Lost my first Account Today, due to wage hike

C

Chris Tharpe

New member
I recieved the dreaded call this afternoon stating that since the new wage hike that for some reason has snuck up on this partictular account, they are no longer able to make their P&L numbers and continue service. This is not that large of an account for me however it still sucks to loose $3,000 a month from them in continual service not to mention the extra 2-3k we do for them monthly on other services. I am just unsure on how this could sneak up on someone that could prohibit them from service, its not like they have not known its coming. The only problem I see with this is they are into alot of debt rebuilding their stores and changing the exterior image costing nearly 1,000,000 per store at a rate of 72 stores that could get expensive. The owner just needs to stop the build on his new house that consists of $4,000,000 and contribute to his business instead of his ego.


Enough ranting , has anyone else started to see things fall apart from the new minimal wage hike
 
mobilewashpros said:
I recieved the dreaded call this afternoon stating that since the new wage hike that for some reason has snuck up on this partictular account, they are no longer able to make their P&L numbers and continue service. This is not that large of an account for me however it still sucks to loose $3,000 a month from them in continual service not to mention the extra 2-3k we do for them monthly on other services. I am just unsure on how this could sneak up on someone that could prohibit them from service, its not like they have not known its coming. The only problem I see with this is they are into alot of debt rebuilding their stores and changing the exterior image costing nearly 1,000,000 per store at a rate of 72 stores that could get expensive. The owner just needs to stop the build on his new house that consists of $4,000,000 and contribute to his business instead of his ego.


Enough ranting , has anyone else started to see things fall apart from the new minimal wage hike
Click to expand...

Welcome the the club. What took you so long? :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
Not that large of an account. 3k a month. That's alot of annual monies to lose.
That sucks. Yeah, the economy is starting to show it teeth around here as well.
Customers attitudes are starting to be more slanted at the rates and overall impending doom.
Really sorry that happened. Hope it gets better for all of us soon.
 
Same happened to me last month but they went with a lowballer who cant clean for sh!t,thank god its not the contract that gives me the real money. but that was the first one i lost in 4 years Ive been in bizz. but on e thing i do notice is one door closes and another 3 open,keep ur head up.
 
We also lost an account that we do twice a year that paid 24K. The killer part of this account is that it was done in early spring and late fall. The late Fall was extra nice because it brought in 12K for the winter months(More like 7-8K after paying workers and taxes). So that is lost income.

Even though my business is doing better money wise the economy still looks like it needs another year to start to turn for the better again. It may get a little worse before the year is out. Don't go by the Dow Jones which is sitting around 9400. Those numbers are mis-leading for sure..
 
Not one single thing untill March. Then had a weekly cut back to every other. Recently a place had the sweeper take over pressure washing. Last week lost an account with one of the first jobs I had, 11 years! They're still paying the same prices! I got two conflicting stories and the manager I've known the whole time was hostile and rude to me on the phone!?
 
Sorry to hear about all you guys losing accounts. I had one cut back but that was at the end of the year last year, still hurts but life does go on.

Hopefully companies will start doing better and things will get back to normal, it might get a little worse before it gets better but I think it all will be ok in a year or less. We have to just be strong and keep on keeping on.
 
Everyone everywhere is affected one way or another, these are bad times for most. If your lucky to have a back up and can hang in there for 5 or 6 more years all will be good!!
 
The Cleaner said:
Everyone everywhere is affected one way or another, these are bad times for most. If your lucky to have a back up and can hang in there for 5 or 6 more years all will be good!!
Click to expand...
:shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2:
 
Ron Musgraves said:
Guys ...go out an find two or three to replace the ones you lost....Get up get up get up.....
Click to expand...

I am really going to start selling in 1-2 weeks. I have to get the new guy trained and running full out before I begin selling again, I haven't tried to sell anything new in over 4 months now and there is ample opportunity to pick up new accounts. I am really excited about the future and look forward to the opportunity to grow tremendously
 
The Cleaner said:
Everyone everywhere is affected one way or another, these are bad times for most. If your lucky to have a back up and can hang in there for 5 or 6 more years all will be good!!
Click to expand...

Only 3 and a half more years. Lets go for 2012 :bash::bash:
 
I find out here more places are starting to consolidate their services to just one company, ie... street sweeping companies taking over pressure washing. It would be a good time to diversify your business a little by maybe adding additional services besides pressure washing.
 
Ron Musgraves said:
Guys ...go out an find two or three to replace the ones you lost....Get up get up get up.....
Click to expand...

Totally agree, when we do lose something, I attempt to replace it with at minimum 150% of what was being made.
 
This all hit us starting around October of last year. We had an unstable client base. It all fell like a deck of cards. We had to rethink our market and work towards gaining market share in markets that are robust in hard economic times.

My business plan called for 8k in new sales every month by this time. Last month we more than quadrupled that in signed contracts. This month we have already doubled it and the month is only half over.

We didn't change our pricing much. We made our terms more palatable though. We just went for a different market.

(This is in regards to the filter and coil service, not concrete)

On the concrete side we are still too new to bring any advice to the table.
 
I have a local sweeping company that is starting to pick up alot of PM work as well here, Its time to start the meet and greets, fliers, and post cards out to PM's
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top