Estimating the unknown

[cdhowell]

Had a lady come in wanting a tune up on an 06 Expedition. I explain that it books at 3 hrs.and plugs are x amount. This would be The minimum charge "IF" everything went correctly. I went on to explain The notorious spark plug problems and that this "could" drastically change the price. I tried to explain that they could break at the shell, or the porcelain which takes longer. And there was no way to estimate "IF" or how many plugs would break. She says she was expecting it to be under $200 and she could not afford us. I tell her that any shop that can do it for under $200 has know idea what they are getting into. I tried to get her to explain what problems she is having and that she may not need plugs. Instead she ran out the door so fast I thought she was going to break a high heel.

 

So where did I go wrong? I had a customer in the shop willing to spend money but had no idea of what could happen. Trying to be up front scared her off before we had a chance to earn a repeat business customer.

Even though my wife was here, I feel she thought we were trying to take advantage of a female. Was there a better way to handle this?

 

[mspecperformance]

Take what I am saying with a grain of salt since it is just a regurgitation of what i have learned but it has worked for me. You never want to give customers a break down of parts and labor and especially not quote labor times. What you have to do is talk to them about the value of the service, what you will be providing them, your warranty, your training and certs and and the end of all that once u have built a value based service in their mind then you give them the cost at the end. Use softening words like, "Your investment for a professional maintenance service will be XXX." If you talk about price right off the bat without building value into your service, all customers are going to do is think "price price price."

 

In regards to the spark plug issue I would mention that because you have extensive experience with this engine (make it sound like you are an expert with this engine) there is a possibility you may have to perform additional work. Assure the customer you will do your very best to avoid incurring extra costs during the procedure however you are full equipped and capable of handling the proper repair. Maybe this would be a great time to mention your warranty and that you full guarantee the repair once it is made.

[xrac]

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[cdhowell]

The thing is , She was referred to us by 2 other small shops that refused to touch it. But No one was doing anything without an exact dollar amount. That I could not give her. Maybe I should just be glad she left, But I do not like the circumstances she left under.

[KenV]

The 2 other shops refused to do the work because it couldn't be done for $200. You explained to her the problem of what could occur in the replacement of spark plugs on a Ford. Letting her know up front that there could be addittional cost. She is shopping and you did nothing wrong , you gave her the correct information.

[xrac]

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[Dustin Rutkowski]

My top dog tech is a lover of Ford engines and a master at doing these tuneups. We price them at the cost of the plugs with our standard markup plus book labor which will be somewhere between $450-$475. Any broken plugs are an extra $50 with a maximum of 4 or $200. So far he is batting 100% on doing these tuneups and successfully extracting any broken plugs. Of course if we couldn't remove a broken plug then a head job would be priced and sold.

Question about that.... We have had great luck with these as well and are currently pricing them the same way about $450 with parts plus $50 for each that needs to be extracted. How would you go about telling a customer that a head job would be required after extraction failed? We have not had this happen, and all customers are warned of the problems with these spark plugs breaking. It just seems difficult that we sell the job saying that we can extract them then when it fails we have to go back and sell them a considerably more expensive job. How do you break the news to them without turning up on a milk carton?

[cdhowell]

Question about that.... We have had great luck with these as well and are currently pricing them the same way about $450 with parts plus $50 for each that needs to be extracted. How would you go about telling a customer that a head job would be required after extraction failed? We have not had this happen, and all customers are warned of the problems with these spark plugs breaking. It just seems difficult that we sell the job saying that we can extract them then when it fails we have to go back and sell them a considerably more expensive job. How do you break the news to them without turning up on a milk carton?

Exactly my point. How do you go from a $450 repair to a $1400 repair and make the customer understand. In their mind you are so incompetent that you can't change spark plugs without messing up their perfectly running truck.

[xrac]

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