Has anyone on this forum experienced a competitor stealing their quotes? I ran 2 quotes Wednesday and left them in their mailboxes for them. I get a call 2 days later from both of them and they said that they never got anything. I described their home to them so that they knew that I went to their home to do the quote. Im thinking that maybe they called around and got a few companies to bid their project and a competitor stole my quote out of their mailbox. This hasnt happened to me before to my knowledge. Im going to be delivering my quotes in a plain white envelope with the customers name on the front from now on. Anyone else experience this and what do you do to avoid letting your quotation end up in the wrong hands of your competition?
I think the mailman may have taken them. The post office does not allow anything to be put in the mailbox other than postage paid mail. I am surprised the post office did not call you and threaten you. It happened to me. Some of those guys enjoy the power trip.
I used to leave a bid with my business card when the h/o wasn’t home. I too found that I would not get call backs or I would call them afterwards and they stated my bid wasn’t there. I would then tell them that if they had other w/c bids then one of those companies must of stole it. Not a professional behavior. That alone got me the job at times.
Since then I will leave my biz card in the door or screen, that’s it. I will get a call from the h/o wondering why I didn’t leave a quote. I want them to call me back. Now that I have them on the phone I can talk with them so I can get a fill for the client and they can get to know me a little better. If they are just looking for a low bid then they have several bids I’m sure. But I want to make that personal connection to land the job.
I leave quotes all the time, and that never happened so far.
Never on the mailbox, UNLESS the customer ask me for it, if not I leave them on the front/back door, or somewhere else, then call them to let them know I’m leaving the house, what time it is, and where is the quote for when they get home, and to give them my number if they have any questions.
Update on the situation. I received a call from both of those customers today and they both booked an appointment. The first guy told me that I seemed very professional to him on the phone(didnt get the quote) and that he wanted to go with my company. The second guy said that he actually got my quote (his wife picked up the mail that day). First guy told me that I was the only one he called so a competitor is probably not the culprit in this case.
I figure that the postman nabbed the first guys quote most likely. I am definately not going to chance leaving a quote in any mailbox again. I will most likely leave it in the door,under the mat and call them to leave a message so they dont forget about it.
Justin,
You are right. I have always kind of thought that since they were expecting me to drop something off, it was ok that I put the quote in the MB. Its not so much that they care its the disgruntled postman that can sabatoge you. I wont be leaving it in the MB any more unless they have mail in there to where it can be hidden in-between. Im sticking with the unmarked envelope just in case my competition has the same idea.
I leave it in the paper slot, if I don’t hear from them in two days I call them. The mailman will steal your quote if in mailbox, I had one mailed back to me saying it didn’t have correct postage…the Key is to call them after a couple of days
It just dawned on me last night and I remembered this thread. Not sure why I didn’t give this answer the first time.
When I do give in person estimates, I never leave the quote. I hardly ever give these kinds of estimates but will in certain cases. This case they were both down the street from my house. I did two quotes last night and called them both today (scored both btw - 3 minutes away) - they saw the decals on my trucks parked in front. Anyways, I prefer going over the quote with them. I can get a read of their reaction and adjust if I have too. Also talking with them you can get a good feel of what they want and if it is more than they want to pay you can give them other options (Outs only, partial, etc…) The same with if they want to pay more.
So I change my answer to in the few cases I do give in person estimates “I don’t EVER just leave the quote”. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, just not my preference.
