When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

Bradm · April 29, 2025, 10:15:47 PM

I had a guy ask about making a cabbage shredder for sauerkraut. Given that I've never even seen one of these things before, and I told him so, it was going to cost him $200/hour (at the time, my shop sitting there with the lights off costs $130/hour) with a minimum of 4 hours + material. For a moment I thought he was going to bite at that, but it was just him catching his breath after sitting down. Turns out he could buy one at WalMart for $30 but thought he could get a higher quality for the same price.

I still don't know what a cabbage shredder looks like.

beenthere · April 29, 2025, 10:46:14 PM

The cabbage shredder that I use is a trough with an angled knife blade, like an upside down wood planer. Put a head of cabbage in a box that slides over the knife blade and slices or shreds the cabbage.

On Amazon for something similar.

cabbage shredder

SawyerTed · April 30, 2025, 04:49:18 AM

The "I really don't want to do it price." I tried that on a loft bed for my neighbors' daughter. I figured my cost and time and added 1/3 for "I really don't want to do it" fees. They agreed almost too enthusiastically!

BTW, I still use the cabbage shredder my great grandfather made. It really is nothing more than a stationary planer knife and a sliding box that hold a head of cabbage. We still use it to make sauerkraut. I also have the clay pots they used. We pack ours in canning jars.

Ianab · April 30, 2025, 06:55:16 AM

Quote from: SawyerTed on April 30, 2025, 04:49:18 AMThe "I really don't want to do it price." I tried that on a loft bed for my neighbors' daughter. I figured my cost and time and added 1/3 for "I really don't want to do it" fees. They agreed almost too enthusiastically!

There are jobs like that, where they want something custom and better than construction 4x2s bolted together. It might only be 5% of your leads, but if you can do it, and they are willing to pay, then build the beds and collect the $$.

The ones you avoid is the "I can get this for $200 from Ikea, will you do it cheaper?

That's a simple nope.

Magicman · April 30, 2025, 07:31:16 AM

Competing with another's sawyers sawing rates is a race to the bottom.

Yes, I have "lost" a few jobs to other sawyers. My statement to lost customers is that "he knows what his sawing is worth, and so do I".

I encourage potential customers to let me know if they decide to not saw or use another sawyer so that I can scratch their name off of my schedule. I can generally tell from the conversation who will saw and who will not.

dougtrr2 · April 30, 2025, 08:07:36 AM

A little off topic but related. Where I grew up there was a shop that did drive shaft modifications. They were the best in town. A man dropped off a drive shaft and when he came to pick it up he balked at the price. He only said he would pay about half the amount. The owner said fine, just a minute. The owner took the drive shaft in the back and cut it in half. He hand the pieces back to the "customer" and said "You pay for half a job, you get half a job, now get out"

Doug in SW IA

WV Sawmiller · April 30, 2025, 09:28:15 AM

We always get back to food now it is cabbage shredders. I have a big Hobart commercial shredder I bought by mistake a few years ago I need to take back to the flea market the next time I go. I bought it as a meat grinder but once I got to looking at it closer I realized what it really was and have not used it yet.

Doug, I like your story about the drive shaft. I could easily see the same for a stack of lumber if such post completion negotiations occurred.

DocGP · April 30, 2025, 11:55:20 AM

A couple of sayings from the old vet we bought our practice from have always stuck with me, and have been represented here;

If you don't like what you are doing, you aren't charging enough.

And;

In your career, you will spend 95% of your time worrying about the 5% of your clients that you should have already ran off!!!

Doc

YellowHammer · April 30, 2025, 01:28:52 PM

When the same customer sends me three emails in a row, with the second and third literally asking if I got the first email, and they were all only a 5 seconds apart, and in no email do they ever actually ask what they want specifically, except "Do you sell lumber?" which, of course, is specifically says on our web page where they sent the email from. That's a quick hit on the delete key.

Or the potential customer who calls up and leaves a voicemail, and before even asking me for what they want, gives me a lecture that voicemail is not done anymore, it's impolite, and old school, and I should employ an automated answering service. And yet on the voicemail, they never get around to asking specifically what they want, just a "Call me back as soon as possible, it's important." Yeah, nope, delete.

Or the ones who call up, don't give me their name, but have their phone number blocked so I can't see who they are, and ask me I got their last message. I say I don't even know who you are, so nope, if you block your number from me, then your number gets blocked by me, and so your last message went right into the Spam folder. Can't have it both ways.

Or the ones that drive up out of the blue, and say, "I need a deal, your lumber is too expensive."

longtime lurker · April 30, 2025, 04:17:02 PM

All of them, and don't forget the guy who rings up every 6 months or so and asks if we sell ply, just in case the answer has changed since last time.
Then there's the guy who rings up and wants a price on whatever but won't supply contact details... he's just fishing for the competition trying to figure out what I'm quoting on a real job.
Also the other guy who needs this in a hurry and then never shows to collect.
But my favourite is the guy who wanted me to saw on shares... well I got a small fortune tied up in a sawmilling operation and you've got a couple of trees, what's a fair split?

Peter Drouin · Reply #35 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

Or, do I have old and junk lumber I can get cheap.

No, all that goes in the chipper.

Can you save me some? No.

PAmizerman · Reply #36 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

A bad storm went through Tuesday. I've been getting calls to come clean up fallen yard trees. I can have the log if I clean everything up. Hard pass

Nebraska · Reply #37 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

@DocGP yep I hear you.

I didn't know voicemail was outdated....

SawyerTed · Reply #38 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

Several years ago I went to a local tractor used parts/salvage yard. They specialized in blue tractor parts but had a few red ones and even fewer green ones. I was getting red parts.

I was behind a guy at the counter who wanted to negotiate the price on some high demand blue (Ford) tractor part. It may have been a starter or maybe a diesel injection pump, I don't recall.

Guy: How much is this?

Owner, checked his price sheet said: $$$ (whatever the price was).

Guy: Will you take $$$ (about half)

Owner: No

Guy: Will you take 75%?

Owner takes the part off the counter: That's no longer for sale

Owner looked at me: Are you with him?

Me: Heck no! Never seen him before.

Owner: That will be $$ for your parts.

Me: Gee thanks. That's about half of what I expected!

The scratch and spit crowd gathered by the pot belly stove had stopped telling lies and were listening. The whole place broke up. The negotiator guy was still standing there speechless!

Dave Shepard · Reply #39 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

I've mentioned my negotiating tactic on here before:

Them: how much for "x"?
Me: $1/ft.
Then: can you do any better?
Me: $1.25/ft.
Them: how is that better?
Me: is better for me.
Them: ok I'll do $1/ft
Me: no, it's $1.25 now. Bye!

Big_eddy · Reply #40 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

Some people are just _____________!

My wife and I were splitting block in the wood lot and sweating buckets on a hot day, when a guy riding by on his motorcycle stops. I pop the helmet and ear muffs off, walk over to the fence and he asks me
Him: "How much for a cord?"
Me: "$### delivered locally"
Him: "$###! You're kidding. My buddy and I sell it for (about half) delivered"
Me: "I'll take 20 cord if you can deliver today"
Him: "Vroooom!"

Funny thing - he was in such a hurry to get out of there, he stalled twice getting going.

Dave Shepard · Reply #41 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

You could have been the Amazon of firewood!

barbender · Reply #42 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

Yeah I've dealt with those sellers before in my area. I was starting to think I should have them deliver 10-20 cords to resell, until I figured out that their advertised "cord" was actually little over half of that. So they were actually selling their wood for more than everyone else.

Maybe I should've bought a few loads, and then called the Weights and Measures Department😊

Dave Shepard · Reply #43 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

BB, that was my first thought, as well. How big is their cord?

jpassardi · Reply #44 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

Quote from: PAmizerman on Yesterday at 06:50:56 AMA bad storm went through Tuesday. I've been getting calls to come clean up fallen yard trees. I can have the log if I clean everything up. Hard pass

You don't want logs full of metal that you have to spend more getting than they're worth?

Magicman · Reply #45 - Re: When to Give Up on a Potential Customer

I had a guy to call yesterday. He had about 80 Pine "logs", 20' length and 8"-20" diameter. That ain't logs, that is pulp wood.

I had to tell him no and then explain why. Plantation Pine trees with 1/2"+ growth rings will not saw and produce anything close to usable lumber. He was disappointed but we both would have been had I attempted to saw what he had. Sometime the best response is to just say no.

The conversation never even got to sawing rates.