Choosing the one in the middle? It seems more logical

BIG WOOD

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These huge corporations, government facilities, and other major organizations that look at the bottom of the totem pole (Us) to give a bid are always looking for the lowest price bidder, which is not the best way to get the job.

How do we convince them that choosing the man in the middle is the best way to go, for the reason being that the highest bidder either doesn't want the job, or is overcharging them, and The lowest bidder is going to cut corners to the job done in a fast and more profitable time. So it seems to me that these big multimillion dollar customers would want the best value.

How can we be tactful in getting this point across to them? And why are most of them acting like they don't have any money, or have a very small budget to hire our services?
 

BIG WOOD

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Who says the high bidder is overcharging?
I could agree with you on just a $500 bid. But for a range of $9000-$13000, there's a reason to wonder why the high bidder chose that price

I'm just trying to get in the customers head on why they choose the cheapest, and how to convince them otherwise
 

Desk Jockey

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Who says the lowest bidder is cutting corners?

Commercial isn't residential cleaning. It takes a different mind set, you can look at sq/ft rates and make comparisons to what you get in residential.

You have to think production per hour and price from there. To get higher production rates you need more efficient systems. Multiple operators to switch off running the wand, Zipper, Cimex, OP machine or 175.

You need to offer them a high, a middle and a low within your own estimate. Let them chose the level of service they want to pay.
 

Mikey P

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The high bidder probably has a building, staff, marketing costs etc. It's Atlanta so it's probably not even that high, maybe $100 per hour profit after all costs

The medium bidder wants to be the high bidder company but his trailer, logging boots and over use of words like Encapsulation, Titanium, Hydramaster, Emulsify, Wicking etc scared the building manager off.

The low bidder just found teemf a month ago and will take a few more years to become the medium bidder, if he doesn't go out of business buying too much equipment and chasing after silver bullet presprays


Matt, pretend to BE the high bidder, just come in lower.
 
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steve_64

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I like the three bid idea.

Gotta find out their priorities. Sometimes it's cost sometimes it's dependability and it is often quality. But many will sacrifice quality for price especially when they get bonuses for keeping budgets under estimates.

I just bid what I feel I need and hope for the best.
 
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Cleanworks

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You have to look at the mentality of the company bidding. I used to work for a company who would underbid everybody just to get the job. His reasoning was, even if he was just breaking even, it kept his crews working and it kept his competition from getting the job. He didn't make a lot of money, if any on these jobs by neither did anyone else. Every one comes at it from a different view point, which is why you need to concentrate on what you want to do and how much you want to make and find customers that agree with you.
 
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Cleanworks

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We often make more at .12-.14 commercial than we ever do at .38 residential.
I balance my sqft. rate with my hourly rate. Some jobs go easier than others. I have 2 similar sized jobs in strata condo buildings, doing all the hallways and stairs. I charge the same sqft. rate on both. Both jobs, I have a helper. One job I make $200 per hour and on the other $300 per hour. Same area, just different set ups taking extra time. I need to raise my rates on the first one.
 

BIG WOOD

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I'm not bidding any lower than .10. And it's too soiled to cimex it, so don't bring that up

I dropped my price $2400 from last years bid
 
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Desk Jockey

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We once bid a large office building at 6.5 and lost it. It was probably a good thing, we'd have lost out azz.

.10 is really the lowest we go. Beyond that we would need different equipment to be able to compete at that level.
We've cleaned at 8.5, 9.5 and just felt like the return was not worth the effort. We made good money but could have made better doing something else. Maybe if we had dedicated night crews but we are usually paying OT to the techs whether it be weekends or evenings.
 

BIG WOOD

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The high bidder probably has a building, staff, marketing costs etc. It's Atlanta so it's probably not even that high, maybe $100 per hour profit after all costs

The medium bidder wants to be the high bidder company but his trailer, logging boots and over use of words like Encapsulation, Titanium, Hydramaster, Emulsify, Wicking etc scared the building manager off.

The low bidder just found teemf a month ago and will take a few more years to become the medium bidder, if he doesn't go out of business buying too much equipment and chasing after silver bullet presprays


Matt, pretend to BE the high bidder, just come in lower.
2 things caused me to lose the bid last year: higher price and time it'd take to do the job. The competition said he'd get 2 truckmounts and do it in a shorter time.
I found that it took him 9days to do it last year. From the amount being cleaned, that's wayyy too long. It tells me that he didn't hire enough help per truckmount to get the efficiency on a job that big. So I upped the game and told the guy that I'd do it in 6-7 days after I gave him my new bid.

No big, scary stupid educated wannabe words were used. Just to the point "I WANT THIS JOB" attitude was displayed.

Does that put me in the high bidder class with a middle bidder price?
 

Jimmy L

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I thought he was really trying so I wanted to at least give him some praise. Retards like him need to be tossed a bone once in awhile.
 
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Mikey P

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I bid it at .10/sq ft

AND I calculated the job at $150/hr

Yet I think I still lost the bid


I'm sure, even here in NV there are a slew of Senior Goobers who are more than happy at $50 an hour. Must be ten times worse there. How many have been trained by Rob/FB and actually do a decent job?
 
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BIG WOOD

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I'm sure, even here in NV there are a slew of Senior Goobers who are more than happy at $50 an hour. Must be ten times worse there. How many have been trained by Rob/FB and actually do a decent job?
The prick that I'm competing with on this bid is a 30year veteran in this business. He's no forumaholic. He's got a pretty big setup for a little town like mine. He's big into insurance claims and janitorial and everything in between.
 

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