There's a statement that many carpet cleaners dread...
"I've had other quotes and they're much cheaper than you."
I had it myself recently when upon arrival at a job the elderly lady asked me to confirm the price and then said that her son had obtained cheaper quotes. She then told me that he would soon be arriving to question my price.
He arrived just as we were pre-vacuuming and asked us immediately to stop work. Although the lady was a repeat client, her son was very concerned about how much she was spending on having her carpets cleaned (which by the way was only £144). To say he was very agitated is an understatement. He had obtained three other quotes that morning, all of them around half of our price.
Now how would you have handled this? The tendency for many carpet cleaners is to agree on a price reduction immediately. However, what message does this send to the client? Surely that we were overcharging to begin with! And don't forget: business is all about profits and margins. No margin = no profit. It's then only a matter of time before the business folds.
So what can we do when a prospective client questions our prices? The first thing to remember is that people buy value and not price in most cases. That's why the Ritz-Carlton can charge £35 for a fillet steak and why BMW can get people to part with over £30k for a 3-series when a cheap and cheerful Ford would easily get them from A to B. People will pay more for what they perceive to be better value
Of course, if your clients are only concerned about price it may be better to sack them and get clients that will pay more for a quality service.
So what did we do on the job? The lady's son thought she was buying a commodity, that all carpet cleaning is the same. Now that's the last thing we want to be as then price is the only consideration. The only time that people buy on price is when they think that everything else is the same. It's critical that you differentiate your service. And you must be perceived as being different in your prospects mind.
So we calmly explained to him what is different about our service and built up the value in his mind. Once we had done this, he was happy for us to continue. It appears that she had been the victim of some unscrupulous salesmen recently and the son was simply trying to protect his mother.
We mustn't be timid in explaining our prices to prospects. We must be able to confidently justify our charges compared to other cleaners. And do this in a way that prospects can perceive as "better value" for them.