The joys of bidding work

[Kendall69]

This very statement shows me why LC backed away from the "potential" customer. Attitude.

HUH???? - Let me clear my point up. Even thought I maket more before I finish my morning coffee...... I would still take $400.00 from any one on the planet who is shoving it at me as in LC case.
You still don't get it.

work for a bowl of soup

$400.00 buy a lot od bowls of soup, and it buys a lot of fuel, tires etc.
As far as famous Amos going broke, my point was he did in fact MAKE THE MONEY, by working for FREE now as far as him losing it.... point was gave stuff away, became a millionaire. Heck even Trump went bankrupt.

Wow this is getting crazy. We didn't see the lot, LC did. How do we assume $400 was a fair price and he should have agreed to that price? What about $350? Where do you draw the line?

The $400.00 is a metaphor at this point. My argument is at $400.00 ( which was ONLY 12.5% less than the saking price) LC could have made money.
LC NOR DOES ANYONE HERE know if he turned down $400.00, or $40,000.00
Remember fields don't stop growing once they are cut. If he did a gooj job he gets a new ongoing customer.
Many here want to religate this job as working for a crazy person, and getting paid in beads.
They can degrade or better yet misrepresent this situation all they want to, to justify all the business they have lost in the past, but the facts are the facts. Someone who I refer to as a customer offered 12.5% less than what was quoted by LC as retail, and LC felt offended and walked, as did the customer.

No offense, and thank you for the lesson, but things have apparently changed a lot since 1974

No offence here, but are you serious.. You mean customer service has changed since 1974 BWAHAHAA, that is the most ludicrois statement I have heard this century.
So you mean all the things I have done TODAY in the name of cutomer service is "anitiquated" " "out of style" "ole fashion"
OK, OK, OK,whew I'm better now, let me wipe my eye's here for a second.
Customer service is PARAMOUNT, and the sooner people realize this the more loyal their customers will be and the more money they will make.
And the minute loyal customers and more money goes out of vougue...please let me be the first to know, I havn't laughed so hard in years.

How do you come up with a price for a job? Do you charge by the acre, by the hour? Do you figure in travel time, fuel and labor?

It all starts with honesty. I would have said I'm charging customer "A" a amount of X and I'm on contract to do it once a month ( or whatever) ...I will offer you the same DISCOUNTED RATE of X if you would like.
I've just told him I'm already giving him a discount, which should head off a further "discount". If not and he still wanted $50.00 less, I would say sure THIS ONE TIME ONLY, as it would not be fair to customer "A". Then I would kill him with quality and service he would beg me to do it at the higher price.

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut and tell someone you don't want to do business with them

How can you possibly equate getting jerked around for several days, to a customer seeking a 12.5% discount and a two minute conversation and have you gut "talk to you" - in that short of time your gut won't even wake up. BUT like I said if a customer continues to jerk you around THEN walk away, but he has to be a customer first.

I'd call you and tell you I want some money back since you were charging me a loading fee to mow my neighbor's property and I'd be making a face like this

Before you had a chance to make a funny face at me, I would be at your front door with a case of beer as a referal fee for getting a new customer.
Now two things took place I thanked and rewarded an ongoing cutom, and gained a new customer, that's called win, win, win.
Then I would have a face like this

 

[wickedinhere]

In my opinion lc did the right thing i am in the lawn business and deal with idiots all the time. I recently had a customer that his grass was growing too tall between mowings i told him we need to cut it once a week. He informed me that he just wanted it cut evey 2 weeks. I get out there and start cutting and its about 8 inches so i call him and tell him its gonna be double the price because its so high he says ok but doesnt like it. Well a few days later when he get the bill he calls and wants an explaination of the bill. I told him i charge 50 an hour
and it normally takes an hour to do his lawn but this time it took 2 hours so its gonna be 100.00. He didnt like it but i have to get paid for my time just like everyone else. People always want something for nothing i use to cut people deals and do extra stuff for free but working for free doesnt pay my bills. If you stick to your guns and dont come down on your prices you will see that your customer quality will improve. When people ask me to cut my prices i ask them if i can cut back on the quality of the job i do for them.

 

[Dougster]

No offence here, but are you serious.. You mean customer service has changed since 1974 BWAHAHAA, that is the most ludicrois statement I have heard this century.

Kendall... try some decaf for a while. Chill out man before you have a heart attack! Your point was well taken that customer service matters. The joke about your free bags of salt from 1974 was because you could not possibly begin to imagine the level of intense personalized service I provide. It is second to none anywhere and I have the letters and e-mails of praise to prove it. My customers all wanted to sign up before the end of last winter for next winter. I am very proud of that fact.

I wish it just took a $3.00 bag of salt to make all those rich folks happy... the ones that didn't sign up... but I'm telling you straight: All the rich ones cared about was the bottom line dollar.

Dougster

 

[shvl73]

HUH???? - Let me clear my point up. Even thought I maket more before I finish my morning coffee...... I would still take $400.00 from any one on the planet who is shoving it at me as in LC case.
You still don't get it.

Whenever someone starts bragging to me about their income, I usually cease listening to them. I think LC was dealing with an obnoxious person. I also think he's glad he's not working for that same person.
I think I get "it".

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The way I look at it is like this, Brian told the customer his price. The guy countered and Brian said no. The guy then said he would have his wife write the check for what he offered anyway. To me this guy is telling Brian what to do and how much to do it for. When you tell a guy you will write a check for a price not agreed on then you are not negotiating, you are dictating the terms.

And while $400 may seem like a decent chunk of money for what work would be done all it takes is one problem and what little profit would be in there would be gone and before you say "stop with the what if's" check out Brians post from the last week. He has not had the best of luck with the "what if's".

 

[ducati996]

Hey, want to take a look at mine. I look around, he shows me stuff, I say "Today, right now, no stuff price is $450".

Well, what about $400

I already discounted. It's sunday, I don't like to work on Sunday, I'm tired, this isn't an easy place to do, it's all on a hill and it has ditches everywhere, I think $450 is an excellent price.

Well, I'll have my wife write it for $400

Its the wife will write the check part that would have made me bust out laughing - if a dink wants to play how low you can go game and dosent play in cash - and then the big spender offers to have has his wife write a check - then its a dink you dont want anything to do with - what a dink head -thats way too funny

 

[ducati996]

I haven't worked a whole lot for other people, but know several who do. They tell me that it's almost always the people with plenty of money who either are extremely cheap, or don't pay at all.

Sad but true...you can watch it anytime first hand in any restaurant

 

[mikeyd]

$400 PROFIT would buy a lot of soup, doing a job for $400 where you either lose money or make no profit means you stand in the soup line.
Although no hero of mine, Donald Trump did not go broke, his corporation filed for re-organization. He kept his money and left the creditors holding the bag. Some "businessmen" call this form of bankruptcy a business tool. Personally, not my cup of tea. I don't think anyone would accuse the don of giving anything away for free.

Famous Amos...a fool and his money.................

 

[npaden]

I'm a CPA and I charge X per hour. When I bid a job it is based on how many hours it is going to take. I don't discount my rates, if you don't like my quote then you can find someone else.

Some would say that if I already have as much business as I can handle then my rates are too low. However I have nearly 100% retention of my customers and feel that I make a very good living and have good quality of life.

I already work as many hours as I want to, taking discounted work would just mean that I didn't get to charge someone else full price. There are only so many hours in a day and I don't plan on working them at a discounted price.

If I was sitting in my office with nothing to do, I might think about doing some discounted work though!

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Some would say that if I already have as much business as I can handle then my rates are too low. However I have nearly 100% retention of my customers and feel that I make a very good living and have good quality of life.

I already work as many hours as I want to, taking discounted work would just mean that I didn't get to charge someone else full price. There are only so many hours in a day and I don't plan on working them at a discounted price.

AMEN.