[lee_dewing]

same old subject "not today"

how far is too far with you guys?

I think i'm suffering with a nice streak!
How do you lot deal with a not today when confronted with it?

does anyone have set speach; polite that win the custy over i.e get your point across with out getting into a row!
Are you just wasteing your breath.

Keep thinking of issueing a terms and conditions to new customers?
is it worth the paper it's written on?

I tell all customers i call on a monthly basis.
I work all year round in most weathers i.e light rain.
If your not in i can send a text message for you to unlock gate

(although starting to move away from this read what you said shiner)
it's a pain and i think it invites the custy to think you are asking permission, last month someone said by text leave weather awlful tomorrow it wasn't; didn't even rain.

oh yeh if your not in leave details for you to post a cheque.

Am i missing anything out here?

thanks lee

[nat]

i work a 3 strikes and your out system...give some people the benifit of the doubt but soon realise when they are taking the p**s

also send your text messages through the net. they can't reply then, worse thing you can do is send it from your mobile as they can reply!!!

[simon knight]

I just think that monthly is too often...sorry!

I have just one customer who wants monthly, an old lady who I think just likes the 5 minute chat over a mug of tea... :. When I go to do them I really think they'd easily go another month...but it's her choice so who am I to argue?

All the rest are either bi-monthly or quarterly (with more and more going quarterly...no big deal for me as I just charge a bit more).

Unfortunately we can't force people to have their windows cleaned and if somebody says "not today" there's nowt we can about it.

Try moving out to bi-monthly and I'll almost guarantee you'll get as good as none "not todays".

Like Nat I give people 3 strikes.

[Moderator David@stives]

All mine are monthly and i dont get any "not this month" customers.

Dave

[Sir Squeaky]

All mine are monthly and i dont get any "not this month" customers.

Dave

Your's are salty seadogs though Dave.

They don't get dirty so much up here.
98% of mine are monthly, but I bet most would change given the choice.
I get a lot of "not todays". More so since wfp, because now I'm always 4 weeks and not sometimes 5 or 6.

[simon knight]

That's great Dave, but in all seriousness do you really think they need monthly?...with all that pure Cornish fresh air?

[Moderator David@stives]

yes definately need doing monthly, if i ever run late the phone starts ringing with customers asking when will i be coming to clean the windows.

you have different problems from different times of year, insect marks, snails, spiders webs, bird muck,rain , wind, traffic grime, it all needs cleaning.

Dave

[NWH]

If you have any problems with this not today business the chances are you monthly,get more work and stretch out the time and they won`t turn you away,you should all have too much work anyway to be so prompt.

[[GQC] Tim]

Not today is never.

I clearly explain to them, that I do not do that service. Usually you know exactly who they are who do that, most of my customers aren't like that luckily (99%), some of them are genuine, nice people, that sometimes have builders around, which I can totally understand. In which case you just leave em till next time, or make another booking with the customer.

It helps aswell to put this on your cleaning note at the bottom, with the Asterix pointing to the footnote, right after the 'your windows have been cleaned today' * :


*GQC Window Cleaning will clean your windows at our agreed frequency throughout
the year;  regardless of the weather; ensuring you have a regular, fully insured and
professional service from us.

However, if we are  turned away without prior notice (48hr  advance) or good reason
there will be a 25% surcharge against the next clean.

[Paul Coleman]

same old subject "not today"

how far is too far with you guys?

I think i'm suffering with a nice streak!
How do you lot deal with a not today when confronted with it?

does anyone have set speach; polite that win the custy over i.e get your point across with out getting into a row!
Are you just wasteing your breath.

Keep thinking of issueing a terms and conditions to new customers?
is it worth the paper it's written on?

I tell all customers i call on a monthly basis.
I work all year round in most weathers i.e light rain.
If your not in i can send a text message for you to unlock gate

(although starting to move away from this read what you said shiner)
it's a pain and i think it invites the custy to think you are asking permission, last month someone said by text leave weather awlful tomorrow it wasn't; didn't even rain.

oh yeh if your not in leave details for you to post a cheque.

Am i missing anything out here?

thanks lee

My response to a "not today thanks" really does depend on the job and the customer.  If it is a job that I regard as underpriced or as a pain in the rear in other ways, a single instance of "not today" can be enough for me to end the arrangement. These are the jobs where, if I'm honest with myself, I was looking for an excuse to ditch it or rack the price up in a big way.  Whether I actually inform the customer or not depends on whether or not I feel that it would be a reasonable conversation.  If I sense that someone is argumentative, I probably would walk and say nothing.  I have got a bit better over the years as I will usually write to them  later informing them of the cancellation these days.  If the job is a decent one then I will definitely inform them that sending me away with reasonable notice has represented a direct cut in my income for that month.  This is probably the sort of job where I will produce my terms and conditions after a few weeks .  When I first produced T & Cs, I made a decision to only introduce them to new customers or to existing customers who started messing about a bit.  To have introduced them to my all my existing customers could have been seen as insulting because I have pruned my round over the years to exclude unreliable custies.  Also, my response can depend on whether the job is on its own or amongst a load of other work.
The important thing to remember (IMO of course) is to ensure that the decision is ALWAYS a business decision and not one based on emotion (e.g. you've sent me away so I'm going to get my revenge by dumping you even though I do normally get £50 out of you for under an hours work and you've never sent me away before, so there !!).

I'm glad to see that you are coming round to taking work where prior arrangement isn't necessary.  OK, it can sometimes be needed for the first clean while the customer is arranging for a spare gate key to be cut. Or maybe they need to be in on the first clean as they want insides done too.  Situations like that will crop up sometimes.  I'm referring to those situations where a little flexibility on the customer's part will allow you to run your business without yoou needing to phone them each time.  I have only 3 jobs on my entire round where I need to pre-arrange.  One of them is a guest house.  It is a large enough job to justify going there even without doing other work in the area.  It needs to be arranged for when there are no special functions on.  I usually just leave a message a few days ahead and say that I will assume that a certain day is OK unless they get back to me.  Only once have they phoned me back to re-arrange.  Another is a £20+ house within a mile of where I live.  I wouldn't pre-arrange this normally but I do earn about £750 a year from this source as they have several shops and houses so it pays to keep them sweet.  The other one is a little old lady who is too timid to leave stuff unbolted.  I wouldn't bother but she's a friend of a friend and I'm not a total mercenary  
Funnily enough, I've recently started doinga bit of sub-contracting on a bit of domestic work.  A large chunk of them need a call the day before.  The hassle arranging it has re-affirmed to me that I made the right decision in not taking work on that basis on my own round.

[simon knight]

yes definately need doing monthly, if i ever run late the phone starts ringing with customers asking when will i be coming to clean the windows.

you have different problems from different times of year, insect marks, snails, spiders webs, bird muck,rain , wind, traffic grime, it all needs cleaning.

Dave

Blimey Dave you've got 'em well trained...bet most of them know how you take your tea

Here in London the Yummy Mummies think they're doing me a favour in letting me clean their windows :

I just smile and take their money

[jampot]

all of mine are monthly and dont really have much "not todays"
and they do need it,
but you will always get them 
i always tell them we only do it if its monthly, if not theres a 50% extra on top for a 1 off clean.
i always give a little leway if they are having work done or somthing. but you get to sus out the regular "not today" ones,
GET RID 

[Paul Coleman]

I just think that monthly is too often...sorry!

I have just one customer who wants monthly, an old lady who I think just likes the 5 minute chat over a mug of tea... :. When I go to do them I really think they'd easily go another month...but it's her choice so who am I to argue?

All the rest are either bi-monthly or quarterly (with more and more going quarterly...no big deal for me as I just charge a bit more).

Unfortunately we can't force people to have their windows cleaned and if somebody says "not today" there's nowt we can about it.

Try moving out to bi-monthly and I'll almost guarantee you'll get as good as none "not todays".

Like Nat I give people 3 strikes.

I found it was a big help when I moved everything to 6 weekly from monthly.  At the time, I told them that I had compromised a long way and that in return, I expected not to be sent away.  Of course it has sometimes happened and some people then ask for 12 weekly.  I only do that though if the job is valuable enough to me.  This normally means over £50.

[Stevie G]

shiners right 6 weekly is the way forward. means getting more jobs tho

[Paul Coleman]

shiners right 6 weekly is the way forward. means getting more jobs tho

I should have added that when I made the switch from monthly to 6 weekly, I was already well over subscribed and struggling to get around on time anyway.  Ironically, I needed a lot of sick leave a few years after that and lost a load of them.  I was gradually filling those gaps when I went for WFP and the gaps got even bigger (though the earnings got bigger too).  It's only recently that the work gaps have really started to shrink again.

[windowwashers]

All mine are monthly and i dont get any "not this month" customers.

Dave

Your's are salty seadogs though Dave.

They don't get dirty so much up here.
98% of mine are monthly, but I bet most would change given the choice.
I get a lot of "not todays". More so since wfp, because now I'm always 4 weeks and not sometimes 5 or 6.

if you are getting that alot squeaky say you can do it everty other month and the price is 50% higher, a round full of 2 monthly customers would be great IMO

[geefree]

All mine are monthly and i dont get any "not this month" customers.

Dave

same here lots fortnightly too.... i always say if you do a brilliant job, they dont want to rock the boat and lose a good un..... and i like to think i do better than most.... no ... all lol.

[L.J.Thorpe]

i am with shiner six week round suits me good compromise between the must have it monthly and the can you do it every other types also whats with the ring before thing is this common??? i only have one customer i ring in advance and thats only because she was inherited and that was what the last bloke did usually i just turn up and do em as for not todays i give em 2 to 3 goes depending on what their like but am flexible if told in advance (long holidays) or if good reason(builders painters etc)

[macmac]

mine are mainly 5 weekly, never had a not today but i don't work in rain. to be honest, if someone came to do my windows in the rain i'd tell him where to go too!

tony

[mattywig]

The night before ring around is the spawn of the devil!!!  I tried it when I had a round in kensington and it made what should be a stress free job into a nitemare!  Far better to adopt the gypsy mentality and train people into realising that you just turn up when you want.  It is the single greatest thing about this business that you can just turn up and get on with your job whenever, if people cant accept that then they aren't a customer you can work with so get rid!!!