Clients say......Those Famous First Words....
"John, can you fix this little place?" We've all know about famous last words....well, these are famous "first" words. You've heard them with your name at the beginning and you know without a doubt that the "little place" is much like the little end of an iceberg.
Houses age and their components both inside and out age and wear. I'm always amazed when I fix that one "little place" and four hours later I find myself outside on an extension ladder caulking around the window unit air conditioner! The more you know the more you have to sell or give away...depending on how you differentiate between being kind on one hand and being a good business person on the other.
When you hear the "this little place" routine you have the same choices the ship captain does with the iceberg---you can slow down and change course or go on an hit the iceberg and then patch the hole.
The trick here is to see the iceberg coming and respond before any damage is done. We are all reluctant to make our customer feel bad by having to point out what is painfully obvious -- that all we have to sell is our time. If we give it away then what will we sell?
The worse possible thing you can do is to "react" instead of "responding." An example of reaction is if you see and bee on the back of your friend's head and you slap it. Your friend could turn around and punch you. That punch would be a reaction. However, if the friend turned and asked "Why did you hit me?" that is a response. One is reflex the other is thought.
The most important concept to get a grip on in business is that most people are NOT trying to get something for nothing. In fact, most people would be disturbed to know they have cheated you. However, WE ALL want to come away from a business deal feeling as though we got a good deal.
So knowing all that -- what is the correct response to fixing that "one little place?"
Remember, you have scheduled a slot of time for this customer to accomplish a specific amount of work. If you are distracted by touch up and other items that are unplanned and unscheduled you will not be able to keep your next appointments. It isn't fair to you and it isn't fair to your other clients who are waiting for you to appear!
Tell the customer that you have a little on-going "touch up" program where you schedule a specific amount of time to come and repair all the wallpapered rooms in their home (even the ones you didn't hang) for a___________ of money.
Take a quick look at how many rooms of wallcovering they have and what condition these rooms are in. Then count on either a half day or whole day for the work. Now here is where this program benefits you. Make them aware that you use these small jobs as "filler" in between big jobs and that you will call them (maybe on short notice) to do the work. They, of course, are in no way obligated to have you come on short notice if it doesn't fit their schedule.
You will be amazed at the way this will work for you especially with people like realtors, investment counselors and many others who work and/or entertain a lot of clients in their homes. These people find it most important that their homes make as good an impression as possible and always want it kept in tip-top condition. Business clients of this caliber are delighted to have you come in once or twice a year at a pre-agreed fee and at pretty much your convenience to keep everything just right.
One thing we recommend in our professional wallcovering installation training program is that all our students establish a daily minimum charge. Since we have students in every state and many foreign countries we can never tell them exactly what that charge will be. That dollar figure needs to be based on the "going rate" in the area where you work. Once established you can use your established daily minimum as a base for your "touch up" service.
One might think that keeping rooms looking good would cut down on redecorating but it likely will not. More often than not people redecorate because their rooms are out of style, faded and just plain tired looking. All the touch up in the world won't fix that kind of problem.
Earlier I mentioned you would offer in your touch up agreement to repair even the rooms you didn't do. Impress upon the client that you can't make a silk flower out of sow's ear. What you can do is try and trim the sows ear to improve it's appearance considerably. In other words, touch up will likely not make a bad job good, but can make it a lot less bad.
When I closed my paperhanging business to open the American School of Paperhanging Arts I had an entire rack of keys to clients homes so that I could come and accomplish repair and touch-up work at my leisure and convience. Many of my customers were doctors and lawyers whose offices I had done as well as their homes. Though it did involve some weekend and evening work much of my repair business was in their offices. We have always taught in our course that this type of work can be a profitable additional income to the main installation business.
Just last month I went out and did some repair work in a local dentist's office and charged a very nice fee for only a couple hours work. I was able to get that nice fee because the dentist could not find anyone who would come for such a small job. While it's true that sometimes these small touch ups turn out to be more trouble than they're worth, most of time (especially if used properly to fill in time between larger jobs) they create much appreciation, profit and good will. In this case I was able to fix this badly torn wallpaper problem by stopping in after leaving the school for a few minutes over the space of three days. Plenty of goodwill and a little extra spending money.
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