[SonOfFormby]

I have bought £1500 of business for 4K from a local W/C.He has been ever so helpful,showing me the round, introducing me to customers etc,all we have spoken to have accepted the change in W/C no problem.Only concerns I have are that all cleans are about 4-6 weeks behind as of now, and I cant start til 3rd September,and it's going to take about 3 weeks from then til I have cleaned all customers once,and most have not been cleaned by WFP before. Anyone foresee anything really bad happening due to these circumstances?

Thanks in advance

Lee

[Paul Coleman]

I have bought £1500 of business for 4K from a local W/C.He has been ever so helpful,showing me the round, introducing me to customers etc,all we have spoken to have accepted the change in W/C no problem.Only concerns I have are that all cleans are about 4-6 weeks behind as of now, and I cant start til 3rd September,and it's going to take about 3 weeks from then til I have cleaned all customers once,and most have not been cleaned by WFP before. Anyone foresee anything really bad happening due to these circumstances?

Thanks in advance

Lee

Nothing too bad but allow for anything up to 10% dropping out.  Half of them due to not accepting WFP and the other half due to not being serviced recently.  The actual loss will probably be less than that.  However, even at 10% loss, that is still £1,350 per month bought for £4,000 - about 3x .  It's not the cheapest round purchase you could get, but if the round is decently priced and access to properties is OK, you will be able to make it pay once the first couple of cleans are out the way.  It may pay you to write to everyone on the round with an intro letter about when you will be starting and a brief explanation of WFP (especiaaly the bit about not judging the results until the third clean has dried off - just in case).  Writing to them may not be so daunting to set up.  Get all their names and addresses set up on a database and use the mailmerge facility in your word processor to print address labels.  Assuming that there are 100 customers, the postage will only cost £24.00 if you do it 2nd class.  Perhaps a one off cost to you of 30p per letter making £30.00.  If that keeps just one waverer then it will be cost effective over the year.  I believe it is inevitable that you will lose a tiny bit of the work but you can minimise this.

[Majestic]

Have you told them you are WFP

[Davew]

Try and get some practice in first, you will be suprised how tiring it is for the first few weeks. Be ready for disapointing results too. It's a simple process but still takes time to get the hang of it.

[NWH]

If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.

[Paul Coleman]

If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.

Possibly, but not if he markets it well and explains thingsa properly (preferably in writing).  I tend to stress that WFP has been used succesfully on high rise and  industrial units for over 10 years (so they must be OK, mustn't they?    ) and that the tightening up of safety laws in 2005 means that it is now advisable to avoid ladder work where reasonably practical.  Please note how I have worded that last bit because if you come out with something like "ladders are banned", you could be shooting yourself in the foot.  People know that most W/Cs still use ladders and even if there was a total ladder ban (which there isn't), the fact that most W/Cs still use them will make you look a liar.  If they think you're a liar, that could break the trust between customer and W/C before the service even starts.

[Russell Macdonald]

If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.

I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.

[NWH]

You could also say that most wcs will be using this method in the not to distant future due to H&S regs changing all the time,i didn`t give a bit explanation to my customers unless they asked i simply just turned up and used it,most of my customers travel to london or abroad to work so they are completley unaware of what method is used they just know that when i`ve been they have clean window`s.If i was you i wouldn`t go over the top about it with customers just say this is the safe way of cleaning windows now,i`m not trying to start an argument about how much you`ll lose but taking over work is different than converting existing custmomers,don`t forget they`ll have to like the look of you and then they`ll have to exept the new way of working so you have 2 obsticles to overcome,i`m not trying to put the wind up you i`m just pointing out facts from the customers point of view.

[SonOfFormby]

Have you told them you are WFP

do you think I should,or just clean,and let the results speak for themself.

Lee 

[SonOfFormby]

If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.

I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.

Just from changing to WFP....... GULP!!

Lee

[Paul Coleman]

Have you told them you are WFP

do you think I should,or just clean,and let the results speak for themself.

Lee 

I would say definitely tell them but don't appear to make a big issue of it.  I have found that the more I have tried to explain WFP to a WFP naive customer, the more it sounds like BS (methinks he doth protesteth too much     ) .

[Paul Coleman]

If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.

I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.

Just from changing to WFP....... GULP!!

Lee

BTW.  What part of Sussex you working?  I'm up near Gatwick.

[NWH]

I live in Bexhill but i work T.Wells and surounding areas,i`ll be up Gatwick way on friday morning when i`m off on my holls,Yipee.

[SonOfFormby]

If your going to be doing them WFP i would expect to lose quiet a bit more than 10%.

I would allow for 20% in lost custmer base.

Just from changing to WFP....... GULP!!


Sunny Eastbourne

Lee

Lee

BTW.  What part of Sussex you working?  I'm up near Gatwick.

[Moderator David@stives]

LEE

Just clean as though its the normal thing, a carpenter wont come to your home and start explaining about his band saw. Most would of probably have seen wfp poles by now. Also you are quite lucky the weather is warm at the moment so most will start drying straight away.

I only explain if asked

[SonOfFormby]

What about putting the WFP explaination letter through customers letterbox after 1st clean,or is this too impersonal,as I said Im starting off behind as it is and wont really have time to explain to 150 customers the ins and outs of it,but obviously at same time dont want to lose too many

Lee

[SonOfFormby]

I live in Bexhill but i work T.Wells and surounding areas,i`ll be up Gatwick way on friday morning when i`m off on my holls,Yipee.

going anywhere nice NWH.....Mind you anywhere is nice after the summer we've had  :

Lee

[NWH]

I wouldn`t give explanation letters you have to approach it like it`s the normal way of working now,the best time of year to start WFP is sept-oct in my opinion they`ll have a couple of cleans and then you`ve got the short days coming.I would much rather start WFP now rather than say march-april.

[NWH]

I always go to the caribean in feb-march as it gives us something to look forward to after a long cold winter,and then in august-sept we rent a villa in calagaldana in menorca,more often than not your almost certain to get the sun so you have 1 last week of sun before we start our winter time.

[SonOfFormby]

I always go to the caribean in feb-march as it gives us something to look forward to after a long cold winter,and then in august-sept we rent a villa in calagaldana in menorca,more often than not your almost certain to get the sun so you have 1 last week of sun before we start our winter time.

Hmm,I'm definately looking forward to my new career now