Ok.. I will talk it over with my husband.

[Mountain View Carpet Care]

How many others get that after telling them your prices?

 

[Zee]

Queue in Toburen in 3...2..1






He has a whole spiel on this very problem.

 

[hogjowl]

LOL ... he may actually miss this one.

He's hanging out over on the JWR board.

 

[truckmount girl]

As a woman, we only pull that one when we don't want to sound like the bad guy. She aint interested and she won't call you back. Either she thought your prices were too high or something else turned her off.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[ruff]

Yea?
What?
Divorce the sucker?

Yes, it must be the only subject ever (!) that women consult their husbands. And poor us, we just happened to be in the one and only industry in which the husbands opinion matters.

Just our luck of the draw.

 

[hogjowl]

10 to 1 odds it was something else.

 

[ruff]

I told some:
-"You got to be kidding, your husband? Chances he still hasn't noticed you have carpet in your home."

We both giggled.

Never got the job. Husband must be particular.

 

[Goomer]

Only thing worse is "OK, I will talk it over with my wife."

 

[Zee]

Only thing worse is "OK, I will talk it over with my wife."

As in a two wife household in a NorCal way?

 

[Steve Toburen]

He has a whole spiel on this very problem.

Yep. A Dallas carpet cleaner wrote me recently with much the same problem...

Steve

PS This phone spiel even actually works ... if you do.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Paste some of it here Steve.

 

[ruff]

Steve, most of us do not move the beds and furniture anyhow.
Should we offer to find her a better husband?

 

[Steve Toburen]

Paste some of it here Steve.

A tactful and productive response to the "Let me check with my husband" objection is to say, "Mrs. Jones, I understand. I'd want my wife to check with me before making a big decision. But while I'm here, let me ask you, does the way I have this work order written meet your projected budget?"

Do you see the beauty of this approach? Now in a face-saving way you can ferret out their real objection and deal with it. Yet you keep your pricing credibility when you ask, "Does the way I have this written meet your projected budget?" (You also subtly send the message that you can "rewrite" the scope of the work order if needed.)

95% of the time the customer will say, "Well, it is a little more than I was counting on." Wonderful! You now have this veiled "smoke screen" objection out in the open and can deal with it.

Especially in residential it is very important to maintain the respect of the customer on your pricing. If you say, "Well, if this amount doesn't meet your budget how about I knock off $50?" The customer immediately thinks if you will discount the job $50, maybe you'll come down $100! And so it goes. But on the other hand, you want to show your flexibility to change (if possible) your scope of work to meet the customer's budget.

For example, you can look at the work order and say, "Let me ask you, Mrs. Jones, do you move the furniture in the family room much? No? Well, if we don't move the big furniture I can deduct 25% off that room price and that will lower your total bill by $22.88." You get the idea? Instead of both of you tip-toeing around the price problem, it's out in the open and now you're dealing with it as a "cleaning consultant".

Many times after you have deleted small, non-essential parts of your service (and lowered the price a bit) the customer will say, "Oh, just go ahead and do it the way you originally wrote it up." All your client needed was some time, the Illusion of Control and an "attitude of care and concern" from you. And even if they just have you do the smaller amount, wouldn't you rather have half a loaf than none? (As long as you are still making a profit?) After all, you've already spent the time and money to get the customer this far in the buying process. Don't let them slide away easily now.

 

[Mike Pailliotet]

damn, both the Twins show on the same night after months off



they must have heard the big news and want in on the MB Party Bus.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Depends on size, nobody has to ask the spouse over a $120.

But bigger jobs its legitimate, i usually send them an estimate with some information/links.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

I only do in home estimates for houses over about 2500 sq /ft. There never seems to be enough time in the day to run estimates for every section 8 recipient in the city. but, i will quote them my base price over the phone. If they balk at that i don't want them as a customer.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

I have to admit that i respect Steve's approach to handling the objection.

Very tasty! Thank you.

 

[JeffCross]

Could be a legitimate statement. Let her know you would be happy to take a call from the "husband" if he wants to ask more questions.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Could be a legitimate statement. Let her know you would be happy to take a call from the "husband" if he wants to ask more questions.

That true, Jeff... 1/10 of 1% of the time. (And this may be high.)

99.9 % of the time she simply thinks you are TOO EXPENSIVE (or you have done a poor job of presenting yourself) but she doesn't want to the adversarial "chip on your shoulder" confrontation that will ensue if she is honest about her feelings. That is why you must subtly uncover the real problem in a non-personal, professional manner.

But then you already knew that.

Steve

PS Seriously, one time in SFS we had a student tell the class that when the customer says, "Let me check with my husband" he would just look her in the eye, slowly smile, hand her his phone and reply, "Fine. Why don't we call him right now." I thought the class was going to "vote him off the island" as they ridiculed the idea.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

PS Seriously, one time in SFS we had a student tell the class that when the customer says, "Let me check with my husband" he would just look her in the eye, slowly smile, hand her his phone and reply, "Fine. Why don't we call him right now." I thought the class was going to "vote him off the island" as they ridiculed the idea.

I'm glad you brought this up Steve.

Too often cleaners get sales training from outside of the cleaning industry that is geared to more high pressure sales environments, such as vehicle, real estate, or other unrelated "high pressure/low relationship afterward" sales scenarios. Such "tricks" like the "fine, why don't we call him now" scenario will more likely create resentment than a sale, and will likely never result in the retention of a long term, loyal customer.

 

[hogjowl]

But, "you already knew that".

 

[ruff]

Clearly the above great business minds fail to notice a great opportunity for an 'add on' service.
Our "replace a husband" and "hire a husband" services are on fire.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Someone put a great business mind in Marty's nugget? Cool!

 

[GCCLee]

Maybe I should try that one, lol


Yes mam, I could be your husband for ohhh say 3 hrs at $200hr

 

[hogjowl]

I just don't cast my pearls before swine.

 

[PrimaDonna]

Agree that if you hear this statement, it's not true. Let's face it, it is the women that make the decision about this kind of stuff. If it really isn't about the money and some other "concern" they have, sometimes they won't speak up for fear of feeling stupid, uneducated or how it will be perceived. So, give her an out. I like to use this in response (along with the stuff Steve Toburen has posted).

"What concerns (or questions) do you think your husband may have that I have not addressed that would help in the decision if you are going to use us or not?" 9 times out of 10 it is really HER concern or question, but she's off the hook since she believes she is answering in terms of her husband. And then the questions/concerns come out......And if they don't, then you really know she is bull shitting you on needing his input.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Agree if you are talking about typical carpet cleaning jobs of 3-4 rooms.

But most of our residential jobs are tile/stone or combo jobs.
Pretty common actually for people to want to "think it over" or ask the spouse.
At $400 or more ...

 

[knoxclean]

Thanks for the additional bullet Meg. I always hit them with Steves line but adding yours is a good 1-2 punch

 

[WillS]

Sometimes they do call back though! Sometimes they have to make sure the husband will be home to deal with the cleaners. But I'm guessing 99% of the time when they don't call back, its because of price shopping.

 

[ruff]

Or the husband is a control freak.

Hint: Stay away.