Outline
Never “Price Match” What Your Service Competitor Charges!
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 take a closer look…
Proudly “Set Yourself Apart” from Your Service Competitors!
KickStart: “The person who walks alone will find himself in places no one has ever seen before.” Albert Einstein
Be totally different from your local service competition which will let you justify your (much) higher pricing!💲💲💲 (It’s the kiss of death to be viewed as a commodity!) But you should also…
Pity the poor homeowner! They don’t know anything about the service(s) you perform. (This is great for you!)👍 Plus clients are nervous, even fearful, on who to invite into the “inner sanctum” of their home. On top of all this homeowners are bewildered by the 100’s, even 1,000’s, of residential services companies all clamoring for their business!
QUESTION: How can you convince a clueless homeowner to choose your company for the job? (Even at your higher prices?)
ANSWER: Prove that you’re “different”! (And explain why!)
1. Charge more- not less! Yep, homeowners should complain that you’re more expensive than your competitors… and then book with your company anyway!
Does my “be the most expensive in your market” philosophy seem crazy? After all, your low-price competitors are all engaged in a race to the bottom!😥 But work with me on this…
I assume you want “affluent clients”? You reply, “DUH, Steve, of course I do! Why would I want to work for homeowners with no money?” EXACTLY! And acquiring wealth normally requires a degree of intelligence. (Stay with me here.) And yes, your target market of smart people have learned that good work (and reliable, quality workers) don’t come cheap! BINGO!
On the other hand, no one likes to feel ripped off!😡 So you’ll need to prove your company is worth more by trumpeting your…
2. Five-star online reviews. Remember, YOU personally bragging how great you are is… worse than worthless.👎 But when 100’s (even 1,000’s?) of your residential clients sing your praises online? PRICELESS!👍 Sure, there are all sort of tricky schemes to pressure homeowners into leaving you a 5-star review. Don’t do it! Instead…
3. Consistently convert clients into “Cheerleaders”! This will require a total mind makeover on your part.😲 Instead of focusing only on the “hard stuff” in your business (tools, trucks, processes and the actual work) you’ll now obsess over the “soft stuff” such as…
A) Your employees. Who usually have nothing in common with…
B) Your residential customers. Remember, first-time clients inevitably struggle with negative feelings about the upcoming work you’ll perform. So, you need to focus on…
C) “Service Engineering”. These systems let you consistently remotely manage the “Emotional Dynamics” between “A” and “B” so that your client will be blown away by how good they feel after your company leaves. (This euphoria will motivate them to run to their computer and leave you a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review!) And it’s not just your in-home production workers…
D) Clients view their “experience” like a movie. This means just one “Debbie Downer” transaction with an employee will taint their opinion (and online review) of your entire company! This is why you should also…
E) Focus on how your phone is answered! I’ll focus on this soon but meanwhile…
Strongly consider attending and/or send your phone staff to my 3 hour, online SFS: Winning over your caller! LIVE seminar. Click HERE for 100’s of ‘Lead Conversion’ ideas and systems to easily book prospects who use text, email, Facebook, website chat or even… the phone! HERE are our upcoming class dates…
Best wishes on your very own quest for “differentiation”!👍👍
Steve