A "sold" board, then silence
You notice a sold board outside a customer's house on the round. Next month the house is empty and the last clean is unpaid. The month after, someone new has moved in, and the windows need doing, but you have no way to reach them other than knocking. When you do knock, they have already booked someone from a leaflet.
It happens across the round every year. People move, and each move quietly removes a house from your round, even though the new owners would probably have been happy to keep the cleaner who already knows the property.
Nobody owns the moment the customer leaves
A house changing hands is a moment where a regular customer could simply continue, but only if someone makes it happen. On most rounds, nobody does.
- Leaving customers do not always tell you they are moving.
- The final clean and balance are left unsettled.
- There is no way to contact the new occupants.
- Houses are removed from the round rather than marked as changing hands.
- Nobody tracks how many houses are lost to moves each year.
A slow leak from the round
Every house lost to a move has to be replaced with a new customer, which costs leaflets, time and quotes. Unpaid final cleans are written off. And because moves are spread across the year, the leak is hard to see: the round simply seems to need constant topping up.
The irony is that the new occupants are often the easiest customers you could win. They have just moved in, they want the house looking right, and you already know the property, the price and the access. All that is missing is an introduction.
A move-out process that keeps the house
We build a simple change-of-occupant process into your round records.
- Customers can tell you they are moving through a link in your regular texts, and you can mark a house as moving when you spot a board.
- The leaving customer gets a message asking for their move date, settling any balance, and whether they would like you to clean their new home if it is in your area.
- The house is flagged as changing hands, not deleted, so its details, price, access notes and history stay.
- Around the move date, a welcome card is left or posted for the new occupants: you clean this house, here is the price and the day, and a link to continue.
- If the new occupants join, the house continues on the round with a new customer. If not, it is marked as lost to a move, with the date.
- A yearly view shows houses lost and kept through moves, so you can see the effect.
| Moving house moment | Today | With the process |
|---|---|---|
| Customer moving | Noticed from a board, maybe | Told through a link or flagged by you |
| Final balance | Often unpaid | Settled before the move |
| New occupants | No contact | Welcome card with price and day |
| The house record | Deleted | Kept, changing hands |
| Customer's new home | Lost | Offered if in your area |
Moves that don't shrink the round
More houses stay on the round when owners change. Final balances are settled. Customers who move within your area may bring you their new house. And you can see the effect of moves on the round instead of just feeling that you always need more customers.
On a normal day, you spot a board, tap the house as moving, and the rest follows: a message to the owner, a welcome card at the right time, and a new customer on the same day of the round.
Over a year, the yearly view tells you something you have never been able to see: how many houses changed hands on your round, and how many you kept. That is a number worth watching, because it is one of the few sources of new customers that costs almost nothing to win.
Are moves eating into your round?
- You find out about moves when the house is empty.
- Final cleans before a move often go unpaid.
- You never contact new occupants.
- Houses are deleted from your round when customers leave.
- You do not know how many houses you lose to moves each year.