A new way to quote

[Dave B]

I have yet to find squeegophobic glass lol

 

[Jake]

There are so many houses I do that wfp is no good, so for me knowing trad is essential

 

[spruce]

I went out to do a couple of quotes yesterday.
Quote 1. was for a small gutter clearing job to start with. By the time I walked away I was asked to give an all in price to clear & clean the guttering & fascias, clean the windows, clean the front paved area and the front garden wall.

Quote 2. was for just a gutter clearing quote on a large detached property again to start with. You guess it by the time I walked away was an all in price to to clear & clean the guttering & fascias, clean the house windows, clean the outside of the conservatory including roof & sides an clear the guttering and box guttering. Then the customer was after a regular window cleaning service.

That's not all as the customer made the point to warn me of the large area of slippery decking on my arrival so on my way out I mentioned I clean decking too.

I upsold both and won both quotes so just goes to show meeting customers face to face works far better for me than over the phone.

I also made the point after finding on the onset of my arrival that they both had other quote from normal window cleaners that I specialise in exterior property cleaning and use specalist kit for the job.

After giving my all in price I found out that both of my quotes were alot more than they had been quoted already but I still won the work.

Must be my charm or something /emoticons/biggrin.png

Must be my charm or something

Could well be. /emoticons/smile.png

It might be different with the younger generation, but my experience is that mostly older people have come to expect face to face customer service because that's always the way it has been done.

I hate those automated switch boards and won't use those self service payment tills in the supermarket.

Strangely though, I have got used to self fueling the car/van at the fuel station - never did that once when I lived in Africa. :laugh:

As @Smurf says, it gives both you, the service supplier and your customer an opportunity to develop a rapport and trust with each other. It also ensures you are both understand each other. For example, when a customer asks for us to clean the gutters and fascias, what we think they may want and what they want could be quite different.

I also agree that people who want a price over the phone are looking for the cheapest price. And they will usually forget about the extension on the back when they describe their house.

 

[Smurf]

Nice paint, mortar, splatered windows springs to mind and oh by the way you've stratch me windows. /emoticons/biggrin.png

I've seen loads of sratched windows caused apparently by trad cleaners. Well that is what customers mostly say when I point the damaged windows out :laugh:

I have yet to find squeegophobic glass lol

 

[Smurf]

Regarding meeting a prospect face to face and seeing a job first hand I don't think you can beat it @spruce. Goes without saying sales conversion rates are much higher too than just speaking to someone on the phone wanting a quote no matter what sales methods you use. Yes it takes a few mins out of your day and a bit of fuel but it's all about selling yourself to gain premium priced work. Well it is for me anyway and I never miss an opportunity to up sell my services either.

 

[nick666]

You've made me think Smurf about how much money I have left on the table by quoting over the phone.I get a far too high a conversion rate of sales which can only be because its too cheap.Upselling the full external clean is definitely the way forward.My thinking before was for £50 I cant be bothered going to visit unless I am driving past.For a full clean thats well worth a trip.Approx what % of gutter clean enquiries would you upsell to a full upv/conservatory clean?I can totally understand doing quotes over phone for windows-can always leave a bit of flexibilty to up price if the job is bigger than anticipated.Think I need a drink to get over the thousands I've just realised I've wasted