[Phil Mitchell]

Ive started to get tough, no more Mr softy
Popped out tonight to quote for a load of jobs being passed over from another window cleaner who can't cope???
Anyway, arrived at this house, quoted at £21.50 and was asked "our last window cleaner charged £18 will you do it for £20 cash?
No, I replied , I don't bargain on price as I do a good job and I'm very busy!
The look he gave said it all (cheeky f**ker)
So, how else could I have put it? I told him the truth but felt bad after. Still got the job though.

[Nathanael Jones]

Glad to hear you stuck to your price. Too many would have accepted the offer and regretted it later!

[cybersye]

Good for you!
Its just an observation, not a critisism but why the £21.50 ?
I read many posts here where people charge odd amounts £9.50, £11.50, £6.75 lol etc..
personally I'd have quoted £20 or £22 but usually my prices range in increments of £5.
Surely standing on a doorstep with either the customer or yourself fumbling around for change gets awkward.
I hav'nt always stuck to my guns and caved in to bargaining I must admit, it always worries me that a couple of months down the line when their windows are looking sparkly clean they'll drop a regular service and so I've priced quite low in the past, but experience has taught me that its probably those same people that haggle that would do that anyway. I've got to start getting tough too!
Simon

[Pole2pole]

I get it all the time now Simon.......Oh my windows don't need cleaning every month as they're still clean. So i tell them as it is........I aint invested thousands of pounds to(I admit) make my life easier but to have them say Oh is every two months ok.....that's a no go kick in the b*lls that i don't put up with. Normally after a bit of reasoning with punters, they come round to my way of thinking and it's business as usual.

[Paul Coleman]

Ive started to get tough, no more Mr softy
Popped out tonight to quote for a load of jobs being passed over from another window cleaner who can't cope???
Anyway, arrived at this house, quoted at £21.50 and was asked "our last window cleaner charged £18 will you do it for £20 cash?
No, I replied , I don't bargain on price as I do a good job and I'm very busy!
The look he gave said it all (cheeky f**ker)
So, how else could I have put it? I told him the truth but felt bad after. Still got the job though.

The line I use is that I'm the guy who can solve their window cleaning problems and that they need never have the hassle of finding another one  BUT to make such a commitment, I need to be well paid.  I tell them that I know they could get it cheaper elsewhere but it would probably mean that they need to find another window cleaner every couple of years.  Of course, I only say that if they try to haggle the price down.
The last customer I allowed to haggle on price (£21 to £20) ditched me after four cleans because they had a male au pair from Eastern Europe who they got to clean the windows.  My experience is that the ones who haggle will ditch you as soon as someone cheaper turns up so you might just as well stand your ground in the first place.  If you're going to get dumped, you might as well earn your full rate until that happens.

[Phil Mitchell]

Thanks for your comments and shiner, I've already got dumped! Got in just now and had a message letting me know they thought I was too expensive and they didn't like my business manner
I know they would have just been a problem custy but I'm still ped off.
What makes people think they can bargain in the first place? You don't with the milkman, courier, gardener etc.....

[matt]

What makes people think they can bargain in the first place? You don't with the milkman, courier, gardener etc.....

its because we should be gratefull for the work, after all we are only humble window cleaners  : :

seriously though

trying to haggle for the tune of 1.50, i guess it must have been a fair size house to be worth 20 quid, these people really do make me laugh

i priced up a massive house once, 90 quid, they asked if i would do it for 80, i said no, they then said 85, i said if i has wanted to haggle i would have said 120 quid, they then said " split the difference, 87.50 "  : : 2.50 on a 90 quid job, i stuk to my guns and i do it now for 100 quid, i put it up 10 quid this year

[Paul Coleman]

Thanks for your comments and shiner, I've already got dumped! Got in just now and had a message letting me know they thought I was too expensive and they didn't like my business manner
I know they would have just been a problem custy but I'm still ped off.
What makes people think they can bargain in the first place? You don't with the milkman, courier, gardener etc.....

They've done you a favour then Phil.  Clearly they would have been problem customers.  Obviously I've never met you so cannot comment but is your technique a bit brash with such people?  I find it easy to let my cynicism show with such customers and have had to work very hard to learn how to conceal it.  Of course I don't always succeed     .
I try to leave it that they are perfectly entitled to try to obtain the service as cheaply as possible and I am perfectly entitled to charge the rates I do.  Hopefully, that way, no-one feels bad about the interraction.
Dealings with such custies can be an art form sometimes.

[Ian Rochester]

I just tell them we have a standard pricing structure and if I was to give them a discount, then I would also have to give their nieghbours a discount.  If asked I will also explain how I have come up with their price so that they understand I haven't just  just plucked it out of thin air.

[Londoner]

The trouble is theres always another window cleaner waiting to jump in with a lower price to get the job.
I would have said £20 was a fair haggle, the customer would have felt he had done a bit of a deal and you would still be getting £2 more than the last bloke.  Everybody wins.
It sounds to me like its your business manner you have to work on.

[carpetguy]

Soooooooooooooooooooooo, what have you learned from this experience ? Mr Tough Guy !!!

[Nathanael Jones]

I offer my custys a 10% discount if they pay online. The discount hooks a lot of ppl,.. but very few actually pay that way. It makes them feel good about themselves when they accept my price though!

[Phil Mitchell]

I was really polite, as always, thats why I felt a little ped off. I guess next time this happens I'll try wording things different.
Not to worry though as 1 hour later a call excepting a £55 job every 5 weeks and today a gutter job for £160 Nice!!!

[carpetguy]

Glad to hear you reddressed the balance Phil. My thoughts were the difference was minimal and by getting a direct debit set up you could have even given a 10% discount psychologically good for the customer business wise good for the business.