Bidding = Arguing with Idiots

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I read this on a remodelers’ forum in a discussion of RRP:

"In the meantime, I'm bidding jobs against contractors who could care less and undercut the pricing, making it impossibe to succeed in that market where extensive renovations are required in older buildings. What makes it even harder is that many clients seem disinterested in the value of using a lead-safe contractor and don't want to pay more for the same work when they're not living in the building durring construction. The net result is those who follow the law are many times punished in the marketplace."

The "bidding jobs against contractors who could care less" part immediately reminded me of a quote that started with "Don’t argue with an idiot…" My Google search turned up:

"Don't argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference." –Mark Twain

"Don’t argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" –Greg King

Both quotes offer a new perspective on submitting oneself to participating in a bidding competition, especially with contractors who are beneath you.

It’s a no-win situation, so why go there?

I don’t intend to give any answers with this post. Hopefully I can only try to make y’all see the insanity in allowing yourself to get "dragged down to their level" so "onlookers (can’t) tell the difference."

Once we acknowledge this insanity, THEN we can amend the last sentence in the remodelers’ forum comment to: "The net result is those who follow the law but don’t position their companies above the others in the client’s eyes, and don’t ask enough questions of the homeowner before putting in hours developing an estimate, will be punished by their own lack of sales skills."

RRP or No RRP

These universal laws of salesmanship were true before RRP. RRP just requires us to step up our game all the more. Do it. You and your clients – the ones who are a good fit for you – will be better off for it.

Hell, RRP gives me a black-and-white qualifying criteria that allows me to identify misfit clients and good fit clients even earlier and easier. If they are dismissive of RRP, they ain’t a client of mine and I don’t waste another breath on them. If they acknowledge that lead is a concern, or at least being legal is a concern, they are worth at least a few more breaths.

Leah Thayer and I will be doing a little sales role-playing via Skype very soon for daily5Remodel. If you are not yet subscribing to this site, do it now. Learn how I avoid getting sucked into bidding wars.

Cheers, Greg

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Comments (1 Total)

  • Posted by: evoytovich | Time: 9:36 PM Saturday, January 15, 2011

    This low-bid behavior is likely to self-destruct when contractors who are RRP qualified get fed up and report the scofflaws. Word will travel fast. I'll bet you a new HEPA filter that's how the process was set up . . . to police itself.

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About the Blogger

Greg Antonioli

thumbnail image Greg Antonioli founded Out of the Woods Construction and Cabinetry Inc. in 1992. With more than $3 million in revenues in 2009, Out of the Woods is a design/build firm that does strictly residential remodeling, historically in the Boston suburbs and increasingly in the city. The company has 13 employees (eight in the field, five in the office), practices open-book management, and enjoys a company-wide bonus program. Greg is a long-time member of Remodelers Advantage Roundtables, president of the Eastern Massachusetts NARI chapter, and a Sandler Sales trainee. He is also an avid reader of business books and periodicals, a regular magazine contributor, and (some have said) a twisted thinker. Greg believes that his company’s #1 obligation is to its construction clients. He believes that company time and resources spent on sales is time that should be spent serving construction clients, therefore sales and design efforts must be very efficient. One of every three of the prospects with whom Greg meets becomes a design client, and 100% of those design clients convert to construction clients. Greg is a native of California’s Silicon Valley area and a graduate of Santa Clara University. He and his wife have three daughters and live in Acton, Mass.