Today, I just learned some valuable information from my competitors.
We do a lot of sanding and refinishing work, and I close a good percent of my jobs, but there is always room for improvement. I'm trying to listen/observe more and ask more questions, and I'm finding it's really helping me. It's helping me win/secure more customers and it's helping me understand my competition's strategy...so in turn, i can land more work.
A couple of weeks ago, we had an unplanned situation where all of the contractors were there at once and overlapped. (This customer was moving into a new home and the current homeowner got sick and limited his window, so we all had to change schedules and overlap). Not the most fun and awkward to say the least. But hey, we all know everyone gets multiple bids (or interviews multiple real estate agents. Or course, none of us gave estimate while at the home and we each had some one on one time with the customer.
As I left, I overheard one of my competitors mention something about water based polyurethane. As you may know from my recent featured post Water based vs. oil based polyurethane: which is better? and it clearly shows that oil based is usually the better option (and more cost effective). So, when I gave my customer the estimate, he told me he had narrowed it down to 2 flooring contractors and I was one of them. Rather than asking who my competition was, I asked whether the other one was offering water based or oil based polyurethane...this way, I could justify our work based on objective measures and provide my customer with valuable knowledge rather than speaking negative about the competition (which I always try to avoid). I explained to my customer that oil based will look better (and showed the pictures) and last longer and ultimately save him a lot of money.
So, naturally, the question comes up, why are they recommending water based poly? Previously, my answer was because they can do the job quicker and therefore make more money. And, certainly that is part of it...it's good for them, but not the customer.
But, today, I learned that there is another part of the equation. I have a customer who wants to refinish his kitchen - heavy traffic area and the floors look awful (looks like they were done in water based poly based on the way it's peeling). So, he had 2 other estimates with water based...my jaw dropped as this makes even less sense in the kitchen! Then, he volunteered that they told him that you need to screen them and add another coat of poly ONCE A YEAR. Well duhhh...that right there should tell you how much less durable water based poly is. I was flabberghasted. I told him, I don't build my business on selling maintenance plans for polyurethane. I don't want you to go throught the inconvenience and expense of resealing yearly. That's crazy, when you can just do it right the first time. I said, maybe after 5-7 yrs you do another coat of oil based poly to extend the length of time before a full refinish. I told him that I build my business based on happy satisfied customers who refer me to their friends and call me back for other projects not to redo and refresh an inferior job so you can waste more money.
So, now I know the full story on why my competition is trying to push water based polyurethane...they want to create additional and unnecessary work.
This is NOT how I run my business. I try to do the best job for the customer and save them money - both short term and long term. Maybe that is old fashioned, but I think this the right thing to do.
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