Does anyone have a bid sheet or tips for phone quotes? I lost an in-person bid on a large home that was a 45 minute drive away and was unable to last minute book anyone. I would like to bid over the phone, and collect a deposit as well to avoid a string of last minute cancellations I’ve been having. I’ve quoted over the phone but I seem to shoot myself in the foot half the time. Customers seem to have trouble counting windows, forget to mention they just had drywall and painting done, or understate the size of their house. Generally, these discrepancies don’t seem to work in my favor. It would be nice to pre-qualify customers but not scare them away at the same time.
I find that a lot of folks do know the square footage of their homes so I can use that as a rough base figuring an average of 1 window per 100 s.f. Of course this gets wildly skewed on large custom homes but those folks aren’t going to go around and count windows while I wait on the phone anyway.
i give them the option if a3 day wait for me to come to their house or they can text me an exterior picture of each side of the house and an up close of a few windows and send them a quote after i get the pictures.
this had saved me a ton of travelling and been closing 80%.
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That is the tricky part for me as well. I can’t imagine a 65 year old affluent lady walking around her 6000 square foot home counting windows. This was today’s customer, almost seems like an in person estimate was required. Maybe phone quotes need a square footage cut off.
Pictures could be a good solution. No discrepancies in count or window conditions.
I have tried having them send pics but it’s sometimes as bad as them counting.
Google maps or earth, using minimums as a baseline and using your judgment to give an estimate, err on the side of rounding up to the nearest 100. Or 2…
Might work. Simplicity.
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Time is money. But some times a quote is worth the drive. I’ll go out on the limb for the big fish, bite the bullet, and make the drive. (How many idioms can I fit in one sentence).
@WindowGuysLV nailed it. Options
As far as best method, give THEM the options and let them choose how they want to go about getting their quote. Don’t insist on any one way, and you’ll come across as accommodating. People like that.
Ask the right questions and use the right words.
Even when I run through the questions with a prospect on the phone and get the info, I like to say “okay, let me put this quit together and send it your way. Do you have an email address we can send it to?”
This gives me to research/figure out if I can by and take a look.
Bottom line, make it easy for them and accommodate, and they’ll be more likely to give you their business
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Definitely when it works out, which is usually the case. Had 3 large jobs fall through this week, Monday’s job forgot about the reminder call on Friday, and the other two didn’t accept their quotes. So just trying to step back and brainstorm preventative measures.
Here are some selling over the scripts Chapter 4 | Window Cleaner's Marketing Blueprint | WCR – WindowCleaner.com
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Qualify the customer by having a minimum. What would be the minimum charge you would need to travel 45 minutes? Use that as a starting point with them. Whether it is $100, $150, etc., let them know your minimum then go from there. You must also let them know that a phone quote is a sight unseen quote and just getting them in the ballpark of what the cost will be; once there, if they meet your minimum, you can verify amount of windows, type of windows, level of dirt and debris, paint, stucco, etc., and you may only be off by $10 or $20 if they described the scope of the job correctly.
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Good material, would it sound vindictive to require a deposit from my last minute cancellation customer when he calls to reschedule? He pissed me off but it’s a very profitable job and I’m not to the level where I can be too selective yet.
Good points, I’ll have to create a bulleted list with these.Thank you
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Guess it depends on the reason for the cancellation. Was it a legitimate reason to cancel? Hey, life happens. Or do you honestly feel he doesn’t respect your business? But then if so why would he bother to schedule back again? You can give him the benefit of the doubt and perhaps secure a good customer, or find a way to understand what happened.
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I don’t feel so. His partner answered the door stating he had hurt his back and was soaking in the hot tub butt naked and didn’t want to disturb him. I offered to begin at another part of the house but they weren’t interested. He emailed me later apologizing and would check his schedule for another opening.
