[stuartb]

Do any of you guys have written agreements with your customers? I am trying to make my business more professional and secure but am not sure future customers would be keen on signing a contract? Any opinions appreciated.

Stu

[AuRavelling79]

Under £25 no
Over £50 - yes
Others - as the mood takes me.

[stuartb]

Hi malc,
Do you ever have people refuse to sign? And what do you ask them to agree to?

[LWC]

I would like to see comments on this, as some new customers you get when you turn up the following month to clean they seem like they didnt expect you to be coming back

[trike]

agreements dont realy work,not worth paper there written on,if they want them cleaned they will,if not they wont,what are you going to do if agreements broken,nothing you can do.

[ccmids]

 contract for window cleaning that is daft :

[stuartb]

What I have started doing is 1.5 or 2x the normal price on the first clean. This at least removes that horrible robbed feeling if they tell you not to come back after the first clean. What bugs me is the lack of respect some customers have, for example when you turn up and they run out and say not bother this month. I always tell my new customers 'I only offer a monthly service, and not every other month' but some still think they can have the work done when they fancy, even though you have driven to there house, unloaded your van and burnt your fuel, wasting time and money. This is the kind of thing I am trying to cancel out.

[Skyglide]

All part of the territory when you are dealing with the public.  Annoying, but hey, it's not every job. Waste of time and effort trying to contract domestics.
Try to stick to gut feelings when pricing the job - do I like this person, do I want to do this job? If yes, then generally no aggravation.

Chris

[williamx]

What I have started doing is 1.5 or 2x the normal price on the first clean. This at least removes that horrible robbed feeling if they tell you not to come back after the first clean. What bugs me is the lack of respect some customers have, for example when you turn up and they run out and say not bother this month. I always tell my new customers 'I only offer a monthly service, and not every other month' but some still think they can have the work done when they fancy, even though you have driven to there house, unloaded your van and burnt your fuel, wasting time and money. This is the kind of thing I am trying to cancel out.

What you can do is tell your customers that you charge double for 1st cleans and if they cancel one months clean without your agreement then the next clean will be classed as a 1st clean.

Also try phoning the night before, it saves the wasted journey.

[stuartb]

Thanks for the help on that one guys.

Stu