anyone else getting shopped by people just to see what you will say? I had to tell one guy if he wants us to fix his windshield I will but he must know what kind of car he has and my phones ringing with real customers that WANT us to take care of them.

You can usually tell if you're being scanned if the person on the phone calls and says:
"...and it's gonna be a cash job, not insurance"
"...your best cash price"
"...no insurance"
most ppl wouldn't understand a price difference for cash or insurance...so, they don't ask.
caller ID helps also.

Ask fo their name. If they hesitate, it's probably not real.

One of my favorites is, and what # may I call you back at with that quote? If they won't give you a number, you have to wonder. I just tell people that I have 2 people on hold and if I can get their #, I will call them back in just a few minutes. I only do this when I am leary of the caller.

I agree magician! We get these calls all the time, usually on Monday mornings or slow days.

Nothing against anyone. It is always good to know where your competition is with pricing, so you can remain competitive, either by selling cheaper or in some cases raising your prices when competition does.
But just as they have the right to call and try to get my price, I also have the right to mess with them a little bit when they call.

My favorite calls are like this recent one...

A local business man (of all things) called and was gracious enough to tell us he would pay one of his deductibles but he wanted us to cover the other two deductibles, as he had 3 vehicles needing windshields. He liked our work in the past (we had performed services for him in the past) and REALLY wanted to use us again, but only if we would "help him out".

We explained why we would not cover any deductibles for him, yada yada. He basically told us we were crazy to turn work away. That even if there is a law against paying deductibles(which he did not believe) the "state never enforces it anyway"(right away he knew far more than an average customer does about this issue). When we told him one of his installed windshields was only $225 and this other company said they would cover his $150 deductible it should stop and make him think. We advised him to get a copy of what the other glass shop was billing his insurance as well as his receipt, which we provide every customer. He said "Why would I care what they charge my insurance? I just want my deductible paid".

Knowing it was a losing battle, we tried to explain how some companies can pay his deductible by charging insurance companies 2 or 3 times the normal price for the job, they may use inferior products, or they may skip certain vital steps in the installation that could put his life at risk. That "inflated" claim amounts in most cases, are counted against his policy and may cause his premiums to be raised with some insurance companies.

Long story short he hung up before we gave him any set prices, saying "so you are sure you want to give up 3 jobs?". We answered "yes, we would rather MAKE money doing 1 job, than lose money covering your deductibles on 3 jobs."

Funny thing is, not 10 seconds later a different man called and got prices for 3 cars (figured he was the buddy or client of the first caller who was the local business man. I think he was trying to get his friend/buddy/client a good deal. He should have just said that in the first place. I am sure we would have done all we could).

Great advice Glasswoman and glassgirl!

We usually offer our name and ask theirs at the beginning of every call.

Having caller ID can also lets you quickly verify if the name the caller gives you matches the CallerID(although they will not always match for obvious reasons). But it gives you one more clue as to the validity of the caller if you already have uncertainty.

When we get obvious calls like that and by obvious I mean asking for a "cash" price we usually quote them cost plus $10. I think I would actually pay REAL money to see the looks on their faces, of course the long pause and a "oh, ok we are just checking around" before they hang up does give a bit of satisfaction. I dont know what I would do if it was a real customer and they decided to schedual the job.........

IF YOUR WORRIED ABOUT BEING CLOSE TO SOMEONES PRICE YOU HAVE TO THINK HOW CLOSE IS THERE WORK TO YOURS. MY PRICE IS NOT JUST COST OF GLASS ITS ALOT MORE THEN THAT.

I have caller id that shows "800#" on it and they try to schedule an appointment. What is this all about? Any of you get this before. This has happened to us well over 10 times in the past 3 months.

Best thing to do Jeff, is to know what price you need to sell the unit for to make a profit. Then it doesn't really matter what the other shops do, or how much they "shop" you.

thats hilarious mudflap!!!

you'd have some explaining to do on that one!!

HERE IS AN IDEA
QUOATE THEM YOUR REAL PRICE. IF YOUR A LOWBALLING PRICE MATCHER, YOUR DESTROYING MY MARKET. GET THE HECK OUT OF MY PROFESION. IF NOT YOUR CASH PRICE SHOULD BE VERY CLOSE TO YOUR INS. PRICE. WHATS THE BIG DEAL?

Dead on, ccc. Some people need to figure out what gross margin is and stick to it.

My response wasnt as a lowballer/pricematcher, my response was to being shopped by other shops, who by calling me and asking my price, have defined themselves as the aforementioned. If I can mess with their heads and have them thinking they have to beat that price to get work, then I say the quicker they will be out of buisness or stop using those tactics. I dont do ANY pricematching period, or ANY lowballing. I have a set profit I need to make per job and price my jobs accordingly PERIOD!! By the same token I see no need to gouge somebody for $150 in labor for a job that is only going to take me 30-40 minutes to do. If I am the cheapest, then thats just how it works out, if not, oh well. I will not prostitute myself in that manner. I sell my company on safty and quality, and have told many cold call customers I am NOT going to be the cheapest company they can use, nor the most expensive, but by using my company they know they are getting quality products installed in a proper manner, thus limiting their exposure to liablity in the event of accidents or airbag deployment. Ironically, most of these dealerships have never heard anyone speaking about liability and have given me work because of that instead of price...go figure.

When I first started out I found myself in the same rat race of "SO AND SO DOES IT FOR THIS MUCH" and I was getting pretty frustrated because I was making far less on the jobs then I wanted to and thought was fair.

So I decided on a set amount of profit I wanted on each job and I implemented it January 1st. I don't care who gave them what price I am giving my price they can take it or leave it.

Now I am much happier.

now that i have given up on most advertising i give very few quotes, when people call they just say i need a w/s or whatever and when can i do it. i give them a price but they don't buy from me because of price, there are others that beat my price by alot.

I've noticed the "price shoppers" are in full force the last few weeks. I know my area and although there is plenty of competition (using that term loossly)we also have a standard profit we must reach. If a customer asks can we beat a price, I get a bit leery. Most of the time if you ask a customer if they have been shopping around they get a bit hesitant and don't want to offer up the other prices. One thing I have gotten recently is "so and so quoted me a price of $150.00 NO TAX if paying cash! Out of curiousity I checked it out and it appears to be part of their pitch! Is that even legal??

I don't think the state's department of revenue that they operate in would like it much, unless they themselves are paying the tax at purchase. If that's the case then it's legal, as long as the tax is paid at one point or the other, at purchase or at sale.

Ditto on the tax thing Deb.

As long as the tax is paid they don't care about who paid it.

Since they emphasize "cash" Im sure the money ends up in their pocket instead of the register. Im curious if the customer gets a reciept for cash tickets.

I require a DNA sample for giving a customer a cash quote and also a green card :)

To Glasswoman about getting calls from 1-800#'s. Here is a great link to find out who is calling from these numbers. I use it all the time. http://whocalled.us

Thanks Mary! I will have to check that out! I always use anywho.com but not all numbers are listed.

Something else no one has mentioned. INSURANCE COMPANIES do call and "cash" price shop. We have caught them doing this and it has been verified by one regional office as well.

In our area a mojority of these "potential customer" are employees from the regional insurance office.

Just one more reason to keep your CASH price at or near your INSURANCE price as someone else already mentioned. Funny thing is, what exactly is an INSURANCE PRICE? I do not know of one ins. price that is exactly the same.

Yes very good point ccc, we too have seen alot of "cash" callers as unknown or out of area, but I really don't care because our cash prices are higher than many ins co prices, or what they try to get us to do the work for. We used to have 3 basic pricing formulas,, cash, fleet, and Ins. and all 3 only differed by 10%-20%. And were all justifiable by cash was in hand, on the spot, fleets were by quantity, or repeat, and many times more than 1 at a time, and ins was higher because of the extra paperwork, computers, edi, ect ect ect and had to wait longer to get paid. Ahh the days when things made sence, and you could actually make a decent living, without losing your hair!!!! well in my case it just all turned GRAY!!!I just turned down a lynx, allstate, they wanted -10 off nags on a net priced w/s that we would have lost about $20 bucks on and they thought $98 for labor was enough to make up for it,,, HA HA HA HA. Real funny part is,,, we are still doing the job for a very loyal customer, he's willing to do a little co pay to off set the cheap ins co and network,, then he will make a change and get a better company to serve him better. In time things will have to change, consumers will wise up,,, just keep,,, "ridin' the storm out" !!!!!