"That'll Never Work In My Area"

That’ll never work in my area

“Yeah, but that’ll never work in my area.”

How many times have you heard a contractor say that or seen it in a Facebook group comment thread? 😅

Actually, I know I’ve been guilty of saying that myself.

But my perspective of that comment, excuse, whatever you want to call it, has changed over the years.

Working with hundreds of contractors all across North America has given me some perspective.

And, if you’re making the, “that’ll never work in my area” comment to yourself now, I want to challenge your thinking.

I’m not saying that certain things will or won’t work in certain areas. That dynamic absolutely does exist.

My goal is to make sure you’re actually finding the best solutions and not allowing yourself to make excuses.

Price

Probably the most common topic that I hear the “that’ll never work on my area” comment is on pricing.

“There’s no way you can charge $120/hr for what we do. That’ll never work in my area.”

I’ve heard that comment many times, while also knowing someone else in their local market doing exactly what they were claiming would never work.

It happens all the time.

And my response to that objection is: “Well, maybe. How do you know? Let’s test it.”

Because “that’ll never work” comments on the topic of pricing are dangerous.

It also will “never work” to be selling work at prices that you can’t even break even on.

And if that scenario is true for you – you have two options:

• Cut costs
• Or raise prices

It’s that simple.

You can’t argue with the math.

If the price required to cover your costs and actually make a net profit truly will not work on your area, and you’ve already done everything you can to cut costs and boost efficiency, then you need to find something else to do.

Now.

Because you’re going backwards every day you work providing a service that isn’t covering your costs.

Let’s test it

But before we assume that, my challenge to you is: let’s test it.

First let’s figure out exactly what your costs and break even actually are, get crystal clear on that, then work to sell work at that pricing.

Hone your selling and vetting skills. Hone your sales process.

Make sure your filtering your leads.

Because there are plenty of people out there that may “want” what you do, but can’t afford it.

And that’s not your fault.

It is what it is.

Just because you have a lead that so very much wants what you do, but also can’t afford it, doesn’t mean your prices are too high.

It means they can’t afford it.

And you should focus on defining a better sales process that filters those people out before wasting your and their time.

Focus on educating them. Explain in your website and sales process what things cost.

I could go on and on, but I’ll say this yet.

I’ve heard that “It’ll never work in my area” comment on the pricing topic many times.

Then that same person went on a journey to discover what it really does cost them to be in business, what their break even is on every job, and what their pricing should be.

They changed their tune quickly and their pricing shot up above what they had claimed would never work.

And they were fine.

In many cases their lives actually improved.

They were working for better clients, and actually making money.

They just got better at finding those clients.

And when a customer with a beer wallet and a champagne appetite asked for work and then decried the price, it no longer bothered them.

The contractor wasn’t too expensive.

The customer couldn’t afford it.

Subtle shift in perspective.

If you want to take a crack at some quick n dirty math to find out what your true break even is per man hour of labor, use our free man-hour calculator to find out.

Sales process

This same challenge of “If you think that’ll never work, test it!” applies to other areas as well.

For instance, I’ve heard similar comments regarding things like a consultation fee in the sales process.

“That’ll never work here. Everyone around me gives free estimates.”

Ok…

Test it.

Prove it out.

Will it actually not work?

I can tell you another comment I’ve heard many many times.

Consultation fee

“Dude I can’t believe I waited so long to charge a consultation fee! For years I was afraid to do it. I finally did it and now my close rates have shot up and I’m wasting way less time on clients that we’re never going to buy from me anyway.”

The point is not about the consultation fee. It’s not about the money. Unless you’re charging thousands, it’s not covering your time and energy anyway.

It’s about filtering.

That’s what the consultation fee is all about.

Weeding out the tire kickers.

If you’re genuinely having challenges with people not hiring you because of the consultation fee, find another way to position it.

I’ve heard some pretty cool and creative ways that contractors have positioned a fee in the sales process.

A simple example I just heard from Matt on the Site Shed podcast was how contractors in his market started charging for what they called a Project Analysis.

The point was “I don’t want to do a quick and rushed job giving you an estimate, and then because of our lack of due diligence and planning, there’s a slew of change orders throughout the production of the job. That’s not a great experience for you as our customer. Instead, let me spend the time it takes to truly discover your vision for this project, and as the expert, help you find the best and most efficient ways to achieve that vision.”

“And oh, by the way, we charge for that. Sound cool?”

How do you think a legit seriously interested customer will compare that option against a barrage of free estimates?

You tell me.

Have you ever experienced anything in your business that you thought would never work in your area, but then it actually did?

Hit reply and fill me in! Or comment on the article. I’d love to hear it.