers who had a clean say 6 months ago, and then easily contact them, either via phone or directly from the system via email or SMS.

(Cleaner Planner can do both of these things already but some fine-tuning might be needed to make it optimal for PW businesses...)

Please feel free to fire away with any ideas you have! Cleaner Planner is very much a product of user feedback. If you sign up for the free trial (if only to have a poke around for now) you can get involved in the built-in idea forum where you can suggest ideas and vote up others' suggestions. The forum is very active and is basically my "hymn sheet" in terms of ongoing development!

https://app.cleanerplanner.com/forum

Anyway I've waffled on enough. Here's hoping we can work together to hone Cleaner Planner into the perfect all-in-one software for pressure washing businesses!

Cheers,

Rob

[Great Outdoors]

I really can't see the need for this in our core line of work pressure washing.

Completely different from window cleaning or even carpet cleaning, where you complete x number of jobs per day, on a frequent basis, How many jobs on average do you do in a day ?? one... how often ? yearly

Lots of systems around available for a one off fee without a monthly charge.

What ever system you go for make sure its right for you. If you decide to change it would be a nightmare! Personally I would never go for a monthly contract as its an ongoing charge, yes you can cancel but who in their right mind would do that ? as you will have to start your database again from scratch.

[Rob @ Cleaner Planner]

Thanks Great Outdoors.

I'm really keen to find out if your opinions are shared by the majority of pressure washing businesses as noone wants to waste any time or money on things that aren't needed!

There does seem to be some interest in mobile apps and being able to access your database anywhere, which of course you will never get from a desktop / one off fee system.

Look forward to hearing further thoughts and opinions. I'm only interested in pursuing this if other people are

[Roger Oakley]

Excel spreadsheet works for me.

[Great Outdoors]

Thanks Great Outdoors.

I'm really keen to find out if your opinions are shared by the majority of pressure washing businesses as noone wants to waste any time or money on things that aren't needed!

There does seem to be some interest in mobile apps and being able to access your database anywhere, which of course you will never get from a desktop / one off fee system.

Look forward to hearing further thoughts and opinions. I'm only interested in pursuing this if other people are

LIKE  If there is  a demand why not, personally 9/10 I have someone in the office if I require any extra info

[Roger Oakley]

But as with any database you need to input the data in the first place, so and no disrespect is there really a need for these fancy apps for pressure washing?
As I said earlier an excel spreadsheet works easily enough, you just have to get yourself organised and stick to it.

[Kev Martin]

I don't often but I think I agree with Mike here!  I cannot see the advantages for a P/W guy unless I am missing something?  Surely as Roger says a  spreadsheet works???  It's not like your in the same place every few weeks is it?  I suppose the reminder e mails and mailshots may be an advantage if it kicked in after a suitable period.  However, the one thing that pi**es me off is people who constantly bombard me with E mails

Kev

[Matt Gibson]

I get what your saying, but i want to get rid of my diary. I want to have a smallish tablet, with a scheduling software or something similar. So i can enter quotes, see how long its been since I've quoted so i can possibly follow up. Book jobs in and have a portfolio of pictures on the tablet to show any customers if i need to. Obviously with a spreadsheet, you need to enter the customers details once you get back to the office. I want to be able to enter the customers into the tablet schedule (either via doing a quote or booking the job) then that automatically enters them into the software database, with a date we did the work etc.. So next year i can send them an email straight from the system. Easy peasy. Not having to enter the details into a separate database, not having to use a separate database for emails etc..

I want to limit the amount of time i do invoice/quotes when i get home. Got a house to renovate now, and other stuff to do.

I understand we only do one, maybe two jobs a day, and its "only" pressure washing, but i want to streamline any part of it i can, and paperwork/chasing/invoices/quoting/following up could be made a lot easier/quicker with the right software.

[Kenny83]

Exactly what matt says, I also want the facility to start typing someones name in and it searches for me with matches, I can then see what I chargeds them last year and see what I did for them, etc, rather than keep flicking through old diaries... it's a pain in the arse, also could be intergrated with google maps so when I book a job in I can see if it's nearby other customers and check if they're due for a clean, if they are I can ring them up and hopefully book them in on the same day, maximising profits and saving fuel time in the process 
Are you trialling cleaner planner yet matt?

[Great Outdoors]

Exactly what matt says, I also want the facility to start typing someones name in and it searches for me with matches, I can then see what I chargeds them last year and see what I did for them, etc, rather than keep flicking through old diaries... it's a pain in the arse, also could be intergrated with google maps so when I book a job in I can see if it's nearby other customers and check if they're due for a clean, if they are I can ring them up and hopefully book them in on the same day, maximising profits and saving fuel time in the process 
Are you trialling cleaner planner yet matt?

That's why I wouldn't use just excel any database designed system could do matches easily, follows ups plus history, emails, quotes etc. Only thing this offers is cloud tech so you can access it over web and use a tablet as opposed to a laptop or pc, which is a luxury but is it really necessary ?  I think you was joking with ref to google maps ? how could that possibly work 

What ever you go for you are then committed, took ages to input previous customers history etc into ACT but once its completed its a god send. 

[Matt Gibson]

Lee,

Have had a play around with CP, but the mobile app is purely for worksheets, so you need to create a work sheet and move it to the section for the app and then you can only see that worksheet when your out and about. Seems like an awesome program for the window cleaners, but just not what we want.

Mike,

I can see your point, and i have started to look for a generic database software, not just suited to the cleaning industry. I think that's the only way i will find one, looking outside the box and adapting it to my needs. Also, Google maps isn't impossible. I have seen a lot of American software specifically designed for Pressure Washing, with Google map integration and pretty much everything we are looking for. The price is ridiculous, and i cant imagine the support would be great, considering the time difference, but it goes to show that it can be done.

Some of the American software is amazing, just wish i knew the first thing about coding/creating software, and id have a crack.

[Kenny83]

Check out 'my customer' app, its on android and has google maps intergration for this reason, I trialled the free trial but didtnt give it a proper go as I was too busty at the time (middle of summer), it also seems a cheap app so wasn't over confident on it's capabilities, although I didn't try it out long enough to prove myself wrong.
we are living in the digital age now and it seems the only way forward for me, imagine how easy it would be cross referencing this week with this week last year and then chasing any customers up and booking them in on the same week etc.... also for me it could put some nice touches on the business by keeping intouch with customers by way of sending them an email / ecard wishing them a personalised happy Christmas mail or text etc, using it for promo, ie, this week we are offering 20 percent off all fascia cleaning to previous customers only... and so fourth.... it's just finding the right app for the job 

[Great Outdoors]

we are living in the digital age now and it seems the only way forward for me, imagine how easy it would be cross referencing this week with this week last year and then chasing any customers up and booking them in on the same week etc....

The rest of us don't need to imagine as we have been doing that for years 

Mat, I appreciate some programs have maps integrated but again for myself it would only work a handful of times per year, hence cant really see its relevance as we are not a delivery company  to use if at its full potential work location + due for a clean would need to tie up very rare for us

[BDCS]

Shall we also imagine we've been going 10 years and we're struggling to get round all the repeat customers that ring on their own accord 

[Roger Oakley]

Don't really get where this thread is going now?
But here's how you could set-up basic excel sheet
Column 1 Name of customer
Column 2 Full address details
Column 3 phone and/or email details
Column 4 type of work IE decking/paving etc
Column 5 date of work done
Column 6 reminder for the following year?

You could sort the data by date if you wanted.

So once that data is in, then easy to check who you need to contact for the next year.
I work with a slightly different arrangement, but for year on year clients, takes seconds to raise a quote and email out to see if they want our services the following year and around the same time as last year or whenever, once we receive an email back saying yes or no, if yes then they are booked in, dates scheduled, pretty easy really.

Already booking dates in for 2015 so it works for me.

[Rob @ Cleaner Planner]

Everyone here happy with Excel then apart from Matt and Kenny?

This post has had 300 views now and only a small handful of posters - please speak up if you have any alternative opinions or ideas!

Lots of window cleaners still use Excel of course, it's workable, if not optimal when it comes to looking up past cleans, invoicing, emailing etc.

As it stands I don't think Cleaner Planner is quite what you need but there might be scope for adapting it or developing a pressure washing specific app if enough people were interested.

However, if it's simply not needed then I'll leave you to it!