Quote:
Originally posted by John Palasek
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So far, so good.
We're going steady and the quality of the jobs we've been looking at is up quite a bit. I've always said that I would rather stay home or play golf than work for cheap and I've held on to that thinking this year, (unlike some previous years), and it seems to be paying off so far.
I have thrown out some numbers on several jobs which I thoroughly researched and decided were fair and got no reponse or a "We'll get back to you".
Their loss.
I'd rather do a handful of quality jobs for the year than to be "busy" with a bunch of thin-margin Chinese fire drills and dealing with penny-pinching homeowners.
So I'm resisting the urge to drop prices and I've adopted a "Quality work costs money" attitude with prospective clients. I feel that if I come across more as a top-shelf professional than a hungry small guy, it'll parlay itself into better jobs, better clientele, and better dollars in the long run.
Besides, with the kind of work I do, I'm worth every penny and more!
(Now where the hell is my five-iron?)
-JP
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Excellent.....
Ya know?.........it's kinda wierd.......but you have to conduct business this way inorder to get what you want.......You have to go into every prospective job that you are "The Cats Meow" I am not saying be overbearing or egotistical. Just have the confidence and show it.
I've known this for many many years and nothing has changed........People can easily sniff out desperation. When they pick up on it in you, me or anyone....They can beat you down with it......and it is so very hard to break out of it.
I'm actualy having a good year.......better than I could possibly have thought. With my area being so over flooded with LCO's, and all the others.
I have recently done estimates where I arrived tired, not very interested and distracted.......got the jobs and extra work. What one of them told me..........they had gotten other estimates and they came off so desperate......they were giving discounts and offering a free this or that. And the felt that the guys giving the estimates were only concerned with the $.....
Where as I came in concerned with the condition of the landscape and that I knew what went wrong....but more importantly knew right off how and what to do to correct. I wasn't at all concerned about getting them to sign a contract.
Then again that recently happening is a fluke
But I am finding it easier to sign contracts where I am going in confident and kinda in conrtol of the meeting with the property owner.......And my shtick lately has been to educate the property owner the concept of value and what part it plays in cost. Making them believe that the value is far greater than what they are paying and that they need to be paying me more.