[geefree]

I cant earn really decent money as my round is scattered far and wide as its all buillt on leafletting,... the money is ok but could be much better.

no matter how many times i hit the areas to close it down, its still scattered.

i have nice blocks of work, then move on... then i have ones and twos...and move on.

maybe i need to knock, or buy.

Anyone else have this ?

[concept]

i am in a similar situation, however, what i am finding is the 1's and 2's are quickly turning into nice little blocks.

door knock/leaflet the surrounding houses every time, they will soon let you quote, or tell you to p off. if you get the latter, at least you have tried it to death, just leave a while and try again!

[Clive McDonald]

I think what you say is healthy gazza and how it should be. Use wc software to manage it better- i'm sure you do already.

[trevor perry]

try to talk to other window cleaners in the area, if you can swap work with some of them it can be beneficial for all parties in having more compact work.

[geefree]

I think what you say is healthy gazza and how it should be. Use wc software to manage it better- i'm sure you do already.

its managed pretty good on george, but i know what you mean, all the areasdone at once every month etc...instead of going into same areas a couple of times a month,

its the way it worked when the new customer phoned etc etc... and at that time i rushed over and cleaned it there and then....as i did not have a good round then,,, and i had time..and i wanted the money...

maybe now i should review the way its managed...even if it means leaving some customers six weeks ....so they all end up together...all !

[geefree]

Thanks for your helpful comments 

[Dale Smith]

I think what you say is healthy gazza and how it should be. Use wc software to manage it better- i'm sure you do already.

its managed pretty good on george, but i know what you mean, all the areasdone at once every month etc...instead of going into same areas a couple of times a month,

its the way it worked when the new customer phoned etc etc... and at that time i rushed over and cleaned it there and then....as i did not have a good round then,,, and i had time..and i wanted the money...
maybe now i should review the way its managed...even if it means leaving some customers six weeks ....so they all end up together...all !

Gazza this is exactly the way I went about it.... and exactly how my round is!
I look forward to the day when I am in a position to even lose a few days so I can condense it down, but I keep taking on...and I keep going from here to there....
It will be condensed one day....

[d s windowcleaning]

allright gazza hows things ?
                                            if i was you i would delay my work or bring forward my work and take it from there .
Theres only 1 person and that you who knows how you run your round if you are say working in sandal 2 moz , then need to go there on monday then bring the monday jobs forward and pull them into line .
forget about george , george will send you all over the place .
have a good look at your work and see what you can build from it .
theres not 1 programme that can organise your round better than your brain .
you are a bright lad gazza and you will sort it and get it to run how you want it to , not how a computor tells you .

[dazmond]

u dont need to be bright to manage a WC round!but u do need common sense.i dont have any of the  problems that some of u seem to have when it comes to round organisation.i dont use any of the computers just notebook/pen and diary!im a sole trader with 350 custys.most monthly,some 2 monthly and the odd 6 weekly.i write work out that i want to do for the week and at the end of each day write them down in my diary so i know when there due again.i tick them thats paid/mark the ones who owe 2 wks etc.v.simple!sort work so its clumped together etc.its common sense IMO.DONT NEED TO MAKE IT COMPLICATED!

BEST WISHES TO U ALL

DAZMOND

[martinsadie]

u dont need to be bright to manage a WC round!but u do need common sense.i dont have any of the  problems that some of u seem to have when it comes to round organisation.i dont use any of the computers just notebook/pen and diary!im a sole trader with 350 custys.most monthly,some 2 monthly and the odd 6 weekly.i write work out that i want to do for the week and at the end of each day write them down in my diary so i know when there due again.i tick them thats paid/mark the ones who owe 2 wks etc.v.simple!sort work so its clumped together etc.its common sense IMO.DONT NEED TO MAKE IT COMPLICATED!

BEST WISHES TO U ALL

DAZMOND

thats how i do it dead easy 

[david thomas]

I do it as above . leave spaces between address to slot in new work as it comes in got geoge and w/c pro but find them to time consuming

[pingu]

Gazza...I started out like yourself..but I went down the schedule/set date route so from the onset I had area's that needed filling per day.

So now for you...it's just a simple excercise of filling in the gaps...The best thing is...you already know what you need..so no guess work needed

So it's either more leaflets or start chapping on doors

Cheers
Dave.

[geefree]

Thanks guys , all of you.

i do have common sense, but i should have used it from the onset, (maybe i dont have it lol)

I JUST CARRIED ON RUSHING AND BUILDING THE ROUND , AND CLEANING AS SOON AS THEY RUNG

oops.....

but now i find i will have to put it in better area order,

then george will take care of the rest.

good responses from

Dave shaw and pingu Dave, cheers lads.

[Tosh]

I have areas where I have a really concentrated amounts of houses which I like.  No faffing about, and easy to collect.  But I also have a lot of 'drive betweens', but these will all be well priced and I don't collect, I just leave an envelope.

I prefer my drive betweens.

[geefree]

I have areas where I have a really concentrated amounts of houses which I like.  No faffing about, and easy to collect.  But I also have a lot of 'drive betweens', but these will all be well priced and I don't collect, I just leave an envelope.

I prefer my drive betweens.

i like them too Tosh as its a break,

but i have too many drive betweens.

[Tosh]

I have areas where I have a really concentrated amounts of houses which I like.  No faffing about, and easy to collect.  But I also have a lot of 'drive betweens', but these will all be well priced and I don't collect, I just leave an envelope.

I prefer my drive betweens.

i like them too Tosh as its a break,

but i have too many drive betweens.

Gaz, it just takes time to build up a nice paying round!  You may have the odd lucky git or someone whose got the drive, determination, and natrual ability to build up a nice round quickly; but unfortunately most of us are very average!

To be honest, I've been doing this seven years now, and it's only recently that I've started actually enjoying what I do rather than thinking window cleaning was sheer purgatory.  And funnily enough, since I've had that change of attitude, I'm turning over far more than I used too. 

Just keep on plodding on!

[Clive McDonald]

I think you are doing things right gazza, it just seems like you aren't.You must prioritise new work, so you are right to blast straight over etc.
Tosh is right and like the majority i too am only average.
Most of the common sence comments were okay, but a note pad and pen will not compete with a computer.

I have just switched from george to wcpro, but i expect you can do what i suggest in george.Split your work into seperate rounds by area. I have four rounds, one is local to me, the other three are the three sides of me extending outwards with all jobs grouped together that you could vaguely say are on the same run.

Print the four rounds off for the coming week.You can then decide how to conduct the work.Other synergies will occur to you, but that is the basic thing.The common sense part is in using the computer, not in not using it.Derr...

[paulben]

I take it you are taking a bit of time off for xmas this is ideal time to regroup your round . I work on a 4 weekly round have 2 weeks off for xmas so I move custies about to suit me .
Never have tried pc programs just work out a 4 weekly list if, I get behind then its just a matter of cut and paste

[Gleaming windows]

u dont need to be bright to manage a WC round!but u do need common sense.i dont have any of the  problems that some of u seem to have when it comes to round organisation.i dont use any of the computers just notebook/pen and diary!im a sole trader with 350 custys.most monthly,some 2 monthly and the odd 6 weekly.i write work out that i want to do for the week and at the end of each day write them down in my diary so i know when there due again.i tick them thats paid/mark the ones who owe 2 wks etc.v.simple!sort work so its clumped together etc.its common sense IMO.DONT NEED TO MAKE IT COMPLICATED!

BEST WISHES TO U ALL

DAZMOND

thats how i do it dead easy 

Me too. Easy Peasee Simple Pimple.

[lee_dewing]

good advice,

paulben's, hit on a good point, use xmas hols to jiggle work about in most logical profitable order.

anyone that's late just appologise weather, xmas hols etc, you may want to contact custy if it's gonna be later than your happy with, especially if there fairly new, they may think you given up.

canvass new work to fill gaps, a week to 2 weeks before your in that area, so you have time to organise yourself and hit new work fairly soon after picking up.

I plan in the spring to drop leaflets and door knock a few days later as this is said to be the best way.

I am a cowdy custard when it comes to knocking and prefer leafletting, but this is why i'm needing to compact my round a bit more like yourself to increase earnings.

I am planning to push my frequency out to 6 weeks (5 approx at moment.)

my plan is to advetrise the fact on a leaflet that i clean the whole window: pane sill frame, use wfp which has advantages of reaching difficult windows, windows staying cleaning longer, so i hope to charge a bit more.
was thinking of offering free clean on one window upto 3 panes to demonstrate my methods as many people still think wfp is the devils work

Then knock at new custies as said; "hello did you get my leaflet?"

"would you be intrested?"
note all not ins; keep going back til you get a yes or no.

this will be time consuming, but worth it i hope, when i have got more work than i can do i will increase prices on existing work some will have to be quite hefty £5, will explain in letter this is due to when i first started, i basically under priced blah blah; but i am extending the cleaning frequency as i know windows stay cleaner longer using wfp, and this will help absorb price increase some.

sorry to go on hope some of this is useful gazza.
good luck 
lee