[garry]

 If there is one thing i hate about this job its losing customers, since i started window cleaning 4 years ago iv lost 91 customers some have moved, a few died others dont like wfp so change to ladder wc sometimes i think i go back to ladders :.
the one i hate losing are the ones you think you are in with ie chat have a laugh etc one thing i have learned is no matter how much you think you are in with them they will still dump you.
 anyway what do you wfpers think abou me going back to ladders?

[pylofm]

How much of an effect does the wfp effect your business both positive and negative...?

Dave.

[Paul Coleman]

If there is one thing i hate about this job its losing customers, since i started window cleaning 4 years ago iv lost 91 customers some have moved, a few died others dont like wfp so change to ladder wc sometimes i think i go back to ladders :.
the one i hate losing are the ones you think you are in with ie chat have a laugh etc one thing i have learned is no matter how much you think you are in with them they will still dump you.
 anyway what do you wfpers think abou me going back to ladders?

"one thing i have learned is no matter how much you think you are in with them they will still dump you."

I learned that one the hard way too.
When I was ill a few years ago and mailshotted them all saying I would be delayed some while, there were quite a few surprises about who stayed and who went.  I didn't even use WFP then either.
When I think about how many customers I have dumped and who have dumped me over the (16) years, I could probably make a couple of reasonable sized rounds out of it.  Much of it would be badly underpriced  though.

I think you should stand your ground and stay with WFP.
I had about a 5% turnaround in customer base when I switched and for a while after.  I questioned it too.  It got back on track soon enough.  In fact, the work that took me 6 weeks on ladders takes me 4 with WFP so plenty of room for growth.
One customer banned me from using WFP on his house after I had done a couple of cleans.  I carried on cleaning from a ladder for a year or so because he was a longstanding customer and a nice person.  A few months back the lightbulb came on.  If he didn't give a toss for my safety, then maybe he wasn't such a nice person after all.
Job binned.  Needed a big increase anyway.  Maybe the next shiner will give him a dose of reality when he/she quotes.

[LSB]

when i put my prices up last month , i had very few cancellations or change to 2 monthly ,
 however they were pretty well all the the last ones that  you would expect .

( this theory doesnt work though , because when  i last put my prices up 4 whole years ago , it was the ones i didnt expect that had a problem with it then !
so i should have expected it this time )

[bumper]

I lost a customer a few months ago been cleaning it for 17 years, did her a few favs like sweeping her garage roof getting toys and balls of the roof,then when i put then up 50p she finnished,then this week when cleaning next door she came out and said to the lad, ive got rid of my other window cleaner now were have you been,are you cleanning them today,then when she saw me she said oh i did'nt reconise you then went in,so the other window cleaner has not been, haha im glad she finnished she wanted all the sills wipeing down, and she watch you while you did it,picked up 2 down the street,so she can      .

[twt]

tell me how you lost 91 customers i could do with lossing 101 but it seems every time i get rid of work i end up with more within a few weeks

[EasyClean]

I've lost quite a few recently because they are selling up their second homes and quite a few have pegged it. I'll have to start taking on some new customers to replace them. The trouble is most of the quotes I'm getting recently are unsuitable for WFP work and I can't be bothered to take them on just purely to fill my gaps in work. I will just have to wait until I get the right ones or take on some large, awkward commercial jobs at overpriced rates because there is a lack of what I'm looking for because so many people are putting their homes on the market for sale.

[Clive McDonald]

Stick with WFP.

What we do is a very personal service. That is why as posted above people watch to make sure you do the sills and do not feel it rude or intrusive. One very friendly customer talking away to me on my round his house was even pointing out biuld ups of dirt for me to get- could you just get that bit please-. I had to tell him I went over the sills last with a cloth and it all would be cleaned.

Because the customer considers it so personal when you do make a mistake they feel they have every right to be very angry indeed. Sometimes they develope resentments against you without foundation or logic, only for it all to pour out when you do make a genuine mistake.When you've had two or three fire at you on the phone or whatever, you begin to lose confidence.

WFP is very hard to check and I am learning the hard way about my mistakes. If the situation is irretrievable I tell them not to pay, if I can go and put it right I do. As others have said sometimes you take the blame for blown windows or dirt on the inside.

Anyway they consider it personal, which we find hard to understand but the reverse is also true. They can't see how rudeness, or thinking for about ten minutes before phoning to give you that zinging put down one liner could upset you. You have no real idea of what they are talking about because they describe the problem badly and exaggerate.
Their £8 window clean just ruined their life.

As someone who gets a lot of complaints, or more than my fair share of complaints, sometimes I have to take the hit. And i know they will go around forever and a day saying tried that their WFP experience was all spotty and useless, I told the man it was because he didn't wipe the water off. I even said to him if he wipes the water off he can come back.

Most of my compliants stem from me making mistakes or not being aware of something. But I am learning and gradualy lowering the opportunities for error on my part.The way to look at is that for this emotional price you are going to both grow as a person and make money. By this I mean it is a bit humbling and I never now critisise another WC's mistakes but I am biulding a fabulous business.

Stick with WFP.

[pylofm]

Rain Water Eco WFP Systems....what a great piece of writing/advice....at least I can see that someone else see's and knows how I feel...

Dave.

[dai]

It doesn't take long for people to forget the mess the windows were in before you started cleaning them.
The "wow! you've done a brilliant job" to the "god is it month already?"
One day you are a hero, in a few months, you've turned into a robbing git,
who comes every month to steal their hard earned cash.
That's human nature.
Some customers would be perfectly happy if you came round four times a year.
I had one last week. She said that she'd bought one of these magnetic window cleaning gadgets, and she would be doing them herself from now on.
She asked me if I could do them twice a year, when the frames were really grotty.
A bit of a cheek don't you think?
Having said all that, I rarely lose customers. If I lost sixty odd I would be getting worried about my WFP technique.
 I hate doing the insides, on some jobs I have to, but it does give me an opportunity to check my WFP results. We don't have to be perfect, but we do have to work to an acceptable standard. If we fail in this, we will lose customers. Dai

[DASERVICES]

 A few months back the lightbulb came on.  If he didn't give a toss for my safety, then maybe he wasn't such a nice person after all.
Job binned.  Needed a big increase anyway.  Maybe the next shiner will give him a dose of reality when he/she quotes.

That is the best comment , you have hit the nail on the head.

[Londoner]

How many times have you had a prospective customer contact you and say something like "I've got a window cleaner already but I want you to give me a quote"

How many more just don't tell you?

Yes its the "wow they are brilliant ! " ones that suddenly cancel out of the blue for no apparant reason.

About three years ago on this forum somebody tore me to bits for saying we shouldn't expect loyalty from our customers and our loyalty to them should only last as long as they remain a viable business proposition.

I can see that point of view may offend some window cleaners and its not really the view I take in real life. But at the end of the day its business and customers are fickle.

It happened when I was trad and I don't see any change since going WFP. You win some you lose some. Thats why I continually leaflet although not at a very high level.

If you accept its going to happen whatever it doesn't bother you so much but every one still hurts a little bit.

[garry]

tell me how you lost 91 customers i could do with lossing 101 but it seems every time i get rid of work i end up with more within a few weeks

about 30 i dumped mess you about payment, locked gates etc. about 20 moved the rest dumped me, about 2 years ago one custie said i would never change you then last week changed me for another wc this is what i mean no matter how much you think your in with them they will still dump you.
i used to do little extras for custies to keep in there good books but not any more i just do my job and any extras now get charged more no matter who they are they are customeres not my friends.

[garry]

 I am sticking with wfp i only use ladders for access flat roofs, im longing for the day when i get enough customers just for wfp then i will dump all with flat roofs and the ladders will end up down the local tip better get my backside out there and get more work .
 
the wfp does a darn good job but it makes such a bloody mess ie water running down the walls water all on the floor this is what a lot of custies dont like.
 
shiner how long was you of work for? almost 3 years ago i was of for 4 months only lost one customer then.
lose more since i got back to work so must mean im crap window cleaner

[Paul Coleman]

 
shiner how long was you of work for? almost 3 years ago i was of for 4 months only lost one customer then.

I was off work about 6 months back in '04.  Most of those who dropped me were underpriced anyway.  There were even a few jobs that didn't get done for 9 months but I was in contact with them so no problem.
The problem was that even when I went back to work, I couldn't go straight from being that ill to working fulltime.  I had to get my strength back gradually.
I had no real problem with some custies dumping me.  The problem I had was the lack of info.  I took the trouble to mailshot all of them but many of the ones who dumped me didn't even have the courtesy to write.