Cutting deals for customers?

[SMKR]

I would rarely cut deals if I were you, always seems to come back and bite you in the ass......

[kingjason]

Even though I love a deal, and try to negotiate all the time, I will pay more for quality work hands down. If I take my transmission guy anything, I don't even blink an eye when he gives me a price. He always tells me its a deal afterwards, and I tell him I would rather him charge me full price and him be in business tomorrow than cut me a deal and have financial problems. It is hard to find a good mechanic. I have another friend that owns a shop, and although he does fairly decent work, at fantastic prices for me, I won't drop of any of my shit there unless it's routine maintenance. He goes through too many mechanics and sometimes they just don't do things to my liking. I am just anal I guess. Charge what your worth, and keep it consistent.

[Cooter]

My buddies always try to hook me up on prices. I tell them to charge me like they would charge anybody off the street... that I'm not there for their prices, I'm there for their quality of work!

They never do, and I always pay them more than they ask for.

There's a character type/mentality that often ends up in mechanical trades. I'm one of them myself. I've been taken advantage of for not bidding what I'm worth. I'm in recovery now, and while I will certainly help out ACTUAL FRIENDS... I don't cut breaks for the folks who wouldn't give you the time of day if you weren't in business anymore.

[ceyko]

In our business the only time we cut deals is when times are slow. Sometimes it better to "win some than none" and keep the lights on/people employed and so on.

Otherwise, it is not a good practice to run on minimal margin. Keep fair pricing and only cut deals when needed or in select cases where you know there will be some give/take.

[Craizie]

In our business the only time we cut deals is when times are slow. Sometimes it better to "win some than none" and keep the lights on/people employed and so on.

Otherwise, it is not a good practice to run on minimal margin. Keep fair pricing and only cut deals when needed or in select cases where you know there will be some give/take.

The only time I will cut a rate is when a customer promises a large / steady volume, and it isn't a pain in the ass to deal with.

[ceyko]

The only time I will cut a rate is when a customer promises a large / steady volume, and it isn't a pain in the ass to deal with.

We refer to them as true "relationship customers" .....we may even charge them full project price, but do a lot of extras/out of scope things for them and blow off smaller items/issues - from a billing perspective.