Any Advice ?

[Cubit]

Dont agrre about the cheap thing. People want Value for money and Quality not cheap. Or at least our customers do, else we would all be in the cheapest cars, with the cheapest pc's, homes etc.

I dont want cheap when i buy anything i want good. Security systems are more than equipment the way they are designed/installed and serviced if more important than than the manufacturer brand. I accept there is a large market that want cheap now, dont care about later but i myself avoid that market as the only way to make money is to do it short term then dissappear when the problems start.

Buy cheap buy twice

Agree with you there James. However,

Established companies are often able to pick and choose which jobs, or types, they want to do. That is, refuse the many who want cheap.

Unfortunately, new companies don't always have that luxury. It takes strong willpower to stick to your principles when trying to get off the ground and jobs all seem to be down at the 'lo cost' end of the scale.

[james.wilson]

is that why 75% (or whatever it is) fail in the first 2 yrs?

[Guest anguscanplay]

is that why 75% (or whatever it is) fail in the first 2 yrs?

or just pack it all in in year 6 when the callouts get too much

I love em ......................

[james.wilson]

i suppose, so it should be 'buy cheap buy 3 times' then ?

[hpotter]

i suppose, so it should be 'buy cheap buy 3 times' then ?

or 5 times, or 10. (talking domestics)

People do buy cheap. They dont see the difference between a

[lawandorder]

or 5 times, or 10. (talking domestics)

People do buy cheap. They dont see the difference between a

[Guest anguscanplay]

Price can be an issue but it very much depends on your market.

I would never try to sell into the 200 quid domestic market it's just not worth it.

If you are good at your job you get work by personal recommendation then half of your prospects don't even get a second quote and even if they do they would rather spend an extra 50-100 quid having the job done by somebody who they feel confident in than some stranger who happens to be a bit cheaper.

That's my experince anyway, obviousy you won't get every job you quote for but I can honestly say that when I was trading (small AISC as it was then company) I got won more than 96% of my domestic quotes and I wasn't the cheapest.

If price was everything BMW would be out of business, in times of depression their sales figures are probably less affected than Skoda's!

when I was / used to be / in my day - right, anybody else who`se already got a firm want to keep repeat this old mantra? were safe mate, we are the BMW`s .............. but if your starting out today your fecked, the markets changed and saturated, price is the overrridding consideration now for new customers.

go subbing then? well you might as well have stayed employed because your still making the money for somebody else

all your left with is undercutting everybody to take over a site you`ll be lucky to hold more than 2 years when the next wanna be turns up.

dont believe everything your told on the net - search for all the OTHER sub ten post guys asking about going it alone and see where they are today.

[arfur mo]

20 years ago maybe - today? price

i don't agree Gus,

i'm still here, and i don't run pm contracts so have to pull in new works. most come from the existing customer base but i still get work from complete strangers who tap me upwhile working.

fortunately i'm kept over busy, but if i ever needed i'm very able to generate healthy sales from cold calling, i can hapily engage people in a till que at tesco's, or wherever i'd feel the need to.

there are a lot of potential clients who are simply fearful of dealing with what they see as isolational corporate based companie's, and simply prefer the personal touch of a small and hopefully grateful trader.

these people just don't like press 1 for sales, press 2 for accounts, they don't like to talk to office staff, they want to talk to the organ grinder - thats the one they havethe faith in. so they do like "hi, this is alan speaking, how are you today Mr Josephs? did you get that jaguar you were threatenning, are all the kids ok? hows your lovely wife Joan" patter blah! blah!.

i don't have a wonderful memory, but my smart phone has loads of relevant notes, like the clients kids or grandkids names(they are all potential clients at some time sooner or later), like i say depends on your salesmanship and how you sell yourself.

just out of pure interest, as a newly estabilished company how many enquiries would be generated from being registered with either body fromdy one?, early days say 1st 6 months? how many of those would get to a fruition of a sale?

i'm sure once established and techniques sharpened, more sales will result from registration, what i'd fear is the calls where the 'potential client' having got the name from the list with a pin, having had an intrussion and lost say a purse or TV, value

[Guest anguscanplay]

i don't agree Gus,

i'm still here, and i don't run pm contracts so have to pull in new works. most come from the existing customer base

Didnt bother reading the rest seen as you missed the point by a country mile - sorry.

[Cubit]

One point being overlooked is the 'reputable' companies that vastly overcharge an unsuspecting customer - then wonder why they ultimately end up with a dissatisfied customer.

Has someone already pointed out. Easy to lose a customer, damned difficult to retain.