All the way from the start of spring through the end of fall, I’ve had very little trouble landing the jobs I bid. Focusing mostly on residential, I am very confident in my pricing for my area. I’m not the cheapest around, I’m also not the most expensive around. My question though is this- When I am bidding a job, I sometimes know that I’m most likely to be under bid by a competitor, especially in this time of year. When I do pick up on this from the customer, without compromising my paycheck, how can I land the job right then and there? I don’t wanna give the other guy a chance to get his low ball price in my way.
Hey Adam,
You have to sell them on why they should use your company instead of the low ballers.
Tell them what you do differently and how much you care about obtaining their business especially if local, sell them the “I love working in my local community”.
If you are not a hard seller and sense they are price sensitive then you can offer a more basic level of service (glass only) to still try to land the deal based on your quality of service overall (explain that they might not get screens and windows done for that price but the windows will be done properly and that you stand by your guarantee).
You can then upsell screens and tracks if really needed by the customer on the day and it softens the blow of pricing as they are now just adding a smaller amount to the total now instead of getting hit with it all at once.
However you need to compromise something. Either your price/hr, their budget, the volume of service or the quality of service they will receive .
I am not really flexible on quality of service delivered (ocd) and know my self worth so I will only really compromise on volume of service provided or their budget if they are sold on using my company.
I feel like most people are happy to pay a little extra if the quality is there, but will also shout loudly if the service standard is not there.
But there are times where you have to be willing to take a little less total sometimes because that’s all their budget allocates (price sensitive) but it is up to you as to what you compromise.
Hourly rate (Nooooo!)
Quality of Service (Nooooo!)
Clients Budget (Not usually!)
Volume of service…
So to summise sell them on less volume but a higher quality service than your competitors so that you don’t have to compromise your hourly rate or the quality of the service you provide.
Hope that helps,
Lewsqueegee!
Important to sell yourself, we are high in our area but we’ve been in business 25 years, so what’s that tell me? You sell yourself, your quality of work you do, your attention to detail and your personality. People don’t always remember your price or what you had to say necessarily, but they will always remember how you made them feel. Be relaxed, talk to the customer not only on what they want done but take interest in them as a person, it rarely fails, they will get good feelings of you as a human being and when they do compare prices, they will remember how you made them feel, that first impression. It works, believe me. We had a bid that we were 35% higher but the customer told me and my wife that she really liked us and how she felt being with us from the initial phone call to the bid and actually enjoyed talking with us too while we were there. We spent close to an hour there on the bid. She said she knew she was paying more but it was worth it to her, she seen the value in hiring us, so paid for it. Once they see your value they can rationalize on paying more, it’s worth it to them. Then you deliver a awesome window cleaning experience from the initial bid throughout, till completion, then they call you back next time. Don’t be so caught up on price, you want to stay within reason obviously but don’t sell yourself short and never negotiate your price, just walk away. Hope that helps, it’s what we’ve done over the years, much success!
This is something I can talk about because it’s not related to window cleaning. Selling is a universal thing that is needed for any sort of business to work. You need to make everything outside of your prices seem as though they are getting a higher quality. You want your vehicle to be cleaner and organized, you want to have a logo, you want to have HEAVY PAPER. I walked into a car lot the other day and they told me to call them in March and they would have me come out to clean their windows. They gave me a card and it was just crud. Thin, bent real easy, it was fading, it just felt cheap. I like nice, heavy card stock and shows that we mean business. When you give a quote you can have pre-printed sheets with HEAVIER PAPER that you can write directly on and give to the prospective. Cary it around on an expensive clip board. You want everything about yourself to just shout quality.
You’re not selling the service because if you were then the cheapest price would always win. You’re selling a warm, fuzzy feeling. You want to feel like they just went to the restaurant and instead of buying a burger and fries for $6 they got big steak, mashed potatoes and gravy and a big, icy pop for $12. You want them to know their paying more, but think they’re getting more. Always have a smile on your face, don’t try to talk “official” to them, just talk to them like they are an old friend. Something that anyone can offer and is totally free is the extended service. Let them know that if they have a problem with the service you’ve provided you’ll come right now to clean it up and will call to double check there are no problems in the days to follow. Friendliness and professionalism are two things that are drastically under emphasized and not thought high enough in when you go to a business.
Well guys, i actually feel like I’m not bad at selling myself. As I said before, from spring to fall, I have very little trouble with this.
I think really that it’s a combination of being winter, so others are tight on money as well, and I even though I’ve been doing this for a while, I am still fairly new as a business owner.
What you guys are saying is really nothing new, so thank you all for simply reaffirming what I’ve already been doing. I guess if I was winning every bid, I’d probably be selling myself to cheap.
Oh, and this particular house was all super filthy storms and French panes. WFP would be useless on that house. So all hand scrubbing. I bid $1 per pane and $5 per storm, in my opinion, pretty low. I actually rather walk away than to compromise on that price. Lol!
Yeah, we land about 70-75% of our jobs. You don’t want them all, you might be too cheap. And you don’t want just a couple, then most likely your bidding too high. Since your a newer business owner, just give yourself time to get more established. Your going to be alright, hang in there, keep selling yourself and the quality of work you provide.
Oh yeah, I’m good. Fortunately, I have another job with a flexible schedule this time of year to fall back on. I expect a pretty decent growth in business over the next season. Also, some great friends nearby who are pretty much vets in the business who also have been the greatest assistance with me building up my game here. It’s nice though, to have this group here too, to learn from some of you, and to help others. Thanks man!