Price Bump-ups and more…

An email I received the other day:

Hi Steve,

I haven't seen the info on the pouch, but I could've missed it in all the information.  Thanks for the info on the rubber and how long it should last, guess we won't worry about that for now.  We just need to get the flyers out and get ready for the calls to come in.

Brad's planning to wash our windows this weekend to try everything out and practice the techniques, since we've never washed windows with squeegies before.  I'll have to give it a try on the inside windows too.

Sure would be nice to make extra tip money like that one guy did in the email you sent.  He was lucky.

Thanks again.  Keep the great info and tips coming.  Angie & Brad

My response:

Hi Angie:

Pouch info/email was sent yesterday at 9:25am.  Here it is copied below:

"Hi Angie/Brad:

Just a quick note to let you know that I just got off the phone with ABC concerning the small squeegee holder that goes at the back of the belt around your waist.

They did send the correct part.  Back in '97/'98, I don't think ABC carried the kind of leather holster I needed to hold a small squeegee.  So I went to home depot and bought mine.  But what they sent you does the exact same thing.  It's not meant for holding towels or anything else.  It's just meant to stick a small 5 1/2" or 6" squeegee right in the middle of your back so you can easily reach for it when needed.

Hope this helps.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

P.S.  I've sent a couple of emails recently.  Have they been received?  Sometimes emails get lost, so it's always nice to know that my emails have been received with no problems.  Thanks."

Yup…get ready for the calls.  :o) 

Have fun practicing.  It does take a bit of time to get it down pat.  Plus it takes time to get the speed up.  The first few or even 2 or so dozens jobs you do, you might find yourself not quite making the hourly income you think you should be making.  This is perfectly normal.  Again, it takes time to become a full fledged speedy and professional window cleaner.

Right….a $200 plus tip is definitely not the norm.  But I speak from personal experience when I say that you will most definitely have tips coming your way.  But the next best thing to a tip is a slight price bump-up.  For example, if an estimate comes in at $141, bump up the price to $159.  Boom…you just made an automatic $18 tip.  When you first start, it can be tough to do bump ups.  The tendency is to lower pricing so you can get all jobs.  I understand that.  But as time moves along, and your customer base is growing and growing, it becomes very easy to bump-up most estimates. 

It is a bit harder to raise an estimate that might be tiny like $80, $90, etc.  But if you have a $161 estimate or $165 estimate as an example, bump it up to $179 or even $184.  I'm just using examples once again, but I generally tried to bump up an estimate anywhere from $15 to $35 over what my "true" estimate was .  This covers your gas, the time actually giving estimates, any extra work that might be required at the house which you didn't plan on, etc, etc.  So a bump-up is a good thing.  Especially with gas prices being so high. 

Hope this helps.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve