Is he right or am I rubbish?

[John_]

Spoken to a guy today, he said his quotes r normally more expensive than others because he's better than the others. He say to customers that his work will be better than others so he's more expensive. He said, most of the time he gets the work. Is he better, or we're rubbish, or it's all about mind game? is this guy full of poos or he just know how to play the game. 'Admirable'' if this is the case.

 

[diamondgas]

Sounds like the person you were talking to is full of crap! People buy it alas!! The gift of the gab is certainly part of the repertoire when you have to sell yourself to the public. People buy people john_!

 

[dontknowitall]

Speed/quality/price

You can do two but not three of these.

So you could easily be quicker and less expensive instead - and I'm not suggesting you're no good!!!

Don't believe all you hear though! The older you become the more you learn that, actually, you're pretty good compared to what others have been suggesting most of your life!!

 

[SimonG]

Divide what you hear by 33% and you will be near the truth.

Some people are full of bull.

I'm not cheap, I'm not expensive, but i am good.

 

[REDSAW]

hes full of it.
i used to work with a guy just like him, but you know what he was a good sales man and i could learn a lot from his arrogant sales technique.
you see, he makes a lot of money and has a big rolling job lead and isnt too bothered if he dont get the jobs. the strange thing was he knew which people that were a waste of space.
get as good and charge less then he will be in trouble.lol.

 

[SimonG]

A lad I know, decorator, has had hassle with his boiler. BG contract, engineer comes out and repairs, offers, off the books 250 for a magnacleans install. Asks me if it's fair!

I'd like 250 for a magna install, told him to tell BG to Foxtrot Oscar.

 

[secret squirrel]

What he says is rubbish, he has this notion of being 'the best' because he is more expensive.

However, if a job is worth £1k and you price it at £1.5k and you need to earn £3k per month, I'd only have to do 2 jobs to your 3! some people think that an extra £500 is not a lot of money and you get what you pay for! So, someone who is more expensive gives the impression that he's better.

Also, I would be in a position to start within a few days not possibly a couple of weeks, therefore that in itself is worth (to some people) an extra £500.

I have a very good friend who is at the opposite end of this scale, he's very cheap, (IMO). He is always busy, working, working, working but never has any money! His argument is he nearly always gets the job! Downside is he always working for peanuts, trouble is he's far from being a monkey....

(eg. 2 x plumbers installing a rad and service a boiler labour £60, I nearly fell out of the van at this! I had to explain that the only reason the job was done so fast was that there were 2 of us, I also had to explain that after fuel, my money the job would owe him!)

 

[John_]

Deep down I do admire his approach, possibly envy him too for being so confident when approaching customer ... "I can garantee you that you will find quotes cheaper than mine but I can garantee you that my work will be worth what you are paying" .. and it works for him.

 

[marsaday]

Bull**** baffles brains. Works in the same way when you charge more for your services. People think you are better. You should all try charging an extra £5 an hour and see what happens.

 

[petercj]

Spoken to a guy today, he said his quotes r normally more expensive than others because he's better than the others. He say to customers that his work will be better than others so he's more expensive. He said, most of the time he gets the work. Is he better, or we're rubbish, or it's all about mind game? is this guy full of poos or he just know how to play the game. 'Admirable'' if this is the case.

[FONT=&amp]
What he says will make a lot of sense to some people, but that doesn't make you rubbish.

Taking the cheapest quote can be a false economy, and if peeps don't have any knowledge to make an informed judgement with, they may just think taking the middle quote makes sense, or maybe even taking the most expensive.

I would have thought the best line to use is to refer to BG's prices, and say that you are able to undercut them by a good margin, while still doing as good a job, (hopefully better even) because you don't have their overheads, such as the million pound advertising campaign, etc.

I don't think it's ever wise to try and sell yourself as the cheapest.

There is an advert on TV for a vehicle recovery firm, and their catch phrases is: "We may not be the biggest, but we aim to be the best!" ... that's a good way to sell yourself imo.

Don't know if you saw the documentary on Pimlico plumbers? Admittedly, he's working in some of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the country, but fair do's, he knows how to sell his business to his customers.[/FONT]

 

[md68]

When a customer asks me if I am cheap I always tell them that I am reassuringly expensive and that I will do a good job without having to cut corners to try and make an extra few quid. Most people seem to respect this approach and are happy to pay.

 

[Cumbria Handyma]

My site has a Q&A section, what sells or gets work is always worth using so long as it's the truth..
Q. Some things on your site seem expensive
compared to other local handymen?

A. Some of the things we do need to comply with
the law, such as water regulations Part P (Electrical) of the building
regulations. Some handymen probably don't know this, do not comply with the
law and put you, your property/business and family at risk. They are also
unlikely to have the equipment and knowledge to test their work.

Also, we only use materials that meet British Standard
Institute. Not cheap and inferior Chinese imports.

Yep, bull**** baffles brains

 

[Nostrum]

Have to be honest, I don't see much wrong with his approach, as long as he can back it up with what he's promising to deliver.

There is nothing wrong in being good at your job, and nothing wrong with charging more for the privilege, as someone else said, cheapest isn't always (or usually) the best option.

His confidence shouldn't make you feel worse about your own skills either. There are many different approaches to marketing your business and being the cheapest is going to be the toughest , especially in the current climate. In fact I would say that lowering prices has caused a lot more harm than good as people can now barter the price against 10 other plumbers who are also willing to do so, a race to the bottom starts etc

It takes a bit of guts and stubbornness to let jobs go because your not willing to drop the price, but in the long term you may find you have to work less to earn the same, providing your offering a service that's worth the money you charge, but then even at rock bottom prices people expect a good job so what's in it for you?

When have you ever heard ' if you do it for £100 less I won't mind if you ruin my carpet' etc etc

That's where this bloke is using his talk to his advantage, because he's confident in what he does and doesn't want to work for peanuts. Good on him for having the confidence, just hope for the customers sakes he's not talking out his arrse.

 

[gasmanrob]

charging more for a quality job wont necessarily mean he is pocketing more money.

if i quote a job and use pegler gate valves, drayton trv4, honeywell controls, lever valves, 28mm copper tube worcester or vailliant boiler my quote would be considerably more then that of some one using plumbfix gate valves, budget trv's, salus controls, ballofix's 22mm tube and a ferolli.

does our pipe work look any different? probably not.
Did he do it any quicker then me? Doubt it.
but i have provided quality products and am less likely to get a call back for faulty products.

Mind you maybe thats where the cheaper quote is making his money on the repair work just as the boiler goes out of warranty.

 

[petercj]

You can always mention that you are willing to consider a price match if the gap is not too great to bridge.

I think assuring people that you do a good job, and use decent materials and parts, and offer some kind of warranty on your work, will impress customers who are looking for a tradesman that they can put some trust in.

Blowing your own trumpet too loudly can sound like BS, but on the other hand, if you don't think well of yourself as a tradesman, you can't really expect other people to.

But at the end of the day, you do need to be able to deliver what you promise.