Harry

[Gardenscape]

Totally it's quiet. Thank god I don't have a team of lads to find work for. I don't mind.

[oldwoodcutter]

Yes , a definite downturn in all invitations to quote, from all platforms this past few weeks

[Mark Bolam]

There’s probably a lesson here.

 

’Work’s so busy I’m considering setting up a second team’ should really be ‘Work’s so busy I’ll put my prices up to where they should be and let the gyppos and lowballers fight over the scraps’.

 

Work has always been an ebb and flow, the newly expanded companies shit themselves when it goes quiet and start quoting low which has a knock on.

 

Keep your standards and your prices high.

 

Because we’re worth it.

[Paddy1000111]

10 hours ago, Mark Bolam said:

Keep your standards and your prices high.

 

Because we’re worth it.

I've been guilty of throwing in lowball offers when work dries up. I've stopped it now. I'm lucky as I don't have guys to care for or finance to pay and I get in the "Employee mindset" of "If I was working for someone else as a groundie I would get maybe £130 for the day, So sure I can remove those three 30ft trees for £150 as it's just down the road". Then the next week I get pissed off because a normal quote for a tree gets undercut by someone with a trailer and one of those headband visors

Edited May 16, 2021 by Paddy1000111

[Retired Climber]

1 hour ago, Paddy1000111 said:

I've been guilty of throwing in lowball offers when work dries up. I've stopped it now. I'm lucky as I don't have guys to care for or finance to pay and I get in the "Employee mindset" of "If I was working for someone else as a groundie I would get maybe £130 for the day, So sure I can remove those three 30ft trees for £150 as it's just down the road". Then the next week I get pissed off because a normal quote for a tree gets undercut by someone with a trailer and one of those headband visors

Pricing low won't increase your chance of getting the job by as much as you think anyway. Next time you are quiet, wack a load on top of the price and see what happens. 

[Paddy1000111]

2 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

Pricing low won't increase your chance of getting the job by as much as you think anyway. Next time you are quiet, wack a load on top of the price and see what happens. 

I'll give it a go. Last time I tried that I didn't get it. Thing is, I have good kit, a tidy van, a near spankers chipper, I'm always clean, polite and well spoken. I have a nice website and try to have a good company image. I use carbon copy quote forms so customers have something that shows what they're getting for their money as opposed to a business card with a price on it etc.

 

I've been leaving a quote when the other guys have turned up, shaggy truck, aren't well spoken etc but I guarantee that their quote is cheaper. I sometimes wonder if the customer not just looks at the cheaper price but would prefer to help the "local lad" out as opposed to going with the company if that makes sense

[topchippyles]

5 minutes ago, Paddy1000111 said:

I'll give it a go. Last time I tried that I didn't get it. Thing is, I have good kit, a tidy van, a near spankers chipper, I'm always clean, polite and well spoken. I have a nice website and try to have a good company image. I use carbon copy quote forms so customers have something that shows what they're getting for their money as opposed to a business card with a price on it etc.

 

I've been leaving a quote when the other guys have turned up, shaggy truck, aren't well spoken etc but I guarantee that their quote is cheaper. I sometimes wonder if the customer not just looks at the cheaper price but would prefer to help the "local lad" out as opposed to going with the company if that makes sense

Now you have that 881 and 72" milling setup why not start doing those oak slabs you have mentioned for the kitchen guys paddy. If you have oak available that is.

[Retired Climber]

3 minutes ago, Paddy1000111 said:

I'll give it a go. Last time I tried that I didn't get it. Thing is, I have good kit, a tidy van, a near spankers chipper, I'm always clean, polite and well spoken. I have a nice website and try to have a good company image. I use carbon copy quote forms so customers have something that shows what they're getting for their money as opposed to a business card with a price on it etc.

 

I've been leaving a quote when the other guys have turned up, shaggy truck, aren't well spoken etc but I guarantee that their quote is cheaper. I sometimes wonder if the customer not just looks at the cheaper price but would prefer to help the "local lad" out as opposed to going with the company if that makes sense

There are lots of reasons people make the choices they do. Some of them are sensible, and others defy all logic; some are made simply in an effort to avoid cognitive dissonance. If you really want to improve conversion rates, think like a customer, not a tree surgeon. Do you think an average client really knows the difference between a brand new Greenmech and a crappy old gravity fed Bearcat? 

 

You can never win every quote, but you can certainly stack the odds in your favour. Actually, one way to improve how you do things is not to see it as 'winning' the job in the first place. 

 

 

[MattyF]

Still want to know what Harry has got to do with it.

[Paddy1000111]

1 hour ago, topchippyles said:

Now you have that 881 and 72" milling setup why not start doing those oak slabs you have mentioned for the kitchen guys paddy. If you have oak available that is.

It's getting the oak mate! They call me in for milling as opposed to me bringing them wood usually. I have someone who called about milling to book in actually. Hopefully this weather picks up. Water plus sawdust makes a goo that's really going to piss me off 😂