Maybe you should lower your price.

tcsffan

I'm new here, good thread with lots of great responses.

One reason that I believe lowering your price in a down economy to try and secure more jobs is NOT a good idea is you establish a new price point for doing a job.

Next year, business is doing well and the next door neighbor with the same house calls you, guess what price they're going to expect? The one you did the job for his neighbor at.

I am of the opinion that jobs are SELDOM won/lost based on price alone. We're a referral based business going on 22 years now. We don't advertise in the yellow pages because we don't really want to chase those types of leads. It's not uncommon here in the bay area to hear that someone has gotten 6-8 estimates from roofers in the yellow pages.

Earliler this year when we were slower than normal, everyone was slower than normal. I talked to guys on the hook for hundreds of dollars monthly to the local yellow pages that were also slow. I've heard stories of guys paying $500/Month+ for email leads but aren't real good with computers. Hard for me to imagine a good win rate there but I could be wrong.

In my opinion there is no better lead than a family//neighbor/friend/colleague that you've done work for referring you and your company.

Sorry, I got a little off topic...

Grumpy

Some jobs are won and lost based on price, but who wants those jobs anyways. SOme people hire the highest guy for bragging right. Some hire the lowest because theya re conditioned into thinking they are getting the best deal. Most will hire whom ever they like and trust the most... Especially if your pricing is in line. If your price is slightly higher you may have to work a little harder to get the sale, but in most cases we are selling ourselves and it comes down to them trusting us and will spend a little extra if they feel you deserve it.


I've had a very roller coaster year. I have lowered my price somewhat recently but have also taken steps to first drastically reduce my overhead before I did lower my price. As of now I am seeing the same profit margin as I was with my higher pricing. But I am also doing alot more work myself than I was before, which sucks.

__________________
-Grumpy
Chicago Gutters Chicago Roofing

fsu1dan

Any idea of how to get roofing contractor magazine? I went on there website and it says it is unavailable.

Thanks,

Dan

fsu1dan

Adding to this topic I would like to know how you guys deal with fighting everyone else who is eating deductibles. I am in Oklahoma city and most of the homeowners know the game and are not going to pay there deductible.

I explain to them we are local and are a higher end roofer, however we will do the roof for the insurance proceeds. Our roofs are typically a few hundred dollars more than most of the other guys and I explain we can do that b/c we get many referrals after other people see them etc...

That being said I am having to eat deductibles as the next guy will steal your job when they knock there door and offer to help them.

Let me know your thoughts.

Also is there anywhere else on here that talks more about insurance claims and related topics.

Nice discussion BTW.

Thanks,

Dan

Grumpy

Stop eating deductables? Stop chsing storms.

A storm hit here recently, I wouldn't dare dream of chasing it, and it's in my neighborhood. I live at ground zero of the storm. I've done quite a few estimates for referrals, past customers, freinds, neighbors and have told ALL of them to expect to come out of pocket if they want the work done right, that the insurance company will not be able to afford my price because they pay for a minimum code roof and I exceed minimum code. How can I eat their deductable if I am already $1-2,000 higher than insurance is willing to pay?

People pay the premium, because I am charging the same as I would have before the storm. When most guys increased their advertising in the storm affected areas, I took mine down. I just don't want to chase low profit jobs.

__________________
-Grumpy
Chicago Gutters Chicago Roofing

daviddeschaine

Sales Is About Negotiations - We all want a good deal, and we complain about the higher price but we still buy the higher priced product, because we want the good quality - Roofing is an important investment to a home owner, and they need to be told that, as you are all aware the cost of materials is going up slowly.
My recommendation is keep building value, use a qualification technique in the beginning of the estimate to uncover their true needs. You will have to sell more than ever, but if needed give a discount for today's business!

__________________
David J. Deschaine
http://www.startmyroofingbusiness.com

http://www.roofingbusinessblueprint.com

daviddeschaine

You nailed IT! - Grumpy exactly ..;-)

__________________
David J. Deschaine
http://www.startmyroofingbusiness.com

http://www.roofingbusinessblueprint.com

insuranceroofer

I work for a company that only does insurance work and most sales people for the company make more money than an average roofing company owner.

We never sell on price. We sell on something very very different. We sell on quality, but we also sell on something very very different.

It takes courage, real courage to sell this way, but it works. We put the customer on the spot. We challenge their morals. We challenge their ethics. We challenge their reputation. We challenge their honesty.

Our prices are very high, our quality is good. You can have good quality, and an okay price and go out of business. What good will the warranty be?

I come from a very intense sales background and I never even knew of selling this way. It was extremely hard for me to do it at first, but now it is awesome. (confronting the person's morals, you can do it in different ways) Basiclly for someone to get out of being sold they are saying they don't care about doing things the right way and they are admitting to being a slime ball.

After, you sale the job, you need to secure the job. Prepare, the customer for the wolf in sheep's clothing that will be knocking on their door promising them something for nothing. etc. etc.

These techniques are used in insurance work, if you have a none insurance structured business things work differently.

insuranceroofer

I'm sorry but thats not true. ALL STORM CHASERS ARE NOT THE SAME, NOT ALL STORM CHASERS EAT DEDUCTIBLES. Only an idiot would give someone a free roof, you don't make any decent money if you offer a free roof. I've worked for several different storm chasing companies that don't give free roofs or rebates or discounts or anything like that.

You know what this really pisses me off you saying all storm chasers eat deducitibles and give people free roofs. I despise people that give free roofs, they make my puke. If it were possible I would put them all in jail. Anyone who eats deductibles and gives a free roof is an idiot, they aren't making any real money, because they are giving away most of their profit. If they are making money they are ripping off the roof installers or supply company. I'd like to personally take a bat and beat the crap out of them, they give roofers a bad name.

I would rather not deal with insurance companies, but if I want to make any real money then its neccessary. If other roofers valued their service more and charged better prices, then I wouldn't even mess with insurance work, it takes alot more work.

The problem is you get roofing companies who are happy making 30,000 a year or 50,000 or 80,000 a year. When in reality if they valued what they do more they would make alot more and better serve their families and customers. Roofing is a hard, tough and extremely risky business, if you are not charging the right prices then you're nuts.

insuranceroofer

If you had me working for you they would rarely be able to steal customers away from you. Yes, there are profitable roofing companies that are not storm chasers, but I recommend trying it so you know how to keep your jobs from being stolen.