Your Price is too high! Or is it too low?

[bantar]

I received an email today from a Consumer stating "Your price is too high, so hell with you sir!" in response a marketing email inviting him back for his next service.   My initial reaction was uh-oh, quickly followed by "Why am I not hearing more pricing complaints?".   This is quite interesting as we were in a discussion last week, talking about our prices being too low.   We are priced competitively in the market, but with a higher service level, likely, we should be able to earn more with a higher pricing.

I remember reading somewhere that if you don't have enough complaints of your price is too high, then you are priced too low.    There is a balance in pricing.   On one hand, we have price leaders nearby (, with prices so low that they would go broke quickly if they were honest) that will rob the price shoppers blind when they visit as well as other reputable shops with various pricing levels.   

I operate a combo lube and repair shop.     My repair labor rate is a premium to the area and we have talented technicians that rate this premium.    I'm at a small premium on the Lube, but believe it should be higher and .    

After having a chuckle on today's email, I figured it would make for a good conversation.   What is the right Price-is-too-high-complaint rate?  1% 5% 10%?     We might get a 0.5-0.3% abandon rate at the counter over pricing.  I'm sure that there is a silent minority that just doesn't come back, yet makes no noise.

[alfredauto]

In case anyone has been under a rock home prices rose 20% in the last year. Food prices almost doubled. Parts prices went up a lot. Gas is 89% more. Half the shops in my area closed for good.  So I raised my prices. No more $19.99 oil change. Nobody really complains about the labor rate but they do vocalize about their 8 quart silverado synthetic oil change. 

[Transmission Repair]

First, we are a transmission repair facility and nothing else.  No GR.  What's your definition of your customers saying your prices are too high?  Is it when they say "No" when trying to sell a job or, when they vocal with you and tell you straight up?  I'll assume it's the latter.

I choose to ignore price complaints because they are simply irrelevant for the most part.  Transmission prices are all over the map.

-HOWEVER-

I worked hard to keep tabs on my costs.  Everything is changing, and at a faster rate.    Every single time I calculate our costs, it has gone up.  Never fails.  Early in my career I was scared and performed a cost analysis every month.  As the years rolled by, the frequency slowly got shorter, then quarterly, and now I only do a cost analysis once or twice a year.

As long as the front counter staff knows and believes in the shop's pricing structure, you can easily defend your prices.  Most of the time, it's simply either a miscommunication, or comparing apples to oranges.  I remember one time a customer blew a gasket over a transmission fluid change price of $500.  It was a Euro vehicle with combination oil pan/trans filter rolled into one.  To get the pan off, you have to fully drop the exhaust system.  It takes special fluid.  I just ignored the guy.  Something like a month later, I received an Email off of our website.  It was the same customer calling me on our prices.  "The dealer wanted almost a thousand dollars for a fluid and filter change." the customer said.  He learned a lot from doing his own research.  

J. Larry Bloodworth, Draper, Utah  [email protected] 

[Joe Marconi]

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[NCTransmission]

I am not going to pile on, but I came from outside the industry and I have always believed that if 10-15% of your clients don't walk because "your price is too high" then you aren't priced high enough.  We provide excellent service, and we don't have ANY technicians on staff who have less than 5 years experience in the automotive world.  I HATE giving a quote prior to looking at a vehicle, and it's because every car is different.  Are you recently relocated from NJ with your 5 year old chevy equinox?  It's a rotbox, and I have the spend 3x the labor time to get your rusty crap apart?  That should somehow be MY problem?  Nope.  I have a minimum annual increase, we have the highest labor rate in the area and I am fine with it.  We provide service, above and beyond what that rate reflects, and my front office desk person and myself are full invested in the successes.  

Above and beyond the reflection of the area, have you calculated your costs to reflect your profit levels required?  I analyze about 2x a year what we need to be doing to provide for the services we offer, the employee satisfaction and for the best experience possible  I want to make money.  I want to reward my team for their efforts.  I want to save some money for those short months...  But I can't do all that if I am simply looking at my competition and determining what I will charge.

[bantar]

17 hours ago, Joe Marconi said:

After 41 years as a shop owner I will stand by my conviction that we have not charged enough and we have ALL suffered because of it.   

Not sure if I have this right, but I read this as.... to remain competitive, I must consider other shops in the area with lower prices.  We can be at the top with pricing, but not way over the top (of the median area pricing).  The median price needs to go up; otherwise, we suffer.

Did you know that large apartment complexes update their pricing as often as daily?   They will survey prices in a 10 mile radius and compare their rates against their comparable class (A, B, C, D).   Smaller operators will not have the resources to do such dynamic updates, so their pricing may change less frequently.   Maybe there is a business case for a pricing aggregator service that provides Market research data.

I know of a local well respected shop, with low labor rates, because his overhead is low.   He could charge more, but doesn't.  Complacency with earnings?   I know of others that focus on being the lowest cost as a strategy, but can't afford tooling.   Education?  

When you are first starting out, your schedule is a giant hole and not worth populating because any and every time will be open.   You don't want to turn any business away.   You are scared that no one else will fill this void.   Then when business starts getting better, you don't want to "rock the boat" with pricing changes for fear of taking a step back.   I think there's a bigger newbie challenge:  How to bill for ALL hours used.   What is the difference between Win Some, Lose Some outliers and we just estimated wrong?  How to tell the difference between technical efficiency and unknown job complexity.  Does the bill suddenly jump to compensate?   Can you explain it to your customer and not look bad?  Or do you just eat it?    These are natural survival instincts.  (I had all of these phobias and I can't say they're gone, but some are repressed!  🙂 )  The best shops have much of this already figured out.   This forum is one such place to learn from other successful leaders.

Personally, I see the repair business as a Trust Business.  If you are really Trusted, then, here are the keys.  Fix it.    I sometimes cringe internally when I'm asked about my labor rate, but 99% of the time, they just say, Oh.  My cringing is pointless.  It's not the cost that matters... it is the value received.

[Joe Marconi]

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