Razors & Blades

[timster68]

Just read this month's Wired main article about how a lot of stuff is "free", like DVRs, plane tickets, all the stuff on the web. They talked a little about King Gillette who realized that by practically giving away the razor that his disposable blade would be the thing people would buy again and again.

Not saying that SS should give away a Mark V - I know from my perspective and perhaps others here, what we've spent on accessories & SPT 's probably is close to what we spent on our mark V's. (Granted I bought mine used).

When Rockler, Woodcraft or SS offer free shipping the temptations become very strong to pick up that next "thing" that I want.

Just random a thought before the weekend kicks in.

-Tim

[guvnuh4]

I read the same article as well yesterday afternoon (slow work weeks suck...). It was an incredibly interesting read, especially in reference to some of the other things (I already had heard of the sell/give the main item away, then have a "gotcha" with the consumables, a great example that I deal with almost daily is Inkjet printers...). I think that SS already does benefit from some of the things that are discussed: occassional free shipping, these forums, a vast assortment of online books and data, etc...

For those of you that don't subscribe to Wired or frequent the website the article can be viewed online here,

[a1gutterman]

Being in the business of selling/installing rain gutters, I notice the following: Retailers (such as The Home Depot, Lowes, and your local lumber and hardware stores) of gutters and downspouts, while not offering them for "free", sell the main piece (a 10' long galvanized steel gutter) at a loss, but make up for it with all of the accessries required to complete the installation.

When someone asks, "How much are gutters?" I usually reply that I need to measure the job and give them a price. Often, they want a price per foot, and are shocked when they hear that the cost is, say $4 per foot. They usually respond with something like," I can get it from Home
Depot for $1 per foot ( a 10' section costing $10) and do it myself." What they do not count is the price of the other items that are required for them to install that $10 piece of gutter. By the time they buy everything that they need, the final price is usually at least 80% of the amount that I would charge them. Now they have to install them. They still don't realize that for the difference in price, they are installing a product that will leak after being installed for only a short period of time, where if they had purchased them from a professional, there would be no seams to leak among the other benefits.

[Ed in Tampa]

Being in the business of selling/installing rain gutters, I notice the following: Retailers (such as The Home Depot, Lowes, and your local lumber and hardware stores) of gutters and downspouts, while not offering them for "free", sell the main piece (a 10' long galvanized steel gutter) at a loss, but make up for it with all of the accessries required to complete the installation.

When someone asks, "How much are gutters?" I usually reply that I need to measure the job and give them a price. Often, they want a price per foot, and are shocked when they hear that the cost is, say $4 per foot. They usually respond with something like," I can get it from Home
Depot for $1 per foot ( a 10' section costing $10) and do it myself." What they do not count is the price of the other items that are required for them to install that $10 piece of gutter. By the time they buy everything that they need, the final price is usually at least 80% of the amount that I would charge them. Now they have to install them. They still don't realize that for the difference in price, they are installing a product that will leak after being installed for only a short period of time, where if they had purchased them from a professional, there would be no seams to leak among the other benefits.

Tim
I agree with all you say, but the real problem is the guy that doesn't think pass today. Instead of saying $4 a foot he charges $8 trying to make a killing. Once a person gets burned they are hard to convince your doing them right. As the old saying goes trick me once shame on you, trick me twice shame on me. They go to HD price out the biggest component of the project estimate it into their final estimate. Now you come up with an honest figure and they see a huge difference and figure you, like the last guy, are trying to get rich on their one job. What you and other honest tradesman must reply on is your reputation, that is why you must insure your customers have nothing but good to say about you.

I also don't think it would hurt to price out a portion of the job, say the front of the house, using HD costs and showing them that yes the gutter is $1 a foot but the everything else needed to complete the job costs, plus they either have to do it or pay to have it installed. Include the number of seams and let them know each sean is a potential leak.

I know tradesman tend to play things a little close to the vest to prevent helping competition but sometimes it is better to be open and educate the customer. My son in law is a general contractor and we have won many jobs just by fully informing our customers of everything up front. Then we knocked ourselves out to make sure they were smiling like sun beams all through the job. Sure it hurt at times but now that building has cut back my son in law still has more work than he can handle.
Ed

[a1gutterman]

Tim
I agree with all you say, but the real problem is the guy that doesn't think pass today. Instead of saying $4 a foot he charges $8 trying to make a killing. Once a person gets burned they are hard to convince your doing them right. As the old saying goes trick me once shame on you, trick me twice shame on me. They go to HD price out the biggest component of the project estimate it into their final estimate. Now you come up with an honest figure and they see a huge difference and figure you, like the last guy, are trying to get rich on their one job. What you and other honest tradesman must reply on is your reputation, that is why you must insure your customers have nothing but good to say about you.

I also don't think it would hurt to price out a portion of the job, say the front of the house, using HD costs and showing them that yes the gutter is $1 a foot but the everything else needed to complete the job costs, plus they either have to do it or pay to have it installed. Include the number of seams and let them know each sean is a potential leak.

I know tradesman tend to play things a little close to the vest to prevent helping competition but sometimes it is better to be open and educate the customer. My son in law is a general contractor and we have won many jobs just by fully informing our customers of everything up front. Then we knocked ourselves out to make sure they were smiling like sun beams all through the job. Sure it hurt at times but now that building has cut back my son in law still has more work than he can handle.
Ed

Indeed Ed, what you say works a lot of the time. Some (potential) customers do not take the time to listen to you though, and those are the ones that I am referring to. I have already mentioned that we have been in business for nearly 30 years. We do more or less exactly what you are saying and it works for us. We do zero, nada, no advertising. We do not even have a listing in any phone directory. All of our jobs are for repeat customers (most repeat business is from contractors as once you do a gutter job for a homeowner, it is infrequent that they require more work) or from referrals from happy customers.

My point to the story was that the main item is practically given away to attract the customer to buy it, and then the customer must buy accessories at a high price to complete the job.