Exactly the same
I donāt charge a deposit before I have done any bidā¦why ask for a deposit if I havenāt even got the job yet.
I have no issue with deposits. Iāll admit that I rarely require one.
-just like to hear what people say/how we verbally respond to things.
I believe that the more we are faced with a situation, the more comfortable our response becomes.
Thatās why from time to time you will see me ask these questions.
Itās not that Iām challenging, I just like to see how we all respond. 
And also curious if maybe I should think about going a different route than I normally do.
For example, my response to someone who asks if we require a deposit is usuallyā¦
āThank you, but I donāt want your money, I want [B]your business[/B].ā
āPayment upon completion is fine.ā
I look at it as a deposit is in place, so your customer treats your time as seriously as you do.
If you have employees or multiple crews, it becomes even more important. Especially during the busy season. Last minute cancellations, no shows and slow shows cost money.
Not only can you lose the cost of the job but you have the added expense of staff sitting around doing nothing and last minute hustling trying to find a replacement job to fill the hole in the schedule.
Another bonus is cash flow. Mrs Smith always seems to have run to the bus stop right as your wrapping up the job. No problem, charge her card leave a receipt and move on.
No waiting 30 days or more for her to pay. No more admin hours wasted on AR calls. No more waiting for a check to clear. Just charge itā¦ boom itās in your account and on you go.
Some people will bust your balls about the deposit, but my experience tells me they are usually the problem customers anyway.
Could you reserve a hotel room without a credit card? Why is your companies time any less significant.
Iām mainly speaking from the perspective of someone who has had employees. When I worked on my own though sometimes, I enjoyed a last minute cancellation.
This is exactly why I started doing it. It really has changed our business. Thanks for inspiring it, [MENTION=1]Chris[/MENTION]
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I started this year by having clients pay in advance for the complete service. I believe it has been received well by most everybody and created a deeper bond with new clients once we have delivered on our promise.
Iām starting to get deposits on post construction jobs. It helps with cash flow when construction company take 45+ days to pay the bill and your employees get paid within the week the jobs completedā¦ Weāve had relationships with large builders who only print checks to there vendors/subs twice a month.
Can anyone tell me the script you use to ask for a credit card for a deposit? Just wondering how to put it as nicely and professionally as possible over the phone. We donāt take deposits, but we do charge a 48 hr cancellation fee. Any suggestions?
We donāt do deposits.
If you are having problems with no-shows and such you should modify your interaction with the customer. When I started there were always no shows and people showing up late to appointments. This year so far there have been zero no shows. Some tips:
- Repeat the day and time 2-3 times when taking the appointment. I always end the call with āso we will see you June 25 at 8am for window cleaningā. I also say the day and time out loud as I write down the appointment entry.
- I call all appointments the day before to confirm the time and always add that we may be running ahead up to 1 hour
- I call all appointments once I know the exact time weāll be there (āweāll be there in one hourā)
- One of my new favorite things to say I started recently is āweāll be there at 2pm give or take a half hourā
So trueā¦ I canāt really see charging a deposit at the moment. But if the market will bear it and it will help with cashflow, I guess I could use my Stripe Account to collect info on website so I donāt have me or my guys with card info flowing around. hmmmmā¦
For companies with multiple crews itās almost a necessity at least in my market. For whatever reason, we seem to have a lot of flakes here. Iām definitely not going to take the time try to persuade customers from 3-4 crews that they need to keep their appointments.
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We ask at the scheduling phase.
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Customer leaves a voicemail yesterday evening that she has to cancel her appointment today for various reasonsā¦ ok. The other customer on the schedule today forgot about the appointment and is also going to cancel.
Some lead calls today, we get to booking and she says oh no I need it done tomorrow. I said canāt do tomorrow lol, sheās like just put me on the schedule for that date anyway, if I find someone else sooner Iāll call to cancel.
My crm at the moment isnāt letting me take deposits right now but thatās 100% getting implemented after this circus show.
.
DO IT!
We get $100 for any job under $1000 and 30% over $1000. We also charge the card upon completion.
If we get 1 or 2 no shows a year its a lot. I havenāt an accounts receivable over $0 in ages.
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oh i see, by getting the deposit, you already have the card number and permission to charge balance at completion, nice
