Who offers 30% off?

I know you’re joking, but if anyone thinks this is worth trying… I gotta say: it’ll backfire, for sure.

I stopped giving referrals for other service providers after I got a complaint back from one. It’s an unreasonable outlook, but some people will judge you based on their experience with someone you’ve referred them to (this appears especially true if you present as a reputable company, and not just a self-employed handyman type). I thought the people I referred did solid house cleaning work, but it turns out they just weren’t up for the level of cleaning this lady wanted.

So I make a disclaimer now anytime someone asks for a name of a housecleaner, painter, window installer, carpet cleaner, etc. “I don’t give recommendations, but you might try…”

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It was a polite, respectful request. I am never offended or take a customer making any request personally. In my experience I treat a request for a discount as a Supply and Demand issue. If this request comes in and I am booked out two weeks, I respectfully pass. If I have openings that are not filled for the upcoming week. Plug them in and do them. If the full price nets you $80.00 hour for that job and the discounted price nets you $65.00 hour - in most cases I would do it if I had a opening no one else wants. You are in the neighborhood - other people see you working there and could mean other premium jobs. I am not saying you will do this but that I have before and that is let pride trump being reasonable and objective. Don’t make that mistake.

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Yep. I screenshotted this :+1: lol thanks Steve.

@Infinity
You may have misunderstood me.
I was not suggesting that you refer the customer to the other cleaner.
I meant give the lead to the other cleaner with the understanding that they give you a commission if that lead turns into a job.

All jokes aside, if the other cleaner were led to believe that mentioning your name would ruin their chances of getting the job, then they would not mention you to the client. You know ahead of time what they are willing to pay, and that info can be given to the other cleaner so their bid could come slightly under and not the exact amount to give away your connection to the other cleaner. You could always do a follow up with the client to see if they found someone else, and if they were pleased. You don’t want to send someone that is good. You want them to be a bad service, so you can get the account after they fail. Sorry, if that wasn’t clear. As far as them judging me by someone else’s work, well, that is unreasonable anyway, and that client had already turned you down, so not much to lose there.

This is sneaky, and I was joking, but it could be doable with a little common sense.
I wouldn’t do it though, but I do know some shysters that would.

@WDW
You post is reasonable, and right up there with Steve’s IMO.
It would be hard for me to turn down $469 bucks if work was slow.
What else would I do with that extra time, knock doors in the hope I would get a better gig?
You make a great point about the exposure, and possibilities of getting more jobs from it.

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That’s just bad all around.

Why would waste your time doing something under handed like this?

Why would you send a bad window cleaning service to bid a job… Just because a customer can’t truely afford your service.

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If they can afford to live in a 5k sq ft. house, then they should be able to afford nice services. Stick with your price, don’t negotiate to the point to where you don’t make money.

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you know I totally agreed with you at first. that’s what I usually conclude, but when I told my wife about it she reminded me that Dave Ramsey encourages people to make deals by offering cash and he in no way is implying that the person you’re buying from should cheat the government.

It’s a symptom of a bigger problem that seems to plague the population.

ME ME ME. What I want is the most important thing. Morals, ethics, the sense of right and wrong, need not apply.

It the same reason I had a beef in the other thread. People only seem to care about themselves anymore, and don’t care about what is right.

Ramsey also believes that you can buy a 1k car anywhere and drive it 100K miles without issues. He also believes the average price for rent is under 400 a month. He is very unrealistic sometimes. You aren’t going to rent where I live for less than 800 a month. You aren’t going to buy a decent used car that isn’t plagued with problems, for less than 6K.

ANY business who is doing things right, isn’t going to care if you are paying cash or check, because it gets deposited in your checking account just the same. For what reason, other than not claiming the income, would cash be preferred over a good check? And why would cash be worth such a discount?

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I don’t discount. I am in a small town and word would get around and I would never get my standard prices which are reasonable.

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that’s not true

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I’ve been listening to Ramsey on YouTube for well over a year. I have watched a lot of his videos. I heard a lot of what he has had to say to people.

Believe what you want. I’ve heard him scold people for having a 700-1K a month mortgage, then turn around and tell them they are better off renting an apartment for 400 bucks a month. Like that exists in many places. Renting is vary RARELY better than buying.

Back to what you said.

In what circumstances is it better to take cash and give a fat discount, like Ramsey says? The only way I see the advantage, is if you are working with a company that won’t report cash sale, which is what the OP was implying this person was likely looking for.

ramsey doesn’t say to GIVE the discount and neither did I, i said that he suggests people OFFER cash to get a better price.

when people offer us cash for a discount i respond that we report all our income and restate the price.

i was responding to the fellow who said the ONLY reason they are offering cash is to imply that we would improperly report it and i replied that that is my assumption usually but that my wife reminded me that dave instructs people to offer cash to try to get a better response (though this usually works better for merchandise than for services) you can often GET a better price on a home or a car or a large purchase by offering to pay cash instead of having to finance it because it simplifies the process.

please fully read what i post next time, it will make discussion more fruitful.

Yes, I misunderstood what you were suggesting. But I stand by my initial reaction: this type of scheme will backfire somehow. It’s not always in the most direct manner, but when business owners start playing games like this, it comes back around one way or another, eventually. The concept is fun to fantasize over, though. Kind of like how I imagine myself putting the dirt back if someone refused payment… I’d never really do it :smirk:

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There are some things that Dave recommends, that he obviously doesn’t want people to think on too deeply. Overall I think most of his advice is better than a lot of the crap out there, but like anything you gotta use common sense and critical thinking skills.

I think it’s possible that many people have taken that suggestion of “offer cash as a bargaining tool” without questioning why it works. Otherwise, his predominantly religious minded audience may have misgivings on doing it.
[fwiw, I no longer mention that we “report all our income” when I’m asked for a cash discount. I simply ignore it and restate “this is my best price…” Less chance of offending someone this way]


I think it’s important to make a distinction between being judgmental of potential customers who would like to negotiate and reacting to them in a defensive manner, and being cautious of potentially difficult personalities and protecting our own sanity by sticking to our pricing standards.

I’m not flat-out against negotiation. It just needs to be a mutually beneficial exchange. Personally, filling a spot in the schedule is not a good enough reason for me to take a counter offer of 30% off, while opening myself up to a potentially “difficult” person. This will obviously differ from business to business.

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As I said, I was only joking, and I would not do something like this, but I know people who would,

In the real world, there are hustlers, and clans of gypsies who have multiple estimators bidding the same job, so it doesn’t matter which bid the customer goes with it is the same crew that comes in and does the work,

I started “knocking doors” to sell services when I was only 8 years old, and grew up as a door to door salesman. I hired drivers before I was old enough to obtain a drivers license (mid-teens), just so I could find work to sub out to other people. I have met and seen all kinds of salesmen in my day, and many of them had no morals, ethics, or remorse. Some guys would drive around looking for cars that had handicap tags so they could prey on the elderly. I know people who have gotten paid multiple times for the same job because the client didn’t remember paying them the first time. I never did any of those things, believe it or not, but I have met guys who did. Some of them got caught and had to pay hefty fines, while others went to jail, but they got out and did it again.

I am new to the window cleaning business, but I have decades of door to door sales experience, and I have seen more than I could have imagined. There are all walks of life out there, and there are all kinds of salesman.

I was joking, but I still say that something like that can be done, has been done, and will be done again, because not every salesman is a “honest John”.

I agree that it is bad, and I am certainly not suggesting that anyone do that.

To me is sounds like the person offering the cash may be the tax cheater, and is assuming the other guys is too.

Back to the ethics of salesmen… I have seen tree surgeons bid storm clean up that was being covered by insurance companies. They told the customer to not worry about the deductible, because they would simply give them a cash rebate for the same amount. They would pad the price for the amount of the deductible, then write the receipt for the customer for the gross amount before the rebate. So, a $2,500 job with a $500 deductible became a $3,000 job with an under the table rebate of $500 (which in most cases never even changed hands), so the insurance company was covering the full amount of $2,500 instead of the $2,000 they should have paid.
There are all kinds of cheaters out there, and in some cases both the workers and the people employing them.

Not trying to gt off topic here, so I will again say that I like Steve and WDW’s advice depending on how much work you already have lined up.

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Next time try to respond like a mutual adult. I’m not a kid, and I’m not stupid. I don’t treat you that way, and I’d appreciate being treated the same…

Maybe it’s different for you and Ramsey, but I’m not getting a discount buying a home for cash (and most people would NOT want to have that much cash on them). Cash discount on a car? Sometimes but not all the time. Most of what I hear him suggest, is a CASH offer for DEBT you already owe (to settle the debt completely). I don’t think I have ever heard him suggest a cash offer for services. I’m not saying your assumption is off base, that maybe people are taking it to the extreme. I just think though, they realize making an offer like this, in this type of situation, is suggesting some one is not an honest service provider.

i didn’t say this. that’s why i said this:

i did, i talked to you directly without soft pedaling it.

Emailed her back just now. Took a bit of what was said here, threw in something we heard Josh Latimer say in his podcast. Let’s see if they even get back to us lol

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Let us know how it works out Anthony.

Have a great Spring!

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