ah well....as texas girl would probably tell you, theres plenty more "fish" in the sea!
how many do you have on your round mate?
I have 215 customers. Many of them have something a bit bigger than a 3 bed semi though a few of them are a bit smaller. It's a good base to build on.
how long did it take you to get that many, and how did you go about getting them (sorry for the questions, just trying to build a picture cos im trying to really get going with my new round!)
You can't really use my experience as a guide Denis because there were some unusual factors involved.
There was a time that I had nearly 400 customers and struggled to service the round. Most of it was underpriced too. It probably took about 2 - 3 years to get to 400 customers - though after the first year, I stopped canvassing and let things happen naturally. I reckon I canvassed 2 - 3 evenings per week most weeks in the first year. Also, this was 1991/1992 when interest rates were about 14/15% so many people were struggling with just the basics which must have slowed things down. Even so, starting from zero, I still turned over about 8 grand in the first year from window cleaning (I had a self employed driving job too that helped - where I went away one week in 4). Bear in mind that I had no debts or mortgage then and my rent was cheap so I could live on very little. This meant that I didn't put in as much effort as I otherwise might have done.
Around about 2000/2001, I gave away a load of work in the village of Handcross in Sussex (and a bit in Lower Beeding too) because I moved a few miles further away. Also, the prices I had down there had become a liability by then. People were getting big 3 bed semis done for £5 or £5.50 - and many of them had small panes. Believe it or not, some of them were actually moaning about the price as well. I had better prices on some of the bigger places but it still wasn't enough. I didn't charge for the work as it was so underpriced. That got rid of around 70 or 80 underpriced jobs. Also, I moved back home to my rented out flat after my house move didn't work out (bad relationship !!) so I let go of much of the work in THAT area too. I lost a lot of other work when I virtually needed 6 months off work in '04 due to a health problem. Then I lost some more when I started with WFP. That was about 5% of what was left either dumped me or I dumped them for excessive moaning or poor access.
It sounds a bit like a tale of woe but it's not like that really. Nearly all the work I dumped or lost was badly underpriced.
Even after allowing for inflation and the fact that I only work 4 - 4 and a bit weeks of a 6 weekly cycle, I still earn far more from the 215 customers than I did from nearly 400. Also I get less headaches because the excessive moaners are ancient history.
I do need to get out there and get some more work in though as a few of my current customers are drifting into "familiarity breeds contempt" mode so I need to freshen things up a bit.
TIP: DON'T GET TOO FRIENDLY WITH THE CUSTOMERS. REMEMBER IT'S A BUSINESS.(caps intentional as I can't overstate this).