You Charged too Much

Occasionally a customer will complain that a job didn't take as long as they expected it to take. They may be happy with the work, but not the time it took us to complete it. They may make noises that we should reduce the price.

The simple solution is to point out that they agreed to the price ahead of time, and that you did the work as specified in the agreement. This is certainly true, but it can also fan the fires of the customer's discontent. After all the customer is angry.

It is often more effective to turn the tables. "Mrs. Smith, would you have been willing to pay use more money if the job had taken longer than I expected?" It is doubtful that Mrs. Smith would agree to do so.

There can be a lot of reasons why a job takes less time than a customer expects. One reason, and perhaps the most common, is that the customer simply doesn't know. Another reason might be that we anticipated problems that did not arise. Or, perhaps we simply work more efficiently than the customer expected.

Regardless, the last thing we should be doing is reducing our price. Doing so implies that we did in fact overcharge, and that always sends the wrong message.