Do low-ballers hurt your business.

[Chris A]

I was on the verge of insanity over low-ballers when I realized, the people who are genuinely concerned with finding the lowest price are not my customers and are just wasting my time. There are a few SFS tricks you can use, but eventually, price shoppers won't be a problem.

The only problem is when you don't have the confidence to know it doesn't matter that they seem concerned about price. The confidence to stand in front of a customer, not willing to budge on the price, and have them see that. Not see that you are arrogant about your prices, but see that you charge more, and you know you are worth more, and they can't trick you into selling a Lincoln at used Kia prices.

And no, I didn't read the whole thread, just the first 1 1/2 posts.

I can understand this logic on Resi, to some extent, but commercial is a whole different animal. If you can drop your price and make it up in volume, do it! But I've also shaved many residential bids if they were worth getting, but some aren't worth it.

 

[Ron Werner]

I'm always concerned about that comment "make it up on volume"
If you bid a low price where you aren't making a profit then the more you do the more you don't make a profit!
If you bid a low price where you make a "little" profit, then when you do more, you'll make a little more profit.
etc

 

[Guest]

Man Pensacola is full of em; They still bring me more business than I can afford to advertise!!! Don't say anything guys; these turds may hear ya!! Hee Hee!!

 

[Chris A]

Ron it's because once your set up, if you can be at a job for the entire day, instead of running to 3-5 different places, you can afford to gross less per hour, because you'll net more by working all day.

 

[B&BGaryC]

I can understand this logic on Resi, to some extent, but commercial is a whole different animal. If you can drop your price and make it up in volume, do it! But I've also shaved many residential bids if they were worth getting, but some aren't worth it.

I cleaned a purple glue down carpet at a western wear store that hadn't been cleaned EVER! (13 years)

There are some commercial businesses here in MT that only have their carpets cleaned once a year... and sometimes they slack on having that done.

Some of them wait two or even three years. In that case the same manager wasn't there last time they were cleaned, they don't even know what to expect. I imagine somebody in charge of maintaining a building should know more about carpet cleaning than your average home owner, and if they think their job is to find the person who will do it for the absolute lowest price, they shouldn't expect the carpet to look brand new when it's done. When these people try to goad me into doing carpet for 8 or 10 cents a square foot, or telling me if I drop my price by half (Yes, I've had people suggest that) they would let me clean their other buildings. These people also expect the carpet to be spotless. I can do a spotless cleaning (Depending on condition of carpet) as long as I get paid enough to take a breath, and get out some spotters. I can't go flying through a commercial building, moving chairs and mats and trashcans at a 50% discount and take the time to do anything over again, or even try to remove a spot.

The nice thing about commercial is, there are some places that will get their carpet cleaned monthly, or quarterly. These folks deal with nincompoop carpet cleaners on such a regular basis, that when they hear there is a guy out there that costs twice as much, but the carpet is really clean, they'll jump on the opportunity. Word gets around quicker when cleanings are frequent, and my commercial cleaning side went from non-existent when I started to aprox $25,000 a year in one year by word of mouth alone.

(I know, twenty five grand is nothing, but it's still twenty five grand more than zero.)