[Cleaner Windows]

how many of you are a member of the guild?

I always thought it was only for people who do joinery, brick laying etc but after looking into it, it's open to all types of trades people including us window cleaners. I looked into it on their website and had a bloke come out to interview me about it this morning, he was a really nice bloke and explained exactly what the guild does and what I can expect to gain from it as a member. The only thing that sort of put me off is the £375 per year for membership!

I know thats not a lot when you think about it because it's only £1ish per day for the whole year but will it be worth the money?

I thought it would be a good thing to be a member of though as they are well known and it would be good to show that I'm a member by using their logo on my van, flyers etc plus it seems they can save you a lot of money when buying new vans and god knows what.

I'd just like to ask you if your a member and if you reckon it's worth the money? and have you noticed any difference in the rate of new customers you have got since being a member?

Cheers

Denis

[frames to panes]

Master Craftsmen? surely not, that's like saying darts players are atheletes.

[simon w]

   Denis.

Have you thought about membership with the Federation of Window Cleaners? As it's a bit more relevent to our trade.

benefits include cheaper premiums for public liability insurance and employers insurance, they also sell good cleaning materials and products which you can buy at discount as a member from their web-site.

The annual membership is also a lot cheaper than the Master Guild.

Just a thought.

Simon W

P.S you can find out about membership with Federation of Window Cleaners from their web-site

[Mr H]

Also check out the details for being a "Safe Contractor"... Because this is run by the same company that the H & S use for their phone information lines. Some companies are closeing the doors to anyone who isn't a member as it means you have already proved you follow health and safety regs..... Many other benifits too.

Regards
Mr H

[NWH]

It`s only your money there interested in and that`s it,in all honesty what can you learn on a day course and what can a bloke tell about you and your business by seeing you over a cup of tea,if they see there`s money to be made they`ll make you a member,nothing short of a scam.The logos look pretty on the van that`s about all the good i can see in all of em.

[Cleaner Windows]

Master Craftsmen? surely not, that's like saying darts players are atheletes.

lol thats what i thought, they should change it to guild of master craftsmen but also any type of tradesmen!

[Cleaner Windows]

simon: I will look into that, I did have a look once before but I can't remember there prices etc so I'll check it out again, cheers

Mr H: cheers, I'll check that out too.

NWH: theres a bit more to it than that! they give you the interview, ask you for 5 customers that will say how good you are, they ask you not to tell the custy about it, then they send the customers a couple of pages of forms to fill in about your business, covering stuff like how professional you treat them, quality of your work, punctuality etc etc etc and the Guild wont accept you unless they have all this info and proof of your p.l insurance. When you've been accepted the Guild is there to speak to the public if they ring up asking if you are a bonified member and if you can be trusted and obviously they will be told "yes" because you have been vetted and accepted. The logos on the van to people who know about the Guild will show them your not some gyppo who's cleaning windows, not paying taxes and spending all his money down the pub

[niceandclean]

I was with them for a couple of years, didnt really seem to make any difference. Im now with the federation of small businesses, lots of benefits, ie free banking, free legal advice to name a couple, have a look into that.

[ZampaWall]

'he was a really nice bloke and explained exactly what the guild does and what I can expect to gain from it as a member.'

Of course he was a really nice bloke his a salesman. The opportunity of pound notes can make anybody be really nice.
In my opinion most trade organisations are only there for your money and it was the Guild of Master Craftsmen that brought me to that opinion. Many moons ago I had a  call from them and said that someone had recomended me, of course that makes you feel good and I accepted him to visit. I looked forward to his visit, I thought yeah what an accolade a master of my service, proven to be up there with the best. Anyway he came (he was a really nice bloke aswell) spent about an hour telling me that you could only get this recognition through recomendation (this was about twelve years ago), gave me his pitch, showing me his book, loads of pages about what it will bring to your company and several pages, showing you how your advert could stand out with the Guild of Master craftsmen logo on it, well this page had a dozen or so adverts on it (as you would get in a normal directory, i.e. yellow pages) and on the page, one advert had the logo on it which makes it stand out from the others. The logo could have been a black blob (as it would have been at a flashing glance), that would have stood out aswell. I asked him who recomended me and he told me that he could not disclose that info, that made he a little suspicious because I felt that if someone had recomended me, then they wouldnt mind me being told who it was. By the end of it he couldnt avoid having to tell me that it would cost and then it was about £500, so I showed him where the door was.
I am in no way trying to say that trade organisations do not benefit a company and if you was looking to join one then I would say as others have, join one that clearly represents your trade. You will still get the recognised logo for your van, media etc
The best way to show that you are a pro is to do a good job and give a good regular service, that way customers will find you through recomendation, it will not cost you anything financialy and you will soon have more work than you can handle. With or without a trade logo.