ruff
Member
A bulletin to all Chavez Resto clients:
Negotiate. Negotiate. NEGOTIATE!!!
Negotiate. Negotiate. NEGOTIATE!!!
Generally I'm not a DICK-er-er. Are you?
- Thread starter Barry-QDCC
- Start date
Desk Jockey
Member
Hell yeah. 
Forget invoicing pay me now! It takes a lot fuel to keep this plane flying.
REMEMBER: "A bird in hand is much better than....that fooker pooping on your freshly wash car"
Forget invoicing pay me now! It takes a lot fuel to keep this plane flying.
REMEMBER: "A bird in hand is much better than....that fooker pooping on your freshly wash car"
Ron K
Member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2009
- Messages
- 2,371
Do a little more don't discount.
I did a job the other day for a girl. She had a 100sf free coupon thats on the back of my business card. Her total with the discount came out to $94. She proceded to tell me she only had $85 in cash. Do you think I walked from that? Start to finish in half hour, I'll take it. Guess i'm a little hungry.
Cleanworks
Moderator
I wouldn't do it. I would clarify the price before I start and if she said that was all she had, I would ask her to go to the nearest atm and get more, unless you consider it a charity case and feel sorry for her. Nobody feels sorry for me if I can't pay my bills
Old Coastie
Supportive Member
I would have smiled, traded her $9 for a drink of water and the promise to pay it forward. Life is too short to get het and fret.
Mikey P
Administrator
Good move Justin.
Cleanworks
Moderator
Or a bj
steve_64
Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2012
- Messages
- 13,372
If she was cute...
Nate The Great
Member
Desk Jockey
Member
Or if she has nice legs. 
Old Coastie
Supportive Member
Yeah. yall will get all that and a bag of chips for $9.
Right.
Right.
Cleanworks
Moderator
See, that's just the point. Normally can't get a bj for 9 bucks and normally can't get your carpets cleaned for 85. There's always an exception to the rule.
Nate The Great
Member
I get them for free.... You mean people actually pay for sex?
Yall must be some ugly fookers......
Desk Jockey
Member
Well..."Must Be" is rather strong language.
Last edited by a moderator:
You're exactly right. It was only $20. And the customer should've been thinking the same thing. That's why he should've had no reason to balk over a $20 discount. We're not doing this for a hobby. We're doing this to feed our family.
I haven't read all the posts, but if you give 2 out of 5 of your customers a $20 discount and you have 500 customers a year, then you're losing $400 a year. For a lot of us, that's a truck mount payment, or 2-3 weeks of groceries to feed our families.
We're not Vacuum salesmen. We're a service business, and we don't have room to negotiate.
It pisses me off that people feel like we're worth less than what we charge. I just saw a sign on the side of the road saying the popular "3rooms and hall for $99" from a new business in my town. It's the new guys like that, that start devaluing our business. If there's anyone on here that's doing that and not having an expiration date of no longer than the next 3 weeks...STOP DOING THAT SHIT!!!!
Sorry, it's very early and my filter isn't very active. I'll get off my soap box
KevinD
Member
That would be $4000
Desk Jockey
Member
I gave a $3,300.00 quick pay discount on a 110k water loss. I could have offered no discount and sat and waited on it to pass slowly through the system waiting for payment. Instead I gave them 10-days and they were doing all they could to get me paid within that time.
A month later when their adjuster called being cocky wanting to discuss settling the bill so he could pay us we shocked him when we told him we were already paid. LOL
A month later when their adjuster called being cocky wanting to discuss settling the bill so he could pay us we shocked him when we told him we were already paid. LOL
Cleanworks
Moderator
A discount for a service or convenience is fine. I give discounts for anything that makes my life easier. Like they moved all the furniture or i'm only doing traffic areas.
I started even lower then that (3 for $99), few make it charging that..
Here is my first flyer from 05' I think I had 5,000 made.
I had no idea wth I was doing at that point, and can't believe I made it through.. My prices have doubled, and I will never advertise a price ever again! If you want it done today, great here is my price.. Looking back I would have a better response with higher prices alone..
I have talked and talked to a local guy telling him to "stop Groupon it is making you broke".. He is still running it..
As far as dickering I don't ever do it, so I don't let people do it to me. It happened in my early years, but I'll walk now..
Cleanworks
Moderator
What you fail to miss with the low ballers, is that the low price is what gets them in the door. Then they go into sales mode and walk away with more than you ever dreamed of. It's called bait and switch and is extremely profitable if you are a scumbag. When you offer a quality service for a low price, you devalue the entire industry. Just let your customers what bait and switch is when they say that Joe Blow down the road is cheaper. Don't try and compete price wise because you can't. There is ALWAYS someone cheaper. Seldom is there anyone better.I started even lower then that (3 for $99), few make it charging that..
Here is my first flyer from 05' I think I had 5,000 made.
View attachment 14329
I had no idea wth I was doing at that point, and can't believe I made it through.. My prices have doubled, and I will never advertise a price ever again! If you want it done today, great here is my price.. Looking back I would have a better response with higher prices alone..
I have talked and talked to a local guy telling him to "stop Groupon it is making you broke".. He is still running it..
As far as dickering I don't ever do it, so I don't let people do it to me. It happened in my early years, but I'll walk now..
Old Coastie
Supportive Member
I always ask if they've had professional carpet cleaners before and to tell me about their experience. It all goes quite naturally from there.
There was a guy in town that used to fix bikes and sell them. He would always get a bunch of stuff from my recycled boxes. I would strip old bikes and put the good stuff in boxes by part type.
It was really handy for fixing things because I had a ton of used parts to get little pieces I could not order.
As we sorted through the pile I would price each item. He always wanted to negotiate after the total. I ended that. He had an $85 pile he said how about 80, I said 90, he said ya right I'll give you 80, I said 95 he said OK I'll go 85. I said 100, do you want to keep negotiating? He paid 100 and never tried to negotiate again... When I give the best deal around and they want to negotiate I up the price...
Desk Jockey
Member
Man Rick you ARE a dik.
PrimaDonna
Megatron
We don't discount. Price is quoted over the phone "based on the information you provided", we review what "could" change it at the time of the appointment (if their information wasn't correct).
When you discount, then you are basically telling the person you are charging too much to begin with since you have room to lower your price. You are training them to always ask for a discount. We sell value, customer service, professionalism, expertise, training, efficiency and a great job. If you want that, this is our price. If you want a good price, there are other options (and they aren't the client for us).
Our options for a lower price are to do less work, do open area cleaning only and not move furniture, not apply protection. We occasionally run specials, but they are strategic and provide a benefit to both us and the client. I tell people if they follow our facebook page or some of the community groups we are in, we sometimes have a last minute cancellation and will offer a discount to make sure the day is full. Or I can take their name and number and call them if we have an opening and we can give them the discount, but they have to be flexible with their schedule and could have only a day notice. We win because we don't have a gap in our day and make money when we may not have, the customer wins because they get a discount. We also will run specials during the slower times. (winter, summer vacation time etc).
When you discount, then you are basically telling the person you are charging too much to begin with since you have room to lower your price. You are training them to always ask for a discount. We sell value, customer service, professionalism, expertise, training, efficiency and a great job. If you want that, this is our price. If you want a good price, there are other options (and they aren't the client for us).
Our options for a lower price are to do less work, do open area cleaning only and not move furniture, not apply protection. We occasionally run specials, but they are strategic and provide a benefit to both us and the client. I tell people if they follow our facebook page or some of the community groups we are in, we sometimes have a last minute cancellation and will offer a discount to make sure the day is full. Or I can take their name and number and call them if we have an opening and we can give them the discount, but they have to be flexible with their schedule and could have only a day notice. We win because we don't have a gap in our day and make money when we may not have, the customer wins because they get a discount. We also will run specials during the slower times. (winter, summer vacation time etc).
The Great Oz
Member
If you're always backing up on your price, eventually you'll have to get a job to support your carpet cleaning hobby. Discounts and dickering are related (but not the same). Only a poor businessman would offer either of these in return for nothing.
You offer a discount in return for something: Cash, quick pay, furniture moved... something that saves you the equivalent amount of time or money.
A price can be negotiated in return for something: Steve Toburen suggests the volume of work comes down with the price. Having a ready idea of your trade-out options will allow the customer to decide the value of the trade, and may convince them to take the full-price option.
You offer a discount in return for something: Cash, quick pay, furniture moved... something that saves you the equivalent amount of time or money.
A price can be negotiated in return for something: Steve Toburen suggests the volume of work comes down with the price. Having a ready idea of your trade-out options will allow the customer to decide the value of the trade, and may convince them to take the full-price option.
Mikey P
Administrator
Sold----
However this is more your style
http://www.ebay.com/itm/XLC-Cruiser...e-Very-Large-Bicycle-Saddle-New-/282005197177
Mikey P
Administrator
it would be on honor to have that on my Fixie
those damn B17's are chaffing my inners something fierce these days..
those damn B17's are chaffing my inners something fierce these days..
I rode and raced on the flight titanium for several years in the early 90s. I didn't ride for a few years and when I came back it felt like the damm seat was cutting me in half. I went to a Womens planet bike seat and have been riding them ever since. Worse than that I have the front of the saddle pointed down a couple of centimeters. looks ugly but no numb nuts.
The shop guys give me grief but I am all about comfort. I grin and say lets go climb a hill... I can drop 15 of the 17 guys working at the shop. Not bad for 62 years. I have wide sitz bones and not much padding in my butt.
actually it is this seat
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Planet-Bike...823535?hash=item4181c19c2f:g:7cgAAOxy63FStLb9
The shop guys give me grief but I am all about comfort. I grin and say lets go climb a hill... I can drop 15 of the 17 guys working at the shop. Not bad for 62 years. I have wide sitz bones and not much padding in my butt.
actually it is this seat
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Planet-Bike...823535?hash=item4181c19c2f:g:7cgAAOxy63FStLb9
