It seems like every year after Christmas we lose a few customers. So far so good, but we did lose one right before Christmas. So how is your clientele?

We lose a few this time each year too. Its always the same group though. The ones that cancel cleanings on a routine basis because they cant really afford the service. They start to feel the crunch about now and its bye bye. I dont sweat it. By this time I am usually ready to fire them due to the schedule disturbances they create.

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By this time I am usually ready to fire them due to the schedule disturbances they create.

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i lost one in november who was a constant rescheduler & one-time lockout. replaced her. think there was a money crunch going on there.

i am ready to say 'next' to one who has jerked her cleanings around for one silly excuse after another (5 times in less than a year). Last excuse was she had all her Christmas decoration boxes out and now she's going to be going out of town (again) in 2 weeks.

it's been a good money account and up until now, i've been tolerant but geez what part of "you are not my only client" doesn't she understand? besides the scheduling disturbance factor, there is the "i need to have a dependable income every month" issue.

she was one of my first clients when i started out this past spring. lots of money but really picky with little extra requests (pays hourly so this is not an issue) and the family has always been under foot. jack russell terrier that will steal dusters from caddies and shred them and also barks incessantly.

getting too full of a schedule to deal with this type anymore. it's just not worth the hassle to juggle my time or risk my sanity to suit them.

suzi g

Haven't lost any but some are beginning to travel for late winter /early spring breaks. One football player back to San Diego for 2 months. One retired couple to Fla for 2 months, then home, then back to Michigan for summer. Some in and out all year long. They just know if they do not pay for at least a monthly touch up while they are gone then their spot will be filled and they take their chances we will have an opening.

Actually I gained two today.. What am I thinking??? I do not have the employees for this....Someone tell me how I am going to do this..plus a new commercial account within the next month also.....I am scared.....I'm not kidding either.....

Sounds great to me Diva! Is it possible to rotate your staff back & forth to cover both resi & janitorial?

We decided to let one go before Christmas it was a residential account. It got to the point that we had to put toys away (three messy kids 7, 8,and 9) never seen so many toys in my life, hang clothing in the closets making 5 beds washing old sheets (after kids finally decided what to wear to school leaving half the closet on the ground. 5800 sq ft house all in 6 hours. We asked for more time and money she said no, we said night night keep your butt hole tight, lol just kidding we just decided to let this one go.

I wish I could Debra but i just can't seem to figure it out on how to do it...

Are you still one 4 man crew plus you? If so, for that time on the residential can you split up that day for a few houses and larger crew meet smaller one and finish for the day, until you get it covered crew wise. For the commercial can you find a retired person to cover it--early a.m.--or p.m. What is the sq. ft. and is it office space or what ? If retired person will work check with your local senior center and see if they know of someone who would be interested. Just some thoughts until we know more finer details of what you will need.

I never heard the night-night diddy. It must be a jail house saying :0 !

I just got a phone call this evening of a customer wanting to go every 3 wks. Told her that my schedule doesn't work that way...either weekly or biweekly and right now no room for weekly. She asked to be fit in when I could clean her house. Told her that I had a customer I was cleaning on my day off that was waiting for a biweekly opening and I was going to give that lady her spot. There was a moment of silence, lol. I think her plan back fired. She wanted to pay same price for every 3wks and ended up with no house cleaner.

We had a pretty bad time too... We let one go before Christmas. They added two pets, kids (17 & 1 leave even more for us to clean (and now smoke with mom and dad in the house), she call every 3rd or 4th time to move on to the following week, and then the last straw was when she left me little sticky notes with smiley faces on saying - "me too". That was the last.

We had one calling this last week. Guess she only needed us till after the tree was out!

We had a very bad time with clients calling to move to a next week. It is killing me and my business. One that move on to this week also conveniently "forget" to pay.

What do you do to people that do that to you? Do you survive?[]

Tania
you ever think about getting into commercial cleaning?
you might like it.

RJ - right now - I am taking a whole new look into my business. I know now this is my only outcome. Even though I sometimes feel like climbing the walls - commercial can be a possibility. We do a few now. I guess first step would be getting employees. As I learn on the board - that is a head ache too?

Your 0.02 on commercial would be great. Thanks

Especially when you make any changes to your regular schedule I think it's very important to either call or email your customer the night before to remind them you'll be out the next day. I have set up on my email to send out 'friendly' reminders a day or two before hand even to my customers for their regular cleanings. I do it for each customer and the few times I've gotten a reply back saying, "thanks, I forgot" it was well worth it! HTHs [].