Tradies, Should You Drop Your Price Because Of COVID-19?
Tradies, do you need to drop your price now because of COVID-19?
I've heard some stories of people's customers asking them to drop their price for a job because of COVID-19.
The context is usually for an existing quote that was out there, “Here's the pandemic, you have to drop your rates”.
And of course, it seems that the idea is that there are going to be lots of tradesmen and women desperate to do work at really low rates because they're desperate. Or that they're going to be lots of desperate, quiet trades businesses, desperately hoping for work and discounting in order to get what work there is.
The suggestion is that you need to discount in order to get your share and discount in advance of that happening in order to secure work and be okay.
The correct response to this is, ‘NO’. You shouldn't do that!
It's NO for a number of reasons.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jon likes helping business owners and especially owners of trades businesses. Life can be a bit frustrating when you run a business and a trade business can be even more so.
If you're a tradie and you've got successful then you probably feel like your life is not your own, that you are always making sure everyone else is OK before you and you never get everything done. You probably work too many hours each week and take your work home with you and you probably don't make as much money as you should.
Jon reckons this stuff is fixable and that you can fix it by making some fairly simple changes to the way you do things. He should know, he's been helping people do it for a long time and he's seen the same changes work time after time. He lives in Byron Bay because he likes it and he doesn't surf because he says it's too hard but he likes beer and food very much indeed. He's written for various magazines and newspapers in his time. Mostly because they think he must know something if he's survived this long. His children disagree.
cited from SMH, Money Magazine
Helping Home Service Contractors Grow Their Teams and Business
4 年Supply of materials is going down here, shortages have already been created while demand is spiking. Basic economics would suggest pricing should go up, not down.
Director at Y40 Steelfixing Pty Ltd
4 年Great article Jon. I’d like to help my clients out on price where I can especially in tough times but I have to make sure I can cover my costs. My staff and suppliers don’t reduce their prices so it’s not always possible. I think if you work with your client to understand pricing and why it’s necessary there is no reason why both can’t compromise.