Handleing inquizative competitors

hi-temp hydro

hi-temp hydro

New member
This week I've received 2 calls from "new" competitors who've popped up. The tale-tale signs were there from the get go... Hello I was wondering how much you charge by the sq. ft., to which I reply... What's the address & I will come by & give a specific bid, click, dial tone. I check the # & it's the same as an advertised # of a newbie in a local paper. The second admits he's new to the biz & wants to know the best way to remove oak mold stains from concrete, to which I reply a scrub brush & lots of vinegar.

I have a relatively small service area and just wondered how some of you guys in major markets approach these situations.
 
Ok, you're not going to believe this, but in 2000 when my dry clean delivery business was fairly new and we were struggling I got one of the many calls like the one you described.

I caught him right off the bat and he apologized but said he had put a lot of money in the business and needed help.

As usual I helped him with truthful answers. I did however tell him that unless he could secure a loan his numbers were too optimistic and he would run out of money within three years because he didn't have enough reserve. I heard from him on and off for a while.

Two years later I got a call. He was failing, his wife was leaving him. He hadn't paid his franchise fees, etc. He was bringing in about 10k per month, but spending it all on overhead. The franchise was demanding that he turn his customers over to a competitor of his.

He told me this and I will never forget it. "When I first started out and couldn't get help from anybody, not even my own franchisor, you helped me. Whenever I needed help you were always there. I've never seen anything like that before". He then GAVE me all his customers on the spot. NO CHARGE.

It was around 300 customers. Where his net on those customers was less than $2000/mo , my net for those same customers was over $5000.00/mo. because my overhead was already covered a long time ago! He GAVE me $5,000 per month for the next 6 years. Add it up. That's a lot of money for just being kind. And it came at just the right time because I wasn't in much better shape than he was at that time.

That's what I find on this board. That's why I am here. I can go anywhere on the net and listen to a bunch of bickering shifty small business owners, but on this board there is a genuine sense that everyone here cares about the others.

I say roll the dice and choose kindness over fear.

Just my 2cents.
 
Nice post Tony. Well worth your 2 cents. :)
 
hi-temp hydro said:
This week I've received 2 calls from "new" competitors who've popped up. The tale-tale signs were there from the get go... Hello I was wondering how much you charge by the sq. ft., to which I reply... What's the address & I will come by & give a specific bid, click, dial tone. I check the # & it's the same as an advertised # of a newbie in a local paper. The second admits he's new to the biz & wants to know the best way to remove oak mold stains from concrete, to which I reply a scrub brush & lots of vinegar.

I have a relatively small service area and just wondered how some of you guys in major markets approach these situations.
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I would be flattered if I were you. Your competition considers you an authority of the business. You can choose to be a mentor and maybe get some good karma in return or just tell them to get lost. I have had a few calls every now and then (I am a part time business for now, not a Ron type yet) and makes me feel I have got somebody's attention. I give them a little bit and move on. They will never know how I run my business and why I insist on doing things a certain way. Your'e on their map. Feel good about that.
 
I have never seen bad results from helping out a competitor! I do it as much as I can, and nothing but good comes from it. I go out of my way to help people that ask and would never tell them wrongful information or to get lost. That is very unprofessional.

You can expect nothing but good returns from helping people, no matter who they are.
 
I'll make this as short as I can...
2yrs ago I met an older gentleman named Henry who was 63yrs old and who wanted to get into PW'ing part time to supliment his income and possible hand it down to his grandson to run. He came with me on a few jobs and liked it. He asked me if I could help him as far as what kind of equipt he should get, how to set up his rig etc...He spent close to $5.000 setting up a new small 5x7 Trailer with a 4k 4gpm machine, an 80gal tank, 2-25gal tanks all the plumbing, new titan reels for high pressure and 200ft of chem line, 200ft of high pressure hose, sureflow system, new wands, new surface cleaner, and a few more goodies. He went out and did 4 jobs with his new equipt and decided it was not for him. We have stayed in touch over the past 2 yrs and remained good friends. Last week he called and asked me to do him a favor....Take all of his eqiuiptment and his 94 Aerostar van and put it to good use. He told me I could have it all including the van for $3500.00 with no money down and I could pay him whatver I could each month. I told him I would take just the van but he insisted that I take it all. He said it was because I had done so much to help him in the past to get his biz started.

Ive had many competitors help me when I was getting started and didn't really know what I was doing and I have since helped a few guys out that were just starting. I've never expected anything in return from any of them. Henry is just a prime example of what can happen when you show kindness to people and help them out.
 
“Law of Reciprocity” in other words what goes around comes around.
That's how I live my life and you can't go wrong with it.
 
Right on guys! Good thread. I think everyone has a story like these about helping someone out. I've never heard a story about helping someone who in turn steals your customers and runs you out of business. It doesn't work like that!
 
And thats what the R/T Network is all about.
 
I can see the points you all are making. We've all been in the start-up mode and looking for answers, which makes us have an appreciation for the up and comers. I do appreciate the "authority figure" persona that I apparently convey to these guys. I know I'm not gonna get all the residential jobs out there Lord knows I don't want them all, so in that aspect of it I'm grateful for these guys. Later down the road though (and this has happened all to often) I don't want to continually be undercut by a competitor that I created. So it is a very fine line between helping others and hurting yourself.

True, there are no big secrets on the how-to's of what cleans what well. It's all in the business end where true success in born, in any profession. But when you get that call from the guy who potentially will in a short while under-bid you on a large job you wanted, not because he has to to make ends meet, but because he can. By knowing your rates and tips you've given, he scores his beer money for the month. Do you still cut your own throat?

Or the call from the guy (such as in my case this week) who claims to be a newbie and lays claim to doing a job at a local hotel, that I bid almost $800 higher, that looked like pure crap? To him a scrub brush & vinegar are kinder words than should have been spoken.

So here lies the issue before us, help out cause we were once there, or a snub to avoid potential dilemmas down the road. I am by no means a malicious person, so the latter of the two choices is not a natural tendency. Being in the business we are in we must be a "people person", wanting to help others in need, it is our livelihood. But to me saying help all, any way you can is the mark of one who won't be a professional for long, not just in pw'ing but any business. Because the area to which you've greatly lended a hand to others has become overrun with others just like you, calling themselves pros.

It's going to be interesting to hear from some others on this. I appreciate everyone's honesty, and don't take my views personally if you have a different approach, after all it's just my 2 cents.
 
I have found that the guys I have helped along the way are less likely to underbid you. Most of the time that they realize that you are bidding on the same property they will leave it alone. Ive also gotten quite a few leads on bigger jobs that they could not handle with their equipment or know how.
 
This is a great topic, I have been doing this for over 15 years and i have found that helping someone to do a job the right way and to be competitive on pricing, will keep the standards of this industry up.

If you have a good working relationship with your accounts, and you go above and beyond the scope of work for a fair price, they are not going to look elsewhere for another contractor.

Me and others on this board have been networking together for many years with great results. This enables you to cover a wider area of service for your customers and make you more attractive to them as a contractor.

Dont get me wrong you will have to make sure that the people you use are competent, after all they are representing your company. I normally would have them work along side me on a large job and show them exactly what the scope of work calls for.

There are guy's up in the Myrtle Bch area that all live within a few miles of each other, these are small and larger companies working together as a network and doing great.

Same down here and up in Bama, and across the country. Together we can make this industry a group of professional contractors, as it should be.
 
I've had competitors that were under bidding big time. I helped them with pricing and cleaning, and they stopped under bidding. I send small jobs to guys starting out as much as I can, they always send me the big ones.

I work in a very small market (it's an island!). My biggest competitors are my best friends. It NEVER is a bad thing to network and help each other out.

If people are stealing your customers with low prices, you haven't demonstrated enough value to your customers. If one of my customers is going to leave me for a low baller, well that's not a customer I want anyway.
 
tonyshelton said:
Ok, you're not going to believe this, but in 2000 when my dry clean delivery business was fairly new and we were struggling I got one of the many calls like the one you described.

I caught him right off the bat and he apologized but said he had put a lot of money in the business and needed help.

As usual I helped him with truthful answers. I did however tell him that unless he could secure a loan his numbers were too optimistic and he would run out of money within three years because he didn't have enough reserve. I heard from him on and off for a while.

Two years later I got a call. He was failing, his wife was leaving him. He hadn't paid his franchise fees, etc. He was bringing in about 10k per month, but spending it all on overhead. The franchise was demanding that he turn his customers over to a competitor of his.

He told me this and I will never forget it. "When I first started out and couldn't get help from anybody, not even my own franchisor, you helped me. Whenever I needed help you were always there. I've never seen anything like that before". He then GAVE me all his customers on the spot. NO CHARGE.

It was around 300 customers. Where his net on those customers was less than $2000/mo , my net for those same customers was over $5000.00/mo. because my overhead was already covered a long time ago! He GAVE me $5,000 per month for the next 6 years. Add it up. That's a lot of money for just being kind. And it came at just the right time because I wasn't in much better shape than he was at that time.

That's what I find on this board. That's why I am here. I can go anywhere on the net and listen to a bunch of bickering shifty small business owners, but on this board there is a genuine sense that everyone here cares about the others.

I say roll the dice and choose kindness over fear.

Just my 2cents.
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WOW! That is probably the best post I've read in a while. Very inspiring Tony---I'll admit, I'm usually a jerk and none to helpful to comp-related questioning, but this will make me reconsider.

Actually, I don't have any problems w/ competitors, I probably get one call a week from HO's wanting advice/help.....say they cannot afford a pro, etc. The only help I usually offer is to try and either sell them something that will help them, or refer them to a vendor that can sell them something to help.
 
I haven't been on here in a while but I have to say around this area every competitor I run into seems more than willing to share info as long as they know you are the real deal. Kemp and I are in the same area and are likely to compete for the same jobs every now and then. We talk on here and in person on a regular basis. Both of us are willing to share everything that we know about the biz with each other. Things that have worked for us and things that don't. He has even subbed me out to help knock out a job in a day a couple weeks ago. Watching him work I now know how to clean houses faster than I was before. There are also a few other guys in the area that offer help when I run into them.

I think that helping others in the indusrty will rasie the standards in it. I may not have the best looking rig or the most bad ass equipment, but thanks to information I have gotten from this forum and local competitors I know I can get any job done to make the customer happy.
 
Cameron, you are easy to work with and you do good work. It's good to have someone like that around. Your help on the townhouses saved me a lot of time and I appreciate it. Your rig does the job, that's really all that matters. This Spring will bring us a lot of new opportunities. We all Just keep learning and marketing. It will pay off eventually.
 
I have met true Freinds in my travels and nothing like meeting people who want to help each other.

I have learned more from BBS in 12 years than most have realized.

If you open your eyes and your mind the ideas from others can expand.

Its not about fear, its about the power in knowing and doing things right.

The learning curvehas been knocked down and people are growing and new ideas forming and the industry is changing rapidly.

We will grow 400% in the next 4 years, be here and learn or be left behind.

Some say the BBS are just people bickering and moaning about lowballers. In fact some here are learning that most people that bicker are lowballers. People who dont even realize how real business works.

Thanks all for the nice words about PWI and the members. Stay positive and stay together.
 
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