Do you guys ever turn down work?

[maximv1]

to sound like a broken record, if you commited, GO THROUGHT WITH IT. if not turn her down. NEVER cheapen your prices. it will cheapen your reputation. many items or services are rated by the price charged, you don`t want to get a rep for a cheap price, meaning cheap quality. not everyone will liek your price. the ones that don`t won`t like anyones price that is reasonable.

[HBblazer]

I once quoted a guy ( a family friend) a price of $60 to detail " his little red truck with a little oxidation on the hood"(exterior only) without seeing it, well it turned out that the truck was so faded and oxidized it was pink, I was not excited about the work but I was obligated to follow through, I also spent about twice as long as I told him and he was so happy with the result ( and that i spent extra time) that he tipped me very generously. He also told his neighbors about me and i had a lot of work from that neighborhood for a while. HONESTY< COMMITMENT< WORK ETHIC,
Dont be afaid to let customers know when there getting more than their paying for. ( and act happy about it)

[Luster]

I`m gettin` old.

If I know a detailing project is going to take more than 5 hours, I won`t take it.

Therefore,

No Full-Size Trucks
No Large SUV`s
No Vans
No Trashed Mini-Vans....

Gimme them Vettes.... I`ll do-em all day long for free!!!! (j/k j/k j/k !!!!!) :t :t :t

[CharlesW]

Word of mouth is so important in your line of work.
I once read something like: A happy customer tells someone else, an unhappy customer tells 10 people. Not too far off, IMO.

Charles

[Shaun Carollo]

HELL NO! You know you will just regret doing it while you work on it. Why should you lower your price just because she "doesn`t want to spend a lot?" Sounds like she should have taken better car of it if she didnt wan`t to spend a lot to make it look good.

My point of view,
Shaun

[Coastal Eddie]

Run!!!

[PhaRO]

Yes I turn down work. Vehicles in really bad shape get turned down. Although I am able to do the work, it is not the type of work I like to do. I also have a fixed price which works fine for me but doesn`t allow me extra time to bring the dead back to life. There are exceptions though when the money isn`t the most important part of the transaction. For instance I do not clean conversion or cargo vans. I have no desire to stand on anything bigger than my step stool. I do have two customers that spend a lot of money each year. Both also own conversion vans. I clean them without complaint every time they ask. In the OP situation, I would check out the vehicle and if I thought it was going to be a problem to do the vehicle then I`d just tell them that I couldn`t do what the vehicle needed for that price. Odds are though that I`d end up doing the vehicle as I would have blocked off the time. I`d figure how much time I would spend and let them know what they could expect. One thing that I have noticed is many people aren`t looking for perfection. The just want the damn thing to be clean and shine a little. Those that let their cars go to pot generally will let them go again.

Even though in my area I am not high priced, I too get people that tell me they can get it done cheaper. I tell them if you have someone that can do the vehicle cheaper and are happy then give them a shot.

[joe.p]

Yea, Thanks guys. The good thing is that I did tell her I would have to see the car before I could commit to the $70.00, so Ill stop by in the morning and take a look, then Ill try to feel her out a bit and see if she is interested in having it done right instead of taking it to the drive through place. The only reason I budged in the first place is the guy who sent her my way is the lender Ill be using to start my fixed location. :censored:

So did you decide to take the job?

[civcklr]

Well guys, I checked out the car, and it was bad, save-able, but very bad. I was super friendly ( as usual :t ) I explained to her that the car would need much more then a quick $70.00 rush job due to the heavily oxidized paint. She said "I thought it would be more then you wanted to take on for that price" and said she was going with the $45.00 drive through place, and however it turned out would at least be better then it was now. Sooooo the cool thing about this fiasco is that she scheduled me next week to shampoo the carpet in her newer car. :punk:

[SA Detailer]

Word of mouth is so important in your line of work.
I once read something like: A happy customer tells someone else, an unhappy customer tells 10 people. Not too far off, IMO.

Charles

Being in this succesfull business 7 years, I have learned it is the opposite.

[Beemerboy]

Being in this succesfull business 7 years, I have learned it is the opposite.

I`ve been in the sales field for 25 years and currently a sales trainer....What Charles said about unhappy customers is 100% true....Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get your business going.

[CharlesW]

Doing a google search for "Happy customer tells one, unhappy customer tells ten" seems to indicate that many people agree with that theory.
For SA Detailer, that doesn`t seem to be the case. Maybe the exception that proves the rule. (Whatever that means.)

Charles

[maximv1]

Being in this succesfull business 7 years, I have learned it is the opposite.

working in car dealerships for 12 years i can GUARENTEE this statment is wrong.

[Brenton]

In my community, word of mouth is better than TV ads, and it cuts both ways--good workers do well eventually; bad workers eek out forever. And everyone knows, and there is no way to recover from badness.
Unfortunately, it is also an economically depressed community, or beginning a recession anyway, so 10 people isn`t enough.

[jaybs02]

civcklr, I`m glad to hear that even the customer, thought that it was too much work for the price, and that you still have work from her.

As beemer and many others pointed out, good business practices go far with people, and that includes standing by what you say, even if you do take a loss.

Charles said

"Happy customer tells one, unhappy customer tells ten"

Thats right along with "good news travels, bad news travels fast"
Backing out on a job after you have said you would do it would be bad news

JMHO
"J"