[LWC]

Got a letter today saying that we're approaching the "credit crunch" and have asked around and got cheaper quotes than mine and have asked if i would be interested in re quoting

Ive always looked after this one and have had it for years so it would be a shame to loose, but i dont realy want to drop my price. Ive never raised it.

What would you do? Ive had on person say just drop it you dont want to loose it and another saying dont drop it and theyre trying it on. They did say they were happy with me and said thank you.

Shall i tell them pay peanuts and get monkeys...un insured monkeys 

[lovewindows]

A friend of mine who works for a fair sized company told me yesterday he has being tasked to reduce the cost of window cleaning by 25% . [ thats a full stop ]

[windowswashed]

Matt, suggest lengthening the cleaning frequency instead of the price.

[foxy]

i'd cut the price. the recession won't last for ever and when it picks up you can get the price right again. i've had to cut out some extras on my best shop that doubled the price but the shop had to lay a member of staff off. she'd been there 10 years. the recession hurts everyone, window cleaners included. you have to be realistic; you'll still be earning a decent whack, (hopefully).

[luther1]

I agree with lenghthening the duration of each clean.I did this with a global company this year instead of reducing my price and they were fine.

[DaveG]

Try and lengthen time between cleans mate...

If you drop the price it will be difficult to put it back up later on...

[mistersqueegee]

I'd agree w/ lengthening the time between cleans. If you lower the price and then when the economy turns around try to raise it they may drop you and go w/ a cheaper company (they always seem to be around) or cry about "paying that much" even when it was what they had be paying. People seem to have a faulty memory when it comes to what they had been paying.

[Clive McDonald]

Got a letter today saying that we're approaching the "credit crunch" and have asked around and got cheaper quotes than mine and have asked if i would be interested in re quoting

Ive always looked after this one and have had it for years so it would be a shame to loose, but i dont realy want to drop my price. Ive never raised it.

What would you do? Ive had on person say just drop it you dont want to loose it and another saying dont drop it and theyre trying it on. They did say they were happy with me and said thank you.

Shall i tell them pay peanuts and get monkeys...un insured monkeys 

And on the other side they've called me in to do a cheaper quote while they admitt they are happy with the existing people.......

[sparklebright]

Had the same thing happen to me, and I have other work very near, so I was loathed to lose it completely.
We reached an agreement to cut some parts of the job and my price, kind of met in the middle.
Bit gutty but it's still worth doing.

So I agree with other posts, don't just cut your price but agree to do less cleaning as well. So that all in all you are almost on the same hourly rate.

[williamx]

If I was you forget about changing the cleaning cycle, if they have other companies who are cheaper and will still clean their window on the cleaning cycle you are already doing it at, why would they want to have their windows cleaned less often but still be paying more than the other cleaner.

Have a look at the job and price, if its is still profitable at the new lower rate then go with it, you could also try offering them a price cut for say 12 or 18 months, after this time you will re-alter the price back to its original figure.

[trevor povey]

Got a letter today saying that we're approaching the "credit crunch" and have asked around and got cheaper quotes than mine and have asked if i would be interested in re quoting

Ive always looked after this one and have had it for years so it would be a shame to loose, but i dont realy want to drop my price. Ive never raised it.

What would you do? Ive had on person say just drop it you dont want to loose it and another saying dont drop it and theyre trying it on. They did say they were happy with me and said thank you.

Shall i tell them pay peanuts and get monkeys...un insured monkeys 

I wouldn,t drop the price as it then looks like you have been overcharging them, come up with a different spec for them>......just out of interset is it one of yr best paying jobs by a mile?

[sparklebright]

Alternatively you could be a bit sly and cut your price and then spend less time on the job.
At least that way you will have time to replace it before they sack you, which they almost certainly won't. I've looked at other peoples work and people get away with murder.
Then again I can't do that myself cos I'd worry about it  :

[matt]

i have a feeling this is going to be more and more common

i am waiting for mine to do the same, i dread to think what i will do, half say " tell them to go away " half of me says " well they will still be a ok earner "

i dunno what i will do  ? ? ? ?

[peter holley]

Got a letter today saying that we're approaching the "credit crunch" and have asked around and got cheaper quotes than mine and have asked if i would be interested in re quoting

Ive always looked after this one and have had it for years so it would be a shame to loose, but i dont realy want to drop my price. Ive never raised it.

What would you do? Ive had on person say just drop it you dont want to loose it and another saying dont drop it and theyre trying it on. They did say they were happy with me and said thank you.

Shall i tell them pay peanuts and get monkeys...un insured monkeys 

I wouldn,t drop the price as it then looks like you have been overcharging them, come up with a different spec for them>......just out of interset is it one of yr best paying jobs by a mile?

my thoughts too....if you drop the price iitl be  that way for a LONG time!
when i get in a situation like this i get out there and knock, canvass untill i have replaced the loss and some... then i stand my ground....

[mci services]

in the late 80s early 90s this happened a lot round my way and once the prices drop its hard to put them up again. hence commercial round my way is well under priced.

[alanwilson]

I would drop the price - think about it - if its your second biggest income provider then surely its worth hanging onto.

[ftp]

Can you find out the prices they have been quoted somehow? (sleep with the secretary for a night)
The other prices may be so far away from yours that your going to lose it anyway.
I think i would reduce my price but not by a huge amount, just to show i was willing to compromise - if you refuse to budge in any way i'm sure you'll lose the job.
If you've been cleaning it for some time then your probably able to whip round it now and earn reletively easy money.

[LWC]

Yeh it is a big one that is quite a way off my other work.

Window washers gave me a great idea on the other forum

"I would say we are willing to look at our prices and try and make them more keen if possible for you in this credit crunch, please could you provide us with the written quotes and will see if there is a way of doing this for you as you have been a good client of ours and we have never let you down in the past ...years."

Do you know what the most anonoying part about all this though...i know we all look to save money but i know for a fact they ill not be dropping they're prices for their customers

[ronnie paton]

no one likes dropping there price but its about the business and what is best fro the business for example i recently lowered a quote to be competive in a new job now i agreed for a 3 month period to make sure it paid well it ends up a really good  paying job.

only you know what you could do it for for example i have work that pays £20 per hour or slightly more this would not be lowered for any thing, but i have work that pays upto £80 per hour both of these one man well i would drop it due to the circumstances and still have a good job.

or you could lower till you replace, but only you can make the decision

[simon knight]

Hi LWC, If you do decide to lower your price then I don't think it's unreasonable for you to ask what quote you're competing against. Also I think reducing the frequency of cleans is a risky business because chances are the customer will notice that the difference between glass cleaned every 4 weeks and glass cleaned every 6 is negligable (there are exceptions of course eg: fast food outlets etc).

On the plus side at least the customer has given you a chance to compete rather than just send you packing.

Good luck