[paul ette]

lost loads lately due to a lot of people seem to be selling there houses lately, anyone else have the same?

also losing a few due to time of year, does anyone get the feeling that some customers seem to lose interest after a few months and you become a bill that they dont want to pay for

[Positivity]

Definitely!!
Window cleaning "round" is like being on shifting sands.
House sales, Rentals moving out, Old custies dying - had loads this year, Young families like the idea of clean windows but can't keep it up, Divorces, Separations, One offs, Messers, Bad Payers -  the list goes on and on but overall I find that with new custies coming in it keeps it around the same amount of work and income.
All part of the game at least it's not the boring same old week after week like an office job for instance.

[Klean07]

I've lost a few lately too due to one reason or another but fortunately I've also gained a few too which always seems to happen.

[SeanK]

Unfortunately peoples circumstances are changing all the time and if you need to make cutbacks then
window cleaning is one that's not going to effect your life too much.
Make sure you have a talk with any customers that are moving, you never know you might get their new property
to clean and get your foot into a new area.

[H20cleaning]

I cant remember the last time i worried about loosing domestic customers because usually the same week i replace them with a couple more!

[SeanK]

I cant remember the last time i worried about loosing domestic customers because usually the same week i replace them with a couple more!

Agree, I think it more a thing you worry about when starting out.

[Nathanael Jones]

Every decent sized round will loose customers every month - people move away, run short of cash, die etc all the time. its important to track how many you're loosing and how many your gaining (or the value of the jobs at least) and make sure you're not consistently on the loosing side. If you are for more than 3 months in a row its time to step back and take a good look at your business and see what's going wrong,...

The way you run your business might be the same as it has been for years - you might have 100% customer satisfaction, do a fantastic job & be liked by all of your custies - - but if new competition are marketing their business in a way that stops you being seen (They might be leafleting/top of google/ newspaper ads etc etc that you aren't competing with) then you could simple be loosing out because you've become invisible.

[C o z y]

Every decent sized round will loose customers every month - people move away, run short of cash, die etc all the time. its important to track how many you're loosing and how many your gaining (or the value of the jobs at least) and make sure you're not consistently on the loosing side. If you are for more than 3 months in a row its time to step back and take a good look at your business and see what's going wrong,...

The way you run your business might be the same as it has been for years - you might have 100% customer satisfaction, do a fantastic job & be liked by all of your custies - - but if new competition are marketing their business in a way that stops you being seen (They might be leafleting/top of google/ newspaper ads etc etc that you aren't competing with) then you could simple be loosing out because you've become invisible.

100% agree.

[Perfect Windows]

Every decent sized round will loose customers every month - people move away, run short of cash, die etc all the time. its important to track how many you're loosing and how many your gaining (or the value of the jobs at least) and make sure you're not consistently on the loosing side. If you are for more than 3 months in a row its time to step back and take a good look at your business and see what's going wrong,...

The way you run your business might be the same as it has been for years - you might have 100% customer satisfaction, do a fantastic job & be liked by all of your custies - - but if new competition are marketing their business in a way that stops you being seen (They might be leafleting/top of google/ newspaper ads etc etc that you aren't competing with) then you could simple be loosing out because you've become invisible.

Perfectly put.

It leads on to another thing.  If you're not measuring how successful your marketing/sales is then you'll never know what hit you if it's failing.  We've tried a handful of different styles of leaflet and we know which ones work because we measure it.  One "improved" leaflet we tried this summer brought in 2/3 as much business as the previous one.

Also, this helps to answer why your top-line hourly rate is irrrelevant.  One of the many costs you'll have in your business is money spent maintaining your customer base. People do move/give up/die and, as sure as eggs are eggs, you need to spend money (leaflets, etc) or time (canvassing) to replace them.  Think on that the next time someone complains that you're earning £X per hour doing their windows (or the next time someone on here boasts of their daily rate).

Vin

[paul ette]

been doing it 2.5 yrs, just at the mo loads of people selling there houses, think its due to house prices increasing, lost a bit more than usual, usualy gain more than i lose but last 3 months been realy crap, must of lost 20 odd and gained half that

[colin bird]

hi mate sorry just put a similar post on like yours but didnt see yours until i posted mine

[rah]

I always ask the customer leaving to leave my details If it's a house I cleaned for years and always check if there staying local.

[Smudger]

Every decent sized round will loose customers every month - people move away, run short of cash, die etc all the time. its important to track how many you're loosing and how many your gaining (or the value of the jobs at least) and make sure you're not consistently on the loosing side. If you are for more than 3 months in a row its time to step back and take a good look at your business and see what's going wrong,...

The way you run your business might be the same as it has been for years - you might have 100% customer satisfaction, do a fantastic job & be liked by all of your custies - - but if new competition are marketing their business in a way that stops you being seen (They might be leafleting/top of google/ newspaper ads etc etc that you aren't competing with) then you could simple be loosing out because you've become invisible.

Perfectly put.

It leads on to another thing.  If you're not measuring how successful your marketing/sales is then you'll never know what hit you if it's failing.  We've tried a handful of different styles of leaflet and we know which ones work because we measure it.  One "improved" leaflet we tried this summer brought in 2/3 as much business as the previous one.

Also, this helps to answer why your top-line hourly rate is irrrelevant.  One of the many costs you'll have in your business is money spent maintaining your customer base. People do move/give up/die and, as sure as eggs are eggs, you need to spend money (leaflets, etc) or time (canvassing) to replace them.  Think on that the next time someone complains that you're earning £X per hour doing their windows (or the next time someone on here boasts of their daily rate).

Vin

Nicely put vin, wish I could have replied as well as that
Darran

[dazmond]

You win some,lose some.thats just the way it is for many of us.i dont do anything apart from work hard and never seem to lose out as there always seems to be  new customers just on the horizon when i lose a few for whatever reason.

Maybe im just lucky!!

[Dave Willis]

Wish I could lose some more - totally overwhelmed with work. 

[trippyboy]

So far in 2014 ive lost £563 per 4 weeks
Gained £1,075 per 4 weeks
So £512 per 4 weeks up
 

[Window Lickers]

Wish I could lose some more - totally overwhelmed with work.  

Put your prices up, your wish will either come true or you'll be better off.

[Dave Willis]

Yer, but if they don't go I'll have to go VAT registered 

[8weekly]

Yer, but if they don't go I'll have to go VAT registered 

Then you just drop some and work less hard.

[Window Lickers]

Yer, but if they don't go I'll have to go VAT registered 

You've a long way to go before you get to that according to this.

No, but I'm over 40k up on when I left school 22 years ago!