 I recently had an enquiry about cleaning some carpets from a couple in a fairly affluent area. I had cleaned the carpets of their parents just the week before and they had seen and were amazed with the result. The carpets were synthetic and had been down for about 28 years. Yet they now looked as though they were new. We had left a voucher for a free trial area of carpet to be cleaned to pass on to friends or family so they could see risk-free what we could do for them also. So now, the son wanted me to give a quote for cleaning his carpets.
There’s nothing better than a recommendation like this of course, as not only is the cleaning business recommended but also importantly, the price is known. Hence there’s no risk of ‘sticker shock’. So unless they really don’t like you, a booking should be a foregone conclusion.
We always make a visit to measure up and quote as well as qualify what stains may not be removed. So this was done and a price left with them. Nearly £400.
The couple said they would talk it over and phone soon. The wife in particular kept saying how well her in-laws carpet had cleaned and how badly her carpets needed cleaning.
Well a few days later a message was left on our answerphone at the office... “We’re pleased to accept your quote if you can take 10% off the invoice. If you wish to go ahead please phone me.â€
Now, what would you have done? After all, this is not a small job. It would still have amounted to about £350!
Well, here’s what we did....
I phoned back and said that he already had one of the rooms covered by the free trial offer and this was actually worth more than the 10% discount he wanted and so I couldn’t reduce the price any more. With that, he simply said that he would look elsewhere for someone to clean his carpets.
Many cleaners would think me foolish for turning down a job that would still bring in about £350 for the sake of quibbling over £40 or so but here’s my reasons for doing it.
In Larry Steinmetz book How to Sell at Prices Higher Than Your Competition he makes the point that there are consequences to dealing with people who try to knock you down on price.
Included are:
- They will brag to their friends how they beat you down on price so any referrals will do the same.
- People who want discounted prices are the most likely to complain about every little thing. In the end, you can wish you’d never taken them on.
- People who want you to lower your prices for no reason are the most difficult to deal with generally and don’t appreciate what you do.
- They are typically disloyal and will switch to another company whose price is lower.
- When they want more work doing, they already know that they can get you to lower your prices simply by asking.
The result?
We’ve never heard from them again and don’t expect to. I’ve lost £350 in the short term but probably a lot of needless hassle in the long term.
The most important thing is that a good service business is built largely on quality repeat and referral work.