[Stephen Dwyer]

I am very impressed that the starter of this thread has managed to get 200 customers in just a few months.  From what he has said it sounds like a number of them may not be reliable but it is still a lot of customers.  I have been going for about 15 months and I only have around 145 customers with about a quarter of them being unreliable and barely worth the effort. 

[davids3511]

Hi Stephen

Basically it is down to a stroke of good luck and hard work. I used to deliver the leaflets myself and it was slow going. I started mid July and by about September time I had in the region of 45 customers. One night while leafleting near my home, a young lad came out of a house I had just leafleted and asked if I had any work going. I said I might, if he didn't mind doing the leafleting on a night for me but I would need to think about it and took his number.

I rang him about a week later and we started leafleting together. They are the kind that the customer needs to put in the window, I drive around about two days later and note down the houses with the leaflet in the window (difficult to do and not crash the car). Now days I don't leaflet with him anymore, I drop him off with a Google map of the roads I want him to do and I go see the customers or come home to have my dinner.

The deal with him is £5.00 per hour and 25% of the value of the first clean of any business we pick up. One Monday after I had seen customers over the weekend I had to give him £55.00 in commission alone. He has put out about 10000 leaflets in the time he has been with me so a return of 200 isn't fantastic in those terms but I am delighted with it. It could be more but I have been keeping him on a tight leash recently, I am still very new and slow to this business and can just about do what I have. An influx of 30 first cleans would be great but would take me nearly a week to do and put my existing customers a week behind. I am more looking for about 5 a week but that is obviously no use to him.

This is the topic where I first asked about taking him on - http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=43026.0 and I see it was 17th September. Basically he has got me about 150 new customers since about the 24th September, it was about a week later he started.

David

[Paul Coleman]

I'll agree with that. I've got loads of phone the night before customers- worst thing i ever did. The best ones are the ones where you turn up and do it whilst they are at work. They don't know how fast you are or what a mess you leave.

I don't take jobs where I need to phone the night before unless they are VERY good jobs.  Even then, they get dumped if they mess about too much.  I've recently been helping someone out on their round and there is a lot of pre-arranging needed.  Even though I have variable job quality on my round, I'm appreciating it a lot more now that have had some insight into how it could be.  I could fill my books two or three times over if I was prepared to spend each evening trying to phone some customers.  I only turned one down today.  Wouldn't even offer a quote.  She pointed out that her other window cleaners had all phoned up the night before.  I pointed out that maybe that was why they no longer cleaned for her.

[NWH]

If it`s a job where a call the night before is required it would have to take me at least a morning to do the job,once you get into this way of working you`ll end up regretting the fact that you took it on on that basis and my book has no room for T******.

[davids3511]

I agree the ideal is not to have to call the night before but for now unfortunately the rent has to be paid. My idea is that once i have a full round, I will start pruning the bottom end. I know this is easier said than done but hopefully I will follow it through.

[NWH]

Don`t take work on with this calling the night before business your asking for greive,run the business on your terms it`s up to you your the boss not the customers,make it your aim to get enough work to be able to drop all trouble makers and control freaks.

[Paul Coleman]

I agree the ideal is not to have to call the night before but for now unfortunately the rent has to be paid. My idea is that once i have a full round, I will start pruning the bottom end. I know this is easier said than done but hopefully I will follow it through.

That sounds more like it really.  I was pretty desperate to build the workload up at first too.  After a few years, I actually gave away work valued at about £500 a month (mostly underpriced and too much pre-arranging) - which should really have been grossing more like £900 a month.  He was just starting.  I wanted to drop some mediocre work.  The customers wanted someone to clean their windows.  Everybody was a winner that time.  It is very important to prune that bottom end though.  I don't need to do it much these days because even if a bit of my work is priced a bit low, I can always raise the price.  Sometimes a customer will upgrade their security making window cleaning access too difficult.  I always provide the opportunity for them to resolve it - by giving me a spare gate key, providing me with a combination lock, or just permanently leaving a gate key in a discreet place in a polythene bag.  If they do not take the opportunity, I walk.  I know it sounds harsh but it's the difference between my round being pretty good or quite rubbishy.

[Davew]

Fell off the top of a wheelybin yeterday trying to get acess of a phone the night before job - far easier to just get a short ladder for the bolted ones and walk away from the locked ones i think.

[windowwashers]

Fell off the top of a wheelybin yeterday trying to get acess of a phone the night before job - far easier to just get a short ladder for the bolted ones and walk away from the locked ones i think.

locked ones are highly annoying, another reason I lend to not call the night before as they still leave it locked some of the time 

Wheelie bins lol, last time i did that the lid went inside the bin  :

[lee_dewing]

david,
 in response to calling people up to gain access, i use to do this but send text messages now
You can text landlines as well seems to work for me 98% of the time.
you may already no this.
If not send one to your own landline.

Mine says,
Lee the windowcleaner coming tommorow ***day please unlock gate
i always state day as i've people with mobile's see the message next day on phone and get confused.

I've always had to text some mobiles of custy's to unlock gates
But hate the ones you phone as i always feel as if i'm asking for there permission.
Or it gets into a really lenghty chat.
OLD DEAR"can't you come thursday instead of wednesday as i'm going out and don't want to leave gate unlocked all day"

I know they can always call you back but think most people are lazy.

Thinking about it texting landlines is probably better than texting mobiles as with mobiles some customers put not today.

You can't win em all in the new year i will be canvassing for new work, like i'm starting all over again issue out terms and conditions "titled how i work"

Price higher to compensate, for lost time and money.

then go back to my older work put up prices and tell them how it's gonna be, i know there's away of getting point across without trying to be arrogant.

i have about 250 customers now and been wfp 15 months and ave earnings £450 a week should be more like £600.

hope some of this info has helped and not depressed.
I am 100% honest with what i post.