Dealing with different types of people in business

[climbingmonkey24]

Do you ever get anxiety about dealing with tricky customers, difficult customers etc.?

People who can’t make up their minds, people who keep going back and forth not knowing what they want, not following what was agreed upon in quote, not liking your price, etc,

If you’re in business long enough you’re gonna encounter some of these people yea?

Not everyone is gonna be full of sunshine and rainbows.

How do you handle these situations professionally without taking it personally or getting too worked up about it?

I feel like I sometimes am afraid to stand my ground because I want to make everyone happy with my services and don’t want anyone to say negative things about me or my company, but at the same time you can’t let yourself be taken advantage of and you can’t please everyone.

 

[27RMT0N]

"Sorry, I am not the best fit for this job and as a result will not be submitting a work proposal. Fortunately there are a number of other tree services in the area that can handle this project for you."

 

[southsoundtree]

Stand firm.

It's just business.

Don't get invested in being everything to everyone.

Feel free to fire customers at will.

They are not all worth it.

You shouldn't lose out because some people are flaky/ jerks, etc.

Give a firm price on a very spec'ed contract.

Have Change-order conditions and with a higher than average hourly rate for undefined tasks. When people have to pay, they become much more decisive.

I do some view pruning where they don't know what they want. I have them on the phone from their vantage points and let the hem and haw and be decisive, while I wait comfortable sitting in my saddle, paid well by the hour. The less decisive they are, the more I make for the same amount of work.



I've gotten really good at telling people, "no pressure, here's options, I'm really busy. That said, I'm happy to do a very professionally completed job for you. Mostly I work for the same people year after year. Some people tell me they will be gone, the house is open, you know where the bathroom is. The longer people have been my customers the more preferential treatment they get when something is urgent or an emergency. Mostly, I work within 5 miles of my house or less. I can get to their close houses most easily when the roads are blocked from storms."



You be the product in demand.
It's not easy... Spin your mindset. You are a scarce resource.


One of my best and regular customer is a retired General, medical doctor who doesn't ask for a bid, is always pleasant, polite, and satisfied.
His wife recently texted me at 730 in the morning asking if I had time to help them. A tree tipped over a bit earlier. I told her I'd be there in 40 minutes after changing some gears. I called my friend and had his kboom there 2 hours later. They like my friend, another army vet, as well.

Be a great product, choose your customers. Forget the rest.


You can always do some gravy work for good customers who pay well.

I just gave some cutting lessons and a sharpening lesson to a good, new customer. Lent him a peavey. Told him to drop it off when he's done. He has a lot of work ahead of him. I just pruned 7 maples and took down 4-5 maples, letting him clean up, with good instructions on how to mulch with the chips he'll make, and how to irrigate.

He shook my hand, thanked me, and said he'll sing my praises.

 

[Reach]

I personally write about 100 quotes per month. I have long since given up on making people happy, about 40% of those people will hire us, about 30% of those people I will never be able to please in one way or another, usually because we are too expensive, and about 20% of those people I will never hear from again.

It’s business, not personal, I don’t really much care what they have to say about our prices, if they think we are too high, because that is what it cost us to do the work. If they don’t want to pay it, that’s fine, we will find someone who does.

We will write an initial quote, sometimes we will make some suggestions as to what we think that we should write on the quote if it feels like they really don’t know what they want to do, and we will edit a quote a couple times if it seems reasonable that they will choose something. Otherwise, we will tell them to do some thinking and figure out what exactly they want, and we will write up a new quote once they have figured it out. After we do that, it is very rare we ever hear from them again. After 19 years of doing this, I have also gotten a pretty good sense of the likelihood of someone to actually do any work, and have found that when they want options on 73 different items, usually they won’t do any of them at all. In cases like that, I will offer to write them a quote for the first item or two, tell them to look at it and see what they think of the quote at that point, and they can call us to add more things if they wish. None of those people ever call back or answer their phones when we try to follow up with them.

 

[Simpleiowaguy]

After a while you get to a point where you can read what kind of person you're dealing with pretty quick. If they have two or three projects and want a break down I'm willing to do that. Any more then that and I tell them that we will just charge a day rate and go from there.
I always put a written scope of work on estimate, its also noted that any changes in work will be a change in price and discussed before performing.

 

[burtonbc1400]

Some jobs are not worth even looking at. Also some customers are not worth dealing with.
I get frustrated all the time with customers.
If you don't have $500 to drop on a project, why do you even pick up the phone. (My min is 300 no cleanup, 500 min w/chipper)
Many don't value the contractor's time, or respect the skill / equipment required. Others simply can't afford it, but this is circumstances you cant be mad at.
I try to always meet onsite with the customer. If you can't be bothered to drive to the location, I can't either.

Also the expecting immediate service is a trigger for me. Plan ahead people!

Basically self entitlement and cheap pisses me off.
Ok rant over thanks guys.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[Leroy G.]

Early on into doing my own thing I ambitiously agreed to do a handful of Elm removals that had previous failures here and there as a work trade for a beater 2000 Ford Expedition. The guy had a bunch of kids and said money was tight yet had a collection of souped-up muscle cars he always seemed to be working on (some of which were in the structures below the trees I agreed to remove). In my spare time I climbed, and solo rigged everything into what little drop zone I had (roughly 6'x12' between structures and barbed wire fences) where I couldn't cut cookies and throw into a tiny neighboring yard. The person he had hired the year before stopped after cutting a few branches and left a number of wooden platforms, cables, straps, nails, screws, rope, and stakes I had to deal with. The homeowner seemed grateful, but I don't think it was worth all of the little annoyances the job came with in addition to the wear and tear on my gear due to the amount of metal, sharp roofing panel, and barbed wire that was all over the place. I ended up taking the 5 main stems down to about 8'-10' each because of the amount of metal in each tree, which still maxed out a 28" bar at that height. Initially the homeowner was hesitant to hand over the title to the vehicle I had worked for because he said I didn't finish. He'd say he was there to help, that he wanted to keep his word and help me out, would have an unsolicited suggestion from time to time, but when I'd need someone on the ground to untie knots, unclip carabiners, untangle rope, or potentially run a speed line on a port-o-wrap he wouldn't answer a text or would say he had to be somewhere. None of the other neighbors or landlords the trees impacted had any interest in splitting the cost of renting a lift/bucket or contributing. I tried to remain professional and did get a fair bit of practice/good reps in the saddle, but I walked away with a bit of resentment knowing I was being jerked around and should've declined from day one...

 

[VenasNursery]

Early on into doing my own thing I ambitiously agreed to do a handful of Elm removals that had previous failures here and there as a work trade for a beater 2000 Ford Expedition. The guy had a bunch of kids and said money was tight yet had a collection of souped-up muscle cars he always seemed to be working on (some of which were in the structures below the trees I agreed to remove). In my spare time I climbed, and solo rigged everything into what little drop zone I had (roughly 6'x12' between structures and barbed wire fences) where I couldn't cut cookies and throw into a tiny neighboring yard. The person he had hired the year before stopped after cutting a few branches and left a number of wooden platforms, cables, straps, nails, screws, rope, and stakes I had to deal with. The homeowner seemed grateful, but I don't think it was worth all of the little annoyances the job came with in addition to the wear and tear on my gear due to the amount of metal, sharp roofing panel, and barbed wire that was all over the place. I ended up taking the 5 main stems down to about 8'-10' each because of the amount of metal in each tree, which still maxed out a 28" bar at that height. Initially the homeowner was hesitant to hand over the title to the vehicle I had worked for because he said I didn't finish. He'd say he was there to help, that he wanted to keep his word and help me out, would have an unsolicited suggestion from time to time, but when I'd need someone on the ground to untie knots, unclip carabiners, untangle rope, or potentially run a speed line on a port-o-wrap he wouldn't answer a text or would say he had to be somewhere. None of the other neighbors or landlords the trees impacted had any interest in splitting the cost of renting a lift/bucket or contributing. I tried to remain professional and did get a fair bit of practice/good reps in the saddle, but I walked away with a bit of resentment knowing I was being jerked around and should've declined from day one...

Unfortunately from what I understand that guy is p.o.s looks like you did a ton of work. What do you value the vehicle at?
I don’t like to barter.
You pay me my price I’ll pay you your price.
Period
Live and learn as long as you graduate

 

[data farm 26]

Live and learn as long as you graduate

I good friend was just telling me, "tuition is not free, even if you don't go to college."

 

[Mick Dempsey!]

If you’re busy its easy to get rid of clients you hate, in fact it’s a pleasure.

If you’re not (and I’m not fighting them off with a shitty stick atm) you have to swallow it.

 

[Leroy G.]

Unfortunately from what I understand that guy is p.o.s looks like you did a ton of work. What do you value the vehicle at?
I don’t like to barter.
You pay me my price I’ll pay you your price.
Period
Live and learn as long as you graduate

 

[flushcut]

A lot of the reasons listed are exactly why I don’t advertise heavily, word of mouth referrals are golden.

 

[Serf Life]

If you’re busy its easy to get rid of clients you hate, in fact it’s a pleasure.

If you’re not (and I’m not fighting them off with a shitty stick atm) you have to swallow it.

Most definitely! We left a jobsite this month and never working there again, so good.

 

[Matias]

I good friend was just telling me, "tuition is not free, even if you don't go to college."

I tell people this almost exactly, and fairly regularly. I chose the path of the autodidact, but it has still cost me quite a bit to aquire each new skill. I still paid for my education, but I didn't take on debt, so I feel pretty good about it.

 

[data farm 26]

Same, life long learner, still paying dues. Heavily

 

[96coal449]

I've learned 3 main trades in the field. It's a lifelong pursuit.
Learning never ends.