Time is money. And most clients have no idea how much time their properties require for maintenance. They scan the proposal, look at the final number and wonder why the total is higher than they expected.
Then, they ask for an adjustment.
Don Schlander, principal of Landscape Care, a commercial maintenance company in Phoenix, Ariz., realizes his customers might not connect a lower price with fewer man-hours. This is why he spells out these statistics in his proposals, so clients understand how much service their dollars will buy.
“You have to give them comparables other than dollars,” he said, noting that customers who choose low-ball bids don’t realize these companies spend less time mowing, pruning and primping. “Wouldn’t you want to know how much time a company was going to spend on your property? That would be a tremendous barometer for a client, in addition to the monthly price and what is included in the price. It would weed out all of the unsophisticated guys in the business who don’t have a handle on bidding.”
Schlander said he is amazed that few potential customers ask how long he will spend on their properties. He referred to a woman who asked him if he could lower his price and questioned the rate he quoted. “I told her, ‘What I am telling you, as a professional using the ratios of how long it takes me to mow, is that I need to spend 12 hours on your property and, hence, I am charging $1,600,’” he explained.
When customers understand that by cutting prices they receive less attention, many of them reconsider, he pointed out. Or, they accept fewer man-hours and understand that the result might not meet their initial expectations. After all, more time means more detail.
“If you have an office building and I am going to spend four hours on your property, it will be a different price than if I spend three hours,” Schlander said simply. “I am selling my hours, and I have to charge you for the time I’m there if I have a handle on my overhead, gas and wages.”
The author is a Contributing Editor to Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at khampshire@lawnandlandscape.com.