Husband tells me not to trim shrubs then lies to wife and, then asks for my equip

[QualityLawnCare4u]

:laugh: OK here is a good laugh for Friday night (well after I got over the inital shock). Have a older lady that is my last bad PITA who had a shrub job from h*ll and I knew if I quoted her a price (about 35 hours worth) she would go beserk and yell. Her hubby always told me that if I do anything over 50 bucks to come tell him and he will pay the bill. I go by his office and tell him his wife is on my azz and I knew if I quoted her at least 1400 bucks she would freek. He tells me not to do it and will get his employs to do it. I go today to do the yard and she comes out rasing h*ll , said her husband told her I did not want to do the shrubbery for her. I thought for a second how to handle this and I told her that her husband was going to get his employs to do it. She said that was BS and I had enough and told her it would be about 1400. WHAT!!!***(**&*&*&*&, such language from a old lady. I just laugh at her and told her I knew that was the way she would react. I cant afford that she yells (they are very weatlhy). I tell her well thats to bad and leave. She calls my cell about 3 hours later and asks me if she could borrow all my equiment and she would do it herself and haul if off. After regaining my composure I asked her if she was joking and she said no! I told her I would not loan my equipment out to her or anyone, she then asks to rent it and I tell her sure, for 1400 dollars you can rent it:laugh: Huh, what, thats what you charge to do it. I said thats right, would you like me to do it now while its over 100 degrees and that price is only good today since I see gas just jumped a dime. Click goes the phone. What the h*ll are people thinking!:laugh: I did not appreciate her husband lying to her, man has no b*lls at all. Bad thing about it is when/if I move she in only 2 house down from me.
When I went by the house I saw her trying to do them with hand shears and she was looking rough in that nice heat:) Some of the shrubs have not been trimmed in over 10 years to.

[pjslawncare/landscap]

I just had one lady with an 18 yard mulch job say my price was too high. She decided to do it herself, took her 3 weeks and a LOT of bags. It ended up look ok, but she used regular dark hardwood instead of the died mulch I use. Betcha I will be doing her mulch again next year. I think she learned just how hard it really is to do a nice job

[garth1967]

when these people go nuts over the price and you think to yourself well im not going to get this job ,do you ever get the urge to ask these tools just how much they are willing to pay.just out of a matter interest really.



aussieflag

[mr mow]

died mulch? shi%! every died ive seen looks like a bad animated movie or bad special effects...just doesnt look right. Thats probably why she did it her self!

[Sandgropher]

I think you are a bloody rip off payup wanting to charge her $1400- to hire the equiptment, i would have only charge $1390- plus i would have supervised for free,:) i would love to sit back in a chair drinking beer :drinkup: while yelling suggestions,:laughing: at the end of the day the original price may not have semed so bad after all :laugh: :laugh:

:arsey flag :arsey flag

[QualityLawnCare4u]

I think you are a bloody rip off payup wanting to charge her $1400- to hire the equiptment, i would have only charge $1390- plus i would have supervised for free,:) i would love to sit back in a chair drinking beer :drinkup: while yelling suggestions,:laughing: at the end of the day the original price may not have semed so bad after all :laugh: :laugh:

:arsey flag :arsey flag

That sounds like a good idea too!

[QualityLawnCare4u]

[QUOTE=garth1967]when these people go nuts over the price and you think to yourself well im not going to get this job ,do you ever get the urge to ask these tools just how much they are willing to pay.just out of a matter interest really.

Garth, this ladies threshold of pain is no more than 50 bucks! Last month done some extra stuff for 150 and I went by and got her hubby to pay the bill. Told me to tell her I only charged 50 dollars. This man has no n*ts at all. It will freeze in hades before I do a shrubber job of this magnitude for 50 lousy dollars, I aint that desperate of stupid.

[topsites]

when these people go nuts over the price and you think to yourself well im not going to get this job ,do you ever get the urge to ask these tools just how much they are willing to pay.just out of a matter interest really.

aussieflag

No, because the very second after they give me the answer I get the urge to beat the crap out of them for running off on the mouth.
I already know on that 1400 job the lady was thinking 300-400 max but really 200 would've been nice, so why even bother to ask?

What you got to do with people like that is double your price. It sounds like the wrong thing to do, but when you already know they are going to run their mouth over the price, as soon as you quote 2,800 for the job they will not freak or yell, the price will shock them like a lightning bolt and they just stand there frozen with a look in their eyes that resembles that of a deer caught in the headlights of a car (which gives you the opportunity to walk away and leave).

Because I got tired of hearing it, it got to the point I was no longer sure how many more times I could control the urge to grab them by the neck. The great part is every once in a moon, one of them says yes at which point you can always lower your price after you're done but regardless of what happens, all your base is covered and never no mouth (ok at least almost never).

Even throughout the job (for the odd yes), they never bother you, no more pita bs, the price really shuts them up.
This is what I mean when I talk about making customers put their money where their mouth is.

[garth1967]

mate i certainly wasnt suggesting that we eventually do it at their price thats for sure.when i read your post i could diffently relate.i did a quote not long ago ,about 3weeks ,and after i gave her the quote i thought chit that was maybe too cheap ,well i drove past there yeasterday and it looks like nobody has touched it.i feel like going down there and asking her what price she was expecting.people are strange i tell ya. i did a job last week and when i sent her the invioce she honestly thought i made a mistake and insists that i undercharged her.......go figure :waving:

aussieflag

[garth1967]

No, because the very second after they give me the answer I get the urge to beat the crap out of them, I already know on that 1400 job the lady was thinking 300-400 max but really 200 would've been nice, so why even bother to ask?

What you got to do with people like that is double your price. It sounds like the wrong thing to do, but when you already know they are going to run their mouth over the price, as soon as you quote 2,800 for the job they will not freak or yell, the price will shock them like a lightning bolt and they just stand there frozen with a look in their eyes that resembles that of a deer caught in the headlights of a car (which gives you the opportunity to walk away and leave).

Because I got tired of hearing it, it got to the point I was no longer sure how many more times I could control the urge to grab them by the neck. The great part is every once in a moon, one of them says yes at which point you can always lower your price after you're done but regardless of what happens, all your base is covered and never no mouth (ok at least almost never).

no more angry pills for you topsites:laugh: :laugh:

seriously though i hear ya and i think your spot on there

aussieflag:waving:

[topsites]

no more angry pills for you topsites:laugh: :laugh:

seriously though i hear ya and i think your spot on there

aussieflag:waving:

LOL man, raising my prices really fixed a lot of frustration for me.
That, and a few other lessons such as:
- Always bank winter money first thing in spring priority ONE no matter what! (yup, I got my winter money).
- There is no such thing as too much paid advertising but there is such a thing as not enough.
- Refuse pita jobs as SOON as you see them coming, the sooner, the better. (man I turn away a lot of work nowadays)
- Reduce your cost and invest spare money in parts and supplies, more is better. (you have no idea, 3-4 thousand worth).
- Either you can afford it, or you can't... Regardless, if I do the work, I will get paid, no discounts.

There's more, but I made a lot of changes, the best one was to STICK to my rules: Never break your own rules.
And of course, hard times makes one tougher so if one survives, you're better off in the long run :)

[garth1967]

i think after your first year or so alot people let so many customers bugger with there heads they lose there way.there business is run upside down.what i mean buy that is the customer is running the business .at some stage discipline needs to take over.stick to that business plan and have faith and confidence in it and get your business running right side up

[topsites]

i think after your first year or so alot people let so many customers bugger with there heads they lose there way.there business is run upside down.what i mean buy that is the customer is running the business .at some stage discipline needs to take over.stick to that business plan and have faith and confidence in it and get your business running right side up

It is this that frustrates me when a customer likes to put a hand on my ship's rudder, it is this what I refer to when I speak of that.
Yes, it is a proverbial ship... To me, my business is like a ship of which I am the captain.
The part that frustrates me the most is the nerve they have to even try, but then that is how I learned to walk the other way.
Remove thy ship, and they control nothing.
What does not work is explaining or trying to fight them, that is a 50-50 shot at best.

I agree, some Lco's never recover, some never see that... Some of them go out of business over it, others end up for 20-odd years they just do that thing like that. On the one hand it is honorable and good for humility, on the other I can not do it.

It is also this which many customers think of us. I suppose hoping for the jackpot isn't a bad thing, but right about when one thinks of me as their slave, I find it difficult to think objectively. The only solutions I have found is one walk away or if I feel like it, quote a really high price once I realize this to be the case.

[Sandgropher]

mate i certainly wasnt suggesting that we eventually do it at their price thats for sure.when i read your post i could diffently relate.i did a quote not long ago ,about 3weeks ,and after i gave her the quote i thought chit that was maybe too cheap ,well i drove past there yeasterday and it looks like nobody has touched it.i feel like going down there and asking her what price she was expecting.people are strange i tell ya. i did a job last week and when i sent her the invioce she honestly thought i made a mistake and insists that i undercharged her.......go figure :waving:

aussieflag

Brisbane, Queensland where the customer looks at your inflated bill and thinks you have under charged her ..:dizzy: ..i would move over in a heart beat but i cant speak japanese very well.....:confused: :arsy flag :arsy flag

[garth1967]

look out here is.i expected to see you here doing the nite shift with me.so you think our prices are over inflated here.im on a winner here in bris not many guys do garden clean outs here during winter.but that doesnt mean i go in too hard.its amazing dont you think that we are thousands of miles away from our american friends but there are tight arses speaking many different languages and trying to down good hard working honest people:hammerhead:

arsyflag

[jeffex]

I like the way you phrased that topsites " got my winter money" me too!!!

[Sandgropher]

Ive heard Brissys a top place for our line of work, Townsville to but i cant understand why i did the QLD show run up the coast ( NOT EKKA) for the last 8 years and Townville was brown dirt no grass.....guy on the a thread today from Oregon 50-100 calls a day and he calls them all back, that must be the U.S.A s best state for LCO :clapping: i get a handful of calls a week :hammerhead: :arsy flag

[garth1967]

mate i can get 50 a day in summer

[Sandgropher]

mate i can get 50 a day in summer


On my way, stuff learning japanese ill just hang up on them, one summer me and my father were mowing a lawn for a newly arrived family from Japan they come from -20 c it was 42c above at the end a little lady came out paid the money and asked" is this hot weather unusual" ???:confused: father replied "naarrr mate this is cold wait for the weather to warm up.".:laugh:

That knock the wind out of her sails.....:clapping:

[Allen's LS]

The one I always like LOL... Is after you have given them a quote. They call or e-mail you back and say. "Your price was too high." "We'll give you a chance to come back and re-quote!" I always say go find the neighbor kid... :dizzy: :dizzy: :dizzy:

[topsites]

I like the way you phrased that topsites " got my winter money" me too!!!

Woooooot, congrats!!!
Wasn't easy, it is soooo hard to save when the money is rolling but it really helps, doesn't it?
I think this is the perfect example where doing something the hard way really pays off.

Makes a world of difference in my case, I find this is by far the one thing that gives me that take it or leave it attitude. I can fake it some but when it's for real, they either mess me around less in the first place and/or I have a much easier time walking away from a TON of such kind of work. While I do it, every once in a bit I feel great relief when I do walk away from one like that, it's like boy am I glad I don't gotta fool with that, not to mention I can quote a high price without fear of losing the job because I flat out don't care.

Some folks say I'm leaving money on the table and while I do not disagree that my earnings would likely be higher if I didn't walk away so fast all the time, I also feel that I am losing 10 maybe 20 percent of my income while walking away from at least 80% pita stuff. And to me, nothing is worth pita work if they won't pay 100% what I ask for. Meanwhile, I'm still not so sure if I accepted more work, would my earnings be truly higher than if I sit around waiting for the gold to strike, so to speak.

When I have my money in the bank, it boils down to this: When the MOST the customer is willing to pay is right about the LEAST I am willing to do it for, I walk away... When I don't have my money, I find myself between a rock and a hard place in those cases and the less money I have, the more difficult my choice becomes.

In the end, it literally costs me MORE to survive when I have the least money in the bank, life is most expensive when I can least afford it, funny how that works.