Guess the lowballers are up here too!

[Steven Rowlett]

He will be out of business before you know it Josh. I had a lady call me last week from Newport Coast (cheapest house is about $750,000) and this is the way the call went....

Lady: Hi, I'm looking to get a quote to clean a small 2 car driveway, around my pool area and a patio area at my house in Newport Coast. No stains, just a general cleaning is all I want done.
Me: That will be $385 and I can schedule it sometime next week.
Lady: That's outrageous!!!! The last guy cleaned it for $120
Me: Then why aren't you calling him then? That's a great price for all that work.
Lady: His phone just rings and I've tried calling him 4 or 5 times.
Me: That's because he's out of business lady and if I were to charge those prices I would be out of business also.
Click.....she hung up on me

I had a lady one time tell me the last guy charged $60.00 to wash her house but she could not fine him. I told her it was because he went broke from not charging enough. I told her it honestly cost me $10.00 in fuel just to give her a quote. If you are good at what you do people don't mind paying for your service.
I have always said "Anyone can be cheap, not everyone can be good"

 

[JDhomeservices]

I had a lady one time tell me the last guy charged $60.00 to wash her house but she could not fine him. I told her it was because he went broke from not charging enough. I told her it honestly cost me $10.00 in fuel just to give her a quote. If you are good at what you do people don't mind paying for your service.
I have always said "Anyone can be cheap, not everyone can be good"

My dad always said it takes half as long to do it right the first time. I'm guessing it also costs half as much.

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[Christopher]

When you think about it, some people will always go with the cheapest price no matter what you say, no matter how much you try to "educate" them, no matter what kind of dog and pony show you put on for them, it is just how some people are and most of the time they don't change and you will not change them.

When you understand this, something (price) is sending them a strong message that they are responding to in a strong way and you are probably not going to change their mind but on the other hand, the other people out there that respond to quality work or educating them or whatever else it is that they respond to..............that is the hard part, finding out what words they respond to, to put into your marketing so that those customers respond to your marketing as they are the customers you want, not the people that go for the cheapest price.

What is the message or words that these great customers (the customers we all want to have) will respond to? ? ? ?

When you have the answer to this, the marketing should work great and consistent as long as they have a need for the work to be done.

Anyone have ideas or answers that work?

 

[Ed Thompson]

When you think about it, some people will always go with the cheapest price no matter what you say, no matter how much you try to "educate" them, no matter what kind of dog and pony show you put on for them, it is just how some people are and most of the time they don't change and you will not change them.

When you understand this, something (price) is sending them a strong message that they are responding to in a strong way and you are probably not going to change their mind but on the other hand, the other people out there that respond to quality work or educating them or whatever else it is that they respond to..............that is the hard part, finding out what words they respond to, to put into your marketing so that those customers respond to your marketing as they are the customers you want, not the people that go for the cheapest price.

What is the message or words that these great customers (the customers we all want to have) will respond to? ? ? ?

When you have the answer to this, the marketing should work great and consistent as long as they have a need for the work to be done.

Anyone have ideas or answers that work?

Spot on Chris. And sometimes you have to think outside the box. Here are 2 things you can experiment with: Next time someone says that got a cheaper price somewhere else, be happy for them. Tell them that its wonderful that they found someone who can do it cheaper. But remind them to make sure they get copies of both insurances. Down play general liability insurance since that only covers them if you break something. like if you break a window at $500 or $1000, its not a big deal. But if someone gets hurt on their property and doesn't have workers comp, that's the big nut. If they fall off a roof and get permanently disabled, that can run into the millions. You will be surprised how many will call you back and go with your higher cost (considering you have both insurances).
Secondly, find a start up company that you can refer clients to. If their decision is based on price alone, give them a company whose value is based on strictly price. It blows people away when you defer work to your competitor. Its kind of like a "no soup for you" tactic.

 

[Christopher]

I like that, "No Soup For You", that was a good one! I still like watching the re-runds of Seinfeld, I think they are still very funny.

I never thought about referring work to another company that charges a lower price.

What else would you tell them Ed?

 

[Ed Thompson]

Use the word "schmutz" to describe roof stains. It works very well on a particular clientel. Like taking candy from a baby.

 

[JDhomeservices]

You know, I always thought there were a lot of hacks in Florida, but Florida's got nothing on the amount of damage I've seen from bad pressure washing jobs here in Wilmington in the last couple of weeks. These pictures were taken from 3 separate houses, within about an hour of me door knocking

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