[Simon Brannon]

All the negative thoughts and possible "downsides" to using a water fed pole system or any other kind of tool are only EVER in your own head !

Now you may think this is a bold statement to make but I come from a sales background and have, over a period of thirty years, done lots of sales courses about handling customer objections,  body language, neuro-linguistic programming, customer control etc.etc. and YOU are in control of your business not a customer.

They only hear what you tell them - so if you think a water fed pole will be problematic then it WILL be -

 because customers are not stupid - they will pick up on the doubts in your body language, attitude and vocabulary you use.

SO - if you,re unsure about it, try it before you speak to a customer about it and if its not for you then carry on doing what you're happy with.

BUT - don't say that your customers won't like it if you use it on their properties -
thats just you perceiving problems that are in your own head and taking away a customers right to their own opinion.

( before starting my business over two years ago I had never cleaned a window in my life - traditional, waterfed pole - none of it meant anything to me but I dont like ladders so decided that for me the pole was the way to go.)

All my work was canvassed by me door to door and from customer recommendations and has taken off really well and it is all waterfed pole and in that two years I have NEVER been asked "what Method do you use?"


Best of luck to you all and if anybody wants any  help with sales or customer issues e-mail me on clean@pro-pure.co.uk - I might be able to help


 

[david watts]

utter tosh sorry son but the job i did yesterday was made for wfp
office full of doctors and staff all moaning about the windows 40 ft up :
few spots here and there but my god made my life hell.
you can explain all you like to some folk but they are backward and dont take it in

[Simon Brannon]

Dave - sounds like you had a bad day !!

and some poor cleaning!!

Lol !

[the bfg]

excellent post Simon.

[Dave Willis]

Brilliant ................. so you'll only fall off your ladder if you want to 
It's all in your head?

[david watts]

you have to see this job mate its been cleaned 3 times now twice by me
and theres dry cement still on windows and mastic i have only cleaned it wfp
and we are talking 3 windows out of 150 so these are hard to get at ie iron railings/45 ft up from where
your standing and weelchair ramp in the way should you choose to clean by plat form
yes i had a bad day

[Simon Brannon]

sorry Dave W - I think you've mis-read the post.....................

its about customer perceptions and really aimed at us - window cleaners who may be thinking of going WFP but pre-judge what their customers would say.

It's only a problem if YOU make it a problem with a negative attitude.

Customers just want clean windows and a reliable service and all we want is money.

SIMPLES!!

[david watts]

i am having a rant; get used to this evry 3 mths this job comes up and they drive me round the bend
i would kick the dog but he bites back
my thing is i get all the hard jobs ie one custy didnt like wfp wanted me to go up a ladder on top of a roof and this job i am on about the place is full of has nuts who would be happy to see you up a ladder 40 ft up.
would love a few council houses to make life easy
do get where your coming from positive things happen to positive people

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

We had one where we smiled and said good morning and she said 'you aren't using that thing on my windows'. I want them done properly or you can take a hike!

Not much of a chance to change her mind on that one!!! I agree with what you're saying but I'm afraid some people HAVE made their mind up. Their loss I suppose

[Simon Brannon]

A & J thats fine IF you are happy to do the job trad.

However - ( and this is NOT a wfp v Trad thing believe me ) ,

If YOU don't want to do it trad then this is where the cutomer control bit comes in - you empathise with her by explaining that lots of your customers just like her were sceptical at first but now fully appreciate that your safety is of prime importance and then emphasise the extra benefits to her of frames being cleaned etc every time for free!!

Be POSITIVE, POLITE but FIRM and also if you don't want to do it off ladders be prepared to walk away from the job.

Customers often give huff and puff "false" objections, but if you stand your ground and don't argue with them they will come round to your way of thinking.

[lee09]

All the negative thoughts and possible "downsides" to using a water fed pole system or any other kind of tool are only EVER in your own head !

Now you may think this is a bold statement to make but I come from a sales background and have, over a period of thirty years, done lots of sales courses about handling customer objections,  body language, neuro-linguistic programming, customer control etc.etc. and YOU are in control of your business not a customer.

They only hear what you tell them - so if you think a water fed pole will be problematic then it WILL be -

 because customers are not stupid - they will pick up on the doubts in your body language, attitude and vocabulary you use.

SO - if you,re unsure about it, try it before you speak to a customer about it and if its not for you then carry on doing what you're happy with.

BUT - don't say that your customers won't like it if you use it on their properties -
thats just you perceiving problems that are in your own head and taking away a customers right to their own opinion.

( before starting my business over two years ago I had never cleaned a window in my life - traditional, waterfed pole - none of it meant anything to me but I dont like ladders so decided that for me the pole was the way to go.)

All my work was canvassed by me door to door and from customer recommendations and has taken off really well and it is all waterfed pole and in that two years I have NEVER been asked "what Method do you use?"


Best of luck to you all and if anybody wants any  help with sales or customer issues e-mail me on clean@pro-pure.co.uk - I might be able to help


 

One of the better posts posted, thank you Simon.
Lee

[Tom White]

All the negative thoughts and possible "downsides" to using a water fed pole system or any other kind of tool are only EVER in your own head !

Now you may think this is a bold statement to make but I come from a sales background and have, over a period of thirty years, done lots of sales courses about handling customer objections,  body language, neuro-linguistic programming, customer control etc.etc. and YOU are in control of your business not a customer.

They only hear what you tell them - so if you think a water fed pole will be problematic then it WILL be -

 because customers are not stupid - they will pick up on the doubts in your body language, attitude and vocabulary you use.

SO - if you,re unsure about it, try it before you speak to a customer about it and if its not for you then carry on doing what you're happy with.

BUT - don't say that your customers won't like it if you use it on their properties -
thats just you perceiving problems that are in your own head and taking away a customers right to their own opinion.

( before starting my business over two years ago I had never cleaned a window in my life - traditional, waterfed pole - none of it meant anything to me but I dont like ladders so decided that for me the pole was the way to go.)

All my work was canvassed by me door to door and from customer recommendations and has taken off really well and it is all waterfed pole and in that two years I have NEVER been asked "what Method do you use?"


Best of luck to you all and if anybody wants any  help with sales or customer issues e-mail me on clean@pro-pure.co.uk - I might be able to help


 

One of the better posts posted, thank you Simon.
Lee

Good post, mate.

[Simon Brannon]

Thanks Tosh - loved your link to "no arms no legs, no worries" by the way.

Showed it to my 12 year old daughter and her friend and it was emotional - THANKS

Simon

[Tom White]

We had one where we smiled and said good morning and she said 'you aren't using that thing on my windows'. I want them done properly or you can take a hike!

You should have murdered the rotten nasty man, dressed him up in a santa claus costume and shoved him up the chimney.

[dazmond]

ive found that by constantly harping on to my custies that wfp is better,cleans the frames,better job etc its having a effect!

of course most of us know that wfp isnt that great and certainly not as consistent as trad and is utter rubbish on some windows but like you say its all about selling yourself and cleaning the awkward windows and skylights etc.

cleaning trad with gg3/pure and fresh rubber on ya blade,clean dry microfibre and trad is much better!better shine,dry windows,instant result!BUT DONT TELL THE CUSTIES THAT!!

[the bfg]

i am having a rant; get used to this evry 3 mths this job comes up and they drive me round the bend
i would kick the dog but he bites back
my thing is i get all the hard jobs ie one custy didnt like wfp wanted me to go up a ladder on top of a roof and this job i am on about the place is full of has nuts who would be happy to see you up a ladder 40 ft up.
would love a few council houses to make life easy
do get where your coming from positive things happen to positive people

I aint having a go at you but if you read your post back slowly you will realise your saying
poor me
poor me
poor me
from what your saying you sound as though you invite negativity into your life and negativity is 100% effective mate,

if those jobs are making your life a misery then find a solution and believe me there are plenty


a couple of examples,

I had a customer with electric gates who only allowed me to clean when they were in and as they were out a lot as you can imagine it was a problem many times as I would call them the evening before only to be told sorry we wont be arounf tomorrow call back another time,   we I finally had enough and called one evening only to be told the same story so very politely but firmly I told them that this wasn't working out and it would be best for both parties if they got themselves another w/c   I also stated that I did quite a few properties like this but only had problems with this one as the other owners all arranged access for me when they were out,   I also thanked them for their custom and wished them all the best for the future,   within 10 minutes they called me back and said well why don't we give you the keypad number for when were not in and leave the cheque out for you and even apoligised for messing me about.



I recently did a 1st clean on a large house and conservatory/roof  which had just had some extention work done to the property,  the owners didn't hold back saying they were not impressed with WFP as the previous w/cs were WFP and they wernt happy with the results.      again very politly I told them I give a guarentee to all would be customers that if they were not happy with the results after I had cleaned then it was simple THEY DIDN'T PAY
both the man and his wife looked at me with great surprise and I said to them thats how confident I am over my work,    I went ahead and cleaned and they were more than happy to pay and booked me for a regular monthly clean and even called me in the evening to thank me foe a wonderful service and wait for it .....  for being a BFG




you just need to be positive mate and ok if that means giving one or two jobs up then you havent lost them youv'e just got rid of something that put you on a downer,   so you see there is even something positive to losing the odd job

[gary999]

ive found that by constantly harping on to my custies that wfp is better,cleans the frames,better job etc its having a effect!

of course most of us know that wfp isnt that great and certainly not as consistent as trad and is utter rubbish on some windows but like you say its all about selling yourself and cleaning the awkward windows and skylights etc.

cleaning trad with gg3/pure and fresh rubber on ya blade,clean dry microfibre and trad is much better!better shine,dry windows,instant result!BUT DONT TELL THE CUSTIES THAT!!

dont tell me that trad cleaners dont have problems smears and whatever
because they do

wfp, the overall cleaning effect is better,the only advantage of trad is
dry glass. the window isnt just glass though is it and there is no way
trad cleaners can do justice to the frames and sills that pure water does
it would take too much time.

it gets into every nook and cranny and jointed area,between frames
and sills flushing out ingrained algae and dirt and after multiple cleans
they look better and better and your job gets easier.

i try to make every so called negative a selling point e.g. upper
cills can look dirty again after you leave as water will seep out with
dirt from between frame and cill, i explain this to the customer before
i start cleaning and describe it as part of the overall cleaning process.

they are happy with that and it saves me time having to dry
cills off and 99% over time itstop doing this after all the ingrained
dirt has been bled away.

if it doesnt i look like im going the extra mile for my customers
by wasting time turning water off and giving cill a wipe with
brush or cloth.

apart from dry glass for me there is no way trad is better overall
than wfp, far too many advantages.

if you choose believe that trad is better than what your doing now
carry on, i tend to believe you should totally believe in what you are doing,
which i do  and you can get round any of the minor probs

 my life is easier for it

[G Griffin]

 All thoughts are only ever in your head  .