[Jay Le Huray]

Move and get better customers ?

not very helpful, was it?

[James Styles]

I’m having a bad weekend.
First off I’ll try explain as briefly as I can about my living situation, I live in a maisonette so have neighbours below me and to both sides.
The area is rough, the neighbours are druggies, rude, loud, the kids around here have absolutely zero respect, they’ve been playing outside blasting the football against the walls and on the roof, I bloody hate living here.
Then too top it off I send a few texts to customers about doing the windows tomorrow that I’ll be coming to do them and I’ve got two more messers.
One responded very rude saying “no you won’t, thanks” I replied with “can I ask why? Would you like to be removed from the round?” she just put “yeh remove me thanks” when I did them last month she seemed a rough big mouth type, she seems the cheap type, she obviously just wanted a one off and wasted my time giving me a contact number for every four weeks.
The other replied saying “I’ll have to rearrange I’ll let you know when’s best” so I replied saying “thank you for the reply, it will need to be this week to keep you in with the work in that area monthly” to which I’ve received no reply.
All this with kids blasting footballs against the wall and being loud is driving me crazy 🤬 absolutely no respect in this area.

Never mind all that.
How did you go on with Jade and the other one on Friday, Stylistic? 

Haha those ones went ok actually, I think they just seem like very chatty women who like a laugh, maybe misread them a bit 

[James Styles]

Texting customers to tell them you’re coming is asking for trouble imo, especially with new customers.  You just give them an opportunity to reconsider.

The only reason I would text or email a customer is if they needed to leave the gate unlocked, and even then it’s borderline.

If I turned up to do the house she would of just said no, her attitude on the message was rude and if you met her I think you’d say she would have no hesitation in cancelling on the spot.
I thought messaging the day before to let them know you will be doing their windows the next day is the way most window cleaners work nowadays.
Surely just turning up you would still get messers who say “not today” then you have wasted fuel and time.

[James Styles]

Never text customers unless you have to.

But if customers are going to mess about or cancel they will do it either way? If you turn up they can still say “can I leave it this time” or “I’ll call you when I want them done” and you have wasted time and money driving there.

[Stoots]

Move and get better customers ?

not very helpful, was it?

How is it not helpful?



If your problem is poor customers than you need to get better customers surely.

So what do you suggest he should do if he isn't happy with his current customers or living situation?

Should he just accept it or do something about it?

[Stoots]

Never text customers unless you have to.

But if customers are going to mess about or cancel they will do it either way? If you turn up they can still say “can I leave it this time” or “I’ll call you when I want them done” and you have wasted time and money driving there.

I always message new customers before I'm coming because if they are going to cancel I want to know before not after.

I picked up 10 new ones last week, 2 have cancelled and 2 I refused to clean due to access.

It happens to everyone just your stage you feel it more.

Just keep doing what you are doing it's totally normal.

[Simon Trapani]

Never text customers unless you have to.

But if customers are going to mess about or cancel they will do it either way? If you turn up they can still say “can I leave it this time” or “I’ll call you when I want them done” and you have wasted time and money driving there.

I always message new customers before I'm coming because if they are going to cancel I want to know before not after.

I picked up 10 new ones last week, 2 have cancelled and 2 I refused to clean due to access.

It happens to everyone just your stage you feel it more.

Just keep doing what you are doing it's totally normal.

That’s right. It’s what Nathan does in the rain that isn’t!

[Jonny 87]

Move and get better customers ?

Stupid, unhelpful comment.

No actually the opposite, it's the best most logical answer anyone could give him.

His problem is the area he is living and the customers he has.

The only way to fix a problem is do something about it.

Not particularly.

That’s part of the “good advice” but not all.

It would be like telling a young aspiring athlete.........”win gold at the Olympics”.

You need a lot of little goals in between.

[The Jester of Wibbly]

Yep. You're doing riggt to text the day before.  Much less hastle if thet text back to cancel compared with turning up at their house and either being turned away or a non payer as they will just say they were not aware of the clean.

Oh. And look at the bright side of your housing situation.  You now have good motivation to succeed in your business.

[Smudger]

Texting customers to tell them you’re coming is asking for trouble imo, especially with new customers.  You just give them an opportunity to reconsider.

The only reason I would text or email a customer is if they needed to leave the gate unlocked, and even then it’s borderline.

If I turned up to do the house she would of just said no, her attitude on the message was rude and if you met her I think you’d say she would have no hesitation in cancelling on the spot.
I thought messaging the day before to let them know you will be doing their windows the next day is the way most window cleaners work nowadays.
Surely just turning up you would still get messers who say “not today” then you have wasted fuel and time.

People work in lots of different ways - we don’t text - customer given next clean date which works well for us in a rural area - city folk tend to text their customers - some just turn up - it’s doing what suits you and your customer base.

With experience you’ll get less messers, whether that’s because you become more confident in your abilities or you gain a sixth sense about people - it’s a pain in the early days but will get better - a first clean surcharge is (IMO) still the best way to stop messers

Darran

[robbo333]

I've started advertising in a magazine which covers my areas, (but also an additional area, which i'm not familiar with).
I'm getting calls from this 'new area' but they've all been crap!  So it's not just you!
Mostly, I  can spot the problems, when I go and quote and I always charge more for a first clean, sometimes even just £10 more, just to see their reaction!

As for your living arrangements, you have to make the best of it. Try getting up early 5am (I bet no-one else is up and about), get a couple of hours of quiet time. My girlfriends house is on an ex council estate with terraced houses and flats etc. Big guys with dogs, big women with dogs...and tatoos etc etc. Over the years, i've got to talk to them and they're not so bad. Occasionally, I may clean the odd windows in the street if they ask, in exchange for a cuppa.  Everyone now says hello and smiles and i've never had a single problem with the van. In fact one of the guys from the flats knocked on my door when he saw kids messing about with my van. Just try and relax with it and be thankful you're not homeless.

[tlwcs]

James where you work you’ll need to text. Most will have locked gates and they need prior warning your coming.
They need to be managed though, i tell any new ones I will text to let them know I will be on their property, to leave any money out and to tidy any dog mess. I joke it’s not an opportunity to cancel me on that day.
If they do, they’re looking for someone else.
In my experience it works well
Can’t help on the home front ☹️
Tony

[Stoots]

One of the reasons I text is not only for access but because I find it saves me me a bit of time on the job.

If I've text them the night before they know I'm coming so I then up and crack on...no knocking on doors.

If I'm just turning up out of the blue and I think someone is in I feel obliged to knock the door to announce my presence.  Which can add up over the day if you get into too many convos.

[Pete Thompson]

If I'm just turning up out of the blue and I think someone is in I feel obliged to knock the door to announce my presence.

I just don’t get it. Why?!

Just crack on and post a card when you’re done. If you see the customer just give them a friendly wave and carry on.

I’m pretty sure most customers are not sitting at home yearning to make pointless small talk with their window cleaner. You’re running a business, not a knitting circle.

It just amazes me the crazy stuff some window cleaners do that wastes time and the customer doesn’t care about.

[Missing Link]

I joke it’s not an opportunity to cancel me on that day.

That is very good.

It's rare I get someone who messes me about because I drop them as soon as they do.  But I've the luxury of having been going for a long time and I'm not short of work.

But I will nick that.

[Missing Link]

I thought messaging the day before to let them know you will be doing their windows the next day is the way most window cleaners work nowadays.

Only for access.

I just say "Hi, we plan to clean you windows tomorrow morning.  Please you leave your gate unlocked.  Regards, WheyAyeBanzai."

Occasionally I'll get a reply saying they're away and that's fair enough, but if I turn up and the gate's not unlocked, I'll just drop 'em.

I do have the luxury of not having any small drive betweens; i.e. I've got blocks of small domestic, or larger stand-alone properties.

I avoid the poorer/rougher estates.  I won't even clean the soldier's married quarters (I'm an ex squaddie myself) after having a higher-than-usual amount of messing about there.  Unless it's a one-off because they're posted and need to leave the house clean.

I do do the officers married quarter estate; bigger houses, higher income, better customers.

[dazmond]

One of the reasons I text is not only for access but because I find it saves me me a bit of time on the job.

If I've text them the night before they know I'm coming so I then up and crack on...no knocking on doors.

If I'm just turning up out of the blue and I think someone is in I feel obliged to knock the door to announce my presence.  Which can add up over the day if you get into too many convos.

ive never knocked on any of my customers doors to "announce my presence" in 26 years of window cleaning.........i just turn up and crack on.....

[nathankaye]

and I get accused of all sorts,,,,,,,,,  but feeling obliged to knock on the door to announce your presence 😂😂.   Absolutely no need to do so.  However, when I was on trad tools, I did make sure I banged the ladders on the house before I cleaned the bathroom windows 😁.      The amount of times I've seen a pink flash as they leg it out the bathroom as my head appears 

Customers,,,,,, some times it can't be helped as I have had ones who mess me about in the nicer areas where I work. It happens to us all!   However, it might help to target nicer areas. I know if I get an online enquiry, I will jump on Google maps if I'm not familiar with the area. If I don't like the look of it, then I let the person know that I do not cover that area. It saves a whole lot of messing about

[G Griffin]

One of the reasons I text is not only for access but because I find it saves me me a bit of time on the job.

If I've text them the night before they know I'm coming so I then up and crack on...no knocking on doors.

If I'm just turning up out of the blue and I think someone is in I feel obliged to knock the door to announce my presence.  Which can add up over the day if you get into too many convos.

ive never knocked on any of my customers doors to "announce my presence" in 26 years of window cleaning.........i just turn up and crack on.....

No, I expect a red carpet for my presence these days.

[robbo333]

I text all mine the night before (even the ones I have access to); it's all part of my quality service 
In reality, texting helps me 'weed out' the messers.
I don't want messers, i've got no time for them, they don't deserve my service and they won't help me build my business.
The quicker I get rid of messers, the quicker I can replace them with (hopefully) someone good.
I only want good, reliable customers who want their windows cleaned every 8 weeks.

As for knocking doors ("hello, just wanted to let you know i'm here"), I will do if I want to know if the custy is in or not!