Hey I want a FAIR price. I buy the better/best tool at the best price
possible. If I find a decent vendor with fair pricing and good service I
stick with them.

Yup. I research a tool to see which one I want, then shop for price. And
no sense switching from someone doing you right.


In my experience there are the following characters when bidding on work:

1. "Cheap ass" (I want world class for nothing) will haggle and complain
and
WASTE MY TIME and will NEVER buy (I call them "window shoppers" or
"tourists" or "dumb ass" who thinks they know everything but wouldn't know
a
good deal if it bit them in the ass)


When I did wrought iron, if a customer griped about the half down in advance
or the price, I just put an x on the proposal, and would never do the work.
They usually called back in a few months with a sad tale about how their BIL
or some illegal alien did a crappy job. I got to where I could read them,
and if I just didn't like someone, I put an x on their proposal.

2. "Know what they want" and will plunk down cash then and there for the
right price (the "knowledgeable consumer")


You get those through referrals. I gravitated towards that shortly after
going into wrought iron. I got the commercial apartment accounts for their
repair welding. I could go out and make more repairing a gate than if I had
made the thing. They only wanted to know WHEN it would be done. Always
treated them right on the price, but hardly ever had to give an estimate.
Except for carport repairs.

3. "Skin flint" (for these you need to double the price then give them a
10%
discount after severe haggling and then chase them for 3 years to collect
your money)


See answer to number one. Skinflints never got past the proposal page.
Always had someone who could do it cheaper. So, I'd say, "The main thing is
that you are satisfied. Sounds like your BIL will do a good job. Good
day."

4. "Indecisive" who doesn't really know what they want, changes their
minds
300 times and wants changes to the order every five minutes and wastes
your
time. You educate them, get them ready to buy, then they give the
business
to a "fly by nighter" who shows up in the last second with a low ball and
wins the contract. 6 months later "indecisive" shows up on your door step
to complain about shoddy workmanship and broken promises.


Again, I just didn't deal with them once I got rolling. I had too many
people who knew what they wanted, or just wanted to know WHEN I could get to
it.

Those apartment managers loved to go into their meetings and say, "The
repair was done yesterday. Or, I it WILL be done day after tomorrow."

AND, when I told them day after tomorrow, that was it. I was there and got
it done. If I was running late, I called. I did not have to compete for
business, and newcomers couldn't get my business away from me.

Do it right the first time. Show up when you say you'll be there, or call
and tell them you are running late. Call them right back on estimates or at
least tell them when you can get there. Keeps them from calling someone
else. Don't EVER not show up. Be competitive on price, not cheap, as it
makes your work seem inferior. Be nice. Stand your ground with creeps.
Lots of people out there who just want someone to come when they say they
will come, do the work, do it right, and do it for a competitive price.

That's what gets and keeps a customer, and what makes a salesman out of that
customer so they will get you more good work. Good customers gave me good
referrals.

Steve