Those 3 little words you hate to hear

[Gemcleans]

" IS THAT ALL" Quoted a business that the carpet is only 1 year old and looks great. They just want to take care of it. 2300 Sq Ft and a wide stairway. At $65. for stairs and .22 a sq ft the bill was $605.
A good vacuum job, Cimex offices and hallway, HWE stairs and front office, that is heavy traffic and I'm out.
She looked at me and said is that all, I thought it would be alot more. I jokingly said let me check my math.No I said this is how I charge and I'm fine with that. 3 hours max if someone is there watching.
What do you think?

 

[crash1big]

That sounds like a job I'd like to do regularly. Sounds like you made some good money. Good for you.

 

[OldCarpetVet]

I once did a job for this sweet, very wealthy old lady and at the end of the job she looks at me with her check book open and ready to write she asks me...." Now, was That $500. dollars, or $5,000 dollars"? I about fell over. Of course me being the honest man that I am told her the actual price of $500. even. But she was ready to write $5,000. Amazing!

 

[emeraldclean]

On occasion I get " Is that all" .
Can't sharpen the pencil after the fact.

 

[shane deubell]

Why do you hate to hear it?

If both parties are happy and consumer thinks they are getting a deal, sounds perfect to me.

 

[dmreed4311]

The price is the price, don't feel bad about it. That is good money for 3 hours work. The real question is, Did you get the job?

 

[Steve Toburen]

Good job, Alan!

My only suggestion would be to always quote at least three prices. (Even if they only ask for one.) Who knows, she might have said let's go with one of your "Stay Beautiful" options and you would have added to your "Business Toll Booth" route!

Steve

PS I always hated the "Is that all?" reply. Instead, my goal was what I called the "Point of Pain" Pricing Model! If my customers routinely gasped, "Wow! You are a LOT more money than the last guy! But oh well, I hear you are good..." I knew I was on the right track!

 

[LookNGood]

If I were you because it is a commercial account you could have followed up saying something like "I try to price for quarterly maintenance cleanings" basically trying to say "if that's inexpensive to you, do it more often." That is how I try to price most of my services. Occasionally I can tell when I am going to get a sincere repeat customer. They always get some kind of discount because I would rather make $400 twice a year than $500 once (even if you say the job cost you $200 to do which is just a number thrown out there, that's $200 profit twice a year and $300 once) which mean your profit for that account just went up 133%. That's a win in my book.

 

[LookNGood]

" IS THAT ALL" Quoted a business that the carpet is only 1 year old and looks great. They just want to take care of it. 2300 Sq Ft and a wide stairway. At $65. for stairs and .22 a sq ft the bill was $605.
A good vacuum job, Cimex offices and hallway, HWE stairs and front office, that is heavy traffic and I'm out.
She looked at me and said is that all, I thought it would be alot more. I jokingly said let me check my math.No I said this is how I charge and I'm fine with that. 3 hours max if someone is there watching.
What do you think?

The only times I hate it are on jobs like urine or something that is tedious where I am thinking geez if they don't do it I'm out a lot of profit, let me do it a little less. On a straightforward clean, it's no problem for me if they say that. However, if it bothered you on a resi job you could always say something like "I give a $50 new customer credit on all jobs" that will allow you to raise the price $50 next time if you wanted to.

On a side note I started adding a "promotional discount" line on almost all of my invoices. I put he reason for the discount and how much. In other words let's say I walk in to a house and the customer is vacuuming and doing a good job, I might knock $25 off the job and add a line that says "promotional discount: customer vacuumed - ($25)"

 

[Gemcleans]

I did get the job. They are having a window that leaks to get fixed first. Steve I haven't been able to get anyone to bite on the stay beautiful plan yet. Once a year for office building seems to be enough for them.
Thanks for all your encouraging thoughts, but when someone says that, I always feel like I left money on the table.

 

[Mike Krall]

Why do you hate to hear it?

If both parties are happy and consumer thinks they are getting a deal, sounds perfect to me.

Cause you know with hindsight you could have walked out of there with your loot and steak and lobster dinner you weren't banking on.

 

[Steve Toburen]

That phrase "Is that all?" seemed so familiar to me. Then I searched the SFS website and realized I wrote up a QuickTIP on how to tactfully sniff out the customer's budget number BEFORE you quote the price. HERE is what I used to ask...

Steve

PS "you could have walked out of there with your loot and steak and lobster dinner you weren't banking on..." Totally agree. There is no virtue in poverty!

 

[Mrs.SpeedySteamer]

" IS THAT ALL" Quoted a business that the carpet is only 1 year old and looks great. They just want to take care of it. 2300 Sq Ft and a wide stairway. At $65. for stairs and .22 a sq ft the bill was $605.
A good vacuum job, Cimex offices and hallway, HWE stairs and front office, that is heavy traffic and I'm out.
She looked at me and said is that all, I thought it would be alot more. I jokingly said let me check my math.No I said this is how I charge and I'm fine with that. 3 hours max if someone is there watching.
What do you think?

I know exactly how you feel. I had that happen today. Sucks. Hate doing phone estimates. But it was high by our standards and booked the job.

 

[Steve Toburen]

I know exactly how you feel. I had that happen today. Sucks. Hate doing phone estimates. But it was high by our standards and booked the job.

I think people do that sometimes to just yank your chain.

Steve

PS At the end of the day if I made more money than working at McDonalds (the only other job I'm really suited for) I was happy!

 

[Mrs.SpeedySteamer]

I think people do that sometimes to just yank your chain.

Steve

PS At the end of the day if I made more money than working at McDonalds (the only other job I'm really suited for) I was happy!

Yeah good point...

 

[OldCarpetVet]

Good job, Alan!

My only suggestion would be to always quote at least three prices. (Even if they only ask for one.) Who knows, she might have said let's go with one of your "Stay Beautiful" options and you would have added to your "Business Toll Booth" route!

Steve

PS I always hated the "Is that all?" reply. Instead, my goal was what I called the "Point of Pain" Pricing Model! If my customers routinely gasped, "Wow! You are a LOT more money than the last guy! But oh well, I hear you are good..." I knew I was on the right track!

Steve, not so sure I completely agree with your first point about giving 3 price quotes instead of one. It would really depend upon each individual prospect. After listening to what they are looking for first and their demeanor, then I could decide whether to go that route, or not. You have to be careful with that because to some people, you'll look like a caring hero and to others, a shyster. That's why it's important to pay attention to what the prospects are telling you and of course, your own observations.

As for your trade mark "PS" side note.....I couldn't agree more.