[The Jester of Wibbly]

It's funny how I come across so many people on my travels who tell me that they once were a window cleaner but hated it or could not make it work.   

[cleaniac]

Doesn't surprise me at all. It is a very difficult job to keep at in terms of motivation, dealing with the public, and self discipline.

But it does have its rewards, once your rounds are stable,for the hours you work and the money you can bring in there isnt much that compares. But and its a big but, it takes a good 5 or 6 years to even get to that stage, and upto that point really your scratching around dealing with the customers no one else wants..

16 years now for me, and i still think about jacking it all in on occasions. Lol

[tlwcs]

18 years in. January used to be my worst not today month.
3 weeks in and just 1 has skipped me. Had a good clear out last year and got rid of the messers.
After all these years my rounds about right. Until tomorrow 😁

[Johnny B]

It seems to me that many guys think window cleaning is a short cut to riches, then become disillusioned when reality kicks in when they realise it takes years to build a decent business, and they give up because it's harder than they thought it would be.

John

[Splash & dash]

Funny really I have been going 20 years and now have two vans going , Ime not intrested in expanding the buisness any more in fact I would like to cut back the amount of work Ime doing , I found it really easy to build a good round well under a year from nothing , started trad and changed to wfp in 2005 , that’s when I expanded rapidly as there was only a couple with it in my area , so deliberately targeted dormer bungalows, three storey stuff that others couldn’t do , I accept that there are a lot more doing it now , but if you are prepared to get out of bed work hard ,be motivated positively,give a good service , do add ones , and sell yourself  it’s the easiest job I have ever done anyone can do it , it just takes motivation , which many don’t seam to have

[nathankaye]

The huge majority of us on here have been going for many, many years and back in the day it was easier to build your rounds. In recent years i feel for ones trying to build their rounds as mostly it will be a handful here and a couple there etc etc.  So many will give up as the likes of us lot have the more compact rounds.

[Shrek]

You don’t need a compact round to make decent money, you need good prices.

[John Mart]

You don’t need a compact round to make decent money, you need good prices.

Often compact equals low prices.

[cleaniac]

But its also a bad attitude.

I mentioned it before, there was this guy local to me, an ex brickie. He started off really well, and even asked me for advice as at that point i had been going for 8 years and he was just starting up. He spent alot of dosh on a thermopure system, nice leaflets, new van. He asked me what was the best way to retain customers.."simple i said, stick to your word, be polite but firm, and above all keep the customer happy"

He went off with gusto, and I'd see him about from time to time and stop to have a chat, and gradually his demenor changed to being irritated, grumpy, and looking regretful.

Last time i spoke to him was 4 years ago, and he was telling me what a mistake buying the thermopure system was, how most, if not all customers are cxxxs, and he telling them he is making 50k a year window cleaning  so they can shove it if he feels like they have upset him..he askes me how i was going and im like..yeah...steady.

As time went on i saw less and less of him and started gaining his customers due to his lack of consistency, started hearing all sorts of stories about his attitude.

Most recently i was chatting to a local painter, and he asked me if i knew him, i  used to i said, why..oh he has been a real idiot with the customers apparently flying off the handle at them.

Dont see him about anymore, and i have to admit when i first met him i feard for my business as i thought he was going to undercut, and expand etc...

Just goes to show its best to get your head down and focus on your own business not others, cos they come and go..

[cleaniac]

You don’t need a compact round to make decent money, you need good prices.

Often compact equals low prices.

Not always.

One of my bi monthly rounds is a road of 14 houses all at £28 each. It takes me 2 mins to drive from my house, start at 9am finish at 3pm normally and just under £400 for the day with no extras.

[Spruce]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little extra effort today.

[dazmond]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little extra effort today.

did you not make a mess of her downstairs windows if you used wfp for tops only?

[Bungle]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little less effort today.

FTFY. Feck her!!!

[Stoots]

I started 4 years ago, certainly wasn't easy.

I was going to say I can see why some quit but actually I can't, quitting was never an option for me i put too much into it both time and money to quit.

[Spruce]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little extra effort today.

did you not make a mess of her downstairs windows if you used wfp for tops only?

That wasn't my problem. We've just done tops for 5 or 6 years and they have always been happy.

He's done the downstairs and conservatory windows.  TBH they were very nice people (still are) and nice customers.  I'm sorry that we lost them but it wasn't because of our quality of work. She was genuinely apologetic I believe and I feel she felt obligated to use her nephew.

[Spruce]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little less effort today.

FTFY. Feck her!!!

Haha Bungle.

We are a very small community in this part of the world and everybody seems to know everybody. Most people know us in the area, so its in our interest to ensure we are and act professionally at all times, even if we believe we are wronged.

Interestingly, the majority of our work has come from recommendations. We've also had walkups in the street from people who we have never met before in our lives address me by name and ask for a window cleaning quote as we were recommended to them.

I had an ex customer continue to recommend us to her friends even although she wasn't using our services any longer. She wanted us to clean her windows at 9.00 every first Thursday morning of the month. When I politely explained that I couldn't do that and why we parted ways.

I see her in the village from time to time when I cleaning windows and always exchange a few words in greeting and the usual pleasantaries.

.

[Shrek]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little extra effort today.

did you not make a mess of her downstairs windows if you used wfp for tops only?

That wasn't my problem. We've just done tops for 5 or 6 years and they have always been happy.

He's done the downstairs and conservatory windows.  TBH they were very nice people (still are) and nice customers.  I'm sorry that we lost them but it wasn't because of our quality of work. She was genuinely apologetic I believe and I feel she felt obligated to use her nephew.

I did the same with my grandma when I first started. Some guys used to charge her £5 , I said I’m starting up but I charge £6. She (reluctantly) sacked them off and gave me the job, about a year later, I whacked her price up to £12 😂😂😂

[Bungle]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little extra effort today.

did you not make a mess of her downstairs windows if you used wfp for tops only?

That wasn't my problem. We've just done tops for 5 or 6 years and they have always been happy.

He's done the downstairs and conservatory windows.  TBH they were very nice people (still are) and nice customers.  I'm sorry that we lost them but it wasn't because of our quality of work. She was genuinely apologetic I believe and I feel she felt obligated to use her nephew.

I did the same with my grandma when I first started. Some guys used to charge her £5 , I said I’m starting up but I charge £6. She (reluctantly) sacked them off and gave me the job, about a year later, I whacked her price up to £12 😂😂😂

That is snake belly

[Walter Mitty]

I lost a long standing customer today as her nephew is just starting up. He will clean all her windows inside and out. Our job is and always was tops only as she did the rest.
I smiled, thanked her for her past business and wondered how long the 'honeymoon' will last.

Give her credit, she would only agree to him doing her windows once she had spoken to me. So today was her last clean by us. I made a little extra effort today.

Although it's not nice to lose a customer, if they give due notice and don't cancel on the spot (possibly reducing your day's income), I always make a point of thanking them for their custom and for cancelling the right way.  If they've been an okay customer, I also make it clear that if things don't work out, there's no problem contacting me in the future.  However, if they cancel on the spot and I'm in a bad mood I might ask them how they would respond if their employer sends them home without notice and docks their pay.  I'm not rude to them, but sometimes people need to consider how their actions affect others.