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Customer Power.. who blinks first....

dmw

Well-known member
Messages
864
Location
North Manchester
Just thinking about a conversation I had with a fellow windie the other week. The upshot was he was telling me about a round he had bought (a compact large cul-de-sac) and although the work was underpriced he bought it cheap.

Anyway after working it for a few months and trying to get to know the customers he decided to bite the bullet and impose a moderate price increase only about 50p, and they hadn't been put up in years,.

He thought the best, and fairest way to do this was by printing a flyer putting it through after the clean and collection informing them that from next month they were going up to cover the usual, inflation, materials, cost of living etc.

Well..... he stirred up quiet a ?storm because he was confronted by the "residents spokeswoman"  (every street has one ?) who confronted him with a petition informing him that the residents were having none of it and this "unjust increase" was way out of order!. Out 40 or so customers more than half had signed..

Me:  "So what did you do with the round Billy?"

Billy: " Well the customers won, no price increase ....I worked it a few more months and sold it on, didn't need the hassle mate".

So it got me thinking,  we've all probably been there and you tell the customer it's going up, either they agree or you walk away. If it's one customer I'll walk away, 

But in Billy's shoes, I'd probably have done the same as him, sold up and walked away.

Any thoughts?

 
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No I would walk away whether it was 1 customer or 50 you cannot let the customer dictate terms and conditions that’s the thin edge of a disaster waiting to happen , over the years I have had underpriced work and put up some jobs that were £4:50 to £10 as they hadn’t been increased ever , I lost only a couple of jobs , most people will understand if you explain why prices need to go up , if they won’t pay it thank them for there customer and walk away . Before putting up prices I always quote new work at a higher rate so that when I put up prices if I loose any they are already replaced with better jobs . 

 
The were never going to accept a price increase no matter how long he waited, no doubt this was the reason the work was sold, I started off almost 20 years ago in the village I grew up most of the houses I had were 2-3 bed council houses some had been bought over the years all decent people, they had been used to historical low prices

I started off at £3.50 a house then a year later increased them by 50p and did this around every 3 years and every time I did I lost work to a cheaper lad who was doing it for extra money and cheaper than me, I had 2 days solid work when I started maybe around 50 or so houses over the years that dwindled to less than 10 jobs in the end I sacked them off about a year before we left the village over 7 years ago, I have no idea what they might be paying now but I would be surprised if it was much more than £5 most likely £5.50-6 for houses that should be £9.00.

Earlier this year I was asked to go and price some large detached houses in a small cul-de-sac, they were fed up with the guy doing a shoddy job and been miserable, I priced the first job at £12 the old lady said she was only paying £6, no doubt I was double the price on all off them, needless to say I never got a single job, there are window cleaner's who have been trading over 30 years in the town I cover and their prices on their long established work is around half of what I charge, this work will never be gained at today's prices until the people sell up and move out and are replaced by a different generation. 

 
I would have done the same. I would find  walking away from 40 houses too painful financially. The odd one here and there I can (and do) cope with walking away from but I think your mate did the right thing in this case.

 
There's a time to reap and a time to sow. I would never use a flyer to increase my price. I would also only increase in April and tell them in March and would say its because of paying tax. I had told some of my neighbours I will be increasing a pound from April and the reason is tax and they are happy with it. There's a psychology behind it, humans take bad news better if you give them plenty of warning. Governments, Lawyers and Doctors send out bad news on a Friday so the letter hits the mat on a Saturday morning. The person opens the letter and trys to jump on the phone to complain but the place doesn't open till Monday. By the time Monday has arrived they have accepted it and have cooled down that's why we get the saying "I will sleep on it". Anyhow, I would have chapped all their doors and told them face to face in March that it will be going up a pound next month because of the new tax year. You need a good reason for putting it up and then they will accept it better. ?

 
say its because of paying tax


Not so sure on that one.. see the government keeps increasing the minimum tax threshold so you actually pay less tax. Anyone registered as a company could maybe use it but if you're VAT registered your clients will know you're turning over tons of cash anyway.

Your insurance premium going up however is not really judgeable by the clients. They want you to be insured in case you damage anything and most will be grateful that you're keeping up your insurance rather than binning it.

Ultimately it's up to you how you swing it and whatever works best for you is the best way of doing it but the insurance premium is another option for those looking to justify it.

 
Justify it with the cost of living. No need to cite any one reason. Fuel, food, clothing, electricity bills, gas bills, water etc all go up. People expect a rise. I’ve never had anyone ask me to give a reason for an increase.

 
Guys what is it that make you feel you need to justify your price going up?! When you go to tesco and the price has gone up theres no explanation. When I go to the garage for yearly mot and service and it's slightly more than last year no leaflet or signs explaining why. Builders plumber electricians all raised prices non of them try and figure out reasons to give customers to justify it. It's just an accepted fact prices rise. I have never understood why in this game windies feel they need to justify this to customers and come up with ideas like saying it's my tax it's my insurance!

I've found over the years if you are doing a great job and a nice approachable person to customers and they like you they understand. When I put all mine up a £1 every year I just add a note on the invoice slip through the door that reads.

Dear customer I hope your well. Just to let you know as of your next clean I have raised prices slightly by just £1 per clean. As always thanks for your custome it's much appreciated. Kind regards Chris

Done never had anyone get in touch. The only ones I've lost are price increases I've done cos the job or customer is a pain so I wack it up a big amount hoping they will cancel. 

 
Just thinking about a conversation I had with a fellow windie the other week. The upshot was he was telling me about a round he had bought (a compact large cul-de-sac) and although the work was underpriced he bought it cheap.

Anyway after working it for a few months and trying to get to know the customers he decided to bite the bullet and impose a moderate price increase only about 50p, and they hadn't been put up in years,.

He thought the best, and fairest way to do this was by printing a flyer putting it through after the clean and collection informing them that from next month they were going up to cover the usual, inflation, materials, cost of living etc.

Well..... he stirred up quiet a ?storm because he was confronted by the "residents spokeswoman"  (every street has one ?) who confronted him with a petition informing him that the residents were having none of it and this "unjust increase" was way out of order!. Out 40 or so customers more than half had signed..

Me:  "So what did you do with the round Billy?"

Billy: " Well the customers won, no price increase ....I worked it a few more months and sold it on, didn't need the hassle mate".

So it got me thinking,  we've all probably been there and you tell the customer it's going up, either they agree or you walk away. If it's one customer I'll walk away, 

But in Billy's shoes, I'd probably have done the same as him, sold up and walked away.

Any thoughts?
Doing the Flyer thing probably was the undoing,,,,gave the residents time to ponder and discuss over the garden fence.Should of spoken to each resident personally explaining why.

 
Doing the Flyer thing probably was the undoing,,,,gave the residents time to ponder and discuss over the garden fence.Should of spoken to each resident personally explaining why.
What @mike007?!! This is what I mean! Why is it we are the only trade or industry where some people seem to think they have to explain and justify a price rise to customers?! Nobody else does and no customer expects it. What it does do is give them the wriggle room then to start a conversation about it and think about it!  If your doing a good job and they like you the price goes up you tell them and get on with it! What make you feel you have to personally explain why your price has gone up?!

 
What,s so funny...does nobody realise I have to buy a new piece of sgueegee rubber every now and again!!!!
I had an old guy years ago who I had known all my life as he only lived a few doors down from my mam and were we grew up, when I said I need to increase the price because of rising business costs, he said I didn't really have any as I was using water and fairy, his view was that my costs were minimal so i couldn't justify the increase ?

 
@chris clean I think the need to justify the price is the fact that we offer a regular service, the other trades you have mentioned don't, I have no idea what the price was last year when I had my boiler serviced compared to this year, the vast majority of people view regular payment's differently

some folk will jump ship because of a £1 increase, just like they would if their car insurance renewal is £30 dearer than last year, but that's just some people, I personally will always stick with a good service provider even if they might be more expensive purely on quality of service, the lad who services our combi I let him in then go off to work and he locks up behind him, I trust him and we get on well and got his windows to clean some years ago after he did some work for us.

 
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