[Oliver James]

I have a theory that future window cleaning software will remove a lot of the manual, repetitive tasks that we spend our time doing.

I'm proposing to build some software to save window cleaners significant amounts of time and these are my ideas:

1. It will automatically send debt chasing text and emails and also generate debt chasing letters. No more wasting time chasing customers payment, because the system automatically generates 'chase' emails and texts.

2. Card payments will be integrated into the software, so you don't have to manually input a card transaction into the books

3. The software's ‘accounts’ are linked directly to acccounting software like Zero / Quickbooks. So, no more having to manually check that your accounts tie up with  your bank statements.

4. Every time we put a new customer into the books, it takes about 8 minutes to transfer the data from our notes into the software. My idea is that New customers can input their details directly into YOUR software directly from your website (or you can input their details directly into the software from an app on your phone). The software can put a 'pricing menu' on your website, so customers know what they will pay. So

A) you don’t need to manually input customers data into the software, these jobs are inputted directly into your rounds, with the software 'routing' the work on the rounds using 'route optimsation' software that automatically routes the work.

B) It also means that you don’t need to be answering calls from customers when you are out working, because you can just leave a message on your voicemail directing them to the link where they sign up.

These are my ideas - What are yours?

[Shrek]

Carry on as normal using my excel spreadsheet 

I definitely don’t / wouldn’t want people just signing themselves up to my services, you’d just be asking for trouble. You’d get a good number of dog poop gardens , plant pot islands , massive kitchen extensions so it’s a ladder job to get to the back bedroom windows and go through the house / garage jobs

[paul alan]

Detect a messer through a built-in lie detector.

Brainwash customers into paying the premium prices.

Clean the windows for me.

[paul alan]

Carry on as normal using my excel spreadsheet 

I definitely don’t / wouldn’t want people just signing themselves up to my services, you’d just be asking for trouble. You’d get a good number of dog poop gardens , plant pot islands , massive kitchen extensions so it’s a ladder job to get to the back bedroom windows and go through the house / garage jobs

Maybe they would require log in details after a quote has been confirmed?

[Slacky]

Detect a messer through a built-in lie detector.

Brainwash customers into paying the premium prices.

Clean the windows for me.

You’re in the wrong business you need to be in software development.

[Roy Harding]

I have a theory that future window cleaning software will remove a lot of the manual, repetitive tasks that we spend our time doing.

I'm proposing to build some software to save window cleaners significant amounts of time and these are my ideas:

1. It will automatically send debt chasing text and emails and also generate debt chasing letters. No more wasting time chasing customers payment, because the system automatically generates 'chase' emails and texts.

2. Card payments will be integrated into the software, so you don't have to manually input a card transaction into the books

I hope soon software will do the same soon. When a dept gets to say seven days a automatic email and text is sent, afew days later a reminder and stronger reminders the later the dept.

[Don Kee]

I have a theory that future window cleaning software will remove a lot of the manual, repetitive tasks that we spend our time doing.

I'm proposing to build some software to save window cleaners significant amounts of time and these are my ideas:

1. It will automatically send debt chasing text and emails and also generate debt chasing letters. No more wasting time chasing customers payment, because the system automatically generates 'chase' emails and texts.

2. Card payments will be integrated into the software, so you don't have to manually input a card transaction into the books

3. The software's ‘accounts’ are linked directly to acccounting software like Zero / Quickbooks. So, no more having to manually check that your accounts tie up with  your bank statements.

4. Every time we put a new customer into the books, it takes about 8 minutes to transfer the data from our notes into the software. My idea is that New customers can input their details directly into YOUR software directly from your website (or you can input their details directly into the software from an app on your phone). The software can put a 'pricing menu' on your website, so customers know what they will pay. So

A) you don’t need to manually input customers data into the software, these jobs are inputted directly into your rounds, with the software 'routing' the work on the rounds using 'route optimsation' software that automatically routes the work.

B) It also means that you don’t need to be answering calls from customers when you are out working, because you can just leave a message on your voicemail directing them to the link where they sign up.

These are my ideas - What are yours?

Who are you?

On a previous post on pricing, you put yourself in the same bracket as Lee Pryor and Vin, but then in another you state how many customers you have which whilst not bad,  doesn’t seem to be alot and it seems they’re in a franchise model anyway...

So with all of these business ideas, and innovations it begs the question....who actuallu are you?

[Cookie]

I have a theory that future window cleaning software will remove a lot of the manual, repetitive tasks that we spend our time doing.

I'm proposing to build some software to save window cleaners significant amounts of time and these are my ideas:

1. It will automatically send debt chasing text and emails and also generate debt chasing letters. No more wasting time chasing customers payment, because the system automatically generates 'chase' emails and texts.

2. Card payments will be integrated into the software, so you don't have to manually input a card transaction into the books

I hope soon software will do the same soon. When a dept gets to say seven days a automatic email and text is sent, afew days later a reminder and stronger reminders the later the dept.

Really?

What about customers who have recently lost a husband/wife? What about customers who are going through cancer? I had a customer whose son committed suicide recently - should he be sent an automatic text/e-mail with a strong reminder stating he hasn't paid for his window cleaning?

IMO it's much better to have a personal relationship with customers & get to know them. I do & I have very little problem with debt. In fact just £5 this tax year so far & I'm already at £100+ for Christmas tips.

[paul alan]

Carry on as normal using my excel spreadsheet 

I definitely don’t / wouldn’t want people just signing themselves up to my services, you’d just be asking for trouble. You’d get a good number of dog poop gardens , plant pot islands , massive kitchen extensions so it’s a ladder job to get to the back bedroom windows and go through the house / garage jobs

They would probably be getting it wrong and calling for help anyway, calling you up and asking for an "as and when" option.

You cant rely on most customers to get anything right, they need spoonfeeding most of the time.

[John Mart]

I have a theory that future window cleaning software will remove a lot of the manual, repetitive tasks that we spend our time doing.

I'm proposing to build some software to save window cleaners significant amounts of time and these are my ideas:

1. It will automatically send debt chasing text and emails and also generate debt chasing letters. No more wasting time chasing customers payment, because the system automatically generates 'chase' emails and texts.

2. Card payments will be integrated into the software, so you don't have to manually input a card transaction into the books

3. The software's ‘accounts’ are linked directly to acccounting software like Zero / Quickbooks. So, no more having to manually check that your accounts tie up with  your bank statements.

4. Every time we put a new customer into the books, it takes about 8 minutes to transfer the data from our notes into the software. My idea is that New customers can input their details directly into YOUR software directly from your website (or you can input their details directly into the software from an app on your phone). The software can put a 'pricing menu' on your website, so customers know what they will pay. So

A) you don’t need to manually input customers data into the software, these jobs are inputted directly into your rounds, with the software 'routing' the work on the rounds using 'route optimsation' software that automatically routes the work.

B) It also means that you don’t need to be answering calls from customers when you are out working, because you can just leave a message on your voicemail directing them to the link where they sign up.

These are my ideas - What are yours?

Who are you?

On a previous post on pricing, you put yourself in the same bracket as Lee Pryor and Vin, but then in another you state how many customers you have which whilst not bad,  doesn’t seem to be alot and it seems they’re in a franchise model anyway...

So with all of these business ideas, and innovations it begs the question....who actuallu are you?

Strange question and ironic given that he's one of the few that uses his own name both in his business and on here.

[Oliver James]

THANK you for your responses on this.

I agree with you that customers need help with some things, especially technology.

However, they often surprise me with how willing they are to adapt to technology, IF you make it easy  for them to do so. 

For example, I converted an entire round to Go Cardless, (including commercial jobs and elderly customers in their 80s.)

Just to be clear, No customer would be allowed to just 'sign up'. There would be a pre-qualification process. Customers would be asked on the form:

1) 'Do you have clear, open air access to the back'. '
2) Do you want regular window cleaning or a one off?
3) Do you have an extension with more than 3 windows?

So YOU would have control of the type of customers that was getting onto your books.

It would be possible to stall the automatic debt chasing texts, IF a customer was having challenges in their personal lives.

Above there are four options for what the software would do. In brief they are:

1. Automatic debt chasing

2. Card payments integrated into the software, so, IF you are taking a card payment using a card reader, it updates your books automatically.

3. It cross-checks your books against your bank statement, so you don't have to manually check that your bank statements tie up with your books

4. New customers details go straight into the rounds (without you having to manually input the customers details into the software). The software routes the new job into the rounds automatically. The customer signs up from your website or from an app on your smart phone.

On a scale of 1-3 how interested are you in the above features?

1 = Not interested
2 = Indifferent
3 = Interested

For example, for me personally, Option 1 (automatic debt chasing) and Option 2 (card payments integrated into the software) are both a 1 (Not Interested), because all my customers are on Go Cardless. 

Option 3 (cross checking bank statements against the books)  is a 3 (Interested), because I spent at least two hours on this per month. Option 4 (auto-input of new customers) is a 3 (Interested) because manually inputting new customer data takes about 7 minutes for every new customer so this would save me hours in the busier months of the spring and summer,

On a scale of 1-3 how interested are you in the above features.

1 = Not interested
2 = Indifferent
3 = Interested

[dazmond]

for a sole trader window cleaner ive never had it so good in regards to WFP and round software,etc.my collecting has been drastically reduced over the years and payment options have become more varied and its got easier to get paid,admin is minimal....

its great! i feel so lucky to be a window cleaner in this day and age......

for me automatically sending customers texts for ANY reason(being it for debts or access)is a no no...i like to do it myself,i also dont want potential customers to sign up themselves without me seeing whether i want to take the job on or not....

it takes 2 mins to check online banking for BACS payments.card payments already get paid into my nominated bank account and easy to check through an app on my phone....

like ive already said too much automation is not good IMO..it might interest guys with large businesses but i like to actually speak to my customers(or potential customers)sometimes and control texts going out to them etc.....

its ok if you want to create a faceless automated system with no human contact at all........

[The Jester of Wibbly]

Sometimes it's best to remian in control of what your doing. To much automation removes you from the loop resulting in you having less  knowledge about your business.

[Lee Pryor]

Some will remember that cleaner planner had a forum to discuss ideas of what could be added.

I had the idea mentioned in point "1" and pushed hard for the system to automatically send continual debt reminders to customers, send them to your choice of debt collector after a period of time and not let them apear on the round again if they still owed you money and so on.

It never happend and we just do these things manually which has refined our round over time.

[Arnold Palmer]

Some will remember that cleaner planner had a forum to discuss ideas of what could be added.

I had the idea mentioned in point "1" and pushed hard for the system to automatically send continual debt reminders to customers, send them to your choice of debt collector after a period of time and not let them apear on the round again if they still owed you money and so on.

It never happend and we just do these things manually which has refined our round over time.

I pushed and pushed for that on the CP forum. I seemed to be in a minority on that though.

How it works on CP now suits me to be honest.

[Oliver James]

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about you losing touch with you business and customers through automation. One of the reasons why businesses like ours are succesfull is that we are 'on it' when it comes to customer service.

I'm talking about making life easier in two areas:

1. By automating manual, repetitive tasks that software could do better than a human
2. By giving you key information about your businesses performance

These are my ideas for what this software can do:

Some  questions:

1. What if anything, do you like about the ideas below?
2. What do you not like about the ideas below?
3. Where and how are you losing time, and what is causing you the most hassle?
4. How could these hassles be reduced / eliminated by either automating a process , optimising a process, or solved through technology?

PROCESS AUTOMATION

[/b]
AUTO-DEBT CHASING: All Debt chasing texts and emails to be sent out automatically.  Automatically send continual debt reminders to customers, send them to your choice of debt collector after a period of time and not let them apear on the round again if they still owed you money and so on.

PRICING MENU: The software puts a pricing menu onto your website OR it provides you with a web address with a pricing page on it. When you are at work / at the weekends you can leave a message on your voicemail / set up an auto-responder on your email directing customers to this pricing menu. This will save you from a) Having to go out and do quotes, b) having to pick up the phone when you are out cleaning windows

BOOK NOW BUTTON Customers can book you as their window cleaner from your website OR from a web page that we supply you. You ask the customers these questions (plus any other questions you want to ask).
Do you want a one off or regular?
Does your home have clear, open air access to the back via a garden gate?
Does your home have a conservatory?
Does your home have an extension with more than 3 windows?
Type of home?
How many bedrooms
Name / address / postcode
This will ensure that any customers you sign up will be ‘on profile’ for you and your business.

CUSTOMER GOES DIRECTLY ONTO THE ROUND, NO MANUAL INPUT OF DATA
IF the customer is ‘on profile’ for YOU, the customer gets booked directly onto your rounds, with no manual input of customer data by you. If you get a walk up customer then there is a page on the app where you can book the customer directly onto the rounds.

ROUTE OPTIMISATION: Route optimisation of: a) worksheets and b) rounds, using a ‘route optimiser’ that orders the jobs on the worksheets and on the rounds automatically, to save on travel time and van fuel costs.

BUSINESS INFORMATION

[/b]CUSTOMER CONTRIBUTION TO PROFIT / PROFIT MARGIN ON EACH JOB: To have the ability to work out how much each customer is contributing to profit from the software. How we have refined our rounds is that we've a) worked out how much it costs to run each van per minute, and then we've b) timed the jobs and c) worked out profit margin on each job d) increased prices for customers so that they are ALL profitable.
It is a hassle doing this, because you are using excel spreadsheets, and manually inputting timings on each job into an excel spreadsheet so you can work out how profitable each job is.
If the software had a functionality wherby it could calculate how much it was costing to run the vans per minute from the ‘acccounts’ part of the software, then you could input the timing for each job, and it then calculate how profitable each job was, and you would have some solid data for making business decisions about 'contribution to profit' by each customer.
From this data be able to segment the list into ‘A-grade’, ‘B-grade’ and ‘C-grade’ customers, depending on their contribution to profit.

DASHBOARD: Business information dashboard, so you can see the following metrics on your businesses performance:

Average Job Value For Each Job
Balance Sheet
Complaints
Delivery (how many days early / late you are in delivering the service, with a searchable history on this)
Productivity: How much you / your team are billing per hour on different jobs eg. Fascia / window cleaning / first cleans / gutter cleaning etc
No Shows: Log of when you’ve notified a customer that you are going to do the work, but the van does not turn up
Customer retention rates. How many customers have left recently.
Access Issues: Logs customers that are not giving access, and it flags up these jobs so the window cleaner can take action.
Complaints: With complaints it a) logs them and dates them automatically in the customers record so that the complaint details are the first thing that the team member sees when he/she arrives at the property. b) It flags up customers who have records of making more than 3 complaints so that the window cleaner can take action.

[Scrimble]

more over complicated rubbish from Oliver James,

try actually spending time getting more customers as it seems that is the area you are struggling the most.

i will re write that so you understand, as i know how much you like putting the odd word in capitals

try ACTUALLY spending more TIME getting MORE customers as it seems THAT is the area you are STRUGGLING the MOST.

[Oliver James]

thank you Scrimble, just 'liked' your post and  I LOVE you too :-))

To make the post more to the point:

Route optimisation is in beta with CP, and some of us are testing it.

Also in the pipeline at CP is a reporting dashboard, and perhaps, auto-debt chasing.

Lee has outlined how the automatic debt chasing is something we've been after a while and how it would "automatically send continual debt reminders to customers, send them to your choice of debt collector after a period of time and not let them apear on the round again if they still owed you money and so on."

These are fantastic improvements and hopefully they will happen sooner rather than later.

I'm here to share ideas about what a radical shift in the capabilites of our software would look like.

I'm talking about software that has, as its goal, the ability for you to have AT LEAST an extra two days off a month, and that will increase your effectiveness by 20%.

So, here are my ideas:

PRICING MENU: Widget on your site or a link that shows your prices for regular window cleaning online

PRE-QUALIFICATION SYSTEM: Sorts out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to customers. By using a web form, you can direct customers to this form, and not have to take calls when you are out working. The form filters customers according to your criteria eg. postcode area / want regular window cleaning / have clear access, so you only get 'on profile' customers. You don't have to go out quoting, you don't have to answer your phone when you are are at work / with your family.

DIRECT TO ROUND BOOKING: Customers who are 'On Profile' are booked straight into the rounds (or onto a 'new jobs' worksheet)

AUTO-SYNCING: Sends out an email to customers who you've done the first clean 'Not In Round Order. In other words, if you do the work on a six weekly basis, and you've done the first clean two weeks after the van is usually in that area, then that means that your customer is going to wait 4 weeks plus six weeks = 10 weeks for their second clean. So the auto-sync function sends out an email to the customer after six weeks explaining that it will be another 4 weeks until the van is in their area, so that their home can 'synchronise' with the rest of the round.

CUSTOMER CONTRIBUTION TO PROFIT / PROFIT MARGIN ON EACH JOB: To have the ability to work out how much each customer is contributing to profit from the software.

AUTOMATIC BANK RECONCILIATION: The round software's ‘accounts’ are linked directly to accounting software like Zero / Quickbooks, so there is AUTOMATED CHECKING that accounts in the software are the same as your bank statements.

What do think of these ideas?
Is there anything that you would like the software to do and that would be a game changer for you?

[Walter Mitty]

This stuff about automation reminds me of a conversation I had with a supermarket manager some time ago.
I was having a (polite) grumble at him about the brass necked cheek of expecting me to scan my own shopping etc.  So I offered to start cleaning his windows.  I would show up in my van unload the pole and reel, then hire my tools out to him while I would stand there looking at him cleaning his windows.  I would charge him the same as doing them myself.  He saw my point and we had a chuckle about it.
That's the sort of automation I want, plus customers who don't wake me up when they drop the cash through the letter box.

[Stoots]

The more things that can be automated the better . BUT it has to work that's the thing.

Cleaner planner at the moment is pretty great, I can SMS all tomorrow's work via the worksheet using text local and I can SMS all debts over 7 days old in a matter of seconds.

Debt letter I have printer up already I just leave a blank space for the name and address, date of clean and amount and write in pen.

I like the accounts idea, it takes me a while to reconcile my profit and loss sheet with cleaner planner, but it's a task I don't mind as I like to know everything is in order.

Route planner would be a great feature as long as it can be edited.

There's nothing wrong with what you are proposing but it would take years to perfect it.

Are you a programmer btw? Or would you outsource this to someone else?