OMFG! ok this is good but I need help!

[cqueen]

Right here's the low down. I do electrical PAT testing for health & safety regulations. Very small business at the moment.
I join here about 5 days ago not really knowing where my business was going.
Then 'Sarah Ink productions' told me to contact some facilities management companies because they might have work for me.

Well I sent out a few letters yesturday and I've just had a call from a guy saying hes got 70 offices all over the country in edinborough, manchester etc, and they can be small or massive.

He wants to know how much it would cost. I told him we're not a national company yet but we do intend to do so and a contract like this could do it for us.

The only thing is though....its just me! help I need to try and get my head round all the stuff I need to consider to give him a price.

EDIT: I know I'm not capable of doing it on my own, but it'd be silly to turn down this oppertunity, I need to find out how much its gonna cost to expand, fast.

[Sarah-Ink Promotions]

Im glad it worked :) Can you travel to some of the sites and subcontract the rest of the work out to other 'one man band' type companies in the really far away areas - maybe they can then return the favour for you if they get jobs in your area?

Hope it works out for you :)

[Sarah-Ink Promotions]

p.s. when your empire goes national and you need giveaways for your 100's of clients and uniforms for your staff just remember me!! ;)

[WakingDragon]

Well done pal!

You probably know what the going rates are and you need to add a little on top of that for yourself. Also add in the costs of monitoring the work done by others - which you must do to maintain quality - so you probably need to factor in running a car. Can you get people to sign contracts (after all they are sub-"contractors") giving a service level agreement related to pay? Can you find sufficient people willing to work for you in this way?

Until you can find some likely candidates you may have see if it is physically possible to do all the sites yourself. From your own description you have just been sitting on your arse for the last few weeks so perhaps it is possible.

I guess now you gotta start thinking about things like corporate boiler suits, eh? ;)

[creospace]

Remember it's knowing when to turn down contracts that is the difference between being a good businessman and a great one!

But certinly use this as a learnign expereince as it will be very valuable for you and the future.

Gary

[cqueen]

Sub contracting the small ones is a good idea. It will save a lot of hassle.

I'm trying to put together some price plans, i.e. pay a fixed price for the year, pay per appliance tested, pay per office.

[WakingDragon]

Sub contracting the small ones is a good idea. It will save a lot of hassle.

I'm trying to put together some price plans, i.e. pay a fixed price for the year, pay per appliance tested, pay per office.

You should already know what your customer has in terms of current needs. If not then give them a little visit and do some fact-finding (basically all of the info you need to put together a price). Whilst in the discussion you should be listening to what the customer really wants - are they looking for something where they don;t have to think about it? are they exceptionally price aware? are they looking for a monthly visit irrelevant of requirements? do they need call out service? what are the things that have annoyed them in the past and what things did they like?

You should try not to compete on price ever, so careful listening will allow you to build a proposal that is lucrative and meets their needs. If you want a hand with preparing this, I am more than heppy to help you out as a totally objective external person.

It is very sad to say, but I actually enjoy doing this kind of thing :oops:

[cqueen]

Cool, I'm gonna give the guy a call shortly to find out some more exactly figures.

[DuaneJackson]

well done, a contract like this could be very good..... or very bad!

Dont invest too much money in making changes or buying anything to try and secure this contract. Remember, you havn't got it until they sign the dotted line!

[Ozzy]

Hi cqueen,
If it helps I know someone who does PAT testing in the Northampton area who may be able to provide some coverage for around this sort of area if you need it.

As for contracts with the freelances, I cannot stress this enough.... speaking from someone who was stitched up by a freelancer about 6 years ago who went direct to MY customer and undercut my rates and cost me that client (which just happened to have been a PAT testing company! Jeez spookie)

[cqueen]

Good point ozzy!

[Pebble Communications]

I know someone who could cover Kent/inside M25 for you.

Fiona Bailey
www.pebblecommunications.co.uk

[creative-keyrings]

whatever you do, dont say no to this contract.

Pull out all the stops to get it done for them!

:):):) well done!

[Eagle]

Go get 'em!

Good luck. :)

[cqueen]

Ok I've set up some proposals. I'll just have to wait and see what he thinks. Might be too expensive for his liking though.

What do you guys think I should do with regards to profit? I mean for travelling me and a few other guys round the country I'm gonna want to earn some, but is it worth cutting my profit to the bare minimum get the deal?

If he went ahead with it, I could imagine it would be very good for my business in terms of winning major contracts in the future, so maybe its worth going cheap?

The problem is, whilst being based only in Norwich, its gonna be a bugger for travel & accomodation expenses whilst on jobs.

[Rob Holmes]

What do you guys think I should do with regards to profit? I mean for travelling me and a few other guys round the country I'm gonna want to earn some, but is it worth cutting my profit to the bare minimum get the deal?

NO ! IMHO Build in an ok but not greedy profit

If he went ahead with it, I could imagine it would be very good for my business in terms of winning major contracts in the future, so maybe its worth going cheap?

NO NO NO

This is one of the major contracts you are aiming at - if you take that approach this time you'll take it the next time as well.

It is an old old trap to fall into - pricing low to get a contract - it's how alot of people go bust - you could be risking your business to meet contract needs and not make anything out of it.

You don't want non-profit making contracts that have you and others driving around the country do you? What if you lose a guy in a certain area where will the money come from to get another - what if you end up in court over something - where will the money come from? IMHO Each project should carry itself financially.

The problem is, whilst being based only in Norwich, its gonna be a bugger for travel & accomodation expenses whilst on jobs.

Cost them in and include them in your quote - you need to ask enough questions before quoting. Many many times we've taken longer to quote but because we've asked the right questions we don't dig ourselves into a hole and quote low to be competitive only to find the competitors suffer because they quote low to win the business. If you cost the job properly, build in a little profit (maybe 17% profit after all costs is a suggested figure) at least you'll know you haven't under or over priced it. If you lose it on price you know that either others can do it cheaper legitimately (good learning opportunity) or someone has underpriced it (but because you're staying in contact with the main company they'll come back to you if the others pull out right?)

But don't work for no profit now in the hope of profit later - it's called 'fools work' - and I'm not calling you a fool by the way - hopefully you've heard the expression before ;)

Maybe someone will disagree with me - I'll add "all of the above in my opinion" :)

Rob

[Coding Monkey]

I agree with Rob. Remember, if these are large companies, they actually expect to pay more. If Nike asked us for a website and we priced the normal, for a company with that much money, they'd wonder where the catch is, why we're cheaper, what we're not doing for them because we're cheaper. Someone will now come along and disagree with that, but put it in the perspective of income/turnover/profit whatever you want - when you start off, you don't buy the best, and you don't spend on the best; you do what you can. As you grow, and have the resources, you want the best and can afford it, and price is a significant factor in how they will perceive your expertise.

[Pebble Communications]

This may be jumping the gun a bit but if you are going to travel and do a lot of them yourself, you obviously need to plan out a tight 'per region' schedule and not zip around all over the place randomly.

So, anyway, for cheap accomodation on the road check out the Travellodge website - if you are booking between 21 days and a year in advance you can get supersaver rooms for just £10 a night! And unlike most of these promotions there are actually rooms available all over the place on plenty of dates. So perhaps you could schedule your travels around these?

[Dread]

To add onto Tom's "Nike" point, when quoting for a job you should think of what its worth to the company your supplying it for. If i was to quote a website to a small local business and then the exact same one to Nike the Nike one would be a hell of a lot more expensive. Where the small local business would maybe make £5,000 from the website i made, Nike would certainly make millions from it.

[Ozzy]

Yes larger clients have higher expectation, and expect to pay the correct price for their expectations.

[cqueen]

Ok guys, lots of helpful stuff there, I think I'll stick to my original prices.

I would probably go and do the first few jobs myself with the other guys so I can expereince it for myself and I can keep an eye on the them.
But I want to leave the actual testing to the others eventually & put one of them in charge and pay him a bit more.

This guy still hasnt given me enough information really. I phoned him again and he was still quite vague because I dont think he knew the answers to the questions I was asking him.

What I've done is made up some examples of how much it would cost to go to manchester and test 5000 appliances, and then cardiff for 3000 appliances and so on.

But Ive also said that he'd be better off giving me a contract to do the whole lot, rather than one offs, so that I could plan where and when my people would need to be.
well all I can do now is keep my fingers crossed.

Does anyone know of any other national falcilities mangement companys that I can badger?