[georgiehopper]

I've been emailing back and forth with a potential customer. I'm trying to "qualify" them.

The first thing they had said was that they are low on $$. So I gave them the first estimate and of course it was too high for their budget.

So I suggested some downsizing and some other changes and was able to get into their budget... but here's the the problem... apparently her husband is disgusted with all of the estimates they've already received and hes not too enthusiastic about the project anymore... so now she wants me to come and meet her while he is a work and work out a more "accurate" estimate..

Here is a quote from her..

Dear Annie,
Let's do an appointment! My husband was so discouraged about the estimates we received that he didn't want to do any more, however, without being disobedient, let's see if we can arrange a time when he is at work. How about Friday morning, either between 8-9 or 11-12. Just let me know what works for you!

Ok..I don't want to go over there on the sly while her husband is not there, plus I want them both together anyway....but MOST of all, I do not want to waste my time. So how do I tactfully respond to this?

[Pelican]

DON'T!!!

You said you don't want to waste your time, start right now.....

[Dale Wiley]

Respectfully tell her that when they have decided on a budget for the desired work, then you can come over with a CONTRACT .

Without being disobedient ?? What the h---l is that ?? Sounds like some type of personality probelm here ... I walked away from 2 possible jobs last year, because the guy was disrespectfull to his wife when I was there. He had her in tears , and that is verbal abuse in my book.

Another lady was so afraid about how mad her husband was going to be when we put a skid mark on the curb while planting trees for a municipal job. He called me up, started ranting and then called my employees a bunch of fing retards.

I banged the reciever on the desk a couple of times, told him there was a problem with the phone line and I had to hang up and for him to have a nice life.

A more ACCURATE estimate ?? Tell her the first one is extremely accurate , and that it expires in 30 days.

I had a lady today gasp when I gave her a quote of $ 4,100 for a 5 zone sprinkler system. " My goodness, I had no idea it cost so much" As were sitting at the kitchen table in her new
$ 500,000 house.

[agla]

Prequalifying means to have a potential customer meet some standard that you set. Have you set one?

Typically, it has to do with whether the potential payoff from the time you invest in landing the job is worth that investment of time. You have several threads that indicate that you have not established where that point is, or that you have established it too low.

Think of your own sob story rather than theirs. You have little time. You are trying to make a living. Any time you take away from a legitimate pursuit of making that living is taking your time away from your family and taking away from the earning power that feeds your family. How can some other family's unwillingness to pay for a luxury item (while they still expect someone to make it happen for them) be of a higher priority to you than to feed your own family? I just don't get it.

You have no duty to entertain people who want something from you just as they have no obligation to hire you when you need money.

Rule #1: Never value getting a job more than the person who you are going to work for does.

Client:
Two estimates - both are higher than they value the job.
Husband is disgusted and not enthusiastic about the project anymore.

You:
Emailing back and forth several times.
Provided two estimates.
Considering meeting with the client.
Want to be tactful in your response.
You are taking the time to seek advice on how to handle this.

Who values the job more?


I would not respond at all, tactfully or otherwise. The worst thing that can happen is that they tell there other loser friends not to contact you. That is probably a plus.

You ha

[HardDaysKnight]

Originally posted by agla
Prequalifying means to have a potential customer meet some standard that you set. Have you set one?

Typically, it has to do with whether the potential payoff from the time you invest in landing the job is worth that investment of time. You have several threads that indicate that you have not established where that point is, or that you have established it too low.

Think of your own sob story rather than theirs. You have little time. You are trying to make a living. Any time you take away from a legitimate pursuit of making that living is taking your time away from your family and taking away from the earning power that feeds your family. How can some other family's unwillingness to pay for a luxury item (while they still expect someone to make it happen for them) be of a higher priority to you than to feed your own family? I just don't get it.

You have no duty to entertain people who want something from you just as they have no obligation to hire you when you need money.

Rule #1: Never value getting a job more than the person who you are going to work for does.

Client:
Two estimates - both are higher than they value the job.
Husband is disgusted and not enthusiastic about the project anymore.

You:
Emailing back and forth several times.
Provided two estimates.
Considering meeting with the client.
Want to be tactful in your response.
You are taking the time to seek advice on how to handle this.

Who values the job more?


I would not respond at all, tactfully or otherwise. The worst thing that can happen is that they tell there other loser friends not to contact you. That is probably a plus.

You ha

Awesome reply!! Also it's fruitless
if both the husband and wife disagree. That's the worst.

[NCSULandscaper]

even if you do the work and the husband finds out, the chance greatly increases that will not be paid for the work. Run, and run fast

[Bill Schwab]

Take it from one who has been between a husband/wife pissing match before. Run, don't walk away from that situation. You are a landscape contractress not a marraige councelor or a whipping girl.

You tell her your policy is to meet with BOTH decision makers or you will need to charge her $100.00 for the potential hour of your time you will most likely waist based on past experiences.

By doing this you tell her your time is worth money and you don't have time to play games. Very simple, to the point and only a ding dong would not understand you mean.

[jwholden]

Damn Agla, that was poetry!

I'm printing that out and taping it to the wall in front of my phone.

[Stonehenge]

That was a great post, Agla. It sounds like she's asking you to meet with her in the hopes that the info you give her will help her convince her husband to have the work done.

Tony Robbins only accepts clients who are willing to change their lives right now. If you aren't willing to change your life at this moment, he'll tell you it isn't worth his time, because he can't make you change.

That's kinda like what you have here - not only do you have the hurdle of selling the work, you have to sell them on the idea that they need the work. Wha? No thanks.

I get calls all the time from people who want us to come out to price a paver driveway, and that they are going to compare that price to concrete. I tell them that we're only going to come out if they know they want pavers. If they have to decide between the two, it's going to come down to price, and concrete will always win, so there's no sense in them even considering pavers. They have to know they want pavers and only be talking with brick paver contractors. Otherwise it's an exercise in futility.

Tell them you'd be happy to provide them a paid consultation when they BOTH know they are ready to contract for landscaping services.

But scroll up and re-read Agla's post. It has what you need to know in it. You have to watch out for you, because the client sure isn't going to.

[agla]

I think another thing that happens in a situation like this is that when we do not show firm pricing or policy it gives hope to people in a hopeless situation. The only hope that house wife has is to convince you to do the work at a price the husband is willing to pay. She only has that hope because she gets Georgie to keep trying to get the job. When the price and policy are firm it forces the customer to find another way. That means to find the money to get it done, or to look for someone else to work over.

Most of us have a quantifiable pricing system. That should be based on experience of knowing the overhead and knowing about what point makes us noncompetitive. But, newer guys or guys going into new areas sometimes have to wing it a little. Even so, once a proposal is made you really have to stick to it because you lose credibility otherwise. Any change makes it look like you were overcharging in the first place, or that you are soft and can be manipulated. Neither is good. If there was an error in judgement in a proposal, find or invent a specific mistake on it so that you don't lose credibility and you still have a competitive shot at the job, but only if you come to the conclusion that you have over priced it based on inexperience.

[georgiehopper]

I always try to do what I can to work with a person's budget. I did not give her a discount when I downsized the project, I only reduced the size of the patio. If we got the job it would still be profitable for us.

I am not a "Take it or leave it" kind of person.

I asked for a tactful response to her. What I am saying in my head to her is " I don't want to come out there and waste my time and sneak around behind your husband's back..I feel that is unethical for my company...and I am not taking sides."

But I don't want to offend her either and fall into the 11/4 rule thing... you know where a customer tells 11 people bad things about you and 4 good things.

So, I was hoping for a "gentle" response to her in order to back out of this situation entirely. I am not going to ignore her either.

[cutntrim]

"Well, Mrs. So-and-So you have a couple of different design and pricing options from me now. What I would suggest is that you and Mr. So-and-So come to a consensus on whether either of the designs will work for you. If so, then maybe your husband can contact me and I'll be glad to write up a contract and get the work scheduled. If either design does not work for the both of you, then we can re-visit it at a later date. A consultation fee of $XXX would be applicable at that time, and any further design work would be invoiced at $XX/hr. I'm booked solid in the spring, and am now scheduling work for June (whether you are or you aren't), so please let me know as soon as possible whether you would like to proceed."

Having said all that...my advice would be the same as everyone else's...RUN!

[Stonehenge]

I like cutn's proposed answer (I didn't think mine was that bad, either ). Gentle is good, but I would be concerned that in being too gentle you're leaving the door open for them to continue to pester you, and then be disappointed when you can't deliver the price they want. In that scenario, you're the only one who's bent over backwards to help, and you still end up being the bad guy. I've been down that road. It's not a fun ride.

[georgiehopper]

You guys were right about being too gentle leaves the door open for pestering.

I replied to these people and told them that I could not come and see them until they were both in agreement that they wanted the project.

Here is her response: Dear Annie,
We do both very much want a patio, in fact, need a patio for a gift our kids are getting this spring. He was just so shell-shocked with the prices we were getting from other estimates, that he didn't think we could get in the range we needed. If we get in the range I earlier mentioned, I'm sure he will be ready to go!

Anne


I already got into her price range so I'm not sure what more she wants from me.

[Bill Schwab]

My only thight at this point is, if they were shocked at the prices of other estimates, why is yours the only one in thier range?????