Advice needed and appreciated!!!

Damien · January 12

Hey guys, I’m going to start by thanking all that have helped me become a window tinter. I started from scratch about a year ago learning off of youtube and this forum mainly from @DanoI hope he sees this. I have had steady business for the past few months. Bussiness is steady but not enough of it. I’m getting around 3-4 cars a week. I use a carbon film and I’m only charging around 160$ for full installs. And half of those jobs are factory match jobs that I charge around 80$ This is what I’m needing help with… I really need to raise my prices because I’m not making enough money to continue doing this. I live in a small town and I’m the only tinter in the county. But Iv tried raising my prices to 200$ but it drastically hurt my numbers so I had to lower my prices back to what they was. I do good work and have great reviews. I either need to find a way to raise my prices or get more cars during the week. The only advertising I do is on my Facebook page. Do signs really make a difference? I am a penny pincher so I only spend money on what’s necessary. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Edited January 12 by Bham

Bham · January 12

Yes!!! The signs around town will help. 100% :yep

I was already established at a location with a partnership deal along side an auto accessories shop. That partnership fell apart and I had to move to a different location and start over 100% on my own. My new location was not very visible from the road and down off a side road. This meant I had to put out signs and I had to go out and hand out business cards and pound the pavement to tell everyone where my new location was. Of course FB adds on local pages that would allow me to do so helped, but mainly going around handing out cards and putting out signs on busy corners was the biggest thing. If your area will allow signs without taking them up after you put them out, I would definitely get some easy coroplast yard signs and stick them everywhere they will let you. Go to every car show or craft event or whatever type of public gathering that will let you hand out cards. These things will help more than you know.

also I edited your post and tagged Dano for you. :beer

Tintguy1980 · January 12

My first two years were as you describe. Didn't have the internet in 1980 so it was more about networking related industry and getting a PT job in the evening. I was available 8-4 during the day 6 days a week and PT'd at a side job 5-9, 5 days a week.

Right around the two year mark my word of mouth reputation began paying off big time; to the point of quitting my PT job and doing only tint. From there I expanded into doing flat glass. One feeds the other (auto/flat)

Signs placed roadside around town were against ordinances so that avenue wasn't much help to me.

Dramatic price increases can negatively impact sales. Try smaller incremental increases. Yeah, it doesn't help your dire straights in the immediate, but it does long term. You raised your price 25%. That has to be justified when someone comes asking and that can be a hard sell. Been there, done that, too.

My 2cents.

Tintguy1980 · January 13

The attached picture should be enlarged, framed and hung on a wall where you discuss the cost with your clients.

jbrekkie · January 14

I just wanted to say, getting them in the door is the main thing no matter what, from there you can negotiate prices. Which leads me to say always keep 3 different types of tint, obviously getting more money for the highest quality ceramic. Advertise the cheap film but sell them the best film. Always have a demo heat lamp in-store, 2 out 3 always get the better or best film; it sells itself!

pbalentine · January 14

You want to be competitive with the prices in your area and price close to or at the highest prices around town. Raising prices can lose past customers, but at some point you need to do it and leave those custys behind for the ones that’ll pay more. Thats what I did when I first raised prices. The past customers that said I was too muchwere some of my cheapest customers that I didnt mind losing. As for pricing I would charge about half the cost of a full vehicle for the two fronts. I actually just raised my two front price now. I did it because of the rise in tinting only the two fronts. The higher price will push people more to tint the entire vehicle.

Dano · January 15

Thanks for the kind words.

Lots of good advice in this thread. Years ago I did direct marketing mailers, 4x6 postcards to targeted zip codes. They worked pretty good but needed to be sent out every six weeks, three times total per season starting mid March.

One of the best bits of advice was from a long time industry guy who told me to lower my price on fulls by $10 and offer with no warranty, at the same time raising my price by $25 for a lifetime warranty. At the time, 20yrs ago, I was at $150. You wouldn't believe how many people took the job at $175 because they were thinking past the sale.

For those that wanted the warranty and a discount I would tell them I would package three similar cars for $500 and add in a visir strip for the first car. The customer then became my salesman. I proceeded to offer upgraded film and visors to the remaining two people that he brought in.

Used car lots were a good place to run the three car discount as well.

Another good trick up my sleeve was to go in to a buisness while the sun was blazing in the glass either early or late day and ask if they wanted to cool it off. That worked pretty good.

There are so many good hustles if you can get into the mind of what someone actually needs. Radical Service was a good book related to the idea of sourcing and retaining good customers.

Edited January 15 by Dano
Added

Tintguy1980 · January 15

3 hours ago, Dano said:

There are so many good hustles if you can get into the mind of what someone actually needs. Radical Service was a good book related to the idea of sourcing and retaining good customers.

Tickled a memory of something I learned when I was at a mfg'ing sales seminar.

These three things comprise the law of sales/selling and not necessarily in the numerical order listed here:

1. (Low) Price

2. (Excellent) Service ... Service includes warranty or follow through, not necessarily the big smile at intro.

3. (Product) Quality

A customer can only receive two. Some will say it's possible to get all three.

Dano · January 16

The only way I ever get all three is with volume. Of course a good salesman will make you think you're always getting all three.

:money

pbalentine · January 16

One thing with cheap customers is they are looking for the lowest price. I would get customers asking for a discount, so I would offer $10-$20 only to have it rejected. Yeah, I never go down in price now. Also, Ive noticed a high rate of cancellations with customers that are mostly concerned with price.