I appreciate you jumping on mate and sharing your story with us.
Yeah.
Just before I do go, because I'm not sure about the other lads in the group,
going off topic slightly, it might just help someone,
but the booking deposit you recommended.
Yeah.
I was so against it when I heard that.
I thought, no, then I'm going to do that kind of thing.
That has helped me tremendously in the last three months.
Oh, brilliant. I'm glad.
Yeah, it really has.
And every single person had paid the same day.
I had one person hesitate.
And like you said, it's covered, always covered most of mine, the costs,
depending on the price.
But one thing I will say to anyone else, because I was so unsure about it,
that has helped me so much.
That's fantastic.
Yeah.
So that is one thing I would very much consider if I wasn't doing it, shall I say.
There's so many positives to taking your booking deposit.
Yeah.
One of them is you don't need a line of credit,
because you're building up your working capital now,
and you don't need to say to your suppliers, you know,
give us 30 days grace, because I'm waiting on my money.
Yeah.
I mean, that's just one, but I've done videos on it all.
But I've had one lad, Carl, who's recently joined the group,
and he's messaged me this week saying exactly the same thing.
He said he had concerns about, you know, taking a deposit.
He weren't sure on it.
And I think he's just increased his to 30%.
And he said, no, I've had an eyelid.
Yeah, no, I haven't.
Not one person's, but they've just said,
as long as you can send me, like, an invoice, a deposit off it,
everyone's been more than happy.
Yeah, I think it's about transparency.
So as long as you can come across as trustworthy, transparent,
you've been completely open with your communication,
saying, look, here's the receipt.
You know, we've now locked that job into our works calendar,
and this is it.
Yeah, exactly.
All that.
That gives them so much peace of mind.
And I've found they actually like it,
because, you know, they're thinking, okay, this is booked now.
This is locked in.
You know, this is reserved.
Whereas if you just sort of say willy-nilly,
yeah, see you on the 4th of August, you know,
I mean, I'll give you an example.
We've got someone coming to do some work on our front garden wall
because someone crashed into the wall.
So we're going through the insurance,
and the builder's just said, yeah, we'll do that
on around 2nd of October.
We'll just turn up and do it.
And my wife keeps saying to me,
do you think they're going to come?
I've not heard anything, you know, for a couple of weeks now,
and they haven't sent the revised quote.
I'm just really nervous and anxious about it.
And I'm saying, really, they should have took a booking deposit.
Because this is the sort of stuff I'm telling lads to do,
and I do it myself,
that stops this anxiety happening with the customer.
Are they going to show up?
Are they not?
And then it wouldn't hurt as well
just to send a couple of follow-up emails
nearer to the date,
just saying, look, just to let you know,
we're on schedule, we're on track to start your job.
Yeah.
We've given access to power and water.
If you've got any questions,
in the meantime, just feel free to contact me anytime.
And it just gives that.
When you do come to finish the job
and you're looking to get that five-star Google review,
it just means that they're going to write it.
Go, there you go.
Yeah, we're more than that.
I think you look so much more professional.
As soon as I get the deposit,
I empty gold on trade-based,
send a confirmation email,
the dates that we've agreed.
I use your terms and conditions as well.
Just tweak that to my company name, basically.
So I know they've read it,
they've accepted it,
so I know I'm covered.
I'd recommend that strongly
to anyone that isn't taking a booking deposit.
But...
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