I had a prospect pick apart my estimate today. She started out wanting my Luxury Package for window cleaning which includes interior, exterior, screens, tracks, and sills.
When I handed her the bill she began picking it apart. You know the usual: “Well how much is it without the screens?” or “How much is it without the tracks and sills?” I just see dollar signs going out of the window.
Should I just NOT list what my services include on my estimates so I can’t be picked apart like that? Thanks for any helpful comments in the future.
I’ve been there. This is why I love ResponsiBid. The customer gets all packages laid out and they can choose what they want and what fits their budget concern.
That’s why I lay it all out for them. This was the first time its happened to this degree but I doubt it will be the last. The only good I can see about the software in a situation like this is I don’t have to be there to take it from the prospect LOL.
I tell the clients it’s the same price , if they don’t want the tracks done then you don’t want it done . It’s like me going to in n out and telling them how much would a chessee burger be with out lettuce and tomatos ? Same price …
What’s going to happen in the end , is they’re going to tell you " they thought it was included ’ bolony
This us the way you present your service on a daily bases with success for the most part. Why would you change what has been working for1 or 10 that want a explanation.
Explanation of what you do and cost should be the normal.
The above response from @Streakerfree is a good program
All our pricing is based on square footage. No pane counting. This comes from years of understanding the homes in our market. We aim high and if there’s a small discrepancy we don’t adjust. Early on I learned no one got the window pane counts right (with the exception of competition). The potential customers were too confused or stopped counting because they had big houses with a lot of windows. I now have five easy questions: what is the square footage, how many stories, do they want the basement windows done, do they have French panes, and do they have Pella windows that need to be taken apart to clean inner surface?
I’m thinking of that too. It’s not the first time, but it just hit a nerve this time I think. Just looking for a new system to maybe start in the future. So I would say 4/10 success rate for listing the services out.
That’s what I love about it. I’ve only done like 4 in person quotes in the past two seasons. Only because a neighbor of the customer wanted one. I no longer have to deal with them nitpicking my estimates. They don’t like it they can move on. Our prices are not negotiable.
Definitely. Prices should reflect more than what the customer thinks it should be. I try to figure in all the necessary things. But more importantly, I try to keep my prices level with the average. I wont go so low that it makes it impossible for the guy after me.
@Mr.Glass I had Quoteflare prior to ResponsiBid. Quoteflare is very good at giving estimates, but that’s it. No email follow ups. No integration with CRMs (if you get HouseCall Pro as a CRM know that they dont integrate with anyone other than Quickbooks Online) or tools like SendJim, CrewCal or Nicejob website (this is why I switched to ResponsiBid, because they work so well together).
If you have a limited budget start with Quoteflare it’s $49/month. The price goes up $5 for each services you offer or user you add. So for example your main service is residential window cleaning but you want to give quotes for: commercial window cleaning, gutter cleaning, flat surface pressure washing, soft washing, roof cleaning and you have two other team members access to Quoteflare your $49/ month just went up to $84/month and still no email follow ups.
I wasn’t sure if I was making the right decision switching to ResponsiBid (I was paying $54/month with Quoteflare vs. my discounted rate at ResponsiBid of $149/month), but on the second day I had a job booked for $380. I have not regretted since.
I just sold my business on Thursday for good chunk of change. A major part of the reason was because of tools like ResponsiBid we used to automate the business.
That’s awesome Alex! It’s definitely something to look into. And I didn’t know that about Quoteflare so thanks for the insight. I use CF for CRM and I don’t think it integrates with Quoteflare. I can link my website though, and if my website has Quoteflare that may work. I’ll have to ask Steve.
Thanks! It’s a good feeling that someone is willing to pay good money for the literal blood, sweat, and tears my wife
and I have shed over it.
To my knowledge Quoteflare doesn’t integrate with any CRM. CF does integrate well with ResponsiBid. I was trying out CF last month, because I was going to setup CrewCal with ResponsiBid so I could get someone to go to our website, get a quote, and then book themselves for an appointment, but that something the new owner is going to have to take on now if he desires.
i think most anybody who is new lists everything they do,trying hard to win the jobs. But a nitpicker customer sees the list and thinks new guy ,ahah this is the one for me! then picks apart your work when they find a bit of frame that was missed
in my blurb i just say “windows cleaned properly” and leave it at that . 90% of folk are fine with that . The other 10% are bothersome/ nitpicker and will always ask "is this included? and what about that? and this? " and by detail question3 my red flag is flying and i know the job it wont end happily . So iv a well rehearsed line that get them removed “my brother is doing that type of work,im passing your details over to him,he will be in touch…thanks and goodnight”
I don’t give them a chance to do an “Itemized Reduction”. I show the quote to do the job and explain that it includes interior and exterior windows, tracks, and screens. If they want just exterior but the screens attach from the inside, then it is their responsibility to remove the screens before I get there. Otherwise there is a charge for that.
I had a couple in the past who wanted to “do this, but not that” and it went on and on. When that happens again just say “What is your budget and I will remove from the job anything that goes over”. That leaves you enough time to maybe do a neighbors house too.
We charge per window. Our screen cleaning and sills are itemized. We always present our estimates in a interior & exterior form including exterior only price along with screens and sills itemized. We don’t offer packages and we don’t charge based off of square footage. Perfect example , we had a quote on Wed and if we would have based it off of square footage we would have been screwed . She had a sunroom porch , if I would have based this off of square footage would have really been low due to the skylights and tons of glass on that porch. But I’m not saying our way is better or the best just how we do it . If we quote over the phone we ask the customer to take a photo of each side of the home and text it to us, we then count up the windows and call them right back with a quote. Then email it to them using HouseCall Pro.
