Five coffee shops spread over 83 miles of travel time. “Can you do a discount since we have five shops? We’ll be adding one more soon.” (In a very traffic laden area of the county by the way). Really? The cost of doing business doesn’t go down because you add more work in a wide area. Am I missing something? Gas, tolls, insurance, wear and tear on the vehicle, time spent - all adds up, doesn’t subtract.
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Yeah that is only really beneficial to you if they are close to each other or close to other work. 83 miles spread out…would be brutal. I’m in the Midwest, and our service area is about 25 minutes (which probably equates to 10-15 miles). I can’t believe that 5 shops spread that far apart would be worth a discount. Like @Skipper said, if anything, it would probably actually need to be more than usual.
They’re misunderstanding who will benefit the most. They can have the same guy with the quality they know and they can maybe only have to write one check a month. They don’t have to find 3 or 4 different companies and juggle them all around. One company for all ther window cleaning? That’s a huge benefit for them. If anything, they should be willing to pay a premium for VIP service.
Spoiler alert: they won’t.
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Like you said and others have already said Garry, discounts for more work and travel time is not the way it works. Show the value of your service not the cost.
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Discount? SURE I can discount that for YOU!
I’ll just drop off any stores that are outside my normal service area, and you can find another pro to take care of them for you. Because obviously you think my gas, time, wear and tear, overheads, etc. are worth nothing. I’m sure you’ll have an EASY time finding a pro to give you what you want, for the pennies you want to throw at them.
By the way, are you going to discount that coffee for me? I only feel like paying a nickel a cup. And I would like you to deliver it to my house (for that price) 20 miles away too. Thanks!
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Kind of wish she would have worded it “Can you do better on the price?” …“Sure I can, how about $100 extra for the actual travel time I’m not already charging and chewing up the greater part of day I could be earning from a client who values professional service.”…You can always tell when they have no clue what is involved and expect a guy with a bucket and squeegee to show up for beer money. No offense to the guys with a bucket and a squeegee.
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I run about a 20 mile radius. Sometimes I fluctuate from that. The farthest one out is about 26 miles. Rounding them all up in one loop comes to about 83 miles total travel by the time I would make it back. The good news is someone else will take the place of this. Perhaps Samuel will pick up the Sarasota store anyway. 
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I would just suggest to have the local WC do them , I’m sure he’ll be a lot cheaper
Surprised at the question from the “Office Manager.”…“Do you offer any discounts since we have multiple stores? We will be opening a Belleair Bluff store in the next few months also.”…
You have to be aware that the mileage to all of your stores and back again equals 83 miles. The gas station doesn’t discount because I fill up weekly; the insurance company doesn’t discount because I have more work which spreads risk over a wider area; supplies don’t get cheaper because I have to buy more of them to do more work; hourly rate doesn’t go down because the amount of hours go up. I suppose I could opt to eat Ramen noodles and tap water for nutrition. :-/
Skip got it right we do a 30 store account and we charge 1 fee for a standard store within 5 miles of our shop then a surcharge for the others according to distance. Also 1 store has double the amount of glass so we charge accordingly…We have done multisite accounts since our inception and always charge what each location is actually worth-remember if they close stores down (which always happens in the long run) then you lost out by discounting…Another new scheme is flatrating the same price for each location no matter the size or distance -DONT DO IT
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I hear ya’! Even when I first started this kind of a “deal” wouldn’t seem appealing to me. And she tried to sweeten the pot with “Another store will be opening soon” in one of the busiest traffic areas of the County. Meanwhile I just finished with my best quarter ever and this one is starting out equally as well. 
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I wouldn’t discount my prices. Stick to your current pricing. Make sure you include travel time if you decide to clean the farther locations. If it was me, I would only clean the ones in my service area. I would let someone else handle the farther away locations
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Perhaps nothing. I’m there. It’s three blocks away from an account I service twice a week already. I’d be stupid NOT to jump on that.
P.S. Thank you!
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Good deal. Hope that one works out for you - as long as they don’t try to get you to drive up and do the Tampa ones too at a discount.
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