[GB Window Cleaning]

@ stan

So your telling me you never get shiners canvassing your "patch"?
and what would you do about it if they did? 
and where abouts do you live?

[Richard iSparkle]

i've been told not to bother canvassing areas  because 'they're all tied up' around our way.  truth is, i;ve never had an area where i've not picked up work.  and once we get a couple of houses, more come around when they see us working and speak to their neighbours.

[GB Window Cleaning]

Stan, thats fair enough. but you dont own your your customer. they switch window cleaners if they want   what would you do about it they did?

If you dont mind me asking where about in the contry are you

Let me finsih by saying i dont tolerate bully's!!!

[GB Window Cleaning]

i've been told not to bother canvassing areas  because 'they're all tied up' around our way.  truth is, i;ve never had an area where i've not picked up work.  and once we get a couple of houses, more come around when they see us working and speak to their neighbours.

Same here richard

[bobby p]

as a kid i remember milkmen had "patches "  but look at it now, you buy from whoever you feel happiest with.   

[Dave Mills]

No, Stan's back on the 1950s. "I'm alright Jack and stuff the lot of you". Customers having choice? Never? Threats of violence? Standard (though they only ever really threaten it, not do it).  What a wonderful world to live in.

And you know what, it's all talk.  They like to talk of themselves as the next best thing to the Krays, but the thing they know is that there's always someone bigger and harder than you round the next corner.

The thing they miss is that customers don't feel "loyal" to behaviour like this, they feel trapped.  And just like it happened in every other industry, all it takes is one person to make a stand and their whole sorry little empire will collapse overnight.  Someone will have the balls to stand up and be counted and offer a better service and these dinosaurs will go the way of British Leyland.

talk out of your backside,have never threatened anybody in my life,most customers are friends who i talk to while working or in town at other times, think youve been watching to much of the Soparonos , get out canvassing to double your workload to 2 days a week you saddo 

You're the guy who's talked about people who canvass round your way ending up "eating through a straw" so don't come over all goody-goody.

Anyway, doesn't alter the fact that your so-called customer "loyalty" is actually restricted trade through your childish little fraid-of-competition patch system.  Your type's day is over, little man, and the sooner your type are washed out of the sewer the better.

[dai]

There is so much rubbish talked over customer loyalty, customers are people just like the rest of us, some are loyal some are not, some couldn't sleep if they owed you money, some would let you clean their windows for month after month, and drop you like a brick when you catch up with them and they have to pay. some will ask how many cleans they owe for, some will dispute that they owe for three cleans.
Some send a cheque for six months advance cleaning, some will move out owing you three cleans.
Believe me, I have or have had all of these customers. It's no good thinking that they will all share your values, they won't. It's no good beating yourself up trying to understand customers, take what comes and move on.
If someone asks me for a price I give them a price, I'm a window cleaner and that's what I do.
I don't care who cleaned them last, or what they were charged.
Business is business.

[GB Window Cleaning]

@ dai

amen, agreed.

[G Griffin]

Some double standards on here. Some are having a go at Stan, but I read a few threatening posts about undercutting East Europeans recently.

Good post Dai. 

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

its the customers call at the end of the day if they want to use someone else then you can only gain if he confronts you then you can ligit say they approached me mate i put price in and they said yes so on ya bike six quider

[dazmond]

i agree with stan to a point.us window cleaners who are well established with very compact rounds very rarely lose work because we are tried and trusted(and usually cheaper)because we dont need to drive about here,there and everywhere wasting time and money on fuel unloading our gear every 20 mins!!


theres certain windys i know that will not clean certain areas because they knows i clean that road and its not worth it for them to do just one house while i do 20!and vice versa.it helps us keep our rounds compact and driving and wasting time to a minimum.


regards


dazmond

[dave0123]

I can understand years ago why it was patches ... window cleaners walking round with ladders and card suppose could not really travel too far but these days people have cars/vans can travel easily 5 miles away within what? 15 mins.

More people cleaning windows as a proper business these days so at the end of the day its upto the customer who they want to use? if you got a quote to get some roof repairs its totaly up to you who you pick why would it be any diffrent with window cleaning?


I got threatend a few times window cleaners saying dont canvus anymore round here mate!! or others saying we do this estate mate etc etc its all load b******s.. what there saying is if the customer carnt use "him" they carnt have anyone 

IDIOTS the lot of them its full of them round here!! one of my customers have gone to the police over window cleaners threating other cleaners because even she thinks its not right! and anyone was a right to make a living. I dont go around undercutting i jus give my price based on what i want and 90% of the time i charge neally double the price of other cleaners in the road and they would still rarther have me, if they say yes i clean if they say no i dont and i wont drop my price end of... am sure i have lost jobs to window cleaners in the past i dont go around to them giving threats!

[mikecam]

what there saying is if the customer carnt use "him" they carnt have anyone 

Thats what i see too.

[dave0123]

why would you want to travel 5 miles between jobs all day when you can park up once and clean all day

I didnt mean that!! i ment years ago when there was no cars a window cleaner would live local around that estate really.. now days you could travel five miles and still work all day without moving the car! or have a diffrent day in a diffrent area what am saying is people can travel and they obviously do as some window cleaners you here on here travel 20miles to there round. But years ago when jus ladders and carts you carnt see someone walking 3-5 miles to there first job can you? so obviously how "patches" where formed.

If your jobs a very very compact then good on ya! i wish mine were as compact as yours i usally only have 3-4 per road but i dont travel very far between jobs

[dave0123]

Thats what i see too.

Mee too! and it annoys me because any other trade.. gardiners, birckeys, roofers, plumbers and so on all give quotes like us.. and then the customer chooses what to go with! on what they see best could be the cheapest quote or most expensive just down to who they want

[Dave Mills]

I can understand years ago why it was patches ... window cleaners walking round with ladders and card suppose could not really travel too far but these days people have cars/vans can travel easily 5 miles away within what? 15 mins.

why would you want to travel 5 miles between jobs all day when you can park up once and clean all day

 You can dance around it all day, but patches mean no choice for customers.

And you buy into the violence (as proven by past posts) so don't come the innocent.

[lcwalker]

I could be alot cheaper if i just did the glass, how i think about it is theres more to a window than just the glass i make sure it's all clean frame glass and sill, but i have heard many just do glass.

[G Griffin]

What about wc`ers who don`t like "cheap" competition or undercutting? What`s wrong with that?
Many on here, are up in arms when they hear about cleaners working for less than they do.
That`s like patches in a way; stifling the competition.

[Richard iSparkle]

undercutting is just bad for business.  everyone's business.  its usually what people do when they're new in a business, and when they get experienced they realize they're doing more for less.

most customers aren't so price sensitive anyhow, so all the cheap cleaners are doing is driving down prices.  window cleaning is such a cheap service anyhow for the customers that the difference between a cheap WC (say£6 and a more modern £10 per month is just small change).  the difference for the WC is massive as that extra £4 per clean is thousand more by year end.  Its probably more than double the profit.

it is better for all WC if we compete on the quality of our service rather than just price.

[G Griffin]

undercutting is just bad for business.  everyone's business.  its usually what people do when they're new in a business, and when they get experienced they realize they're doing more for less.

most customers aren't so price sensitive anyhow, so all the cheap cleaners are doing is driving down prices.  window cleaning is such a cheap service anyhow for the customers that the difference between a cheap WC (say£6 and a more modern £10 per month is just small change).  the difference for the WC is massive as that extra £4 per clean is thousand more by year end.  Its probably more than double the profit.

it is better for all WC if we compete on the quality of our service rather than just price.

That wasn`t my point though. I agree some do it to get a foot in the door though, and if it does work, then it is good business for them.
My point was, some don`t like this form of competition; a bit like patch workers.