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But a 'race to the bottom' is inevitable if everyone prices themselves lower than the others out there.
Unless you had twice as many overheads as any other company there would be no need to be twice as expensive. If all your costs are worked out then they are likely to be not much different than anyone else in a similar business. If they are more than 25% higher than a similar business locally then you need to find out why and change it. So that leaves the proffit element, and that's the bit which is essential to any business. If you're not making one then you won't be in business for very long no matter how much work you have on.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that it's easy, just that sometimes it's necessary to take a step back and see what you can do to make a difference. Where are you advertising? If it's in things like the free papers or yellow pages then you won't be targeting you advertising at all. Advertising only works if it's in front of the people you want to work for. Where do they choose tradesmen from?
If you leave out he cost of a job, why would anyone want to use your business?
What sort of impression do you give when you quote? If it's better than the competition then you are presenting a higher standard straight away.
Do you supply materials that can be viewed by customers in the DIY outlets? I mostly use stuff that they don't see and sell it. So take a CU for example, when I'm talking to the customer I point out that 'we' only use Hager boards as they are good quality and the MCBs/RCDs/RCBOs don't give problems very often so 'we' don't have to return for warranty replacements. By saying that I tell them two things, firstly that if something does go wrong I'll be back to sort it, and secondly that they are unlikely to have any nuisance issues.
Once you've changed a CU or rewired a house, when do you expect to see the customer again? If the answer is never or years from now that's not a good thing. I tell them that I'll be back in 12 months to check verything's OK FOC. When I go back I do a couple of quick checks and make sure that the terminals are all tight. You'd be amazed how many times you get "Oh, while you're here, we were thinking of having [x, y or z] done/changed. Can you give me a price?" or "My friend/relative needs [whatever] do you do that?"
Do you leave business cards/flyers with people you've done jobs for? If not, why not? It's free advertising done by a satisfied customer.
As for the new business angle, I started self employment last Christmas. I hit the VAT threshold in July. My plan when I started it was to avoid all of the negatives that I'd seen with other companies, things people who had work done told me, companies I'd worked for did. I'm not suggesting I have it all right, or that it's easy, but if something's not working I change it until it does.
