I still remember the first time i went to quote for a job, after measuring the room i sat down with the calculator and when i pressed equal, i though how on earth can i charge that, it seemed to be an awful lot of money.
Anyway i told the lady how much it was and she said, fine and i booked my first job. sometimes i still feel like that when i give a price but i have an odd way of dealing with it, if the calculator says its this much, then thats the price. of course i might do some extra for the customer as a gesture of good will but try to always avoid discounting
I have a set cost per ft that i got from Pete Sweeney who i spent some time with doing some practical training, he seemed to be doing well and i decided to charge the same as him.I am not saying its easy sometimes you have to explain why you are more expensive and sometimes you may not get the work but i have a goal to build a client base that will pay what i regard as a fair amount for an excellent job. it will probably grow a bit more slowly than if i charged less but i have managed to keep my head above water so far and am now out of hardest phase and already have returning customers and referrals.
I do think that if you body language, behaviour and tone of voice display apprehension then the customer will pick up on this, if we all went to every quote thinking i am the best carpet cleaner and the customer is getting a bargain then we would all get more work. i am still aprehensive about the work looking for what can go wrong on every job thats after three years, but i must be doing something right, a customer who i have yet to identify said in a testimonial on the web that " i was honest" goodness knows what i did to warrant that remark but i think it shows that customers are looking for more than just that cheap price, of course i am not suggesting someone who charges cheap prices may be dishonest, but price isnt everything to the customer so stop behaving as though it is.
