In our line of work and society deposits have unfortunately become necessary. I can't count how many times we have shown up at a job and either the customer isn't home and never bothered to cancel their appt, or they no longer like the price so they tell us to leave.
At this point we have spent useless time, energy, gas, wear and tear on the trucks and I'm sure at some point made another customer annoyed because we couldn't accommodate their appt request just to be left holding the squeegee. Then there's the part where the Marketeer and myself The Appointed One gets in trouble for not having at least a credit card on file to charge the cancellation fee to.
Deposits and Credit Cards are part of everyday life; yet when we ask for one people act shocked and offended which is not our intention at all. When these same people try to rent a car, book a hotel room or a flight does the deposit or up front cost get waived because they act shocked and offended.... NO it doesn't because it's accepted for those businesses. I think we are better than those businesses in the respect that we will at least apply the deposit to their balance or brace yourself now... ready... actually REFUND the money if the customer cancels with the appropriate 24 hours notice.
Yes I know the shock of using and actually enforcing the "refund" word is a bit vulgar this early in the day but I have to be brutally honest here. These other businesses don't refund your money at all they give you vouchers to be used within a year with them so you can't take your business anywhere else. Some will even deduct a percentage depending on how much notice you give them. All we want to do is give people a little incentive to remember us, t0 call us if you can't keep your appt. Face it window cleaners are not the top priority in everyone's day like the propane guy, or the electric company, hell lets face it window cleaners don't even rank up there with the cable guy. However we are happy to reschedule when needed or even offer other options without penalizing people.
I know there are exceptions to every rule like the 90 year old customer who has used you for the last 50 years of their life and has paid on site each time (and according to the techs tip really really well) may not need to leave a deposit. Either way please just keep in mind that the deposit is for everyone's protection and benefit. Hopefully I have been able to shed a little light on the Deposit/Credit Card issues we all deal with. Have a Great Week.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Hello!
Good Morning,
All County Window Cleaning is a small, family owned and operated company which offers a lot more than just window cleaning. If you have ever been on our site or used our service you know that we offer an array of other services including gutter cleaning and a new gutter protection, power washing, chandelier and other glass surface cleaning as well as one of our newer services scratched glass removal. I'll be here regularly to give you an inside look on how this all works but now for some introductions.
Everyone here is like family even the ones who aren't blood related including myself fit in. We even fight just like real family. There are 7 of us in the office who keep our business running daily. This doesn't count the"Big Guy" who started the whole thing, Our Sales Person or the Go To Guy; I'll get to them a little later.
There's "Money Bags" who handles our collections and payroll, there's "The Marketeer" who handles the mailings and advertising, "The Don" who handles all things schedule related, deals directly with the techs in the field and fixes our mess ups that happen from time to time. "Missy" who handles the end of the day work, helps get work on schedule and fiddles with money from time to time. Then there's me "The Appointed One" who handles commercial accounts, residential scheduling and gets to stick my nose into everyone else's' job whenever I get appointed; which seems to be daily despite the fact they all tell me that I get too worked up about things and tend to act like a maniac at times. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, It's part of what I do and apparently I've been really good at it until now. (We'll see how this blog thing goes over..LOL). Anyhow we all function together for the same goals; to keep all the techs out there working and keeping "The Man" (that's what we'll call the big guy for now) happy.
"The Man" is our boss we all answer to and argue with him on a regular basis. I think he likes the fighting personally to burn off all that energy he puts into himself. "Mr Fancy Pants" handles most of our estimates, gets the commercial accounts in the door and loves to fixate on grammar and spelling (I'm sure he'd have a field day w/ this blog) but he is one of the best sales people to deal with. Finally there is "Negative Nancy" the go to guy who goes out to investigate issues and heads up the really big projects. "Negative Nancy" is one of the best at what he does but gets his kicks off making me nervous saying things can't be done then completing them before the timeline even expires. Please feel free to use this blog as a reference for everyone I refer to in the future... If any names need to change I'll let you know.
For a small window cleaning company we certainly handle some pretty large tasks regularly and the purpose of this blog is to share experiences with the public, customers and competitors included plus it's slightly entertaining. We love feedback good or bad and are always looking to improve things. If you don't believe me ask anyone including "The Man" who changes his mind on things more times than any of us can count. This is a good thing I guess because the reality is being on your toes is a necessity to stay alive in this business as with any.
All County Window Cleaning is a small, family owned and operated company which offers a lot more than just window cleaning. If you have ever been on our site or used our service you know that we offer an array of other services including gutter cleaning and a new gutter protection, power washing, chandelier and other glass surface cleaning as well as one of our newer services scratched glass removal. I'll be here regularly to give you an inside look on how this all works but now for some introductions.
Everyone here is like family even the ones who aren't blood related including myself fit in. We even fight just like real family. There are 7 of us in the office who keep our business running daily. This doesn't count the"Big Guy" who started the whole thing, Our Sales Person or the Go To Guy; I'll get to them a little later.
There's "Money Bags" who handles our collections and payroll, there's "The Marketeer" who handles the mailings and advertising, "The Don" who handles all things schedule related, deals directly with the techs in the field and fixes our mess ups that happen from time to time. "Missy" who handles the end of the day work, helps get work on schedule and fiddles with money from time to time. Then there's me "The Appointed One" who handles commercial accounts, residential scheduling and gets to stick my nose into everyone else's' job whenever I get appointed; which seems to be daily despite the fact they all tell me that I get too worked up about things and tend to act like a maniac at times. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, It's part of what I do and apparently I've been really good at it until now. (We'll see how this blog thing goes over..LOL). Anyhow we all function together for the same goals; to keep all the techs out there working and keeping "The Man" (that's what we'll call the big guy for now) happy.
"The Man" is our boss we all answer to and argue with him on a regular basis. I think he likes the fighting personally to burn off all that energy he puts into himself. "Mr Fancy Pants" handles most of our estimates, gets the commercial accounts in the door and loves to fixate on grammar and spelling (I'm sure he'd have a field day w/ this blog) but he is one of the best sales people to deal with. Finally there is "Negative Nancy" the go to guy who goes out to investigate issues and heads up the really big projects. "Negative Nancy" is one of the best at what he does but gets his kicks off making me nervous saying things can't be done then completing them before the timeline even expires. Please feel free to use this blog as a reference for everyone I refer to in the future... If any names need to change I'll let you know.
For a small window cleaning company we certainly handle some pretty large tasks regularly and the purpose of this blog is to share experiences with the public, customers and competitors included plus it's slightly entertaining. We love feedback good or bad and are always looking to improve things. If you don't believe me ask anyone including "The Man" who changes his mind on things more times than any of us can count. This is a good thing I guess because the reality is being on your toes is a necessity to stay alive in this business as with any.
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