This is the second time this has happened in the last couple months. Walked up to a storefront that I service and there is a notice on the door saying the locks have been changed by the property management. The last client this happened too is now completely gone. Luckily this client was only a $15 x once a month account. If I remember correctly this was the very first route / monthly account I sold, so kinda sad lol. I’ll be interested to see if they come back (doubtful) it was a brand new shop with a really nice interior, it was a company’s first “second location”. Oh well, I’m out lunch money for today - guess that has to come outta pocket
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John its not the 1 $15 dollar account that most are interested in…Its the constant revenue stream from 100’s of account
that most have interest in.
Losing any income hurts, but losing $15 doesn’t hurt as bad as losing a residential account @ $500 4X a year .
They come an go all the time. I have seen so many business’ open up an close down 2, 3, 6 months later then something else comes in. I have been doing store fronts for 16 years . Hopefully when the new business comes in you get it, and then raise your price to 20
John you have the concept wrong. Yes store fronts can be petty no doudt. The whole idea is to have enough store fronts in a close proximity where as it could be a profitable day. Yes $15 dollars is chump change, but it should take a guy that knows how to clean 10- 15 minutes (give or take a few) to wash a $15 store. Then move on to the next one which hopefully is right next door. To guy that does a lot of stores losing a $15 store is no big deal, but it does hurt in a way especially when you get into the $50-$100 a wash jobs. If you do store fronts long enough basically you know something will be coming back in the one that closes up an hopefully you get it back I even look at it in a postitive because I know when a new store comes in im raising the price.
Next year I plan on making so many changes, that it’ll be like I’m starting all over. This whole back surgery has definitely got me thinking. And who knows, maybe store fronts will be in my future. Na!!
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I have a love/hate relationship with storefront. But it’s helped me through 27 winters so far. Maybe when I refashion next year (we’ll see !!) I can cruise through winter.
I could make a profit selling crack in North Tulsa, but I’d rather not
I agree with you, though. If I have the personnel, I may as well. Our winters aren’t too bad, and my quarterly cleaning program keeps me busy year round, so I’ve never had to pursue store front. Shoot, I only have 3 commercial accounts. But, once I hire, it could be filler for those rainy days, or slow resi days.
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Been doing this less than a year and I have lost 2 already. Nearly lost a 3rd, but they decided to accept the much higher price after I did two cleans and realized it was bid WAY too low. Now it’s only a little too low.
I lost a $50 per month gym and a $20 deli that when OOB. I showed up and they were gone!
What I have learned is that the window cleaner is the first to go when they are having $$ troubles.
Storefront is a numbers game. Sales is irritating, but I love the work.
I love having storefronts. I am going into storefront acquisition beast mode this Winter. Mainly I like the consistency and I like being able to fill in time slots with storefronts if my residential schedule falls apart.
Welcome to my world. It probably wasn’t the first and it WON’T be the last. Here’s an interesting fact for my company:
We don’t have a huge route, but we’ve lost more monthly accounts than the appx 400 we service now. 2008 we lost 50% of our base and still haven’t recovered to that number. Again it isn’t huge, but it’s almost big as I want it to be. Just enough to keep my main guy and office manager employed during the winter while paying my bills.
I’d give advice on how to pick up the accounts, but I can’t hardly stomach door to door, face to face anymore. Not sure how I did it in the beginning.
Justin I’m sure you have some good tips on gaining storefront accounts. even though you cant stomach door to door,face to face,anymore.Man thats weird to here you say.
