When we first started our window cleaning business back in 2007, cash was King. Almost all small transactions would have been paid by cash, and giving your bank card to your window cleaner would have seemed risky. Now the days of finding change down the side of the couch, or in the rubber seal of the washing machine door are all but gone, with fewer and fewer people carrying cash.
Other ways to pay
In 2010 we started accepting cheque as an alternative payment method, and a few larger commercial customers paid by BACS (Bankers Automated Clearing System), then in 2012 we began accepting card payments through our website with PayPal. This in theory solved a problem for us. We were having to make several call outs to some customers before being able to collect payment. Offering other ways to pay, meant we could invoice the customers we missed, leaving them to make payment. This was far cheaper than calling back to those small percentage of customers we couldn’t catch in, but we didn’t factor in changing behaviours.
The processing fees were growing, and soon represented around 10% of our service charge which wiped out our profit on those jobs we couldn’t collect in person. This was acceptable, as it only represented a small number of jobs, and was still cheaper than returning in person to collect payment, but we didn’t anticipate our customers preferring to pay online. Soon those customers who previously paid through our website, began using it as a preferred payment method.
A system originally intended for the odd occasion when we couldn’t catch a customer in, was taking over, and adding a cost to our service we hadn’t factored in to our pricing. The processing fees were only half the problem. All cheques, BACS and card payments, had to be manually checked off as paid on our database, and it was soon taking hours each week to keep on top of the clerical work.
Customers were now less and less likely to be carrying cash, and often weren’t home early in the evening for us to collect payment, due to a drift away from the traditional 9 to 5. Cash was becoming expensive to accept, and our payment system wouldn’t cope with the growing trend to online payments. We needed a system that was cheaper, and could handle large volumes of payments.
Direct Debit
In 2017 we switched to another CRM software called Cleaner Planner. This offered integrated options, that would change the way our business worked. We now had the facility to collect payments by Direct Debit. This was cheaper than online payments as its a bank to bank transaction with no additional fees charged by the card networks. It also solved our clerical dilemma, with the software integrating with the Direct Debit system and automatically checking off payments in our customer database. Little did we know it would soon become pertinent that we offered a contactless service.
Covid
Towards the end of 2019 news articles began to circulate about a virus spreading across the world. We had already had the systems in place to accept Direct Debits, and had planned to phase out cheques and PayPal as a payment method towards the end of 2020. Then in March 2020, we were told by the then Prime Minster Boris Johnstone in a televised address, to stay home. The country went in to lock down. Now paying your window cleaner cash at the door, seemed risky.
We closed our business for 6 weeks, and put measures in place to protect our customers, from face masks, latex gloves to sterilising our equipment. Promoting our direct debit system, as a way for us to provide a contactless service, was a simple and practical solution.
Cashless
Our customers quickly took up the option to pay us by Direct Debit, with 40-50% of customers opting for our contactless payment option in a few short months. This sharp up take, let us see how impractical cash had become. The efficiency savings of Direct Debit over cash, was huge. Now we didn’t have to bother our customers, by knocking there door for money. Posting a quick service slip, and marking them as ‘done’ on our mobile app was all it took. We also didn’t have to call back to customers late at night, eliminating unsociable working hours.
Now 4 years on, 60% of our customers pay by Direct Debit and its rising every week. Its a convenient option for those customers who just don’t carry cash anymore and are often out. They also receive an email confirmation, giving them a record of their payments. Its now the only payment option we accept for new customers, as we push towards a cashless service.
We are not alone. Rising taxes and costs of employing staff has seen many businesses embrace technological solutions to make their business more efficient [source]. Now you can go and shop in a supermarket, or a fast food restaurant without dealing with a cashier, a profession that is slowly being replaced with the advent of self service checkouts and touch screen ordering kiosks. Its doesn’t seem that far away before we will be able to book a self driving taxi, and other self service systems that wouldn’t be practical without electronic payment options.
A changing world
I wouldn’t know how to pay for my tv subscriptions, Broadband, Council Tax, or mobile phone bill, with cash. Yet we have some customers, who still remember horse and carts, and oil lamps as small children, and the thought of needing to go on to a website to signup to a window cleaning service, fills them with dread. The world has changed immeasurably for our older generation, and keeping pace is a tough act. A sharp contrast to the younger generations who now can’t imagine what life was like before smartphones.
For those who aren’t as tech savvy, our staff are here to help, and can assist with setting up a direct debit. Computer literacy rates are rising among older people, with so many everyday services requiring online access, and the trend to a cashless society continues at pace, with only 14% of transactions being carried out using physical cash in 2023 [source].
