The client psychology thread

[AHPP]

I'm now trying to actually win more end client (i.e. not subcontract/freelance) work so am going away from my old pricing strategy (really high and IDGAF) to something a bit more normal. I've picked up a few tips from here over the years but I still don't know a lot about client handling and salesmanship. Let's put stuff in one thread.

 

I'll start us off. I quoted a dying weeping ash the other day. 18" DBH, 30' tall maybe but fairly sideways and with a dead top. Quite short top too so a poor tie in point. Nice ish lawn underneath it. Property worth a couple of million in a pretty good part of a very good town. Looking at it with the bloke I was thinking, "He's never going to want dents in that lawn." and gave the spiel that I'd get up it, rizzle it down in little bits etc. Went away and found getting the right cherry picker for it was approaching more hassle than it's worth. Not insurmountable but annoying enough. So I gave him a quote for just flopping it as well.

 

Quote(s) were this:

 

Dying weeping ash on bank

 

Option 1:
Fell it on the lawn and fix dents (to a standard that would not impress at the Chelsea flower show but which won’t inconvenience your mower). 
Brash chipped into laurels.
Logs cut and split and left in situ.
£540 including VAT.

 

Option 2:
Climb/cherry picker it down so nothing on the lawn. It’ll all come down in its own footprint, ground protected with a mat and chip cushion etc. 
Brash chipped for that then shoveled under laurels. 
Logs cut and split and left in situ.
£780 including VAT.

 

Woke up this morning regretting giving him the choice. I suspect I should have just given him the (lack of) ground damage commensurate with the prestige of the property and that be the end of it. Then he accepted option 1 and I'm already thinking I want to climb it a bit to drop it in a smaller footprint and reduce the groundwork. Plus obvious regret of just being too cheap. So yeah, bollocksed that up.

 

Right. Let's have it.

 

Crap photo but might as well include it. Really does stick out going away from the camera.

 

Edited yesterday at 19:29 by AHPP

[Mick Dempsey]

Ok, good idea for a thread. 
Bear in mind this is only my 2c

 

Yes don’t give too many options. 
 

Nearly all tree work is a piece of piss as is this. 
The key is logistics. 
If you’re offering clients in a 2 million pound house a service where you’re losing chip under laurels you look like small potatoes, getting it away from site is where the money is. 
 

Edited yesterday at 14:01 by Mick Dempsey
Didn’t read where you got the job.

[Tree monkey 1682]

Haha ,they won't pay if theve got horses ,there the worst people going 🤣 he will ho down lidl buy a chainsaw and do it himself!

[AHPP]

51 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Ok, good idea for a thread. 
Bear in mind this is only my 2c

 

Yes don’t give too many options. 
 

Nearly all tree work is a piece of piss as is this. 
The key is logistics. 
If you’re offering clients in a 2 million pound house a service where you’re losing chip under laurels you look like small potatoes, getting it away from site is where the money is. 
 

 

I broadly speaking agree but Stephen Blair and Gloria seemed to do OK out of it. I'm happy to leave that money on the table for the moment anyway though. It's worth more to me to not participate in the idiocy of expending energy running chip around the world when it can sit quite blamelessly in his garden.

 

I'm actually making £50 more with option 1 btw. I subsidised £50 of the mewp in option 2 because I wanted an easier day.

[AHPP]

58 minutes ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

Haha ,they won't pay if theve got horses ,there the worst people going 🤣 he will ho down lidl buy a chainsaw and do it himself!

 

He paid last time I worked for him. Decent bloke and wife very reasonable for an equine type.

 

[Tree monkey 1682]

2 hours ago, AHPP said:

 

He paid last time I worked for him. Decent bloke and wife very reasonable for an equine type.

 

I try not to work for the equine types u either have women in jods thinking their gods gift to mankind or the other type that think they've made it ...yet it's a rented house ,expensive 4x4 on lease hire ...and they couldn't ride there hubby for the love of God.. let alone a horse 

[Con]

My 2c worth. The part of town, the wealth the client.has are irrelevant to me. I agree with mick. Options to achieve the same result, are not the way. Although we fully understand the reasons, I doubt clients do, or care

[JLA1990]

"Details, details. Things to do. Things to get done. Don't bother me with details, just tell me when they're done." You’re there to provide a professional solution to the problem. Saying that I don’t do domestic work and would imagine that a certain amount of Flagellation is required. 

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

There is my 5 c , always price for proper job , don’t offer any choices, don’t be desperate, price accordingly to how many hours it will take and add extra 30 % as profit if you busy or less if you you not so , that how i do, I don’t remember when i hadn’t a work for less than 3 weeks ahead! I can tell you more …..most of the time price is irrelevant to some degree, It is about trust and representation ! Make sure you look as a pro…. Clothes, language and so on!

Edited yesterday at 18:29 by Sviatoslav Tulin

[manco]

i refuse to price a job from a photo.