[pylofm]

After little under a year in the window cleaning game, I have come to the conclusion that doing favours (freebies) is neither a good thing for me or the customer..

This week seems to be silly season with some of my customers...I have just got back from doing a house and I have seen that they are selling up and having a open house on saturday so being a nice guy I did a little woodwork under the windows and various other places around the house...

Now the lady comes out and starts about few little bits of fly poo in the corner of a frame...does'nt say thanks for the freebies and struts off like she is lady of the manor...so after ignoring various people here..I am now in the ' I do not do anything for nothing club....if a customer wants a little extra done...of course but time is money and if they want it they can pay for any additional services they may choose to have.

Now this is not just an isolated incident....but today has made me realise...as much as most of them smile and say hello....it's all a front and I should just stick to doing what they have asked me to do..no more, no less.

I suppose being new I have tried to be everybody's friend and have done loads of freebies for people whether it is help moving plants, extra little bits of woodwork...you know the sort of thing...I suppose I should just be the window cleaner an let it be that.

Now my question to you is do you do favours or just stick to the 'plan'?

Cheers
Dave.

[Trevor Knight]

We never do "Favours", like you said there is no gratitude generally and they then expect it all the time.

I used to love the "oh, excuse me, as you have your ladder out could you just get rid of that birds nest, or just clip my gutter in or better still, quickly scoop out the blockage up there"

I guess being WFP now we get asked less and less for "favours" which for us is good as rejection often offends people 

[Davew]

Yes I've fallen into that trap. Because your new you want to impress, you want them to tell all their friends about the new windowcleaner who does it all! Dosen't seem to work though. Just spend loads of extra time scrubbing for the same money as jack the lad with his bucket of dirty water who dosen't touch the frames or sills.

[Neil_A]

There are no friends in buisness thats what i say... My customers are not my friends...  I clean there windows and they pay me money to do it.

Allot of them even ask if i would like a cup of tea "very nice of them to ask" but i say no....

[Spiceworld]

Yes i also still do "favours" even after 21 yrs - BUT i really am a "Nice Guy" 

[Trevor Knight]

Yes i also still do "favours" even after 21 yrs - BUT i really am a "Nice Guy" 

I will even sing you a song...................................................as long as you pay me, but then I guess I really am a nice guy too, outside of work 

[Paul Coleman]

After little under a year in the window cleaning game, I have come to the conclusion that doing favours (freebies) is neither a good thing for me or the customer..

This week seems to be silly season with some of my customers...I have just got back from doing a house and I have seen that they are selling up and having a open house on saturday so being a nice guy I did a little woodwork under the windows and various other places around the house...

Now the lady comes out and starts about few little bits of fly poo in the corner of a frame...does'nt say thanks for the freebies and struts off like she is lady of the manor...so after ignoring various people here..I am now in the ' I do not do anything for nothing club....if a customer wants a little extra done...of course but time is money and if they want it they can pay for any additional services they may choose to have.

Now this is not just an isolated incident....but today has made me realise...as much as most of them smile and say hello....it's all a front and I should just stick to doing what they have asked me to do..no more, no less.

I suppose being new I have tried to be everybody's friend and have done loads of freebies for people whether it is help moving plants, extra little bits of woodwork...you know the sort of thing...I suppose I should just be the window cleaner an let it be that.

Now my question to you is do you do favours or just stick to the 'plan'?

Cheers
Dave.

I wouldn't lay money on it but my hunch is that most of the favours/freebies are done by people in the first couple of years of their business.

[pylofm]

I was told that favours/freebies are not a good idea....but I thought I knew best did'nt I!.....

Dave.

[Paul Coleman]

I was told that favours/freebies are not a good idea....but I thought I knew best did'nt I!.....

Dave.

One problem I found was that if you do favours for some custies, they start to think of it as your job.
I turned up at a place once and was handed some snips to trim the vegetation from around the windows.  I handed them back.  I was starting to learn by that time.

[craig jwc]

I remember when i started, a customer asked if i knew anyone to take some rubbish to the tip.

I told her that i was going down at the weekend and as i have to pass her house i would throw it on the trailer and take it for her.

She never stopped phoning for jobs to be done, plus had all her friends phoning for things to be done.

I put a stop to it after a couple of months. One of her friends knew where i lived and i caught them and some others putting stuff in my trailer at the back of the house.
I took the trailer round to the woman's house and told her that her friends had said she told them to take it to my house and i would get rid of it for them. She got funny with me and asked why had i brought the trailer with me.
She soon found out when i emptied it in her driveway

Don't do favours anymore, got enough work to do - and get paid for it.

[simon knight]

It all depends on who it's for, how I'm pressed for time and what the "favour" is.

Generally if the "favour" is only gonna take a couple of minutes and is not too onerous then personally I feel it  helps cement customer relations and may go some way to prevent them jumping ship when Mr Sznenzski comes a-knocking on her door offering to do her windows £ cheaper.

Mind you I am naive 

[Clive McDonald]

I allways fall into this trap too. I don't agree with shiner that's it's because you're new or green or gullible.
I think sometimes it might have sometthing to do with familiarity breeding contempt.

Yes I've fallen into that trap. Because your new you want to impress, you want them to tell all their friends about the new windowcleaner who does it all! Dosen't seem to work though. Just spend loads of extra time scrubbing for the same money as jack the lad with his bucket of dirty water who dosen't touch the frames or sills.

The way round it is proffesionalism. Take estate agents for instance, unless they were there seperating the people that we deal with no house sales would ever go through.The buyer would always want a bit extra, would be round every day for the month before the move, and the seller would demand the last penny for their 'tatty wouldn't fit any other house bathroom shelves'

Most times the friendliness is an act.Everyone has double if not triple standards. Talking to a friend today he said he would like to do WC having seen my promising startup. He thought it would be fairly easy. Then he told me that he'd just sacked his own window cleaner."he did a good job."he said "And he'd been coming a long time. He wasn't dear he charged £5.50. I sacked him because he didn't shut my gate."
Then there was even one of us, started a thread a couple of days ago, she had been charged full whack- £5- when the gate was locked, but knocked them down to £2.50. She had now lost trust in them. Meanwhile on previous threads for her own cleaning business she made it clear to the custy what they could and could not expect for her £160 two bed house clean.