My best tip is to Stomach it, and beat the pavement face to face. Door to Door works, it just isn’t for me anymore.
Bumping.
Thought I’d post more about losing storefront clients as I sank a 6 month restaurant client today.
I have a funny feeling they will be back though - mid summer… when the glass is really dirty.
When I started I bid this restaurant at around $65-70, for 100 panes in and out, some of which were large upper / pole work arches - with the way some of the panes are this should easily be a $100 account. They “haggled” me down to $45 and since I needed cash and didn’t know what I was doing - accepted. Unfortunately they would also “be too busy” to pay me for a good 1/2 hour after the service was completed or the owners would be gone and I would have to drive back a couple miles to get the check.
Today I tried to raise the price to $60 (was going to raise every 6 months or so) and informed the owner that as a business this account was not profitable for me at the current rates - the owner seemed a little perturbed, was like “nope - then we will no longer need your services” (I am guessing he was thinking I would be like “ok” and stay at the $45… I mean I was pretty desperate and it was probably obvious when I first landed this account) Anyway, I thanked him for his previous business, reached out gave a firm handshake - and didn’t look back as I walked away.
Felt pretty good - and I scored another account yesterday which will cover what is lost on this one - and be a lot more profitable time wise.
Like I mentioned - I have a feeling I will be back to this location, but next time it’s going to be FULL price or nothing since they didn’t accept my deal - which was still a heck of a deal.
I would rather work for $100 2x a year on these guys vs. lose time and have a hassle over $45 a month
$70 in/out of 100 panes is very low. $45 is ridiculous. There are ways to get your hourly while keeping them happy at their desired price. You just have to be creative and pitch it well.
Your telling me… I think this guy was by far my worst, stupidest, storefront underbid when starting out - most clients I really enjoy doing the work for and am happy for the “rewards”. This one has been painful and is really the only one which I ended up severely dreading due to the amount of work vs. profit every single month.
Right now I am at $1 per pane / per side unless I think I can squeeze out more, and I am still higher priced 90% of the time than what fish and bobs are bidding on many of the storefronts in the area. Most of the stores I bid tell me they are paying or were quoted 25-50% less. Right now since $1 is profitable enough I am going to stick with that then keep working up over time / as needed yearly with increases as needed.
Unless my kids don’t have food - I will never ever ever ever bid that way again.
Stay firm on your price anything lower then $1 per side most of the time is not profitable.
Lol, I tried - I told him I could do exterior + doors for $35, then the next month $35 for interior + doors. Still not as profitable but I would have increased my profit per 50 panes from $22.5 to $35, which would be $70 for the entire job OR do it complete for $60 - Still really painful but not as bad as $45 for the entire thing.
I am actually really happy to have lost this job, walked away with my head held high and felt a little lighter. Now I don’t have to worry about raising prices on them or wondering if I will lose them for the raise. I am not bitter at all towards them, in goodwill knowing I would still be overworking for the amount of profit - I gave them a super awesome deal, they had their chance and blew it.
They now have to deal with full price rates when their windows get dirty - no apologies on my part.
I still do this guys wife’s restaurant and I have done their personal home (also underbid that lol) she is really happy with my work, so… As long as she doesn’t get bitter - and I keep her happy (she has my business cards at her location) - who is she going to recommend hubby calls when his place gets filthy?
gosh, I am happy. I have been grinning over this all day - weird reaction for losing a client eh?
Man… Re-reading my posts… My rookie year has had a decent learning curve, almost shameful on some prices - even with all of the help here on WCR.
I am admitting I still have a ways to go, but its scary to think what kind of shape my business would have been without WCR… I am guessing I would have worked myself out of business and into a depression already :eek:
THIS needs to be tattooed on every single newbies hand, face, arm, leg…
or just pound it into everyone’s head 
LOL… Wait… Is that me? 
What size windows are we talking about for a $1 per side? Most of my SF is large 6-8ft tall x 4-5ft. There is no way I am cleaning that size for less than $2 per side. And, even that is lower than I would like to get. I like to be in the $40-60ph ball park. Otherwise I am wasting my time and gas.
$40-60 per hr is good for route work.
Bunkerboot83 was saying he was around a buck per side and i was just saying i would not go below that.
That is not what I charge for storefronts.
but some areas are over run by low price people. You need to price what your market will bare.
Accounts around here usually have about a 4 x 6 main with a 4 x 2 under or over.
When I started in my area - I saw a Fish salesman doing sales at least once or twice a week, this area is literally a wasteland - full of dirty windows and $$ - people who have been marketed to by fish and think anything above $.60-70 per pane side is a rip off.
For example one of my accounts tags me $47 monthly, which runs $1.175 per pane side. Fish bid for the job at $26 or $0.65 per pane side.
Awhile ago I was going in bidding at $1.35 a pane side - and consistently was a good 45-55% HIGHER than any of my competition.
Right now I average between $30-50 hourly (I work hard) and that rate is slowly climbing as I keep wiggling into the market here. Now that I have a semi-solid route (enough to cover insurance, expenses and fill in some time between resi) I am cutting the fat or raising them in order to build a GOOD route.
Unfortunately $1 is considered high for my area. Although it seems fish has started burning customers pretty good over the last month and is leaving a decent trail of people willing to pay a little more for a better service which shows up. So it’s looking good, just going to take time
Lots of guys achieve that hourly rate at a buck per side, just sayin’…
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I hear you about making a high enough rate even at $1phr. But the problem with that as I see it is that the route may be spread out and then you might spend too much time between jobs to really make that rate.
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Agreed, gotta have a tight route to make good pmh at those prices
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Keep the route tight, then it can be profitable at a rate $1 per side if thats all your market will bare.
I know of a company on the east coast that charges a $1 per side and they are killing it!!
