[gordons]

I have read a lot of you guys saying that if someone else undercuts your prices or they just steal your customers you are angry about it and you think it is wrong. Well if that is the case sell your business now. You are not the right sort of person to run a business. Running your own business involves dealing with problems and your competition and if you cant handle someone stealing your customers you cant compete in the business world.

[Mr. S]

Come and undercut me then!

Couldnt really give a S***

If they want a cheap job ill give em a miss!

Its the underhandedness of other wcleaners i dont like! It doesnt happen often and i definately wont undercut!

My price is my price i dont bargain either!

[NWH]

Behave youself,this is a wind up i hope.Get your own customers.

[brightnclean]

I don't think it's a wind up.

It's gonna happen more and more as time goes on. Especially with the widespread use of WFP as to be honest there is not too much skill needed to use it and its a lot safer than using ladders.

Playing devils advocate here what's so different about window cleaning and other businesses? I get the cheapest gas, electricity, telephone, TV deals I can. The big supermarkets compete on price all the time and I bet most of us use them for the bulk of our shopping etc.

Like I've said before I never deliberately undercut anothe window cleaner but if a custy is happy with my price I will take them on. Lets face it its a competetive world and we need to work hard to make a success of our businesses.

[gordons]

Well said

[NWH]

Well said.

[geefree]

yup, l agree , well said.

Now lets see, if i was a plumber and priced a job £200 and it would take me a day... and another guy undercut me at £180.... he may get the job ... ?? i may be upset

if i price a terraced house at £5... and a silly w/c trying to undercut me.. priced it at £3...... then he can have the job willingly, because i would not dream of coming down to that level of £2 to compete.

Now, is that what you mean by competition?.... we would all end up cleaning at £1 per house if we all agreed with undercutting and the industry would die a slow death.

so lets remember, yes its a business, if decent people let it be, and want it to thrive,

but undercutting means you will have to work much harder to earn a decent wage, thus your quality will drop, your standards have already dipped, and you will not be a very happy man., not to mention dragging yourself to the depth of despair because of your foolish  ( or lack of)business sense,
Keep your prices at a level you and your family are comfortable with.

Set your standards high.

Respect your competitors.

But above all, respect yourself.


(unless of course you are happy with 50p per house.)

[steve k]

Gordons...you are obviously a clown with no idea how to build a profitable business and you have come to the conclusion that the only way to get a round is to go round houses offering to clean them cheaper than whoever is doing them now...well silly old you

you need to go and work in a low paid job as an employee...probably minimum wage...you are certainly not cut out to be a businessman.

You are now officially:

The Lord Mayor of Cloud Cuckoo Land[/b][/font]

[matt]

Gordons...you are obviously a clown with no idea how to build a profitable business and you have come to the conclusion that the only way to get a round is to go round houses offering to clean them cheaper than whoever is doing them now...well silly old you

you need to go and work in a low paid job as an employee...probably minimum wage...you are certainly not cut out to be a businessman.

You are now officially:

The Lord Mayor of Cloud Cuckoo Land[/b][/font]

 

[Count Phil]

If there are loads of really cheap window cleaners, they end up quiting and not lasting, so there is room for the more expensive ones to sell themselves on long term regularity and quality.

Think of all the summer brigade types who quit. Sure, they may not find the work, but they probably don't charge enough to make it pay. Its ok for summer but who is going to stick it through winter for really cheap prices? Again, room for the more expensive. Don't worry too much about undercutting.

[Paul Coleman]

I have read a lot of you guys saying that if someone else undercuts your prices or they just steal your customers you are angry about it and you think it is wrong. Well if that is the case sell your business now. You are not the right sort of person to run a business. Running your own business involves dealing with problems and your competition and if you cant handle someone stealing your customers you cant compete in the business world.

Well obviously I would prefer that they didn't do it but when this has happened in the past, it's usually a customer that I'm glad to be rid of anyway.
A point that I would like to make as well is that there are ways of competing other than by low prices.
Take a job I got recently.
I went around to quote it.  Quoted £16.  The guy was quite up front about it.  He told me that he had been given another quote that he was going with because the other guy charged less.  No problem.  Fair enough.  I did point out that my quote also included the Velux window in the roof (which the other guy couldn't do as he had no WFP).
Anyway, I just took it as a "win some, lose some" situation.

About a week later the guy emailed me.  He wasn't happy about the service he received elsewhere.  Apparently the other guy upset his wife by breaking a plant pot and not owning up to it - plus there was the issue of the Velux.
Now the difference is that my attitude is more professional.  If I cause damage, I own it and try to provide recompense - either with money or by going out and locating an identical pot (not always so easy).
He asked if I could start cleaning for him next time around which I agreed to.

Making good any damage by having a more professional attitude is also a way of competing.
Now when neighbours' converstions turn to window cleaners they are much more likely to refer to "the guy who broke my pot and didn't own up" than "the guy who works cheaply".

[Paul Coleman]

If there are loads of really cheap window cleaners, they end up quiting and not lasting, so there is room for the more expensive ones to sell themselves on long term regularity and quality.

That's right.  I don't sell my business on pricing these days.  I sell it on reliability and trustworthiness.  I find that is is necessary to be a bit more price sensitive in the commercial sector but not nearly so much on domestic.

[Helen]

Undercutiing and offering your own price - different things We have been down this subject before. If you offer your own price without knowledge of some others business this cannot be undercutting. If you ask the customer for the other businesses price before you offer your own and then deliberatley make yours lower, then yes you have undercut. But surely you would not lower your own pricing structure to achieve a lower price to get that customer! That is not good business in any respect. Again this comes down to knowledge of the local market prices, If they don't match your pricing structure then don't go there. Never never undervaluate your own services or you will eventually wind up with bad customers and non profitable business.

[M & C Window Cleaning]

I've always gone by the maxim, "work up to a standard not down to a price." My existing customers know that, and I make a point of letting any new customers know it. As a result, for 25 years + I've worked alongside two other w/cleaners in the area, who have consistently charged almost half what I consisder our services to be worth and lost only a handful of my customers to them. However during the same time I have continued to pick up good work. One has now retired and the other has cut back on his work for health reasons. I have since picked up quite a bit of their work and all of the customers I picked up were more than happy to pay my fees. In one case the other guy had been so cheap the price difference was tripple what he had charged.
On the odd occasion when a prospective custy has questioned my prices I've reminded them of the amount of money many people spend on hobbies or habits. Then all of a sudden £6.50 - £12 once a month for their windows to be cleaned is put into perspective.
Why on earth someone would want to work long hours for a lower wage by udercutting someone elses work, when they have the skills to earn a much better income doing exactly the same thing beats me. Unless they just like the thrill of nicking someone else's livelyhood. But that doesn't make sense to me either.

[matt]

im sure i posted this, but hey, here goes again

Mr A has a job for 10 quid

Mr B arrives and says " i will beat your guys price "

homeowner lies, as she can see a fast one coming and says " its 9 quid "

Mr B says " no worries i will do it for 8 quid "

Mr B does the job for a while and Mr C knocks on the door

Mr C says " Awright love, im a window cleaner, do you want your windows done "

homeowner says " no thanks, i have 1 "

Mr C says " i will do it for less than your guy now, i need the work"

home owner thinks, this is great, i will get it even cheaper and once again tells a porkypie

homeowner says " i have it done for 7.50

Mr C says " thats ok love, we wil do it for 6.50"

Now as you can see, a 10 quid job is now 6.50
the only winner of the undercuttig game is the customers, they will end up getting the work done for next to nothing, this will just bring prices down

[Alex Wingrove]

NOPE, there is not winner.
Because mr c will do a rubbish job, customer will be upset maybe she will kill herself, because she cant see out of her windows now.
mr b now goes on to undercut some more and gets his work, but dies early from all the added stress of other window cleaners getting angry at him, maybe even stealing his scrims, which leads to scrim cloth healso dies.
Mr a well he is wise, he says stuff you customer, and goes a gets another 2 jobs and charges 15 instead, and then he goes and gets a wfp, and becomes a idle snob. and tells everyone he is great and loses all his friends becuase he goes on about it all the time.
Oh and mr c, he gets thrown in jail for benefit fraud.

so you really see there is no winner, just losers

SO DONT UNDERCUT, THINK OF THE CHILDREN

[gordons]

Matt and Steve K you are just jealous why should i go to minimum wage employment

[matt]

Matt and Steve K you are just jealous why should i go to minimum wage employment

minimum wage employment, when i have mentioned that

i think any1 who undercuts to get work is a mug , but ive never mentioned "minimum wage employment"

[matt]

i see now, ive just read steves post about minimum wage employment

though to be honest, if you undercut and then undercut again, you will not be earning much more than the minimum wage employment

[matt]

oh and jealous is not the word i would use

i have a nice round of well priced houses, not a sign of undercutting, look at it this way, a undercut price is a cheaper price, i dont do cheap earning