[seandyer2003]

business is business, but you dont need to be that desperate for work, there is still room for being a good person in life otherwise you might be rich - but to everyone around you wont be thought very highly of !

I know where you are coming from , but i would rather feel i had some principles too, and if the guy was genuinely ill i dont think i would nick all his work , id at least offer to pay for it or something , maybe 1x or like simon says caretake it for now...it would be a temptation but i hope i would be a big enough person to do what simon is doing!!

What goes around comes around!!

[Lee Pryor]

fair play gary thats is exactly what you should do imo

[seandyer2003]

i was laid up last year for three months last year i let my customers
know and kept them updated to when i was coming back to work,i kept
90% the 10% i lost well its par for the course really.

if you want to keep your customers you find some way of keeping
contact if you havent bothered for months well your asking for
trouble poor customer service really.

i would just crack on end of the day customer decides who they want to
use

Fair enough comment, at the end of the day it all comes down to why this guy is not there??

If he has a genuine reason id try help him out somehow. otherwise take it all... But if hes fell of a ladder or something id give it back if ever he tries to come back...

[sparklebright]

my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.

pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO

guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.

its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.

now who wants to slate me first?

I think the majority of people here said something similar to you.

Just take the job, if you say to the custy 'if your old guy comes back, etc etc' it makes you look good, but doesn't change what the custy will do. If they are gonna take him back they'll do it. And let's face it he won't be.
But by appearing kind you give yourself an advantage.

Did no-one ever tell you the key to sales is sincerity, once you've got that faked you've made it.

[Lee Pryor]

business is business, but you dont need to be that desperate for work, there is still room for being a good person in life otherwise you might be rich - but to everyone around you wont be thought very highly of !

I know where you are coming from , but i would rather feel i had some principles too, and if the guy was genuinely ill i dont think i would nick all his work , id at least offer to pay for it or something , maybe 1x or like simon says caretake it for now...it would be a temptation but i hope i would be a big enough person to do what simon is doing!!

What goes around comes around!!

I just cant agree with that at all. the thing I love about this forum is that it seems to be a crime being successfull!!!!!!

Who said I wasnt a nice guy with no priciples. we never undercut we never slate other WC. I simply work harder to build my business. My attitude is we are never full. i am not desperate for work at all quite the opposite in fact.

As it goes me and my team were out knocking tonight ( as we are 7 days a week). one woman I wrote up on the door said the WC who does most of the road hadnt been for 6 months. I said well i dont think hes coming back, ( a fair comment imo) thus i signed her up and I cant waite to get the rest of the street. now why the hell should I care about a total stranger running a poor business when I can have those customers and money in my business. If im in hospital it all still gets done,,, why? because I had the gutts to build a bigger business go all the way and employ staff, our customers simply dont get missed

[gary999]

its all down to the customer far as im concerned if the guy
goes back to work and they decide to go back with him so be it no complaints
from me you will always replace it with another job.

we dont really own any of the domestic work we do really its only
on loan not going to clean the same houses forever i have lost some
because they dont like wfp some people just didnt want there windows
cleaned anymore for whatever reason and some of my customers
have unfortunately died.

cant see the point in taking any of it personally just keep moving
on and upwards

[Lee Pryor]

Did no-one ever tell you the key to sales is sincerity, once you've got that faked you've made it.

I love it!

[leapstallbuildings]

my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.

pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO

guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.

its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.

now who wants to slate me first?

I didn't see any six shooters in your van   

[Lee Pryor]

my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.

pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO

guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.

its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.

now who wants to slate me first?

I didn't see any six shooters in your van   

when did you see in my van?

[AuRavelling79]

my god i would love you lot round my way. I would feel so safe.

pride, good will, self respect, all these things are great but do they pay the bills.... NO. do they buy the big house the porsche the big flat tv's and once in a lifetime holidays NO
guys i dont care if i get slated for saying business is business and i would take any and all work i could get my hands on.

its a dog eat dog world. and personaly my goal is to wipe out my competition entirely and keep earning more and more every year.

now who wants to slate me first?

Ah! The really important things in life eh Lee?

[Lee Pryor]

never said they were the important things, just nice to have as reward for your hard work believe me i know.

[Clive McDonald]

What lee doesn't know yet is that there is always a bigger badder wolf. This is the kind of mouthing off that your employees pick up on, and one day, taking a leaf out of your book, will give them the justification they need to take the lot away from you. As you taught them this culture you will have to admire them.

A bit of humility helps, even if you don't feel humble.

[AuRavelling79]

never said they were the important things, just nice to have as reward for your hard work believe me i know.

But in your post I quoted in my last post above you show them as being less important than the pride, self respect and good will that would prompt you to - with good grace - expect the customer to choose to take on the old cleaner in the circumstances of hospitalisation outlined.

I don't know your family situation Lee, but to go home and tell your wife/son/daughter that you had shown human decency is a far far better thing than turning up with a big TV - even if the kids are impressionable enough to think otherwise.

[Lee Pryor]

 slumpbuster there it is again success is a crime!!!!!!!that would be a fair comment in most cases.

answer me this

if they are paid well, 30k for a 32 hour week (employed)

given sick pay, holiday pay, lads days out on me EVERY quarter, best team of the month prize the list really does go on.

Q why would they throw that away to be a one man band with all the financial risk time to build up and all the negatives that go hand in hand with being self employed. when they can just turn up work get paid? and getting back to the earlier posts in the thread if one of my guys is in hospital his job is there waiting when he is better. oh and my customers are all contracted as are my staff.

and i really dont appreciate being told im mouthing off by giving my opinion on the thread. that is after all why we are on here is it not? never once have  I personally insulted anyone on here as you have just done to me.

[Lee Pryor]

never said they were the important things, just nice to have as reward for your hard work believe me i know.

But in your post I quoted in my last post above you show them as being less important than the pride, self respect and good will that would prompt you to - with good grace - expect the customer to choose to take on the old cleaner in the circumstances of hospitalisation outlined.

I don't know your family situation Lee, but to go home and tell your wife/son/daughter that you had shown human decency is a far far better thing than turning up with a big TV - even if the kids are impressionable enough to think otherwise.

malc the important things in my life love me back. matierial things dont. at the end of the day customers make their own minds up i think we all know that.

You know what of course i dont like hearing somone is in hospital or loosing their business. that person could have decided to employ someone to help out or something. but that person may be a stranger to me and i have my own family to feed and they will always come before a stranger.

[AuRavelling79]

slumpbuster there it is again success is a crime!!!!!!!that would be a fair comment in most cases.

answer me this

if they are paid well, 30k for a 32 hour week (employed)

given sick pay, holiday pay, lads days out on me EVERY quarter, best team of the month prize the list really does go on.

Q why would they throw that away to be a one man band with all the financial risk time to build up and all the negatives that go hand in hand with being self employed. when they can just turn up work get paid? and getting back to the earlier posts in the thread if one of my guys is in hospital his job is there waiting when he is better. oh and my customers are all contracted as are my staff.

and i really dont appreciate being told im mouthing off by giving my opinion on the thread. that is after all why we are on here is it not? never once have  I personally insulted anyone on here as you have just done to me.

I applaud your business prowess, Lee  (as shown to the whole forum as an example of what can be acheived) - but especially with that level of success, don't you feel mean taking work from a guy in hospital?

[Lee Pryor]

slumpbuster there it is again success is a crime!!!!!!!that would be a fair comment in most cases.

answer me this

if they are paid well, 30k for a 32 hour week (employed)

given sick pay, holiday pay, lads days out on me EVERY quarter, best team of the month prize the list really does go on.

Q why would they throw that away to be a one man band with all the financial risk time to build up and all the negatives that go hand in hand with being self employed. when they can just turn up work get paid? and getting back to the earlier posts in the thread if one of my guys is in hospital his job is there waiting when he is better. oh and my customers are all contracted as are my staff.

and i really dont appreciate being told im mouthing off by giving my opinion on the thread. that is after all why we are on here is it not? never once have  I personally insulted anyone on here as you have just done to me.

I applaud your business prowess, Lee  (as shown to the whole forum as an example of what can be acheived) - but especially with that level of success, don't you feel mean taking work from a guy in hospital?

as far as i know i have never taken work from a guy in hospital. i was simply giving my opinion on picking up work from other window cleaners who havnt been for ages as per the posts earlier in the thread.

[AuRavelling79]

Simon Knight was quite specific Lee, he asked what to do in a situation which included a hospitalised w/c.

Your first post talked about dog eat dog, how you would take on any and all work, porsches and holidays and TV's.

Maybe you didn't read the first post properly?

I agree that if some windy has shown torpidity and/or lack of customer service then he/she deserves to lose that custy - but IMO you came flying out of the batcave without thinking it through!

[seandyer2003]

Simon Knight was quite specific Lee, he asked what to do in a situation which included a hospitalised w/c.

Your first post talked about dog eat dog, how you would take on any and all work, porsches and holidays and TV's.

Maybe you didn't read the first post properly?

I agree that if some windy has shown torpidity and/or lack of customer service then he/she deserves to lose that custy - but IMO you came flying out of the batcave without thinking it through!

that was my point ... i never said dont take work, just not in this situation...

[ZaNo]

Um, You guys lost your marbles. Once you take on a custy he/she is your responsibility, Nothing else. If after a year you havent bothered to deal with your customers responsibly then your business is OVER. I mean what more do i have to say the CUSTY was coming to a w/c because the other hadnt bothered to turn up for a YEAR, she doesnt give a shoot she just wants her windows cleaned.
What are you saying its not right because hes in hospital so that house cant be anyones until he decides he feels like cleaning windows again or bothers to tell every custy he aint coming back??
How long will you have to wait 1 year? 2 years? 3?? before you deicide to take it.

Man JUST TAKE IT, they want there windows cleaned, there w/c hasnt cleaned them. what is wrong with that?

If a gardener didnt cut your lawn for a year, then whats that say? the gardener doesnt care about you or your grass!!!!

Nuff said