Hello I'm sure everyone is either going nuts trying to get ready for thanksgiving or dying of anticipation for that yummy turkey. I'm the earlier one of those two.
Today I wanted to bring up a subject that comes up alot more this time of year than any other. "Do I have to tip the guys and how much should I tip them" Holidays seem to just bring out the best in people don't they? Anyhow this has always been an awkward question for me. I don't know exactly why but it makes me uncomfortable. I don't like to tell people how much extra they should give especially when they are already paying a good amount for our service. However I did come up with a response that gets me out of committing anyone to any particular amount. "Well that all depends on your comfort level, You are not required to tip them but if you feel comfortable and that they are doing a wonderful job you are welcome to tip them whatever you decide"
This is the best answer I can come up with that is good enough for everyone without appearing to be money hungry people or depriving the techs of any extra they work hard for. I know they would all probably string me up by my toes if they knew I was telling a customer they didn't have to tip them but from a business stand point we need to be fair. Besides you get customers ranging from the little old lady who you know really can't afford our service to begin with all the way up to the customer who has us come in several times a year for a high amount without flinching. You don't want to make anyone feel bad if they can't tip and you certainly don't want to insult anyone who definitely can.
Our techs nine times out of ten do a phenomenal job and are very deserving of tips. They also come back with tips regularly throughout the year. It just seems to be this time of year it comes up more and more. I know from past experiences there are alot of businesses where the employees are not allowed to accept tips or gifts. We are not one of them which is great for the techs seeing as how with some of the customers they deal with residential as well as commercial they are so more than deserving of it.
So that is my holiday tip story of the week. Hopefully this will give some insight on how to politely deal with the tip question to fellow window cleaners and provide an acceptable solution to customers questions as well. I hope everyone enjoys their holidays.
Have a Safe and Wonderful Holiday,
The Appointed One
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Collections
Hello window cleaning world,
Is everyone enjoying the weather? It's a bit cold for me and we are almost due for some real snow here.. Times like this I wish I lived on a tropical island and am very grateful that I work indoors.
Anyway today I want to shed some light on the daily frustrations of our very own "Money Bags" We all give her a hard time about being harsh and brutal at times with customers but let's look at it from her point of view for a minute. How many times can you call the same person looking for payment and keep a smile on your face when each time you call they act like it's the first time they have talked to you?! I consider myself a patient person although everyone here thinks I'm a spaz. I manage to keep a cool head when it comes to customers. "Money Bags" on the other hand consistently gets the ones that haven't paid in like 6 months who either dodge the calls or again act like it's the first time they have talked to us, you know the type. "Umm Oh really I thought that was paid, Could you send me a copy of that bill, I sent payment to you already" Now you are sitting here looking at all your notes on this customer which shows 1. It was never paid, 2. You already faxed, mailed and emailed the bill to them and 3. The last bill paid was the service before the one you are trying to collect on.
Believe me I understand the bind everyone is put in especially with the way the economy is right now. We are in a bind as well... my personal theory is that if you don't have the money then don't order the service but at the same time if people don't order the service then we don't have jobs but again if people keep booking appts. and not paying we won't have jobs either.
"Money Bags" handles collections the best way she can. I know she tries to work with customers at times working out payment deals, arranging for us to go in person to pick up payment and even waiving bills at times due to a late complaint on service. There are some instances where customers just flat out refuse to pay us or just keep avoiding us leaving her no choice but to send off to our legal collections guy.
I apologize to any customer who has felt that they were treated in a mean manner that is never our intention. To avoid conflict please find a way to pay us. We are not horrible people we will work with you if you work with us. Window Cleaners I would suggest the same for you always be willing to work with a customer who is willing to work with you. Remember anyone can end up in a bad situation at any time.
Have a great week,
The Appointed One
Is everyone enjoying the weather? It's a bit cold for me and we are almost due for some real snow here.. Times like this I wish I lived on a tropical island and am very grateful that I work indoors.
Anyway today I want to shed some light on the daily frustrations of our very own "Money Bags" We all give her a hard time about being harsh and brutal at times with customers but let's look at it from her point of view for a minute. How many times can you call the same person looking for payment and keep a smile on your face when each time you call they act like it's the first time they have talked to you?! I consider myself a patient person although everyone here thinks I'm a spaz. I manage to keep a cool head when it comes to customers. "Money Bags" on the other hand consistently gets the ones that haven't paid in like 6 months who either dodge the calls or again act like it's the first time they have talked to us, you know the type. "Umm Oh really I thought that was paid, Could you send me a copy of that bill, I sent payment to you already" Now you are sitting here looking at all your notes on this customer which shows 1. It was never paid, 2. You already faxed, mailed and emailed the bill to them and 3. The last bill paid was the service before the one you are trying to collect on.
Believe me I understand the bind everyone is put in especially with the way the economy is right now. We are in a bind as well... my personal theory is that if you don't have the money then don't order the service but at the same time if people don't order the service then we don't have jobs but again if people keep booking appts. and not paying we won't have jobs either.
"Money Bags" handles collections the best way she can. I know she tries to work with customers at times working out payment deals, arranging for us to go in person to pick up payment and even waiving bills at times due to a late complaint on service. There are some instances where customers just flat out refuse to pay us or just keep avoiding us leaving her no choice but to send off to our legal collections guy.
I apologize to any customer who has felt that they were treated in a mean manner that is never our intention. To avoid conflict please find a way to pay us. We are not horrible people we will work with you if you work with us. Window Cleaners I would suggest the same for you always be willing to work with a customer who is willing to work with you. Remember anyone can end up in a bad situation at any time.
Have a great week,
The Appointed One
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Undercut Pricing
Hello out there,
This is generally the time of year people call looking for bids on their corporate buildings, schools and communities in an effort to put together budgets. This is great since a window cleaners dream is a large job that can be completed in a good amount of time and is guaranteed to repeat at the very least annually. Sounds all good and fine right? Yea until the bidding process takes place and you realize that quality and standard isn't really a consideration in the acceptance of the bid. Now don't get me wrong I'm not totally bitter or trying to insinuate that our company is superior over all others BUT when you know who your bidding against it makes it hard not to be upset when you don't get the bid and you know this client will be calling around again because they aren't satisfied with the work performed by the guy who undercut us by like half.
I get told all the time by my co workers and my boss that I am a spaz and act like a maniac when things like this come up and I don't disagree; I do however think it's my spasticness and passion that makes me good at what I do. You all know that there is a decent amount of time and effort into placing these large bids. Driving out there, meeting with someone who talks your head off for hours (Mr. Fancy Pants will attest to this), putting together the bid in a professional manner, then following up just to find out that some one man show or a very large company underbid you by half if not more. Please don't take offense and get all personal on me you all know you have felt this way one time or another (IF you haven't yet.. trust me you will)
We are a higher priced company than some others out there BUT we also offer a higher standard of service than some others out there as well. It is this standard that makes me wish companies and schools would consider that in their decisions along with price. Most times we hear "Well we went with the lowest bid" That's fine especially with the economy the way it is. To be honest I do get some satisfaction when I look at the size of the job and know that for the money being charged the guy who got the bid will suffer working ridiculously hard for no money at all because he underbid it so much. (Yea I know go ahead say it.. I'm a mean spiteful witch) Then of course there are the situations where a few weeks or months go by and that same company who laughed at your estimate is calling asking if you could complete the job by like... mmm.. tomorrow. In these cases sometimes I wish I could say No sorry you should have thought about that before... Then reality kicks in and I say sure we can do it no problem because we are the better company at that point. Satisfaction granted..
My words of wisdom for the week.. Bite your tongue when you can, Keep having conversations in your head..(as crazy as that sounds) it's those made up conversations in my head that save my sanity daily and keep the conflict to a minimum. Window Cleaners and Clients please look at more than dollar signs when bidding and accepting jobs.. There should be a code of conduct among us all. Don't laugh I said "SHOULD BE" I'm not that naive.
Have a Great Week,
The Appointed One
This is generally the time of year people call looking for bids on their corporate buildings, schools and communities in an effort to put together budgets. This is great since a window cleaners dream is a large job that can be completed in a good amount of time and is guaranteed to repeat at the very least annually. Sounds all good and fine right? Yea until the bidding process takes place and you realize that quality and standard isn't really a consideration in the acceptance of the bid. Now don't get me wrong I'm not totally bitter or trying to insinuate that our company is superior over all others BUT when you know who your bidding against it makes it hard not to be upset when you don't get the bid and you know this client will be calling around again because they aren't satisfied with the work performed by the guy who undercut us by like half.
I get told all the time by my co workers and my boss that I am a spaz and act like a maniac when things like this come up and I don't disagree; I do however think it's my spasticness and passion that makes me good at what I do. You all know that there is a decent amount of time and effort into placing these large bids. Driving out there, meeting with someone who talks your head off for hours (Mr. Fancy Pants will attest to this), putting together the bid in a professional manner, then following up just to find out that some one man show or a very large company underbid you by half if not more. Please don't take offense and get all personal on me you all know you have felt this way one time or another (IF you haven't yet.. trust me you will)
We are a higher priced company than some others out there BUT we also offer a higher standard of service than some others out there as well. It is this standard that makes me wish companies and schools would consider that in their decisions along with price. Most times we hear "Well we went with the lowest bid" That's fine especially with the economy the way it is. To be honest I do get some satisfaction when I look at the size of the job and know that for the money being charged the guy who got the bid will suffer working ridiculously hard for no money at all because he underbid it so much. (Yea I know go ahead say it.. I'm a mean spiteful witch) Then of course there are the situations where a few weeks or months go by and that same company who laughed at your estimate is calling asking if you could complete the job by like... mmm.. tomorrow. In these cases sometimes I wish I could say No sorry you should have thought about that before... Then reality kicks in and I say sure we can do it no problem because we are the better company at that point. Satisfaction granted..
My words of wisdom for the week.. Bite your tongue when you can, Keep having conversations in your head..(as crazy as that sounds) it's those made up conversations in my head that save my sanity daily and keep the conflict to a minimum. Window Cleaners and Clients please look at more than dollar signs when bidding and accepting jobs.. There should be a code of conduct among us all. Don't laugh I said "SHOULD BE" I'm not that naive.
Have a Great Week,
The Appointed One
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Good Guy, Bad Guy You Decide.....
Good Morning,
I have an issue myself this week, it's not a new issue but it's one that come up usually around this time every year and maybe I just take things too personally sometimes but it bugs me. I as the Appointed One don't think I'm a mean person unless I have to be. Don't laugh I'm serious, yea I know I'm a girl so I must be moody and whatever but who isn't sometimes....
Anyway there seems to be this ice dam that goes up between office staff and techs which seems to get worse in the winter. Techs think we (office staff) don't understand what they go through nor do they believe that we work anywhere near as hard as they do. To some extent they are right; I know I personally do not fully understand what they face when they are out in the field. All I do know is that I do the best I can to get the most accurate info from a customer and get their schedules to work out the best possible way I can while making sure there is enough work on the schedule as well.
I do work in the office and yes I do work a pretty set schedule as does the other members of the office staff. The techs do work a variety of hours based on what we get onto the schedule for them. I do get to work inside unexposed to the weather and as they like to point out sit and talk on the phone all day while they are outside getting wet and cold, doing physical labor all day. What they don't see is the battling we do over the phone trying to defend them and keep customers somewhat calm while trying to keep the job on the schedule or get more on.
I am NOT unsympathetic to their situations out in the field when they are at a job where the customer misinformed us during an estimate causing the job to double in size and we get on the phone and offer some "ridiculous" deal to keep the job on instead of letting them just walk off and forget it. However if we did this everytime a job went haywire and it was yucky weather out they would complain that they weren't making enough money or "it wasn't even worth getting out of bed" I look at saving a job or negotiating a better deal for the customer as keeping them working making some money as opposed to not working at all making no money. When this happens which thankfully isn't too too often although it seems that way during the winter months when everyone and everything is freezing the techs take it as we don't care and understand. I wish we could make the techs totally understand what we deal with in the office sometimes. I would rather be out freezing and wet at times than dealing with some people and issues inside.
At the end of the day we all get the work done and go our separate ways and come payday when they are making the bigger bucks they suddenly realize that we are not the enemy. Just like mom sometimes we know best... Now you can all laugh.
Have a great week,
The Appointed One
I have an issue myself this week, it's not a new issue but it's one that come up usually around this time every year and maybe I just take things too personally sometimes but it bugs me. I as the Appointed One don't think I'm a mean person unless I have to be. Don't laugh I'm serious, yea I know I'm a girl so I must be moody and whatever but who isn't sometimes....
Anyway there seems to be this ice dam that goes up between office staff and techs which seems to get worse in the winter. Techs think we (office staff) don't understand what they go through nor do they believe that we work anywhere near as hard as they do. To some extent they are right; I know I personally do not fully understand what they face when they are out in the field. All I do know is that I do the best I can to get the most accurate info from a customer and get their schedules to work out the best possible way I can while making sure there is enough work on the schedule as well.
I do work in the office and yes I do work a pretty set schedule as does the other members of the office staff. The techs do work a variety of hours based on what we get onto the schedule for them. I do get to work inside unexposed to the weather and as they like to point out sit and talk on the phone all day while they are outside getting wet and cold, doing physical labor all day. What they don't see is the battling we do over the phone trying to defend them and keep customers somewhat calm while trying to keep the job on the schedule or get more on.
I am NOT unsympathetic to their situations out in the field when they are at a job where the customer misinformed us during an estimate causing the job to double in size and we get on the phone and offer some "ridiculous" deal to keep the job on instead of letting them just walk off and forget it. However if we did this everytime a job went haywire and it was yucky weather out they would complain that they weren't making enough money or "it wasn't even worth getting out of bed" I look at saving a job or negotiating a better deal for the customer as keeping them working making some money as opposed to not working at all making no money. When this happens which thankfully isn't too too often although it seems that way during the winter months when everyone and everything is freezing the techs take it as we don't care and understand. I wish we could make the techs totally understand what we deal with in the office sometimes. I would rather be out freezing and wet at times than dealing with some people and issues inside.
At the end of the day we all get the work done and go our separate ways and come payday when they are making the bigger bucks they suddenly realize that we are not the enemy. Just like mom sometimes we know best... Now you can all laugh.
Have a great week,
The Appointed One
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