TrashCanBossPro Blog — Recurring Plans

Using Tags to Organize Recurring Bin Cleaning Plan Customers

Once you pass a hundred customers, you stop being able to remember who is who. Which ones are on every-other-week? Which are HOAs? Who did you move up for summer? Who cancelled last fall? Tags answer those questions in a click, and they cost nothing but a little discipline.

Tags Turn a List Into Groups

Trash day, covered in Scheduling Trash Can Cleaning Plans Around the City Trash Day, groups your customers by route. Tags group them by everything else. In TrashCanBossPro, every client can carry tags like Monthly, Every-Other-Week, HOA and Commercial, plus any tags you create. You can then filter your client list down to just that group.

A Starter Tag System

You do not need many tags. In fact, too many tags is how tag systems die: nobody remembers which one to use. A simple starting set for a bin cleaning company:

• Plan tags: Weekly, Every-Other-Week, Monthly, One-Time
• Account tags: Residential, HOA, Commercial, Property Manager
• Status tags: Cancelled, Past Due, VIP
• Seasonal tags: Summer EOW, Winter Monthly
• Source tags: Referral, Door Hanger, Website

Pick the ones you will actually use. You can always add more later. Write down what each tag means so everyone in the office applies them the same way.

Plan Tags Mirror the Schedule

The plan itself is set by the recurring service on each address: 7, 14 or 28 days between visits. The plan tag on the client is a label that makes the group easy to find. Keep them in step. When you move a customer from monthly to every-other-week, change both the recurring service and the tag.

Plan tags are handy for quick counts. Filter by Monthly and you see how many monthly customers you have. Do the same for each plan and you have your plan mix.

Account Tags Change How You Work

An HOA is not handled like a single home. It may have many addresses, monthly account billing and a board that approves the bill. A Commercial tag reminds the office that a restaurant may need early-morning service and photo proof. Tag these accounts so anyone in the office knows at a glance to treat them differently.

For multi-address accounts, remember that tags go on the client, while cans, trash day and plan go on each address.

Status Tags Drive Follow-Ups

Status tags are where tags really earn their keep:

• Cancelled. Tag customers when they leave, with the reason in the notes. In spring, filter by Cancelled and you have a win-back list.
• One-Time. Filter by One-Time every week and follow up with customers whose deep clean was about a month ago.
• Summer EOW. In the fall, filter by this tag and move everyone back to monthly in one sitting.
• Past Due. A quick way to see who needs a card update before their next cleaning.

For more on win-backs, see Winning Back Cancelled Trash Can Cleaning Subscription Customers.

Custom Fields for the Rest

Some information is not a yes-or-no tag. A customer's sign-up date, a referral source name or an HOA's board contact are better as custom fields on the client record. TrashCanBossPro supports custom fields alongside tags, so you can keep details specific to your business without stuffing them into notes.

Keep the System Clean

Tags only work if they are accurate. A few habits keep them that way:

• Tag new clients the day they sign up.
• Update tags in the same step as any plan change or cancellation.
• Review tags once a quarter and remove ones nobody uses.
• Train new office staff on what each tag means.

When you import a customer list by CSV, make sure your spreadsheet notes each customer's plan and account type, so tagging goes quickly once the list is in.

Tags in Everyday Work

Tags are not only for reports. They help in small moments every day. When a customer calls, a glance at their tags tells whoever answers whether they are a weekly restaurant, an HOA board contact or a one-time customer who might want a plan. When you plan a promotion, tags tell you exactly who should get it. And when you hire office help, tags let a new person understand the customer list in an afternoon instead of a month.

The more consistently your office uses them, the more useful every other part of the system becomes.

Small Labels, Big Payoff

A handful of well-used tags lets you count your plans, run follow-ups, win back old customers and handle big accounts differently. For more on recurring plans, visit the trash can cleaning subscription software page.