KickStart: Maintain your prices high enough that homeowners routinely wince… and then book the job anyway!
True Confession Time: Steve Toburen is not remotely an accountant and/or a financial planner. In fact, Steve HATES and despises “number crunching” of any type!😡
In fact, I tell each client and every online class I teach: “I’ve always been good at MAKING money. But I’m terrible at counting, tracking or even investing this money!”
And yet, even with this major financial disability I’ve enjoyed a very successful career as the owner of multiple Home Service businesses! I’ve built my (very profitable) success on one informal pricing concept I call…
Steve’s “Point of Pain” Pricing (Triple-P) Formula
Disclaimer: I strongly recommend you engage professional accounting and planning advice when analyzing your business finances and base pricing. Otherwise, you may fall into the trap of, “Losing money on every sale but making up for it in volume!” (This deadly snare is far too common in our Home Services industry!)
However, just like when choosing a marriage mate, I strongly recommend to my clients that they never “settle”. As in “settle” for “charging the going rate”.
WARNING: Never, ever tell Steve Toburen, “But Steve, I’m already the highest priced in my area!”)😡 I’ll forcefully reply…
“All things being equal, it is far better to have MORE money than LESS money!” This means you need to charge what the market will bear (and then just a teeny bit more?) instead of just settling for less. Agreed? Then let’s go deeper on how to verify if you’re getting “top dollar” with my “Triple-P” Formula built around two types of PAIN:
Pain #1- MY “Point of Pain”! Yep, after reviewing an itemized work proposal I HATED hearing this from a homeowner: “Oh, is that all? I thought it would be much more!” YOUCH! This wasn’t just painful to hear, it was brutal to even think about!😲
The positive part of the above conversation? It functioned as my Early Warning Signal to focus on a “Good Pain”. (For me anyway!)😎 Here was my goal…
Pain #2- Price at your CLIENT’S “Point of Pain”! Yep, when I quoted a price I wanted to routinely hear this exchange play out:
Homeowner: “Wow, Mr. Toburen! That’s quite a bit more than we paid the last company!”
Me (with a slight smile): “I understand, Mrs. Jones. We hear that a lot…” (My voice trails off, I continue smiling while looking at my prospect and a short silence ensued.)
Homeowner: “Well… (pause) my neighbors all rave about your quality and I’ve never seen a service company with so many five-star reviews! Hmmmm… so when can you fit us into your schedule?”
BINGO! Another homeowner booked at my over-the-top pricing!👍👍 Why did I aim so high? Because (here’s another one of Steve’s favorite sayings) “There is no virtue in poverty!” NOTE: Don’t dismiss this concept by thinking, “Wow, that Steve is sure a greedy guy!” Nope, money is just a “tool”. And right now this extra “Triple P funding” may be just the tool needed to keep your business afloat!
Want all of the above concepts packaged up in turn-key phone scripts? Then attend my 3 hour, online SFS: Winning over your caller! LIVE seminar. Click HERE for 100’s of ‘Lead Conversion’ scripts and systems (over 80 pages) to easily book prospects who use text, email, Facebook, website chat or even… the phone! HERE are our upcoming class dates…
You’ll notice the Triple-P Formula above is very different from how your competitors charge… and this is great! In fact, I champion the concept of “Radical Differentiation” for Home Service businesses. Let’s talk about this very soon!
Steve