When it rains it pours.

Had 4 jobs scheduled for today as of yesterday and late last night ( after we closed ) got 2 calls, 1 is a repeat customer wants service today, called her back first thing in the morning and told her can't guarantee but will do my best to accomodate her, 2 more calls came and want same day service as well, one is the owner of 12 apartment buildings and I absolutely have to accomodate him cause he said the new renter is moving in tomorrow, as of now 5 jobs lined up with 1 job non guarantee, problem is one of my tech is off today and 1st job is not until 11, no one wants to do it earlier, this situation pissed me off, I know I know I'm not making their problems mine but if I don't, my competitor will steal my repeat customers, so frustrated. Why can't people be normal and schedule things 1 - 2 days in advance, so stupid !

I feel ya, we have online storefront deals and people will go buy them for a job they want done the next day without even checking if we are available

Even someone calling on a Wednesday for a job they absolutely need done by friday can be a bit annoying.

Funny thing about those apartments, the renter always seems to be "moving in the next day". Tell people that there is an added fee for same-day service and you will see who really needs it same-day or not.

Personally, I would put the repeat customer first on the list and that apartment last. The rest I would simply do the best that I could to meet their request.

Sounds like a late night to me Dp.....at least your weather can allow that. We have a 6 hour window to clean in unless you like cleaning below freezing.

At least your busy DP. Its been slow as heck for me

Started around 10:30 and got back around 7, did 5 jobs and the repeat customer didn't even call me back, Dave is right, customers are not loyal at all. I'll try to call them tomorrow but most likely they already got someone else.
Solid booked tomorrow and a couple of jobs saturday, hopefully tomorrow is not going to be like today.
Yes Mo I thank God we're busy, we usually get a little rush before Valentines day, so hopefully things are picking up next week too.

Don't worry about it, who ever she got at the last minute was available for a reason- because they are not anywhere as good as you. She will call in the future, at that time she will know your worth, raise your rate for her, she will pay.

eldiabloz wrote:Don't worry about it, who ever she got at the last minute was available for a reason- because they are not anywhere as good as you. She will call in the future, at that time she will know your worth, raise your rate for her, she will pay.

Well said sir :-)

I picked up a few complexes that are use to same day device. I've had to train them to give me at least 2 days notice. And that I want to be the last person in their to clean. I don't want someone messing up my work and it making me look bad.
So its "training your customers" that is my advise. If they expect you jump and come running when they call, they better have deeeep pockets.
If I do 60-70 jobs in a month, and most of those call during the same week... I'm hosed. I ask them to plan ahead when they need to schedule.

"Training" Might work if it's a regular customer, but then some are un-trainable because they live their life's on last min/spur of the moment bases regardless of what you say to them..........that doesn't work for me.

Then you have first time customers, that you have no chance of "training", so if they call me last min then usually I can't help them.........oh well, it happens.

Matt; My carpet cleaner wrote:I picked up a few complexes that are use to same day device. I've had to train them to give me at least  2 days notice. And that I want to be the last person in their to clean. I don't want someone messing up my work and it making me look bad.
So its "training your customers" that is my advise. If they expect you jump and come running when they call, they better have deeeep pockets.
If I do 60-70 jobs in a month, and most of those call during the same week... I'm hosed.  I ask them to plan ahead when they need to schedule.

AMEN

All good advices, I guess between steep competition and paying for advertisements caused me to try to be superman when time calls, my wife always tells me that they're not my blessings if I can't do the work for them, I guess the ambitious attitude is still in me and I have to learn to let it go.

I would never tell you to "let it go" as that is one of the reasons why people call you.  

We all have a little Superman-syndrome in us, I just think that when people take advantage of you by insisting on same-day service, they are not treating you with much respect.

I would bet a month's pay that the apartment manager could have given you better notice...he decides when the tenant gets the key for crying out loud.  He no doubt told them that it would be no problem in order to close the deal on the lease, but he should have called you first to find out.

As for the other customers, how do you think they act when they call a dentist, mechanic, plumber, electrician, etc.?  Do you think they insist on same-day service or do they accept the earliest opening?

You beat yourself that day trying to please everyone (and you pretty much did), but I suspect it just reaffirmed their belief that they can get you to do it again the next time.

I know that property manager sure will....and often.  I would suggest that you keep your cape, but put it on selectively.  Even Superman didn't bother fighting all crime, just the ones that were important to him.  Choose those situations when it really matters and let the local police handle the others.

Just my 2 cents, take it for what it is worth...wouldn't be the first time I was wrong either.  Experiences differ by person and regions.

Man, yesterday my phone was dead all day until 4 pm, just in 2 hours I scheduled 5 customers, and my whole week is booked now except for Friday, my church scheduled for a cleaning tomorrow, just under 4000 sq ft, plus small areas here and there.
When it rains it really pours ! I actually forgot how it feels to be a "little" busy

Happy to hear that Dp, too many people are dying this year...me being one of them. I have the 2 commercial buildings this week and one house later in the week....that is all. Just no work out here for some reason.

Next week is about the same, 2 commercial buildings and 1 house. It needs to get busier than this or I will be stocking shelves by October.

I even got a lecture from one of brothers (owns a boat repair shop) that I must spend too much. I had to remind him that he hasn't purchased any new tools in 10 years (borrows mine mostly) and his building is rent free along with only paying half the electrical bill thanks to being friends with the owner. Same with his house, he rents it for next to nothing just to keep it from being run down from vacancy.

In a way, I guess he is correct, my spending on maint., insurance, chemicals, fuel. etc. is much more than he understands. Can't do much about that though...it is necessary.

Good to hear DP. You brought back an old thread. I thought Davey started posting again. Maybe hes one the cleaners that have gone under

I really don't know what happened to him Mo, I tried texting him but never gotten a response, I'll try calling him later today.

Davey wouldn't go under, that guy can surf on troubled water.

Gotta love some of these customers, i've called people back within as little as 15 minutes of when they left me a message and have been told thanks for calling back but i already got someone else.. Not much i can do about it but i'm not answering my phone if i'm sitting on the ole porcelain thrown, and i'm not jumping out of the shower to answer the phone either..it is what it is

If I get a dollar for every time that happens to me, I would've gotten a couple thousand dollars

Happens here as well....phone hasn't rung in days, but as soon as I jumped in the shower, it starts ringing. About 5 minutes later, I return the call and got the "Thanks, but we found someone".

These people must have cleaners on speed dial.

Lets try this, next time we get one of those "sorry i found someone else" then a few days later they call you back because the "someone else" did a crappy job just tell them sorry I found someone else's carpet to clean that day and every other day they suggest or tell them ok but I charge an extra $50 to fix someone else's mess

Think I'll try that next time I have a customer who brings me a puzzle in a box they call their unit.

I can guarantee it's going to be a whole lot easier for Eddie to do that to his customers than I can do to mine, since competition here is super steep, especially now, it's a whole lot harder to find someone that knows truckmount inside and out than to find a good carpet cleaner, especially in metropolitan Los Angeles
Nonetheless I had a few customers that learned their lesson the hard way and learned to be patient with scheduling or learned to plan things a little better.

Man I don't know what's going on but I've been getting a LOT of price shoppers this year than previous years.

I like the ones that let your return call go to voice mail and never return your call