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So, why do we ask for up-front payments from non regular window customers? Let me tell you a story!
“Not my problem”, he said and shut the door. I rose early and drove for 30 minutes to reach his location at the agreed time – he wanted to be home when we did the cleaning. And now that we were there, he shut the door in our faces and sent us packing.
This man had booked a Fascia & Soffit clean and Gutter clearing service with us. Everything was confirmed and the price agreed. It seemed like a done deal. Yet, in the meantime, he had gotten an offer for a lower price to carry out these cleans and had taken it. We weren’t asking for upfront payments back then so we got nothing.
The man saved 18 pounds. We lost over £300 from both his job and the other jobs we had to refuse because we were booked. And there was nothing we could do but go home.
And unfortunately, this wasn’t a stand-alone incident. Before we started requiring upfront payments for one-off cleans (from non- regular window cleaning customers) the aforementioned scenario or similar ones were quite common.
Another common issue was for a customer to cancel his clean, but not follow our cancellation policy. So, we might receive a cancellation either the day of the scheduled clean, or the night before. This practice would cause us no end of problems.
You see, by 6pm all customers for the following day have been scheduled, worksheets printed and distributed and customers notified by text (so they know to expect us and unbolt their gates for the following day). So, after 6pm, we are unable to adjust the following days cleans. So, if we have a cancellation after 6pm (the night before the clean) or on the day of the clean, it causes us an instant and significant loss, as we can’t at that point book anyone in to fill that slot.
In addition to the loss caused by the late cancellation, is also the loss caused by paying our cleaners for work they are unable to carry out. Our cleaners need paying whether cleans get cancelled last minute or not, that really isn’t their problem, and we wouldn’t make it their problem by allowing them to arrive for a days work, only to tell them that half the days work is cancelled, so we can only pay them half the wages. Our cleaners rely on a regular wage. So on this front also, cancelled cleans without the agreed cancellation notice cause us further loss.
Another scenario is that a customer would have all their scheduled one-off cleans, but then drop off the radar, cease replying to any emails, and never pay their invoice. Again, in this situation, the loss created is significant. It actually wasn’t sustainable to continue to run a business on the good faith that the customer will go ahead with the agreed clean and then pay for it afterwards.
It’s true that a new customer who only wants a one-off clean, and who pays for their clean up front, may be concerned that they won’t receive the clean they have paid for (there are some unscrupulous cleaners out there). And we understand that very real concern. But here is something to consider; when we engage a new customer, we don’t know them from Adam. We can’t look at reviews on how they have interacted with previous companies, or see if they are people who generally pay their bills. We are assuming that they will act in good faith, following the cancellation policy if they need to, or paying for the service provided after the fact. HOWEVER, a customer looking to book our services, is in a much more informed position than we can ever be. They can search through our Google and Facebook and Yell reviews, to see how our previous customers have rated our service. They can see how we have dealt with customers in the past. They can see how long our business has been established and check our reputation in the community. So new customers have much more evidence available to them, allowing them to trust us to carry out the services quoted for at the time agreed, rectifying any issues that may arise (we offer a re-clean guarantee to all our customers).
Also to consider is that this is how many businesses work. If you pay for your takeout over the phone, then you are trusting the meal will be delivered and will be up to scratch. If you pay when it is delivered, you pay before you eat the meal and know if it is good or not. But it is in the interests of that company to provide the best service they can, or the negative reviews alone would impact their ability to continue, so we trust this.
You pay for theatre or concert tickets upfront; for car hire; holidays etc; for so many services. And, many companies; telephone engineers to name one, will charge for their service if you don’t follow the cancellation policy or are not home when they call at the scheduled time because their time is precious and they can’t continue to run their company if they don’t.
So too, in the cleaning industry; paying for one-off cleans upfront has become standard practice.
We feel that the reputation we have developed in Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach, Holmes Chapel, Alsager and surrounding areas, since 2012, is what allows many new customers to book our one-off cleaning services, pay upfront and feel confident that we will carry out a thorough clean and look after them.
An additional benefit of our requiring an upfront payment for one-off cleans for non-regular window cleaning customers, is that we know they are serious customers. They want this clean carried out, and are committed to having it, as seen by being willing to pay upfront. This helps us book only serious customers. Rather than booking and cancelling cleans constantly which takes much time that we don’t charge for. A customer willing to pay upfront is serious about booking our service, and we are serious about providing it.
Yes, that is true. Because they are regular window cleaning customers, we have confidence in them, some of whom we have cleaned for, for many years. So, when a regular window cleaning customer asks for one of our additional services; Conservatory Roof cleaning; Gutter Clearing; Fascia & Soffit Cleaning; Solar Panel Cleaning etc, we have a two-way trust that allows us to book those cleans and carry them out, and request payment after the fact.
It’s also worth noting that our window cleaning customers pay their bill by Gocardless direct debit. Unlike a traditional direct debit, we still have to request payment after each clean. This is great, because if for any reason a clean is delayed, then payment won’t automatically be taken prior to the clean having been carried out. After each window clean, we request payment, and the customer is notified automatically that we have done so. If they take no action, then payment arrives in our bank about a week later. Another upside to this method of payment is that we can request payment for one-off cleans like those mentioned above. So, the customer doesn’t have to make a separate payment to us.
By requiring pre-payment for one-off cleans for non- regular window cleaning customers, we can schedule their clean in to our calendar with confidence.
This way, everyone is committed. We know that the customer has the funds to pay for the service and is serious about having the service, and isn’t going to walk away, leaving us chasing money for months on end when we should be spending our time doing other important things! Likewise, the customer knows that time for their job is completely reserved in our calendar and that they are important to us.
If you are still sceptical though after reading this blog, click on the following links (Google reviews / Facebook reviews to see some testimonials from past clients.
On our Facebook page you can see videos of cleans in action, and some of the results we achieve too. Hopefully all this will help you feel confident to book our one-off cleaning services. Or better yet, why not get a quote for regular window cleaning as well. We offer discounts on our additional services to those who book a regular window cleaning service (with a minimum of 3 cleans).
Until our next blog guys, take care!
