pricing question

[candyman]

Good post Pommy.

[pommy]

Good post Pommy.

Thanks Candy

Regardless of how good the service anyone provides is - you still have to meet your market.

Markets are all very individual, so there are no "rules" on holding prices as such.

In my case, O'Briens are just too expensive. Because of this, they only appeal to a very small portion of the business that's available here.

This is based on the amount of work in the area that goes unfixed due to cost (even in car lots/dealerships), and also what the people in this particular area are willing to pay.

The much larger portion of the market, which I address, would like to get the screen fixed at a reasonable price.

My "reasonable price" is defined by what the customer is willing to pay, and me still making a profit - $55.00.

As we know - WSR's cost very little in materials, it's the skill/art of completing a proper repair that they pay for.

Although there are other people out there doing WSR's - I don't really have competition...I think it's a combination of referrals/loyalty, quality of work and the price I charge.

Cheers,

Pommy

[Brent Deines]

I don't recall ever saying you should sit at home waiting for a $100 repair. A business owner shouldn't be sitting at home waiting for anything if he wants his business to reach maximum potential. Most technicians reading this forum would be happy with 10 repairs a day at $55 each and there is nothing wrong with that, but here is my point. If you charged $61.50 per repair and did 9 repairs a day you would generate more income and have an extra hour a day to devote to marketing your business, or maybe to improving your golf swing. You might also find that you don't lose any business by raising your price by $5.50 per repair in which case you would still do 10 a day and make an extra $475 per week. Obviously there is a point when raising your price will limit the number of jobs you get so the key is to find out what that number is in your market. You know your market better than I do so perhaps $55 is the magic number for you.

I trying to tell anyone what to charge, but if you read the posts on this forum you find that there are a lot of technicians who believe the only way to get more business is to drop prices and that if they drop their prices they will automatically get more business. It's just not that simple. Some of our most successful customers and some of the most successful members of this forum charge more than many of their competitors in the same town. You will also find from reading this forum that some technicians believe you cannot expand beyond a one man operation while others successfully manage dozens of employees, again, sometimes in the very same town. I understand every market is different but when you have one technician charging $20 per repair and struggling to keep his head above water while in the same town another is charging $75 per repair and has a thriving business, you can't really blame it on the market.

What bothers me is that guys charging $20 per repair try to convince others that is all you can get if you want to stay busy. I have customers in every state in the country, in most major cities and in a lot of small towns. I can't think of a single location where a savvy businessman could not charge more than $20 per repair and be successful. Is offering a competitive price important? Absolutely! but that is only one piece of the puzzle.

The bottom line is this, if you are "satisfied" with the number of repairs you do in a day and the money you make from those repairs, don't let anyone tell you you are doing it wrong. Success is not measured in dollars, but in happiness. If you are happy with your life you are in my opinion successful. On the flip side, if you are not satisfied with your business and want to make more money you should look to those who have been able to achieve a higher level of income, not those who claim it's not possible to do so. I would have given up a long time ago had I listened to all those who told me I couldn't charge a reasonable rate for my service or make my business grow year after year. I'm very happy with my income and consider my business a success but I don't think I will ever be "satisfied". There is always room for improvement and therefore room for growth.

Do you want to make $100 a day? Listen to someone who makes $100 a day. Do you want to make $1000 a day? Listen to someone who makes $1000 a day. Trust me, both are out there.

[pommy]

I don't recall ever saying you should sit at home waiting for a $100 repair. A business owner shouldn't be sitting at home waiting for anything if he wants his business to reach maximum potential. Most technicians reading this forum would be happy with 10 repairs a day at $55 each and there is nothing wrong with that, but here is my point. If you charged $61.50 per repair and did 9 repairs a day you would generate more income and have an extra hour a day to devote to marketing your business, or maybe to improving your golf swing. You might also find that you don't lose any business by raising your price by $5.50 per repair in which case you would still do 10 a day and make an extra $475 per week. Obviously there is a point when raising your price will limit the number of jobs you get so the key is to find out what that number is in your market. You know your market better than I do so perhaps $55 is the magic number for you.

I trying to tell anyone what to charge, but if you read the posts on this forum you find that there are a lot of technicians who believe the only way to get more business is to drop prices and that if they drop their prices they will automatically get more business. It's just not that simple. Some of our most successful customers and some of the most successful members of this forum charge more than many of their competitors in the same town. You will also find from reading this forum that some technicians believe you cannot expand beyond a one man operation while others successfully manage dozens of employees, again, sometimes in the very same town. I understand every market is different but when you have one technician charging $20 per repair and struggling to keep his head above water while in the same town another is charging $75 per repair and has a thriving business, you can't really blame it on the market.

What bothers me is that guys charging $20 per repair try to convince others that is all you can get if you want to stay busy. I have customers in every state in the country, in most major cities and in a lot of small towns. I can't think of a single location where a savvy businessman could not charge more than $20 per repair and be successful. Is offering a competitive price important? Absolutely! but that is only one piece of the puzzle.

The bottom line is this, if you are "satisfied" with the number of repairs you do in a day and the money you make from those repairs, don't let anyone tell you you are doing it wrong. Success is not measured in dollars, but in happiness. If you are happy with your life you are in my opinion successful. On the flip side, if you are not satisfied with your business and want to make more money you should look to those who have been able to achieve a higher level of income, not those who claim it's not possible to do so. I would have given up a long time ago had I listened to all those who told me I couldn't charge a reasonable rate for my service or make my business grow year after year. I'm very happy with my income and consider my business a success but I don't think I will ever be "satisfied". There is always room for improvement and therefore room for growth.

Do you want to make $100 a day? Listen to someone who makes $100 a day. Do you want to make $1000 a day? Listen to someone who makes $1000 a day. Trust me, both are out there.

Hi Brent,

WOW - big post!

I should point out, that only the first line of the post you refer to was directed at you. The rest was for the forum

Obviously there is a point when raising your price will limit the number of jobs you get...

$55.00.

Success is not measured in dollars, but in happiness.

I can hear the ocean in bed, I'm my own boss and I don't work too hard. I'm pretty happy

I do love your passion Brent, your post makes a positive and encouraging read for everyone. I should point out that without Delta, my situation might have been very different.

Brent, I'll always be grateful to you and your team at Delta.

Cheers,

Pommy

[Brent Deines]

No worries pommy, I think we are on the same page and my post was mostly directed at general readers as well. Your comment just gave me a lead in to the rest and your numbers work as well as any. I just want to get people thinking.

[pommy]

...oh and I'm going to put my price to $65 for new customers, see how that goes

Have a great day!

Pommy

[Brent Deines]

Keep us posted pommy. I've never seen a noticeable decline in business from a modest "justifiable" price increase but like everyone else I am always hesitant to do it. Having the lowest price in town would certainly make sales easier but I've found you are never the lowest for long and if you are it is very difficult to stay afloat. The nice thing about a price increase is you can always go back if it doesn't work out for you, whereas once you drop your price it is very difficult to return to the previous pricing, at least for me. You should know pretty quickly.

Sounds like your market is very different from ours. How much Cash vs Insurance vs Fleet work do you do? I'd like to know if you charge the same pricing for all or discount for cash and/or fleet work but maybe we can chat about that in an email, PM, or on the phone. I really don't like to see that kind of info on the forum although it seems to come up fairly regularly.

Also, thank you for your kind words. You are always respectful and provide good food for thought even if we don't always agree, just like screenman and a few others on the forum. We constantly test theories, tools and procedures to improve our products and service. Well thought out feedback from others is always welcome and helpful. It keeps me on my toes!

[yopo84]

Read a great book recently about a bunch of small business owners. The author did a survey of 14 freelancers who had raised their rates. Some of them were initially afraid they would lose customers but none of them did. They sold quality over quantity. But I agree that each market is different and you just have to see what works

[GlassStarz]

Weak salespeople blame everything from the economy to competition. But the answer is Weak sales ability. Learn to sell this stuff is easy wherever you are. Dont look for Excuses look in the mirror you answer is there

[screenman]

G, you can sound hard sometimes, but that post is bang on the money, so right. I know of plenty of guys sitting at home or on a car wash saying things are quiet, you got to be pro-active not inactive.

Selling this is like selling ice cream to kids, even easier for you guys doing the insurance thing as that is just giving something away for free, well at least that is at point of sale.