"We Fix it, You Price it!"

[i2omani]

Guys,
how does that sound to you guys, i am thinking to advertise this on my car and my site.
when customers call and ask about this offer, you basically ask them whats the problem and see how much they are welling to pay you. and it's all up to you if you take the job or not!
or " why pay hourly when you can pay for the whole job"

 

[14049752]

I think you're going to end up undercutting what you should be charging quite a bit. Not only that, but you're basically welcoming everyone that calls you to haggle with you over prices.
You'll find that if you set a fair market price, people are willing to pay it, no questions asked. There are even studies that show people associate a set, higher price with the quality of work to be performed.

 

[focuz]

I tend to believe if you offer higher quality services then you should be charging appropriately. Why sell yourself lower?

 

[gunslinger]

I think you should look around and see what everyone else is charging and then undercut that about 20%

Around here I can cut it be a full 50% and make a good living.

 

[hawks5999]

I think you should disregard Gunslinger's advice... no offense to GS.

Your idea to let the customer set the price is going to make it hard for you to stay in business. Everyone will call and say, "I need X and I'm willing to pay $25 for it" or maybe $50 or whatever it is, it will be less than the value of your time to do it. But after a few weeks of slow to no business you will take anything you can get just to pay some bills. Then you will find yourself doing these very low paying gigs and you will soon hate it and resent that you are doing it and then you will just go get a job cause the money will be better.

Instead, you should approach it like Apple does. Find out what every one else is charging and then bump it up by 15-20 points. And then be absolutely excellent at what you do. "The value I bring is premium and that gets reflected in the price" should be your mindset, not "I'm desperate to do anything for whatever you think it's worth." If you let the buyer set your value, you will starve.

 

[MrMille]

If i were u i would calculate how much each customer costs, then add your margin. The customer should have no input into your cost structure, as only you have that information

Guys,
how does that sound to you guys, i am thinking to advertise this on my car and my site.
when customers call and ask about this offer, you basically ask them whats the problem and see how much they are welling to pay you. and it's all up to you if you take the job or not!
or " why pay hourly when you can pay for the whole job"

 

[ComputerLife]

I think its a good idea, and let me tell you why. They pick the price yes, but you pick the terms. Let them have a little control over what they pay you, but then you can negotiate a little also like: They drop it off, longer return times. "Sure I'll do it for that price but you have to tell a few other people about us" You could have some fun with it. People may even start giving you stuff like old computers etc that they don't use and you could fix/resell. Remember, price isn't everything.

 

[14049752]

"Sure I'll do it for that price but you have to tell a few other people about us" You could have some fun with it. People may even start giving you stuff like old computers etc that they don't use and you could fix/resell. Remember, price isn't everything.

A couple things: Telling them that they 'have to tell a few other people about us" doesn't mean they'll do it. They're not obligated to do anything besides pay you for your service. Most people would be happy to tell anyone about you, if you provide excellent service. Along the same lines as what hawks said, if you're good at what you do, people will pay the price AND send people to you.
So, yeah....price isn't everything.

 

[gunslinger]

hawks5999

Try that here and you will be out of business in a few months. Where I live people are always looking for the best price for a given service. Like I have said before, my approach wont work for everyone but for me, in my location it works very well. The only way that would work here is if you have been in business for years and have a very good rep.

As for doing things they way apple does, I'm not so sure thats a good idea either. If you have noticed apple is a small company. The reason they have come up so much in the past year is because Vista is so bad, not because they are so good. If you ask 10 people who don't own Macs why they don't, almost all with site their high prices as a factor.

I agree with not letting the buyer set your value, but only to a certain extent. In the big picture the buyer always sets the price for a given service or good in your location.

 

[Sander]

I don't know if it's gonna work in your country, at least it will not work over here in Holland. Somehow people (consumers, not business) always think the repair is to expensive. Why? Well, everyone has a brother, neighbour or cousin who can fix computers who work at technical departments too! At least thats what people think so don't let them make your price, like people said before me -> You will take anything if you are low on work.

At the place I work we made a point last years, high quality and service is where you pay for. We can fix everything, maybe you don't want to pay for it because the computer is a ol' piece of crap, but we CAN fix it. Thats what people like to hear 'cause they don't hear that from their neigbour
We have a lot of repairs because we can repair... and are good at it. Only problem is you have to keep it that way... Last year nearly 10 people applied for a job at our technical department and we kept 2 because they were capable of repairing computers the quality WE want... High quality...

Also I really make a lot of advertisement to consumers with yelling I can fix it! Once a consumer came to buy a new pc, and took his old pc with him. Some other (respected) company looked at this computer and they said nothing on the HDD could be saved anymore, it even took 2 weeks for them to find that out! Well, I said... Probably they don't know what they are doing if they need two weeks to find that out, before I sell you a new pc I want to try if I can get something back because I think I can... Don't get me wrong, maybe I am, but at least let me try.
And that's right, I got everything back, even got his Windows running again with all programs... I have never seen a consumer so lucky! They bought a new pc, and I got the best advertisement a company can wish, word of mouth marketing

Well, I think you get my point... Better take care of quality repairs, get a lot of word of mouth marketing and consumers will bring in the repairs for you

 

[Req]

i have to agree that you will be undercutting yourself with the concept, even though it may seem like a sound and logical idea.

i came from an environment where we sold products that were marked up to a huge percentage and then presented under a fancy badge. folks would come to purchase something that didnt really reflect a need and they could 90% of the time find that same product else where for 10-20% less but they would purchase from us simply to be able to say where they got it. seems like a nice idea too doesn't it? the fact is that within that environment, the market dictated to the business what could be done. in a wealthy area, creating a 'must have' brand can create a supreme sellers market. if the same shop operated thirty miles away, it would choke out and die off because it was over priced and the market dictated that it belonged to the buyers where price is supreme.

enabling your clients to dictate your price on a case by case basis will, at first, drive your call volume and customer count up. you will see the immediate fruits of your idea. however, shortly after, as others have pointed out, you will begin to see your profits sink to levels below what your previous volumes brought in. there is a fine line between promotion and profitability. large companies will occasionally run discounted promotions for a short time. while you can stand back and say, hey, they can survive at a 20% discount below their normal rates, in actuality, they are sacrificing short term profits for the long term gain in customer return rates.

so take your sound idea and use it as a trial or promotional period. pay a little out of pocket to advertise the 'name your price' weekend event. generate a buzz around the concept and sacrifice the short term profit for the long term. that would be my suggestion.