You can smell these customers over the phone

[iaov]

Insulting customers is always a great Idea as this will insure that they will give your company a positive recommendation to others and with these difficult financial times it is even more important to tell customers you cannot be bothered with giving estimates.I recieved a call from a lady seeking bids to hang several new ceiling fans I gave her our flat rate price she said she was calling for other estimates I thanked her and hung up two days later she called and we went to install the fans it was in a million+ home we hung the fans thanked her and got paid a week later her son calls he asks if we would like to be "his" electricians I said sure he says great I am builidng another house like my moms and will bring you the prints.

I installed an outlet for a dishwasher a few years back. I bid on it thinking it would take less than an hour to do. It ended up taking three hours. I only charged for 1. This little non-money making job led to thousands of dollars in future work from this customer and her relatives.

 

[tonyou812]

3-4 weeks out huh? I wish I had that problem.

~Matt

you said it man....

 

[George Stolz]

I recieved a call from a lady seeking bids to hang several new ceiling fans I gave her our flat rate price she said she was calling for other estimates I thanked her and hung up two days later she called and we went to install the fans it was in a million+ home we hung the fans thanked her and got paid a week later her son calls he asks if we would like to be "his" electricians I said sure he says great I am builidng another house like my moms and will bring you the prints.

Folks, we have the winner for the January Punctuation Contest.

 

[tonyou812]

I love the new Avatar George, it gives you a whole new personality.

 

[LarryFine]

In the middle of '07, I was very new in the business thing. (I still am too...) And I was hungry. I got a call for ceiling fans. I told them $75 each. (Everything was pre-wired)... they thanked me, and an hour later, they called back (I'm sure to see if I would lower my price) saying they had someone willing to do them for $50 each.

Suggestion: next time something similar happens, say something like "The first one is $150, and each additional one is $50." That'll look good to both of you.

I'll usually price something like recessed lighting that way, especially if I have to fish a new switch leg into the ceiling. "The first one is the tough one."

 

[Fulthrotl]

Insulting customers is always a great Idea as this will insure that they will give your company a positive recommendation to others and with these difficult financial times it is even more important to tell customers you cannot be bothered with giving estimates.I recieved a call from a lady seeking bids to hang several new ceiling fans I gave her our flat rate price she said she was calling for other estimates I thanked her and hung up two days later she called and we went to install the fans it was in a million+ home we hung the fans thanked her and got paid a week later her son calls he asks if we would like to be "his" electricians I said sure he says great I am builidng another house like my moms and will bring you the prints.

insulting customers is not how i do business. she wasn't a customer, she
had got my name off of craig's list, when i had it posted there. i don't post
there anymore. the incidence of dingbats to good customers is pretty severe.

here's my read on where the money comes from.... 95% of my income comes
from 5% of my customers. the part that sucks, is that you cannot tell which
of the customers are gonna be in that five percent. usually, one of the really
good customers is referred by a $1.25 customer.

a $125 service call in the harbor had a next door neighbor who has given me
about $20k worth of work.

so, i try to approach every customer with the dignity that i would show
my best account. sometimes, i fall a bit short. sometimes a lot short.

when "the pond" at anaheim was being built for the mighty ducks, i was
working with my foreman, pulling control wire, and there was a fair amount
of banter going back and forth about attitudes being calibrated with an extra
check... stuff like that.... and at lunch one day, i looked at him, and said..
"darryl, there are two things you can do here... you can either lay me off,
or keep me... when you decide which one you are going to do, would you
let me know if it is a punishment, or a reward?"....

the whole crew cracked up, and three days later, i got two checks.

some people have a limited sense of humor.


randy

 

[Minuteman]

I love the new Avatar George, it gives you a whole new personality.

Forum Fuzz?

 

[emahler]

you said it man....

get a small office buildout or resi renovation, and as a 1 man shop, you will suddenly be 4 weeks out....

that's all it takes...

 

[Mule]

get a small office buildout or resi renovation, and as a 1 man shop, you will suddenly be 4 weeks out....

that's all it takes...

This is very true, it doesn't take much to keep one guy busy.....But for me 95% of my billable hours comes from a half dozen customers, which you learn to cherish, especially in these econmics times.

 

[satcom]

Some of the things we had to do to build a business, is listen to the customer, find out what they want, (get the scope of work understood)
let them know up front, how you will go about doing the job, and the total cost, then if your price and way of doing the work, is not accepted, thank them for considering you, and move on.

 

[kbsparky]

I installed an outlet for a dishwasher a few years back. I bid on it thinking it would take less than an hour to do. It ended up taking three hours. I only charged for 1. This little non-money making job led to thousands of dollars in future work from this customer and her relatives.

We have had similar experiences. I would price out a seemingly simple job, and once we got into it, the job would take much longer than originally anticipated, with additional material costs.

Usually involving one or more hidden "cats" in the walls.

But I stick by my quotes, even if I have to "eat" it... :roll:

That type of integrity turns out to be the deciding factor in getting much more work/referrals/etc. from that customer more than making up for the loss leader. :grin:

 

[satcom]

We have had similar experiences. I would price out a seemingly simple job, and once we got into it, the job would take much longer than originally anticipated, with additional material costs.

Usually involving one or more hidden "cats" in the walls.

But I stick by my quotes, even if I have to "eat" it... :roll:

That type of integrity turns out to be the deciding factor in getting much more work/referrals/etc. from that customer more than making up for the loss leader. :grin:

You will never have to eat a quote, if you flat price the job in stages, customer knows the cost and is advised of any changes before proceeding.

 

[kbsparky]

And just exactly how does one flat price a single outlet install for a dishwasher in stages?

A quote for a job is a flat price install, in case you had forgotten

 

[satcom]

And just exactly how does one flat price a single outlet install for a dishwasher in stages?

A quote for a job is a flat price install, in case you had forgotten

You give the flat rate price, for a defined scope, if for any reason you encounter problems, then you go to the next stage of pricing, this is usually spelled out in your flat contract.

 

[active1]

One time I got a call about 6 pm from a customer with an emergency call. After explaining the problem to me I gave him a price. He said he would get back to me. 5 minuits later he calls me again asking for a price not realizing he called me before. So I doubled the first price. Then he calls me a 3rd time. I was thinking when is he going to realize that it's not getting any cheaper. He said I gave him a price on some work and he wanted me to do it. I had to ask what price I gave him. Of coarse he wanted it done for the orignal price.

 

[LarryFine]

One time I got a call about 6 pm from a customer with an emergency call. After explaining the problem to me I gave him a price. He said he would get back to me. 5 minuits later he calls me again asking for a price not realizing he called me before. So I doubled the first price. Then he calls me a 3rd time. I was thinking when is he going to realize that it's not getting any cheaper. He said I gave him a price on some work and he wanted me to do it. I had to ask what price I gave him. Of coarse he wanted it done for the orignal price.

It's called selective memory. My son has it, too. :wink: