[S.W. Window Cleaning]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

[Chris Buchan]

He's probably an alky,phone the alky police and have him arrested or pick 2 more up.

[Tom White]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

You're going to get a lot of this when you first start up.  You just will.  It takes a few years (for us mere mortals) to build up a decent bunch of clientèle. 

[bobplum]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

standing orders

[Smudger]

May never had a regular windy, some people can sniff out fresh prey as soon as it arrives in the street, did you charge a first clean price ?

We charge double for a 1st clean, cuts out these type who only really want windows cleaned twice a year.

Take heart, losing customers is all part of the process, the first few hurt and can knock your confidence a bit, and of course take a bigger % of your income while your small, when established you'll stop this type of customer and not take them on, so in turn get less cancel.

You only need to worry if your getting a regular flow of cancellations over a period of a few months

Darran

[Carl2009]

May never had a regular windy, some people can sniff out fresh prey as soon as it arrives in the street, did you charge a first clean price ?

We charge double for a 1st clean, cuts out these type who only really want windows cleaned twice a year.

Take heart, losing customers is all part of the process, the first few hurt and can knock your confidence a bit, and of course take a bigger % of your income while your small, when established you'll stop this type of customer and not take them on, so in turn get less cancel.

You only need to worry if your getting a regular flow of cancellations over a period of a few months

Darran

+1 to what Smudger says.

[deeege]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

standing orders

How would a standing order help in this situation? Surely a customer can just cancel the standing order whenever they want?

Double price for first clean works for me.

[andyM]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

Let's be honest it all starting going down hill after the Albright & Shiny fiasco.
Onwards and upwards! 

[bobplum]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

standing orders

How would a standing order help in this situation? Surely a customer can just cancel the standing order whenever they want?

Double price for first clean works for me.

Its not always gong to work but i feel it reaffirms their commitment to you, if they went thru the hassle of setting it up chances are they may not cancel
i have found that customers who do standing orders stay much longer then any other type of customer, in general.
Also if you set it all up for the first of the month you can confirm who gets cleaned and who doesn't by who pays or not
With gocardless for example you may do the clean but not get paid as the customer cancels or has no money in the bank

[Clever Forum Name]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

Let's be honest it all starting going down hill after the Albright & Shiny fiasco.
Onwards and upwards! 

Haha. Too funny. I remember that

[Suffolkcleaners]

Stick with it sw cleaning... I have been going 18 years now. Sold up my first round in my 20's and did some travelling etc and then started again 10 years ago.. first year was really hard(i remember to this day the first house i picked up a £8 job)was in a dead end driving job at the time and thought i really wanted to get back what i had first time round.. So canvassed,canvassed,canvassed.. hate it but i did it and like most things if u stick with it u will grow before you realise. Good luck!

It's hard not to take things personally (i do abit) but it's the nature of the business and in time u will weed out the rubbish custies but in the early stages you may have to take what you can get to earn the bread and butter. Stick with it!

[Johnny B]

Yup, just keep going.

Since I started up again after moving to Ireland 3 years ago I have kept a record of how many customers I have picked up/dropped/currently have.

If I had retained them all, I would have around 550 now, but I have culled over 200 in the last year alone. This will be ongoing until I have a full run of real customers.

Best wishes,
John

[Paul Coleman]

Only had him for a month. He said his old window cleaner never came back. Of course now he has. I was due back this week too. Its annoying when you are trying to build up a round.
 

Over a period of about 9 months, I lost work (mostly subcontracted commercial work) to a value of about £10k a year.  But, to this day, I still remember the very first one I lost (in 1991/2).  It was £5.50 including the conservatory .  Their son had moved back home and was going to do them (wonder how long that lasted).
BTW.  I don't earn £10k a year less.  I just do the residential without getting so far behind.  Still haven't fully recovered from such a big work loss though.

[koopmaster]

I looked back on george to my first 20 customers.  I am still cleaning 3 of them.  but culled all the bad payers last year. 

[tlwcs]

4 out of 10 I think have stayed with me from my quotes.
The others are just crap that will always be messing the next shiner.
Tony

[C o z y]

Stick with it sw cleaning... I have been going 18 years now. Sold up my first round in my 20's and did some travelling etc and then started again 10 years ago.. first year was really hard(i remember to this day the first house i picked up a £8 job)was in a dead end driving job at the time and thought i really wanted to get back what i had first time round.. So canvassed,canvassed,canvassed.. hate it but i did it and like most things if u stick with it u will grow before you realise. Good luck!

It's hard not to take things personally (i do abit) but it's the nature of the business and in time u will weed out the rubbish custies but in the early stages you may have to take what you can get to earn the bread and butter. Stick with it!

Good post

[Mike #1]

+1 nice and positive , Over the years you develop a sixth sense an despite what dome say on here be picky don't take crap and you will succeed .

You want to build a solid round early on not a crap one . Mike

[richard groves]

Can you really get away with charging double on a first clean to discourage the messers ? I charge £25 often for 3 storey terraced town houses front and back, can't see a new customer taking me up on a first clean at double for £50 to be honest 

[PoleKing]

Can you really get away with charging double on a first clean to discourage the messers ? I charge £25 often for 3 storey terraced town houses front and back, can't see a new customer taking me up on a first clean at double for £50 to be honest 

Depends if you need the work.

[Steve H]

Sometimes you have to take these losses on the chin and not take it too personally, everyone loses customers for various reasons, its just the nature of the job, dealing with the public.
I would say to look after your customers, as some of them will pass you onto other friends and family, the more you have the more that tends to happen.
I would also add that you should be getting the most out of the customers you have, what I mean by that is that you dont just do the windows, you clean the conservatory roof, fascia boards, gutters, clean the gutters and let them know what you can offer, ask for referrals to any friends and family, offer a free clean to those that pass you on etc etc.
You have to offer more than just window cleaning these days to keep the customers loyal to you I feel...
Only my opinion but your losing money (and possibly customers - unless you already have a really well established round) by not offering these services.
Steve