I’ve been noticing a trend recently- people ring up, ask me to call and give a quote for kitchen, I go, do my sales pitch, they seem keen, I give them a ball park figure and follow up with a written quote and then I hear no more from them. I can be reasonably sure that they haven’t got a better deal elsewhere, so the assumption is that they don’t have the money or that they’ve changed their mind about having the work done or that they’ve decided to postpone . In other words, they weren’t really ready to buy when they made the initial contact.
At the moment it’s something like 4 out of 5 failure rate. Fortunately the 1 in 5 is enough to keep me busy. When I think back over the calls I’ve had and the results I’ve had, I don’t think there was any way I could have told at the outset whether they were really ready to buy or not. It costs me something like 3 or 4 hours each call and I would prefer not to lose that time, but I can’t see that I’ve got any choice, maybe just the cost of doing business?
John
Replies
John, I just lost one kitchen remodel last nite. Didn't even get to the point of a firm cost study. Simple email to me, the cab designer made a few errors initially and the final design wasn't "at all" what they wanted. I knew going in that their budget would seriously hamper coming in with a design and price that would please them. Do you get an idea of budget from your customers? My work is strictly on referral or repeat business. The repeats are easy to get a budget idea out of. The new referrals are harder to pull that out of. However, it is easier to put together a package that has a chance if you know at the start the parameters of the client.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
There's no getting rid of that... people just need to know what things cost, and they don't know if they want to do it until they see your number. If you were getting more than a quarter of the jobs you priced then you would be too low... so your percentage sounds about right.
Best seller I ever worked for... never closed his office door so I heard his spiel many times. Prospect calls and within about two minutes my boss would know: what they want to do including the 'depth' of the work (facelift v. gut remodel), whether they already have plans drawn, where the house is located (checking his map to see if the neighborhood supports a company like his), what their proposed budget is (if they don't have one he loses interest), whether they have built before (and who did it), and whether they have talked to other contractors, who, and where it stands. Then he would throw out some numbers... realistic numbers but not cheap.... if they're going to faint, do it now.
He was good at prequalifying people. He probably got 1 out of 3 jobs that be went to look at, and that one would be the one we wanted to do... decent work to keep the guys interested, decent money, good area where others will see us working and call, etc. He had a very polished and easy style on the phone that made all of the above sound effortless and non-intrusive.
You need to hear Mike Smith's approach too... an hour max on a lead, no free estimates... maybe find it on another thread or maybe he'll post in on this one.
dave's right, try to prequalify the serious shoppers over the phone.... be very polite and help them identify what they need within that budget....i try to give a quick, concise written estimate during on-site sales calls rather than letting the lead grow cold or have someone more exciting show up while i'm still typing. be a little higher rather than eating the job; if not sure of something, write that figures will follow on that aspect but summarize the rest...got away from wasting time typing up detailed quotes ... important to have a reminder checklist in clipboard so you don't forget items like waste removal etc. which will cost you...
selling yourself, not just a job... come across natural, make suggestions for quality job that other guys might not tell them...for cabinets i tell them about wood sides on the boxes, upgrades to solid wood doors, dove-tail drawer joints and better hardware...for wood flooring i tell them about the different grades of flooring from clear on down, using plenty of fasteners on install, spacing of seams....be surprised how many people are unaware, tells you the competition isn't mentioning this stuff, especially the lowballers that will put in some crap grade of goods and workmanship ....given a choice, find that most people want better rather than worser and appreciate that quality was part of your presentation....
be matter of fact and don't appear anxious to score the job....i do a follow up call the next day or a week or two later depending on comfort level i sense customer needs....don't be pushy and try to give solid advice, it will be appreciated....i'm not a salesman which is the reason for the level of success, about 50-60%.....how do you like to be treated when buying something? the more you do this the more you will sell as you identify what works for you.....you're selling 20-25% of the jobs and it keeps you busy, just need to refine it a little to sell a bit more and to eliminate some dead calls so more time remains your own. you're already way ahead of lots of the pack.