How do I handle price shopping customers? Read on

The Office Business
1

So I thought I would share a recent email received from a customer who accepted our initial gutter cleaning bid, only to reply a week later with an email to “match pricing” of a lower competitor. Here it goes:

"To whom it may concern,
I had called earlier this week and gotten a phone estimate for gutter cleaning of my home at below address:

XXXXXXXXXX

I had scheduled a premium cleaning for approximately $285 dollars for this Friday.

I have gotten an estimate from another company for doing the same job for $200. Can you match this estimate? If not, I would like to cancel my gutter cleaning appointment for now until further notice.

Sincerely,
Customer X"

[B]And here was my reply email:[/B]

"Hi Customer X–
Unfortunately, we do not match pricing due to the fact that there are many variables to consider among service providers.

For example:

  •      Is the company a legit company registered with the State of MN? We are a registered LLC with the State.

  •      Are they a handyman or do they specialize in the service? We specialize in Gutter Cleaning and have serviced thousands of homes.

  •      Does the company carry insurance? We carry $2 Million in GL coverage that we can provide proof of upon request.

  •      Does the company work “under the table” or are they reputable? We have many repeat customers and great references.

  •      Are the workers actual employees or sub contractors – perhaps even illegal workers? We are an owner/operated business with coworkers that we know and trust.

  •      Is this a “fly by night” contractor looking to make a quick buck? We have been servicing our clients for many years, and will be here in the future if ever an issue arises.

Also I would ask – does any of this really matter? Or are you looking for the cheapest price? I am sure you can get someone off of Craigslist to clean your gutters for $150 or maybe even $100. But what is important to [B]you[/B] - a quality job, an affordable price, dependable people, peace of mind, perhaps all or some of the above?

Our Premium Gutter Cleaning service includes the following:

  •      Hand removal of all debris from the gutters, roof valleys, and downspouts.

  •      The entire gutter system is then flushed with water.

  •      Any debris collected will be disposed of by us (we take the mess).

  •      GUARANTEED 100% Blockage Removal

  •      FREE Performance Inspection of the entire gutter system.

Also, please note that the quoted price of $285 is the maximum you will pay, we work down from that price. Our price also includes tax.

While we are [B]NOT[/B] the cheapest service, we certainly are highly prized by our client’s for our thorough nature and attention to detail.

If you feel after all of this that our service is still not the best fit for you, then by all means please do not hesitate to let me know.

But for now – I still have you scheduled for Thursday November 3rd at 2pm.

Thanks again,"

[B]And the response I received this morning:[/B]

"Hi Shawn,

I appreciate your email and have to say that you do make some good points.

I’ll accept your offer for the premium service for $285. No one will be home on Nov 3rd but I’ll keep the water line next to the front door working for you.

Thanks,
Customer X"

2

Outstanding response! I’m making a mental note of this.

3

very well articulated reponse!

4

I am impressed with that awesome response and have to admit taken a few notes myself for future responses to any email I might get myself.

5

Great. You covered all the bases. Home owners don’t think of all that you mentioned and the proof is there. Would you mind if I borrowed that if need be?

6

Yeah I posted this for everyone to use and make a rough draft of their own. I have come to realize that most homeowners are not comparing apples to apples, so I spell it all out for them. Kevin Dubrosky reminded me of this tactic whereas more details add more value. Also I’ve noticed that when I take the time to thoroughly educate the consumer, I can command higher prices and land more bids.

7

Awesome work. I have definitely come to believe that communication is the key to being able to offer a higher priced service. They may not say it, but they are certainly wondering what the differences between companies and services are. They may think that all gutter cleaning job are the same “so why pay a higher price when another company will offer a lower one.?” If people ask me if I can match another company’s price, I say that my prices aren’t set by other companies. I tell them that I have a very deliberate pricing strategy based on cost of materials, the time the job takes, and how hazardous the job is among other things. I tell them that you can’t do a job too cheap without sacrificing quality. Whenever I have bid a job too cheaply, it was really hard to do a thorough job because I was resenting not getting paid enough, and definitely didn’t want to go the extra mile when I felt I was making peanuts. This actually worked to my disadvantage because I didn’t get referrals or repeat business from those customers.

I tell people, you can’t lower the price and not sacrifice quality. You can’t build a Mercedes for the price of a Ford Fiesta.

8

Great reply I already copied and pasted it for future use.

9

good save

10

I would be lying if I didn’t admit to copying Shawn’s response to a sticky note on my desktop…

11

Great job man, really good approach and the same I would have taken. Its nice to see that sales skills are still alive and well. Most likely they did not have a cheaper company and they were making an attempt to work you over, either way good job

12

Awesome Response… Thats a saver.

13

Very well put…would you consider moving to N.Y… Man! The yankees could use another closer.
Stuart aka ys2

14

The best part of that entire response was when Shawn concludes by saying, “But for now – I still have you scheduled for Thursday November 3rd at 2pm.”

Shawn, seeing you conclude the email that way is pretty funny. You pretty much told them how it is and the response by the customer proves that knowing your business and having confidence adds weight to you and your company.

Great job!

1 Like
15

That was great, as well as pointing out you can actually find far cheaper prices, if cheap price is your goal.

16

that was an outstanding response. i am new to the window washing buisness and i have been trying to figure out how to seperate me from others and this is something that is worth taking note of.(even though its about gutters)

17

“in the absence of a clear reason why you are different or desirable, the customer will automatically just focus on price”

Dan Kennedy

18

Hey Shawn,

Great job on your e-mail and congratulations on keeping the customer, in this economy I know how important that can be.

If I have one suggestion it would be keep everything the same and simply soften the delivery, trust me when I say my e-mails use to have the same tone, we feel personally attacked when someone says “Can you match this low price” and it usually reflects in the tone of our e-mails

What if you tried this approach -

Hello Customer X

Let me start this e-mail first by saying [B][I]“Thank You” [/I][/B]most people would just hire this company based on the price alone.

I appreciate you giving me this opportunity to share[B][I] in detail[/I][/B] the benefits my company has to offer.

There price seems to be rather low for this [B][I]scope of work[/I][/B] we discussed, I would be curious to compare my services and ask a few “KEY” questions like - (insert your questions)

and maybe close with - Your business means a lot to me and I would hate to lose it over price, if you would be willing to sign a three year contract I would be happy to lower this price to this xyz

I always feel that by offering the customer options they will usually respond better than a simple NO! this way they feel like they have won, but really you won by locking in a three year customer or whatever benefit or contract you negotiated.

Thanks for sharing and making us all better because of it.

Great job!

19

Maybe it was me but I must have missed where you were offering “FREE CANDY” to sweeten the deal

20

good response Shawn and thanks for sharing mate I will post it into my favourites, cheers :slight_smile: