Diggler On Choosing The Right Client

dirt diggler

this is nothing revolutionary. shouldn't be at least.

I don't think there's such a thing as a "bad client"

There, I said it.


"But Dirt," you say, "Ms. Johnson stiffed me for $6,000"

or

"The Smiths told me to give them a quote when I was hungry"


My reply to that ...



I think it's so true that you reap what you sow in this business. And that everyone - EVERYONE - you come in contact with through your business WILL have an effect on it. And you may not be able to control how that effect even. Woah, get's scary there, huh? Not having control?


I like that line in that old movie "Wallstreet" where Charlie Sheen's dad tells him "I don't go to bed with hookers - and I don't wake up next to them" A very good quote i think.


When you go on an estimate, sales call, sales presentation, appointment - whatever you want to call it - WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND?

getting the job. why else would you be there, right? Do you check yourself in the mirror before getting out of the truck - making sure there's nothing in your teeth ... no snot tangled in your armhair from when you sneezed going down the road?? Yep - all so you can make a good impression. All so you can get the job


You go in, meet these people. You start spittin your game. You start taking measurements, bustin out the brochures, showing pictures of past jobs, and you even start blabbing about when you can start. Sounds great!!

You leave, go home or to the office and start doin a take off, comin up with material costs or maybe you're efficient and you've got it all set up and you can just punch in a couple numbers - and bam - 10 minutes later you have an estimate.

You go back to them - they start asking questions. Some of them are getting pretty detailed and you don't even have an answer for them. But - you spent ALL THIS TIME with them and seem to wanna proceed.

"oh, we'll take care of it" you say. Take care of what? Doesn't matter - I think they're going to sign the contract!!!!


"well what if we change this around - or add that" the wife asks

"oh sure - yeah - that's so small - we'll take care of it" Did you even think about how long it would take to do that, much less how much it costs???


"Can we start next Tuesday?" the husband asks.

Of course!!! You can barely contain your excitement. WORK!!!! -- YOU HAVE WORK!!!! You can't even remember what your profit margin is on the job - doesn't matter though; you've got work!!!

You don't even know what day it is now, you're so busy - but hell - it'll work!!!

"Your price seems a little high" - woah. Stop there. Now you're scared. You're not getting this job all of a sudden. The prospect can sense this in you ... they've just set you up for this ... and they're waiting to see if you're desperate enough to take it. They are in control and you're just a circus bear at this point. They are fully aware of what is going on right now


So they shoot YOU a bid ... and you take it. You do quick math in your head and it "seems" okay. What the hell though - if it's not, you'll make it up on the next one. You need the work!!! and you sign the contract.


ill let your imaginations finish the rest

********************************

Do this: take CONTROL of your projects. Right from the start - which means that first phone call. Think about how you would feel if you walked into your doctor's office (pardon the cliche here that I am elaborating on) and successfully talked him DOWN in his price. Would you want him operating on your spleen?

LOL - i don't think so. Hard to imagine even doing in real life, right? Why? Because they're professionals and YOU allow them to be in control of the situation. You want them to be in control because you don't know what to do - or else, well, you'd be operating on your own spleen.



So why would someone ask you to come down in your price? Or have you gather a materials list? Or have you do half the work and they do the rest?

Be in control. Your "right" clients will find you .... and they'll be glad to let you operate on their spleen at the price that you so desire.

ruskent

Damn right. Well written.

dougchips

http://wordpress.com/ start a blog.

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LNG24

Well written Dirt.

I just had a customer call me tonight to "cancel" the estimate for tomorrow morning. They said someone else was just there and gave them a really good price. Exact words were, he was so cheep we couldn't not go with him, right? (How do they know it was good, I haven't a clue as I was the only other bidder?) I said, No Problem, good luck with him. There was a pause. Then they asked if I wanted to stop by anyway, maybe I could do better. I said, I don't think so. You found your man, good luck and said good bye.

I don't know if they were trying to get me to lowball right off the bat or what, but it sounded fishy and I'll take a walk instead.

d-rez

I never negociate over my price! If a client tells my I came in over budget(too expencive) I explain that I could bring the total down, and then ask them where they would like to down grade or do away with a line item. Long story short- I do not have some sort of slush fund in my proposals to cover negociations. When I give a price, that is what my company can do the job for, anything less and my company is operating at a loss! -Chris

Grumpyplumber

Wallstreet Dirt??
Exactly how old are YOU???

Seriously, freaking excellent scenario, I almost reject rediculous bargain hunting requests with a smile.
I just think of the possibility that some poor fool might actually do it at "their" price.
Better him than me.

RCPainting

Post of the Day!

Grumpyplumber

You just gave that job to your competition.
Now you gotta move on to the next one who's willing to pay for quality while that guy gets too busy to bid.

tinner666

Good call Digger1799

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Frank Slate Roof Repairs, Richmond, Va.

POOLMANinCT

when was the last time a client called you & said "hey I just got my christmas bonus, while your here ill throw a few cnotes your way...."

that's what you are doing when you do anything thing extra without getting more $$$$$$.

imagine if the ho worked for 6 hours one week & his boss didn't compensate him, he'd have a fit. now flip the script.

ps today I ws bs'ing with a pool guy friend. he was complaining about a client crying poverty (keep in mind this is inground pool biz, so not too much poverty in the clientele.) he said he wasn't budging w/ anything and ho will be poorer not him. maybe lost in translation, but it was hilarious.

ray

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