What’s the most successful approach you’ve found to get new clients to commit to a future date or better yet, to a regular window cleaning schedule? I get a lot of people who are happy when I’m done, and say they’ll call me when they want their windows done again…but it ends up being a year or more, and of course by then the windows are a mess. Any tips?
Thanks,
Allen
Wagner Window
Some people offer discounts for a regular schedule. Some set up automatic outside only cleaning. Some set up the next service before they leave the job.
Me, I just set a reminder and give a text or call when it’s near the discussed time, but only if I have openings in the schedule.
People will still push out the date frequently unless they have plenty of money and really like clean windows. It’s just the way it goes. People rarely do what they say they need to do.
I wish my scheduling software had automatic scheduling reminder emails for my residential clients.
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Yes…I have a tip.
Quit calling them clients ! ( sorry, just a reference to a recent previous discussion )
As far as regular scheduled services; I had very little luck with my " Clients " scheduling for the next services. Had many loyal home owners and very few ever wanted to do that. I sent reminder cards in the spring and fall with a small coupon if scheduled before a certain date and that, more than anything, created repeats. Have the cards professionally made. The printer that did mine also packaged it with taking care of mailing also.
I might just stick to using " Clients ". Makes me feel so important. LOL !
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We do 75% commercial 25% residential window cleaning at least 90% of our work is scheduled in February each year.
We send service agreements out with dates, residential get actual dates, commercial gets week of dates. As we get closer to each particular date we send a reminder. 90% keep the date they were given others may tweak it by a day or two.
The dates we send are the same months that their prior cleanings have always been by their request. The service agreements simply state they have 2 weeks to sign and return to reserve their preferred dates and cost for services. If dates are not reserved they may not be available later.
We do have alot of repeat customers that makes this work for us. Also have been established for many years.
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Tip one:
You get in contact with them. Before I even do the work, I initially ask how often they are looking for service. I will call/text/email at the frequency they request to get them on the schedule.
Tip two:
Let them know it is going to cost extra per clean if they are going to let their windows go, to the point you are doing extra work. GET PAID to do that extra. Don’t feel bad about charging more, you earn it. I don’t usually charge extra on a resi on initial clean unless it’s pretty bad. I ALWAYS let the client know they are not getting charged more initially, but if they don’t keep up with the maintenance, they won’t get that break again (it builds value).
Tip three:
ORGANIZE those to be called with google calendar or something similar. Set the day to call Mrs. Smith however frequent she asks for cleans, and set that call for yearly not just one time. Set that time to contact her, at least a month BEFORE she wanted them cleaned to be sure you have room on your schedule.
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Here’s what I do !!
When I’m done ,an collecting the bill. I say “would you like to stay on our Maintenance program. Most of my customers do there windows once a year.”
I say ! “ it’s not a contract it’s simply a reminder
I’ll put you in for the same date , an what we do is call you a month in advance ,an if your still good with date we lock it down. I understand things happen that’s why we call a month in advance. “
People don’t like commitments. So set them at ease let them know it’s not a contract. this is just a reminder call if your still good with the date we then put it on the calendar.
Most service industries use a maintenance contract. You can even have them prepay. It’s pretty standard in pest control, lawn service etc.
John I have to disagree. Maintenance contract is not standard in our industry. They are used in some cases but by no means standard. The great majority of either residential, commercial, and route customers do not sign maint contracts for window cleaning.
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I’d probably have to agree with that on residential completely, it’s a luxury service more or less. I have several residential customers that just ask me to put them on my list for next year, others will ask me how often. If time permits, I can tell them I can get to them 2-4 times a years depending on my schedule and how big the job is. I don’t have any written agreements with commercial jobs either but I am their vendor of choice. I verbally offer to put them on a schedule and show up, it’s really easy and there is no obligation on their part. Never had anyone tell me to discontinue services. The outside only cleans really work well since you can do them so easily with WFP. These are 30-60min jobs you can really crank out and make $80+/hr. Those are a drop in the bucket prices for residential customers who have the cash to spend and the commercial ones who know they can’t depend on bucket Bob’s.
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How many of these 30 to 60 minute jobs are you doing in A-day with how many people working?
@anon46335951 I have about 20 customers that are done at intervals anywhere between 1 to 3 months, starting in April and end in November. I’m a relatively small company with two part time employees, so I’ll usually set a side a day where we knock out those jobs. I guess you could consider it residential route work, but they are definitely the most profitable.
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You have residential customers committed to every 1-3 months but discontinue Dec - March ?
Is that their choice or yours ? Service them all winter if they are that committed throughout the year !
We stop getting calls right after Christmas, holidays are over and no one left to impress.
I like the idea of ‘reminding’ customers, makes sense. We have also used handwritten postcards with great success.
