I lost a bid today!! The reason why I lost the bid is because the homeowner informed me that my competitors made him believe that he should be “very careful” of water treatment companies that do not even have a storefront. The dumbest thing about this whole experience for me is that when I first went to see the homeowner the install was going to be very difficult but I figured out a way to get a water softener installed for him. So what happened at the end of the day is the homeowner had to call me to find out just how I was going to do the install in his home so that he could tell my competitor how to install his water softener. Therefore, the homeowner was discouraged from buying from a company that does not have a storefront (us) and ended up buying from a company (them) that could not figure out on their own how to even install a water softener in the homeowner’s house! On top of that the homeowner said, “I know I am going to pay a lot more for the water softener, but at least I’ll feel more comfortable.” Does that make sense? It really does not, but hey, you can’t win them all, can you?
It’s true. Royal Water Systems does not have a storefront. We do not have a secretary to sit at a desk and answer phones. We do not have an inside sales team to take sales leads and pass them on to commissioned paid outside salesmen. We do not have a massive fleet of vehicles with insurance expenses as well. It is not our effort to be the biggest water treatment dealer in Utah, only to be the best and we have found out that we do not need these things to install great products and offer 5-Star service to our customers.
Why don’t we have these things? The reason why is because we do not have to pay rent or a mortgage on a building for a storefront. We do not have to pay a salary to a secretary to answer phones and push paperwork around the office. We do not have to pay for an inside sales force. We do not have to pay for a high-paid outside salesman. We do not have to pay for a fleet of vehicles and we do not have to pay for the insurance on these vehicles either.
It makes perfect sense. When you see a casino or a great big tall bank skyscraper, who do you think built that great big building? Who do you think pays for the staff? The honest and simple truth is – their customers did. Royal Water Systems does not believe in that. We simply keep a warehouse to inventory our products in and then service our customers from our vans and we don’t need a lot of people to do it either as long as we install high quality systems that won’t be breaking down and giving us and the homeowner a lot of trouble.
I constantly bid against the biggest and most well-known water softener dealers in Utah. Their bid is usually always around $3000 – $3500 and many times I find that my competitors really tried to stick it to the homeowner with a $5000 $6500 bid. My bid for a water softener is almost always around $1500 – $1700 and most of the time my product is superior and sometimes far superior and I don’t just say that either. I know that I am installing systems that will be absolutely trouble free for at least 15 years. Also, you should understand that I don’t need a storefront or an inside sales team or an outside sales team or a fleet of vehicles to put a quality Utah water softener in your home that was made right here on the Wasatch Front and you don’t need me to have a storefront to make sure that the systems I put in your home will be serviced each year and have any and all filters changed. These systems are installed in your home they are serviced in your home. I have to come to your home and do a water test and a plumbing inspection before I can ever even consider putting a water softener or a Reverse Osmosis drinking water system in. I will also have to come to your home to service those systems when they need it.
So you can have it 1 of 2 ways: You can spend $3000 – $6000 and help a water treatment company pay for their building and all their employees, their insurances, and their vehicles, etc. Or you can spend $1500 – $1700 for a quality made water softener and have it installed.
Which would you rather do?
Sam Nielsen
Royal Water Systems
855-763-8637