In small rural areas... How do you keep your prices reasonable?
In small rural areas, given the rising cost of everything else, how do we keep our prices reasonable without hurting our own pockets buying equipment, products etc.? The income in the area is below average, which makes it **bleep** would be consumers needing services.How can home service businesses improve profit margins without raising prices?
If you had double your profit margin without raising rates, what would you cut or optimize? Our payroll all-in consistently remains at around 50%, but I was hoping to hear what others are doing considering labor is our biggest expense as home service businesses!How Much Should You Really Be Charging?
The number one question I receive is tied directly to the fact, most contractors are still guessing when it comes to pricing. Overhead. Profit. Labor rate. Trip fees. They think just because they throw a number they hear their competitors use, thats all that they need. It may work, but how and what do you divide these funds is just as important for your business health. If you don’t know how to do the math, you’re not building a business. You’re surviving check to check and think you need more work, when you do not. So here’s the plan: This Tuesday & Thursday on IG, I’m walking you through our Contractor Price Builder Worksheet FREE on instagram live. We will cover: - How to calculate your real hourly rate - The difference between markup and margin - Why profit is a non-negotiable - And how to price with confidence Join the session. Bring your numbers.When a customer says, "That's too expensive," how do you respond?
What’s your go-to move when a customer pushes back on price? Do you ask a follow-up question? Offer different options? When do you know to walk away? In this episode of Masters of Home Service, Kevin Cook and Rob Soper explain how: "Too expensive" usually isn't about price, it's about trust and value Asking the right questions beats defending your price Giving options (like good, better, best pricing) changes the conversation Want to put these tips into action? Download our free guide to handling price objections (includes scripts). Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
When should businesses increase prices to keep up with rising payroll costs?
When's the last time you updated your pricing model to match your payroll reality? For example, our direct payroll (before tax) is 38% while our indirect payroll is 10%. As of January 2, we increased rates for all recurring clients by 4% to offload the indirect percentage. Going forward, we increased all first-time services by 5%. Thoughts?Do you feel confident in your pricing?
Pricing can feel tricky. How do you usually decide what to charge? And what’s one thing you learned the hard way about pricing? In this episode of Masters of Home Service, Wilson Betances (EnergizeUs) shares: The 30-30-30-10 profit formula How knowing your true costs changes everything Why even a 5% price increase can have a big impact on profit Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
4 Overlooked Sales & Marketing Techniques! *They all have to do with appearance.
I am posting this because it might be overlooked due to being pretty foundational but newer people to business might not know. If you are new to business, you are actually skilled at what you do, but business just isn't taking off, then read this. If you get offended easily, then don't continue. However, if you really want to grow and improve yourself, then read on. Appearance - This is going to take some serious ability to be self-aware and evaluate yourself for growth. Some people might not want to bring this up because "just do you" is a cultural norm now, but the reality is that people are going to judge your appearance before they ever hear a word you say. We might want to assume people will overlook appearance but they might not and we just have to understand that is a reality no matter how we feel about it. Here are a few things to consider: Professional Attire - If you are the owner of your business and you are trying to sell your services you shouldn't show up to sell the way you would to just any other casual occasion, or to do labor. Step it up. Wear nice shoes, slacks, and a collard shirt, or button up shirt. Make sure your clothes are neat, clean, and not a wrinkled mess with stains. Hygiene - Make sure you have decent hair cut and don't look like you just crawled out of bed. If you have beard make sure it is well groomed. Wear deodorant and make sure you smell nice. Make sure your breath smells good too. Keep gum or mints in your vehicle. Piercings & Tattoos - I personally hire guys/gals and I don't personally care about piercings or tattoos but our customers might. Just take that into consideration and make an attempt to cover them if you see that this could be a factor in certain sales situations. Weight/Personal Care - This one could get some hate but its just real. I'm not even 100% where I want to be with this one. Here is the reality... being healthy and in shape takes discipline. When you show up as someone who is in shape and not overweight it communicates something without using words. It communicates discipline. People want to hire people who are disciplined and do what they say they will. When you look good, then you don't even have to say you are a disciplined and consistent person because your presence communicates it. You will also show up into rooms with more confidence which will help tremendously when selling. Language - you may cuss like a sailor and that is fine. But when you are in a sales situation air on the side of caution and clean up your speech. Speak professionally and never bring up politics or religion. Vehicle - Make sure your vehicles are clean and organized. I don't care what you say. People will judge you based on your vehicle. That is just the culture we live in. I'm not saying you have to polish your work truck but make sure it is clean and organized. If you have papers covering your dash board, fast food that is a month old shoved in the dash, and bottle, cans, and other trash falling out of the floor board when you open the door, then do better. Have a place for your tools and equipment and keep them clean and organized on your vehicle. Website - Your website is going to make a big impression on your customers. How you do one thing is how you do everything to your clients. If your website is unprofessional, messy, unorganized, and confusing then your clients might think that you are all those things. Take time, or money to invest into having a nice website. Social Media - If you are not present on social media (personally or professionally) and posting professional looking content, then you are communicating something to your client. You could be communicating that you aren't active, you aren't truly professional, or if your content is low quality...clients might view you as being cheap or low quality. Business Practices - This is such a simple concept. Have professional business practices and standards. Answer your phone. Show up when you say you will. Do what you say you will do. Be organized and clean. You can ignore all of these little things if you think they aren't important but I can promise you if you are letting your offense of any of these things keep you from doing them, or giving them attention then that is probably part of why you aren't growing. I promise you that companies that are growing and doing big things take all of these things into consideration and constantly try to improve them. Make excuses for yourself, or start making changes. This is all part of your brand. You want a better brand, then make yourself better. Raise the standard. Always be improving and evaluating. Make it easy to refer your business because your professional standards are so high and seen by all that make contact with you. Never get complacent and satisfied always find ways to improve. When you do this be ready for the new opportunities that will come your way!
