165 | What Your Pricing Is Really Saying About You

Have you ever taken incredible care of a customer? I mean, really taking care of them. You showed up fast. You fixed the little things. And some of those times, you didn't even charge them. You were the first person they called for years. And then one day, the big job finally showed up, the expensive one.

The job you've quietly been building towards this whole time. And guess what? They called someone else. Not a competitor who outworked you. Not a company that cared more than you did. Just somebody else. And here's the part that stings. You never even got the chance to bid it. If that's happened to you or you're quietly afraid it might, stay here.

Because today I'm gonna show you the invisible thing that decides that job long before that phone ever rang.

Welcome to Freedom Blueprint Podcast, the show for home service leaders who are done guessing and ready to build a business that actually works for them. I'm your host, Justin Deese. I am pumped to be here today with you. So let's get into it. Here's what I want you to understand today. How you price your jobs is silently telling your customer everything about you and your company. Every quote you hand somebody is saying something about you before you ever open your mouth.

It's telling them how confident you are. It's telling them how professional you are. And it's telling them what size of problem you can be trusted with.

You're not just naming a number. You're telling them who you are. And before I turn that mirror on you, I'm going to turn it on myself first. Because listen, for years I had this completely backwards. I thought taking care of people meant keeping my price low and saying yes to everything. I did free work.

I patched the cheap fix. I was proud of being the affordable guy. And I watched the big jobs walk right past me to a company with a nicer truck and a bigger name. I told myself I just got unlucky. I didn't get unlucky. I was training my customers to see me a certain way. And right now, you might be doing the same. whether you mean to or not.

Let me tell you about my friend Jimmy. Jimmy had serviced the same customer for three, maybe four years. Anytime that customer called, Jimmy showed up at the drop of a hat. More than a few times, he didn't even charge them because it was something small. Jimmy genuinely wanted to help, but Jimmy stayed stuck in a broke fixed mindset. He never talked about the age of the equipment. He never talked about a long-term option.

He never positioned himself as the person who solved the big problem. Then that 25-year-old system finally gave out for good. the customer decided it was time to replace it. And here's the part that matters. Jimmy didn't get the job. Jimmy didn't even get a chance to bid the job. The customer went with one of the bigger companies in town. When Jimmy told me this story, I wasn't surprised at all because

That customer never stopped trusting Jimmy. They just didn't trust Jimmy with a job that big. In their mind, Jimmy was the guy who patched things together. He wasn't the guy you called for a $15,000, $20,000, $25,000 decision. And that's the real cost. it isn't one lost job.

It's a category you quietly placed yourself into, and you never even knew it.

So why do good owners keep doing this to themselves? Well, there's three reasons. The first, we believe effort earns loyalty. We think I've taken such good care of them, of course they'll call me. But customers don't reward effort. They reward confidence. Reason number two, we confuse being liked with being trusted with money.

Jimmy was liked. Jimmy wasn't trusted with the big decision. Those are two completely different things. And the third reason, We're scared the price will scare them off. So we shrink. We soften the number.

we apologize for it before they even respond. And here's what the customer feels when you shrink. They don't feel a deal. They feel doubt.

If you're not sure you're worth it, why would they?

All right, so what do we actually do about it? Well, there's three things you can start doing tomorrow. Here's the first. Lead the replacement conversation early before things die.

During your first visit, you should always mention to the customer the age of the equipment. You should always give them and start talking about options now. even if a system's eight, nine years old, you still need to start talking about the age and some different options.

As you get to the point where replacement needs to really start being part of a conversation, you start having it as a plan with a customer. So then it's not a surprise. If you wait until it breaks for good, you're already too late. The second thing, price your replacements like the expert who installs them every single day. strong pricing quietly says we've got systems, we've got processes, and we know exactly what we're doing.

Weak pricing whispers we're small, we're unsure, and we hope they say yes. A big decision doesn't want cheap. A big decision wants certainty. And the third thing, and this is the simplest one of all, if it has value, put a price on it. That's it. Every time you do valuable work for free, you're not telling them you're generous. You're telling them your work isn't worth much.

Stop training your customer to see you as cheap. Next time you're about to do something for nothing, at least say the value out loud, even if you still choose to give it away, which I just wouldn't do that.

Here's what happens when you get this right. You win twice. The business wins because the big jobs finally start to come to you first. And your team wins because they stop watching their best work get handed away. And they start working for a company that knows what it's worth. Remember that affordable guy I told you about, I used to be. The day I stopped apologizing for my pricing and started leading the conversation early, everything changed. The big jobs didn't walk past me anymore.

They came looking for me. So here's your challenge. Picture your single best customer.

Now, think about the big service you offer, whether that's an HVC system, a water heater, an electric panel, a garage door, whatever the big ticket item is in your trade. And be honest with yourself. If that system died tomorrow, would they call you first? Or would they call the big company in town? If you're not 100% sure, that's not bad luck. That's your starting line.

So before you do anything else today, do one thing. Pick a customer, just one, and start the replacement conversation before everything else fails. Because if you don't lead that conversation, somebody else will. Listen, if this one hit home, share it with an owner who needs to hear it and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming up next. Until next time, keep pricing with confidence, keep leading with clarity, and as always, keep crushing it.