The Tale of the Impatient Garage Door Repairman
As a professional services provider, your pricing depends on the conversations you’re willing to have with prospective clients. This cautionary tale of the impatient garage door repairman illustrates the cost of not having a value conversation.
The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.
TRANSCRIPT
John Ray: [00:00:00] Hello. I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. The Tail of the Impatient Garage Door Repairman.
John Ray: [00:00:09] One morning several years ago, I woke up, sleepily took care of our morning potty time for our dogs. And then, when I brought in the last one and lowered the garage door, disaster struck. As the garage door lowered, it crinkled. And my wife couldn’t get out of the garage. Fortunately, though, I was parked outside and can take her to the school where she teaches.
John Ray: [00:00:35] On the drive over, she asked who I was going to call about our problem. I have no idea, I told her, but I’ll work it all out. Well, after I dropped her off, I went straight to my desk and started my work. I could deal with that garage door stuff later, right? Well, a few hours went by and my wife called me during her lunchtime planning period to check on how that garage door repair was going. I’m working on it, I told her. Well, Dr. Ray has a keen nose for bull. You need to know, she said, that I’m not spending the night in that house if that garage door is not fixed.
John Ray: [00:01:19] Well, my priorities, you might say, had suddenly been realigned. I had to get on the stick and make something happen. I didn’t have a contact among garage door installers, so I did what most people do in such circumstances, I went online. I looked for a garage door expert with what seemed to be satisfactory and legitimately honest reviews. I found a nearby provider who seemed pretty good and I gave him a call. I described the problem, gave him my addres, and texted him pictures of the door along with measurements of the door panels.
John Ray: [00:01:59] After a few minutes, he called me back, I’ve got the panels we need to replace the door, he said, are you open for me to come out there this afternoon? Yes, I said. And I was trying to damper my excitement when he said that. Well, normally, he said, I would charge $1,100 or so. But if you’ll pay cash, I’ll charge you $800. I immediately responded, “Get over here, man. I’m headed to the ATM.” So, I get a sizable discount for paying in cash and I’m not going to be in trouble with my wife, I felt like I was at the casino and three cherries had just come up on the slot machine.
John Ray: [00:02:37] I had no idea when I made the call what a garage door replacement like this should cost. I had visions of four figures dancing in my head before this conversation, so that’s what I was braced for. In his impatience to get this job and seemingly, also, to avoid taxes by receiving cash, my garage door repairman screwed up.
John Ray: [00:03:01] He was focused only on the job at hand, not the why of the job. He didn’t have a value conversation with me, his client. He never asked me any questions that would have revealed my sense of urgency and what I valued. He could have asked questions such as, “Well, what happened and when? Do you know why it happened? Was there anything unusual happening prior to the problem? What do you have in mind to replace the door? Any upcoming outside house painting or remodeling projects you have? When was the house built? Any issues with the garage door motor itself? How many cars are parked in the garage?”
John Ray: [00:03:47] You see the point? He could have then said after all that questioning, “Hey, my crews are pretty busy right now and we’re more than halfway through the day today, when did you need to have the work completed?” At some point in this conversation, I would have revealed the big problem, which had little to do with the garage door itself. It was important to my wife that this job be completed that day and, therefore, it was important to me.
John Ray: [00:04:17] I would have understood that I’m calling him in the middle of the day hoping he could get my replacement done by day’s end, if he told me that he had a rush charge, but that he could get out there that afternoon, I would have paid – I don’t know – $1,500, $2,000. I don’t know what I would have paid. But I felt like I’d drawn the get out of jail free card to only pay $800.
John Ray: [00:04:42] In the services business, home professional or otherwise, the price you ultimately receive is based in part on your willingness to have a value conversation which taps into the hopes, fears, dreams, and other emotions which are bubbling up inside of your client. But you won’t know those unless you ask.
John Ray: [00:05:04] And your impatience can cost you a lot of money like it did my garage door repairman. And you might be, like I imagine he could be, wondering why you’re working so hard for so little on the bottom line.
John Ray: [00:05:19] Thanks for joining me on The Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of this series can be found at pricevaluejourney.com or on your favorite podcast app. I’d be honored if you’d subscribe to the show, if you’re not already. And feel free to send me an email, john@johnray.co.
John Ray: [00:05:40] And, hey, some big news, in 2023, I’ll be releasing a book, so if you want more information on that, feel free to connect with me. You can send an email or connect with me on LinkedIn. johnray1 is my handle on LinkedIn. Thanks for joining me.
About The Price and Value Journey
The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.
If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line as well as the mindset you bring to your business.
The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.
John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.
John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.
John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,600 podcast episodes.
Coming in 2023: A New Book!
John’s working on a book that will be released in 2023. The book covers topics like value and adopting a mindset of value, pricing your services more effectively, proposals, and essential elements of growing your business. For more information, connect with John below.
