What do you say/do when someone says, “Your prices are too high?”

[UncleDavy]

Unless you are desperate for business, politely find a way to tell that guy to take a hike. You know what your services are worth and you also know the care and quality that you will put into that project. $25.00 extra for a job like that is nothing. If he complains about the price, what else will he complain about? Will he criticize the results? Will he try to chisel you out of payment? There is such a thing as bad business and this guy is it.

[Vanquish Auto]

I always like to use this image for potential customers who complain that my prices are higher. I simply and politely explain to them that you get what you pay for. No true professional discounts their work. One of these tattoos cost $100 and the other cost $750. Can you pick out the one that cost $750?

But some people would be happy with the work on the bottom. I just politely tell them I can’t help them and refer them to one of the wipe and go detailers down the road. Sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t.

[RiverCityAutoSpa]

I tell him my prices are not high, you simply cannot afford my services. Then I continue to insult them and let them go somewhere else.
IF SOMEONE EVER COMPLAINS ABOUT YOUR PRICING, MOVE ON, IT IS NOT GOING TO BE WORTH YOUR TIME AND THATS NOT THE CUSTOMER BASE YOU WANT.

[Dan Tran]

I tell him my prices are not high, you simply cannot afford my services. Then I continue to insult them and let them go somewhere else.
IF SOMEONE EVER COMPLAINS ABOUT YOUR PRICING, MOVE ON, IT IS NOT GOING TO BE WORTH YOUR TIME AND THATS NOT THE CUSTOMER BASE YOU WANT.

It’s so interesting. No matter which podcast I can listen to about selling services, I still think in our industry, it’s just better to move on vs trying to make a sale.

I feel that in the event you do convince them to go with you, two things are now happening.

1) they are already annoyed because they still probably feel that they are overpaying

2) it gives them a reason to go through your work with a magnify glass to complain about anything no matter if your work is still better than the ‘other guy’.

Managing expectations is like an art. So is the power of saying no and turning away work.


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[SWETM]

What ever you pros does when the customer is bargain down the price. Stand up for your price settings. And be humble about it no matter what the customer says. If you are a prick about it the word can easly spread to potential customer that know the customer you are insulting. You are only going to boost your ego with insults. Be the bigger man or women and bite your tung and move on.

Just tell them that it's the price point you have. In regards of products, shop or mobile costs, salary and insurance and so on. You can be offering to work by the hour rate plus product costs. If you feel like the work can take a shorter time than your price settings has in them. But only to a customer that are humble to you and you feel to help out.

We all like a great bargain when we buy something. Just look at the sales on AGO for an example that many are waiting for and only buy things when it is that. But the prices is often at a higher cost so you can have the sales more often. And if you have a sales price for your detailing business many just wait for that or wants to bargain down to them. Then it's much of the kind of level your business are at and the customer range you have around you. Is it very many that don't buy your services you maybe are at a to high of price settings. All of the pros can not just work on exotics cars and wealthy customers. And it's the other way around if you are full booked and have to turn down many customers you may consider to high your prices or hire someone and do more vehicals.

[sudsmobile]

I have a story from just yesterday that I thought I'd share. I'm not a no guy. People generally like me and find me personable and easy to get along with. As a new business, I feel that it's better for my business to take as many jobs as possible to build our reputation and generate positive cash flow than to pick and choose every job. But, as a business that has turned somewhat successful pretty quickly, I do find myself quoting higher prices for tougher jobs and not fretting when people walk away. So here's my story.

When we first started, one of my first calls was for an interior detail on a "new" car. I quoted what I thought was a fair price. When I got there, the guy's daughter (car owner) told me the car was involved in an accident and the passenger was eating soup. The window was down. There was soup on the front seat, under the seat, in the window track, in the backseat, etc. I had to take the seat out. I went about my work with a smile on my face. The guy came home in the middle of the job and I said "I wish you would have mentioned the soup when you called. I think I'm going to have to charge you a little more for this job." He was actually fine with that and even gave a nice tip. The daughter was very happy with the finished work.

About a week later, he calls me out to give him a quote on polishing a freshly painted truck and correcting the paint on a poor paint job on his wife's Kia's rear quarter panel. I gave him a very fair, probably low, quote on the two jobs combined. He scheduled an appointment for a week later. This required us to purchase another DA, more pads, more compound and polish, etc. I spent a couple hundred bucks to do this job. Money that I would have likely spent in the future, but money that we were barely making when we first started. We showed up to do the job. Neither vehicle was there and no answer at the door, no response to phone call or text. We sat outside for about 30 minutes and called it. I called again and left a polite message saying that he must have forgotten about making the appointment and to call me. No return call. The next evening, I happened to stop by a local pizza place to pick up an order to go. My son was waiting out in the work truck with the trailer attached in case it had to be moved. While I'm sitting there, the guy walks in with his wife and is standing next to me. I pretend not to see him. I think he spotted me and him and his wife abruptly left after putting their name in for a seat. I texted my son "guess who is standing next to me?" The next day, I receive a call from the guy explaining how the transmission went out in such and such a car and he didn't have the money to do the job. More likely explanation, this guy is a local contractor and I think he pretty much "trades" everything for work. He probably found somebody to do it in trade but decided to just blow me off instead of canceling.

This was like six months ago. Fast forward to yesterday. The guy calls me out of the blue. Hey, buddy, I want you to do that one job (the bigger one of the two). You quoted me $x for the two jobs, so I think the price should be 1/2 $x. The two jobs were probably more like 75/25, not 50/50. Then of course, his recollection of the quote for the work was wrong and low. I quoted him like $800 for the two, and of course he remembered that I quoted him "around $600." I told him "let me talk it over with my son and I'll see what works for us." My son said no way. That guy flaked on us, lied to us and is now trying to cheat us. He called back a couple hours later all friendly and I just flat out told him "we don't think it's a good fit for us. The price you're talking about seems lower that what we quoted and you no showed on us the last time without even calling when we booked out an entire day for your job." He just said "Oh, okay" and hung up. It actually felt great to tell him no but in a polite way.

[Dan Tran]

I have a story from just yesterday that I thought I'd share. I'm not a no guy. People generally like me and find me personable and easy to get along with. As a new business, I feel that it's better for my business to take as many jobs as possible to build our reputation and generate positive cash flow than to pick and choose every job. But, as a business that has turned somewhat successful pretty quickly, I do find myself quoting higher prices for tougher jobs and not fretting when people walk away. So here's my story.

When we first started, one of my first calls was for an interior detail on a "new" car. I quoted what I thought was a fair price. When I got there, the guy's daughter (car owner) told me the car was involved in an accident and the passenger was eating soup. The window was down. There was soup on the front seat, under the seat, in the window track, in the backseat, etc. I had to take the seat out. I went about my work with a smile on my face. The guy came home in the middle of the job and I said "I wish you would have mentioned the soup when you called. I think I'm going to have to charge you a little more for this job." He was actually fine with that and even gave a nice tip. The daughter was very happy with the finished work.

About a week later, he calls me out to give him a quote on polishing a freshly painted truck and correcting the paint on a poor paint job on his wife's Kia's rear quarter panel. I gave him a very fair, probably low, quote on the two jobs combined. He scheduled an appointment for a week later. This required us to purchase another DA, more pads, more compound and polish, etc. I spent a couple hundred bucks to do this job. Money that I would have likely spent in the future, but money that we were barely making when we first started. We showed up to do the job. Neither vehicle was there and no answer at the door, no response to phone call or text. We sat outside for about 30 minutes and called it. I called again and left a polite message saying that he must have forgotten about making the appointment and to call me. No return call. The next evening, I happened to stop by a local pizza place to pick up an order to go. My son was waiting out in the work truck with the trailer attached in case it had to be moved. While I'm sitting there, the guy walks in with his wife and is standing next to me. I pretend not to see him. I think he spotted me and him and his wife abruptly left after putting their name in for a seat. I texted my son "guess who is standing next to me?" The next day, I receive a call from the guy explaining how the transmission went out in such and such a car and he didn't have the money to do the job. More likely explanation, this guy is a local contractor and I think he pretty much "trades" everything for work. He probably found somebody to do it in trade but decided to just blow me off instead of canceling.

This was like six months ago. Fast forward to yesterday. The guy calls me out of the blue. Hey, buddy, I want you to do that one job (the bigger one of the two). You quoted me $x for the two jobs, so I think the price should be 1/2 $x. The two jobs were probably more like 75/25, not 50/50. Then of course, his recollection of the quote for the work was wrong and low. I quoted him like $800 for the two, and of course he remembered that I quoted him "around $600." I told him "let me talk it over with my son and I'll see what works for us." My son said no way. That guy flaked on us, lied to us and is now trying to cheat us. He called back a couple hours later all friendly and I just flat out told him "we don't think it's a good fit for us. The price you're talking about seems lower that what we quoted and you no showed on us the last time without even calling when we booked out an entire day for your job." He just said "Oh, okay" and hung up. It actually felt great to tell him no but in a polite way.

Thank you for this experience. Last year, I should have gone with my gut instinct to say no. I took the job anyway and the guy was no pleasant to work with.

I ended up giving him a $25 off coupon for next time in good faith to show him my customer service level. Truthfully I would be shock if he called me again this year and I would say no then.


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[Dan Tran]

What ever you pros does when the customer is bargain down the price. Stand up for your price settings. And be humble about it no matter what the customer says. If you are a prick about it the word can easly spread to potential customer that know the customer you are insulting. You are only going to boost your ego with insults. Be the bigger man or women and bite your tung and move on.

Just tell them that it's the price point you have. In regards of products, shop or mobile costs, salary and insurance and so on. You can be offering to work by the hour rate plus product costs. If you feel like the work can take a shorter time than your price settings has in them. But only to a customer that are humble to you and you feel to help out.

We all like a great bargain when we buy something. Just look at the sales on AGO for an example that many are waiting for and only buy things when it is that. But the prices is often at a higher cost so you can have the sales more often. And if you have a sales price for your detailing business many just wait for that or wants to bargain down to them. Then it's much of the kind of level your business are at and the customer range you have around you. Is it very many that don't buy your services you maybe are at a to high of price settings. All of the pros can not just work on exotics cars and wealthy customers. And it's the other way around if you are full booked and have to turn down many customers you may consider to high your prices or hire someone and do more vehicals.

I will agree with this. I had to bite my own tongue like ALL THE TIME!

I learned that if I go down in my price, I start to devalue my services. Plus it may appear as desperate.


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[luckydawg]

You get what you pay for in most cases. If your business is doing well then you have room to maneuver. If things are slow then you will have less price leverage. I agree that $25 is noise.

How good or bad shape is the paint in now?

I am not a believer in the "you get what you pay for" line
Reality is this

LOTS of people LOTS of times have "paid for it" and not gotten what they paid for
However-- if you dont pay for "it", there is no chance you are going to get "it"
But if you do pay for "it", at least there is a chance you will get "it"

But I know what you meant

[Calendyr]

I would not insult a person for trying to lower the price. But, if I feel I am wasting my time because they are looking for car wash price points, I simply tell them we are not a fit and the level of service they are looking for is available at car washes. I understand that many people do not want to pay premium to have cars cleaned, heck, I would not pay 400$+ to have my car detailed, so I have no hard feelings or anything about people not wanting to spend that much on it. But at the same time, I am not interested working for peanuts for a job that requires a lot of knowledge and physical labour to do correctly. Not to mention expensive products and equipment.

So to each his own. I will work for people looking for the kind of service I want to provide, and let people not willing to pay go to places willing to do it for much cheaper.