How would you respond to this customer

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]I got an email from a happy, satisfied customer (he told me so, over the phone after the job was completed and used words like, professional polite & hard working). I gave him $45 discount at the start of the job because the count was waaaay off (the Mrs forgot about the west wing) and the price went from $850 to $1045. They asked if we would do $1000 and I happily said yes.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"I would like to use your services in the future but am at loss to explain the pricing. You had two men at our house for about eight hours so this is almost $60/hour which seems excessive. Can you please reveal your pricing structure? "

[/FONT]I’d like to say; “it was a 18 man/hr job including travel. The men at your home have been drug tested, back ground checked and trained. They dont make minimum wage. We carry insurance and workers comp. We use our own professional tools & ladders. We also pay taxes and have the proper licensing. I dont need to tell you the price structure. You are a happy customer, why do you care? I had to ask your wife if she would like a quote BEFORE we scheduled the job.” (she was ready to just schedule because we were referred by her neighbor)

I think its strange for this customer is asking this question. Do you?

Some people think you are the lowly window cleaner, they cannot fathom you probably make more then they do or are willing to except it, also the average joe doesnt know how expensive workers comp is haha,which protects them!

I wouldn’t send your reply as written, seems a little snippy/defensive

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I would just send them a letter stating that you offer a premium service, maybe something in there about your drug tested/background checked employees with years of experience in WC, and remind them about your insurance coverage (something they may not get with the cheaper window cleaners)

Be sure to emphasize all the positives your service provides, I’m sure your guys don’t just clean the glass and leave a mess behind. Sills wiped, tracks brushed, screens cleaned, and the type of window all add time(we all know “time=$$$”)

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Yes sir, your math is correct and we did bill you at around $60 per man hour. And your job was quoted based on the amount of work involved.

As for that $60…?
X$ went to pay the employee
X$ went to workers comp.
X$ went to liability insurance
X$ went to vehicle expenses including insurance
X$ went to equipment costs
X$ went towards our advertising budget.
X$ went to office expenses
X$ went to my accountant
X$ went towards upcoming income tax
…and if there is anything left after that, then we call that profit. And it is with this little bit of profit that encourages us to stay in this business so that we can happily serve our clients year after year and offer top notch service.

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Yea, I do sound snippy and would not send that response. That is the "un"filtered response. I always have to keep my emotions in check. If I always spoke what I was feeling I wouldnt be in business very long, haha. I think that goes for life also; being the emotional person that I am.

Wow, that is the perfect response. I’m gonna file this away…

I think we will all get an email or phone call like Steve’s at some point. I did and I wanted to snap back. it’s that fight or flight response thing.
Obviously the person doesn’t know the cost of running a business but it’s not their fault. So we gently explain it to them.

You pay us for our expertise not labor.

yeap just reading that ****es me off, but you have to be professional, good luck and keep your cool.

That’s the perfect response, wow… I’m gonna have to keep this in the back of my mind next time something like that happens to me.

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This is an awesome reply. If it were me, I’d reply with this but keep the “X” as it’s none of their business what those dollar figures are and it’s hard to break it down like that anyway…it still shows them there’s a laundry list of expenses. You can turn the whole email around and keep a positive tone as long as you end it with something along the lines of:

“You’ll see that unfortunately there’s a very long list of expenses associated with each job we do and it’s nowhere near the windfall it might look like at first glance. I’d truly love to charge less, and I would if we could afford to, but these are simply the costs of being a legitimate, insured business with consistently high quality service. Please let me know if you have any further questions, and hopefully we’ll see you next year!”

I hate people like that.

I’d probably just keep it like that.

in addition, generally I find people who do not own a business are the ones who say this and assume that is your wage, buzzzzzz, wrong answer, it’s a business not a wage.

those that do run businesses and act this way are now comparing you to the $10hr maid or property caretaker or construction laborer
again, a wage.

notice how car repair you dont really know how long it takes, even though they say 4 “hours” (which are really just billing units not real hours), it really took the tech less than a physical real hour

unfortunately with onsite labor based services, they do know how long it took and how many people etc etc and then jump to wrong conclusions

just the same 'ol same 'ol on a different day

you payed me to clean your windows in a safe and professional manner, I realize the price is a little low but it will be adjusted when we come back, thank you for being concerned :slight_smile:

that is awesome right their, I might have to throw in now that I look at all those expences I may have to raise my price, in their

Why is he asking for the pricing structure. For his home the pricing structure is $1000.00 and that’s it. Why would he want you to repeat it?

And all the time it takes to answer the stupid questions that some customers ask after the job is all wrapped up and paid for.

he thinks he is paying the owner of the business ~$60/hr and he doesn’t make that much, therefor he wants to know the breakdown of expenses so he feels better about his purchase. He does not realize he is paying for cleaning windows and he agreed to the price regardless of the time it takes to complete the job.

Breakdown of pricing and how much profit the business and you make, is NONE of his business!!! Tell him to go to home depot and pick up a few illegals to do it for $10/hr if he really wants to pay less. AND then remind him that they dont have ins. or experience and will most likely break things and cause more damage which will end up costing him a LOT more than what he ended up paying for your professional job.

It seems that the more important question HE should answer is - was the service worth the cost? Apparently it seemed to be when they got the quote. All of a sudden it’s in question because it didn’t take your guys 2 days??

I had even worst experience last summer .went for a estimate huge mention with couple thousand of french panes extreamly dirty some of the rooms after construction ,storms,screens all was there. I told the owner it will take between 1.5 and 2 days for my 3 people crew including me. so he start calculating that I will end up making about 50$ per man/h and he call me radiculas and that last year the guy charge him only 60% of my price. told him there is no way I will sell my quality of job for -40% .
i like when people counter offer me and I’m happy to deal with them for 5%-10% discount but …40%
you better be prepared for every situation :slight_smile: