Hello again and thanks for the ideas- still learning a lot as I go
@TomCrowther- Thanks, I'll give that a go on the really dirty ones that I think I can get away with. Wish I'd done it on a couple of recent first cleans which were really really bad!
@awcs- yeah- I need to do that sort of thing when no-one is at work so they can see me at it but weekends are difficult for me kids wise. I'll see what I can sort out.
@bobby p- I had a similar situation with one of my first jobs- quoted him on a 4 weekly, did the job and when I went to collect the money I said 'thanks, I'll see you in 4 weeks then'; he said 'hang on, not sure about that- I've got the missus off my back about getting them clean so I'll let u know whether we want them doing again when I've spoken with her'. I was a bit p1ssed off as I would have charged more for a one-off but left it at that- I suppose I should have said I wanted more cash then. So when I was collecting nearby a few days later I passed their house and she was in the living room- so I knocked on and she came to the door and I mentioned her hubby had agreed to a 4 weekly but then he didn't want to commit without speaking to her- 'he must have needed the boss to make a decision' I said with a smile! She laughed and said I should do the 4 weekly as she wanted them cleaned regular. I suppose it was a bit cheeky of me but I wasn't happy that he'd taken me for a ride and I ended up with the regular clean which is all good.
It surprised me really as I am normally very quiet and a bit shy with strangers but this job forces you to confront those issues otherwise I wouldn't get anywhere and I can't be having that.
When people call me (which doesn't happen often tbh) I always insist on visiting to look at the house and hopefully give them a chance to see me face to face and see what I'm like; this also helps me to size them up a bit. I can do this because all my custies and canvassing are within 5 minutes drive of home at the moment. I've also been surprised at how many people don't actually know how many windows (and doors) they have and when asked they always miss some out- I don't know if that is a memory block or being devious sods though. I tried it on the missus and she missed 2 windows out of 8!!
Cheers again
Tom