[Alberto]

I did a landscape plan and quote for a customer who told me up from that she was getting other quotes. My quote was more that her budget (wouldn't it be nice if they gave you the budger first?) so I was in the process of redoing it when she called and let me a voice mail saying that she was going with another local landscaper (our main competitor) because they were 1/3 of the price! FIrst of all, we all know that NOBODY can do the SAME JOB for 1/3 of the price, secondly, she hasn't had any work done at all! In fact, I drove by her house (she lives close to the garden center) and she had a new tree on her porch, yet to be planted, that appeared to come from Wal-mart or a similiar place. Why would she lie and say she was having someone else do the work when she knew I was so close by that I could drive by her house any time? (Don't we all drive by to check up on jobs we do't get?) Or, why didn't she just say that everyone was over budget and she was going to wait?

[papercutter]

You did your best, man, that's all you can do. If you try to figure out the whys of everyone that you work with, you'll go nuts.

She said what she said because she's a person, and the human animal is an odd one. If you feel confident that you were a pro throughout, put it behind you.

[Stonehenge]

Maybe she was embarrassed that she didn't have the money for the project. Maybe she didn't like you.

Ultimately it doesn't matter why she said what she said - next time consider spending a bit more time trying to discover a budget. With some practice that info is not as hard to get as it first seems.

[AZTLANLC]

When I give a quote I keep calling people to follow up until they tell me not to bother anymore, I don't care what the reason is if is true or not I just go on and try the next one.
I wouldn't drive to check on jobs we don't get I see no reason for it.
Maybe I'm missing something.

[agla]

As long as you did a good job making it clear that the price is based on content and that there are lots of ways to adjust content without completely tossing out the integrity of the design, it has nothing to do with you.

I don't know what you do for a design contract, but it should have a couple of things built into it if it is design/build.

The first is to have a flat fee that includes a finite number of revisions (I like to limit that to one). That gives you the best chance of selling a job because the client knows the price won't blow up. It keeps the client from playing to many "what if" games with you that can blow up the amount of time you have to put into it.

The second thing is that you need to have a mechanism to give the client an incentive to give you the input that you need to get the best design done within the framework of that contract. There is no better way than to have a fairly high hourly rate that will be charged for work outside of that contract. They go out of their way to make sure that you have the info that you need and they tend to focus on being realistic because they want the design to stay within that contract. It is very effective.

The third thing that you have to do once you are about to present your proposal to do the installation work, is to let them know that the estimate is based on exactly what is in the plan including the size and numbers of plants. You have to make them understand that you can adjust the price by using smaller plants, less plants, or otherwise reduce materials from what is in the plan. You have to make that point before you present the proposal in order for them to not have an emotional reaction to the proposal. If you wait until after sticker shock sets in, they tend to not listen because they think you were trying to rip them off (even though you were not).

Once the design is complete and they are still willing to work with you on adjusting the content, I'd feel comfortable taking the time to redline a plan to go along with a proposal that would lower the price. I would not go out of my way to produce a clean reduced plan for them to shop around.

What usually has happened when someone else has given a much cheaper price is that hey have adjusted the content of the plan in their proposal by listing smaller plants or not including everything in their proposal. Some are up front about it, and others put it in their proposal but the client does not notice that the sizes have changed.

If this happens, you need to ask them if the plant sizes are the same or there were any other adjustments to the plan and that you would be glad to price the reduced content as well. But, this really should not happen if you are proactive as I descibed above. Sometimes there are people who you will never please and it has nothing to do with you. If it happens a lot, it has something to do with you or the people you represent.

If you represent a company that has a very big stream of leads, it is not uncommon that they price themselves rather high so that they don't take on more work than they can handle. I don't have a problem with that if they are able to fill their schedule at a higher profit.

One of the more difficult aspects of working out of a busy nursery s that you have a very diverse market. You get called out to people who really can't afford a good landscape one minute and a wealthy homeowner the next. There is no way that you will have a system that works for that big a demographic. That means that there will be a lot of dead ends. That is not bad, but you can't dwell on the fact that you won't please everyone.

[FungusMudGrub]

Maybe that other landscaper has so much business from his ridiculously low bids that it will be fall by the time he gets around to showing up at her place, if he ever does. She might just call you back then.

[sandim]

[quote=AZTLANLC;55377]When I give a quote I keep calling people to follow up until they tell me not to bother anymore, I don't care what the reason is if is true or not I just go on and try the next one.QUOTE]

On a side note Az.... you keep calling. I have heard that before, but I'm unsure about it. I don't want to sound desperate and freak out potential clients as if we have no work, but at the same time I've heard that many times you don't get the ok until you contact them 5x. What do you say??

[GLAN]

Everyone lies.......as everyone has a story

How many times have you heard.........."Checks in the mail"

You can only try to get inside peoples heads so much and so far....




Next!



Next prospect......next proposal.......next job

[georgiehopper]

Don't take it personally. Many prospective customers are users... we are just a service to them...they initially have no loyalty.

I would say in the future though...do you best to get a budget out of them. I come right out and ask them about it.... if they say they don't know what their budget should be, then I give them average prices for average landscapings right over the phone.

weed em out before you waste your time going there and doing an estimate...but don't take it personally.

[Raj Venugopal]

Sometimes the first date just doesn't "take"...

Could be a personal thing, could be her gut feeling...last minute changes... It's never nice when people lie to your face, but there could be extenuating circumstances. Just keep moving forward.

[AZTLANLC]

I have my secretary(wife) call every single person we give a quote to, she has a real good sense of humor and knows how to deal with people, sometimes we get people thinking we are desperate for work and try to tell us that they had a lower price or if we match someone else's price. that is alway a not but politely.
but many other times people just needs a reminder to move forward with their project.
We have had real good results like this.

[familyguy]

a lot of the time, people have no intention of hiring a professional to do the work at all and are just curious to know how much it would cost if they did.

this woman can feel as though she is saving money doing the same job herself for a 1/3 of the price.

saying it is your major competitor could be a way of trying to retaliate for what she might feel was an unrealistice price from you.

sometimes, people will do weird stuff when it comes to parting with their money.