Service Idea

[Steve]

If someone were to tell me you can't get $1,000 pressure washing a house/deck, my first thought is, did you educate the client on what you will do, what you will use, how long it will take but most important, what will happen if you leave the mold/mildew on your home deck and what will be the cost to repair it down the road, did you know you can't sell your home if it has mold/mildew, you will face the charges at some point. We have a black mold that grows here, not on many homes but some, if you do not remove it, it will actually eat into the vinyl siding or through wood, the repair costs are then in the thousands or ten's of thousands. This really is fantastic! This is the selling of the services. As you said, the customer has to see they are getting a value out of it. When they get such a presentation from you and consider how in the long run you are actually saving them money with such preventative maintenance, the customer feels like they will walk away a winner and you then win too. A big factor in the sale seems to be in the sales presentation. Maybe the more you educate the potential customer, the more professional you look all plays into what price you can get for the job.

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[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

That is very true, I would add to that the ability to read people and weed out the tire kickers, I do not spend 30 min educating the customer then giving them the price if I am certain they are just calling around, I can generally even tell on the phone. In short it is money well spent (time), it works very well for me, has over the years in a host of business's so I go this route for pretty much every service we offer. We need to put ourselves in the customers shoes, price should be the last thing we talk about and we should not be afraid of our price, look them straight in the eye, don't fold your arms, don't look at the ground, make the eye contact.

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Andy
Halifax, Nova Scotia

[Steve]

How important is it to let the customer know the estimated amount of time the job will take you, before you give the price?

Do you find there is a good lead up that should be used before you tell the customer the price?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

How important is it to let the customer know the estimated amount of time the job will take you, before you give the price?

Do you find there is a good lead up that should be used before you tell the customer the price?

It soften's the sometimes shock factor, some do not really care they just want it done but I don't take any chances. Some think this should take a day when it may take three or four, perhaps longer. If I say it will take us at least four days to ........, quite often they will ask why, this gives us a chance to explain the process further, then when you say it will cost $x they are thinking that is not bad for four days work, you have educated them on the process, equipment required and staff time.