Originally Posted by rtorres122

So you earned the business of an apprehensive, remorseful, client. Wandwizard, a good deal is nothing more than perception.

How many times have you given your services away for nothing. You kill yourself for 3 hours on your hands and knees and make like 50 bucks. The customer is a pain in the butt the whole time and obviously doesn't appreciate the hard work you put in. They think that they got ripped off even though the carpet looks like new and you charged 15 cents psf!

And how many times have you charged an extraordinary price, say 65 cents psf x 1000 sf. It's an easy job and the customer is in love with you. They refer you to all their friends and put you on THEIR holiday card list.

Who got the better deal? The second guy got the better deal because they believe they got a deal.

Your job with your real life customer wasn't to justify you price, but to articulate your value. First of all, I always give prices in person if I can. If it's a previous customer and I have to make a slight price increase, it's definitely going to be in person. What if instead of explaining how your prices have gone up because of nonsense and it's going to cost her another 15 dollars you said something like this...?

(In person) Ms. Customer, I have great news for you. We at xyz carpet cleaners have recently crossed a major chasm in our industry. With extensive education, a wonderful network, and from continuous loyalty from clients like yourself; we've been able to position ourselves as the leading carpet cleaning specialist in (location). It hasn't been easy or cheap (Ha Ha). So to balance our additional expenses with our recent upgrades and success we've increased prices by 20%. But don't worry, not for you. Your loyalty to our company deserves you a preferred rate of only a 5% premium. Just say it's our thank you for your patronage (smile). Just OK the invoice here and... thank you very much.

This says the same thing as the previous paragraph but compliments the customer so much more. It shows value. The customer is getting a deal...even though it's just a sugar coated price increase.

Some of you guys are really on the ball.