While I can understand your annoyance, I don’t know if I can justify it. In today’s economy you are going to be bumping up against this kind of compitition more and more. I have and am hateing it right with you. I make less today than I have in years. Decades in fact. Dunno if you have heard but there are a lot of folks out of work. Desperate to pay their bills and feed their families they are looking for new means to do this. Regretfully, ours is a business that can be gotten into fairly cheap if at a rudimentarty level. All the tools (except for the experience and know how) are readily available. Pricing is one of the things learned. They will figure this out or starve. Or perhaps they put a lot less value on their time. You seemed surprized that the fella claimed 20 years experience yet you hadn’t heard of him. Don’t be. I have done this for a very long time. I never advertise. I am not listed in the yellow pages. I have always been able to make it off of referals. I am usually swamped with work.
chin up…be safe
[B]theglassmachine[/B]
[I]“because glass looks it’s best when you can’t see it” [/I]
We are running into the same thing. I don’t agree with the argument that we shouldn’t be angry with them. They are being rewarded for their shoddy business practices, while the good companies who do it right go the wall. They will eventually go down, but the trouble is they’re likely to bring the legit companies down with them.
All good advice. If he is bothering you “that much”, Hire him, or have a family member hire him, then you can personally find out why he is such an a s s
It’s tough when you have someone smearing your name like that. Like Kevin said, be patient and wait to see what kind of quality this ‘low joe’ does. Basically, you have to be like a chess player and always be 3 steps ahead of their tactics. Never sink to their low level and always be smart about what you say to the homeowner that way you leave room for them to come back if the guys service starts to get worse. ( which it usually will after about 6 months )
I never had someone personally attack my company name like this but I definitely always had lowballers coming in and doing it half my price or lower! It happens to everyone in business and is to be expected with so many people losing their jobs and picking up a squeegee for the first time. Many homeowners sadly, don’t care about window cleaners having Insurance and all they look at is the price. The way I see it is these guys that do it for next to nothing are actually giving a disservice to the homeowner. They never make profit to grow, take shortcuts in their work resulting in poor quality work, and never seem to stay in business long (2 years or less). And Yes, you will have the occasional homeowner who has someone that is a old timer and that has been cleaning their windows for 15 years and only charges $50. Homeowners that do pay for your high quality service DO understand that their is a cost of doing business and respect you for holding your ground. Hang in there and maybe in another year they will see what a true professional is!
I would also advise to do a search on this guy at your records office & just see if he has the experience or insurance etc to what he claims. No clients want to see a fight break out on paper & pushed through there letter box. For all of you who don’t know, I lost around 40% of clients over the last year due to competition/recession. I have replaced them with bigger houses which means more dime for my time but the downside is winter work when they are away. Every situation is different, but for sure when the lowballers do dissapear it will be prime time to raise your prices & hire an extra hand. Just keep sweet with the old clients, then they will feel more comfortable to re-approach.
First, let me thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful replies. A lot of good advice that I plan on putting to use.
On a personal level we are going to put this guy on ignore. On a professional level we plan on being a lot more pro active when a current customer calls to cancel our services due to price. We will not ever try to match this particular competitors price.
We will explain that our price is based on number of windows, size, access methods and time to complete the job. We also offer free of charge, an individualized annual calender and a courtesy call the week before any scheduled cleaning so that you are reminded of our presence on your property. Last but not least, we are a safety conscious company. All of our employees are in uniform, fully insured, bonded and receive workers compensation to protect you the homeowner should an unforeseen incident occur while on your property. We are also registered and licensed to do business in the state P.A.
While it sucks, compitition is a crazy part of this business. In a strange way it keeps us from getting lazy.
I’d encourage you to constantly re-evaluate your core business and your market to see where possible opportunities may be. Price and value will always shake out in the end. Either you’re charging too much, he’s charging too little, or what your customers find value in has shifted (and, in a free market, the customer is always right!). Only time, persistence and constant evaluation will tell.
Market leaders are never those who “one-up” their competitors, at least they don’t lead for long. Market leaders must keep a constant pulse on their customers to see what value they’re willing to pay for. Looks like opportunity is knocking for you!
I’d encourage you to incorporate the Daily Drucker into your workweek. He’s got some great insights.
I also think it is important to stress the quality of your work. This is the most important part of the job and can never be mentioned too often…anyone can do a cheap job.
If you keep losing work, and cannot retrieve it, how about finding out some of his customers that you have never cleaned (if he has any), and do the same thing to him?
I think though, that selling the quality issue is probably a better approach!
George, thats the best approach to take, I’m rooting for ya!! I have a feeling you’ll be around a lot longer than that other guy…good luck:)
I think he views you as a threat to him, being that he singled you out…I’d take it as a compliment, but i’d still be ****ed.
U need to make your customers aware of all these things.
Whenever I do a large estimate my customers know this and they understand they are paying for a great service and peace of mind.
Also remind them that if “Joe” the jobless crappy window washer breaks his leg or falls on there property that he will no longer have to clean another window in his life and will probably retire to Florida thanks to them… and they might end up having to wash windows to pay for it :eek:
I didn’t read all the posts, so forgive me if it’s already been said. But when we give bids to prospective clients and they balk at the price I tell them that these are the prices that “keep” us in business. If they want a window cleaning company for the long run we are the company for them. A low price company/person comes and goes and you’ll never be able to get a hold of them again when you need them. We are here for the long run and have a legitimate business operation: customer service, guarantees, licensed, insured, and friendly.
Also, you may check to see if this guy has a business license. If not, file a report with code enforcement. That may force him to move elsewhere.
That’s a good idea as long as they have a requirement for licensing in his area. In mine there is no licensing needed or available. I would love to see a licensing requirement as long as there was enforcement of it.
George,
Ive had 2 employees in my nearly 20 years in this business try to fly solo and they both crashed. Trust me, he will feel the pain of coming in too low and will not show up to most of those jobs the next time. You really should take a few notes on those customers that left you though. You know their frequency of cleanings etc. You have to be there in the right place at the right time to get them back (If thats what you want to do). Send them a letter from time to time or a postcard of some sort. Stay in touch.
A friend of mine who owned a wc business back in the 80’s-90’s was attacked pretty much in the same manner but much worse. His fleet of trucks were primarily Nissans and when one would end up not worth repairing, it would be put behind his shop and used for parts.
A shady competitor went behind his shop and took a pic of one of his lettered trucks that was parted out. The competitor took the photo and put it on a flier and delivered them in 3 of the major shopping malls and tons of residential neighborhoods all over town. The heading read something like “This is our competition”. My buddy threatened that if he didnt stop, he was going to take this company to court for Libel. The owner stopped immediately and was very apologetic (no brainer there).
I would consider calling this guy out in a professional way. Dont get mean and nasty with the guy. I would start out by saying that you dont appreciate that he is using your company as a crutch to grow his. Does he know that he can do all of your jobs at half price? Is that a legit claim or is it false advertising? Can he actually use your company name in that way to capitalize on your business? I dont know the answers to those questions but I would look into it. If he keeps doing this and nothing is happening, it just might cost you more $$$ and stress. I would try to at least let him know that you are aware of what is going on and that you may seek some sort of legal solution if it doesnt cease. I have never heard a car dealership ad state something like: "We can beat Johnson Toyotas price by $500.00 bucks! You usually hear something like "Our goal is to beat the other guys by $500.00 Bucks! Just some food for thought.
Steve,
We have sent all eight customers we have lost recently a letter. We thanked them for their business and explained why our pricing is what it is. We also let them know we would gladly have them back if things did not work out with the new company.
To date we have not lost any more customers to pricing.
We have also not gotten back any of the eight customers we lost.
One thing you could ask yourself, George, is what kind of clients were they? When you worked for them in the past were they picky? Did they constantly say little things about the price? Did they pay on time? Did they try to get freebies? If they fall into these areas you may be better off w/out them and are know able to identify difficult clients more readily and save some headache. Just a thought.
I like your thinking Tony. Some customers aren’t worth keeping. However, it’s still frustrating and a bad customer is still better than no customer in my book.
I agree completely. Of course it seems that George has a fairly well established company so it is probably more of an irritation and a feeling of betrayal by his customer rather than a big financial cut. I could be wrong though. Wouldn’t be the first time.
