Weeding Out Tire Kickers

realpurty2

I need to refine our qualifying process. We ask all the typical qualifying questions but it seems that the people here *shock* seem to lie when it's convienient to get someone out for a free estimate.

I really don't want to charge for estimates because I don't feel the area will support it. (Granted, I'd rather but it just won't float in this market)
Anyone have a proven method for screening them better? Maybe I am not asking the right qualifying questions. Maybe I'm just gullable and don't pick up on the triggers that they are just price shopping. Estimating is one policy about to get major revisions, so any suggestions are appreciated.

Several times now, we've scheduled estimates and arrived at the planned time only to find another contractor on the site also doing an estimate. Rescheduling gets costly with the price of gas and time involved to go back another time. Canceling it all together to me doesn't look good on the company's reputation, and barrelling in at the same time a competitor is there isn't a good situation either. Sitting there on the clock waiting isn't financially feasible either.

And then of course, there are the ones who just need an estimate to turn into their insurance company by a licensed contractor but have plans to do the work themselves. We're getting alot of that now during storm season.

Anyone else run into this?

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Tom R

I give estimates for 'free', - - but not on paper, - - that costs money . . .

If they want something 'written up', - - they'll need pen in hand . . .


Time-wasting 'red flags' - -

"I need an estimate written up as soon as possible"

"I won't pay 'til the job is done, the last guy ripped me off"

"What's your company name again?? I don't recognize it, - - oh, here you are"

"I need a big addition built too, but just give me a price on this for now"

"How much will you discount me if I pay cash??"

Tscarborough

If they are in a hurry.
If they are vague as to scope.
If they need just this now, but more later.


For those types, I recommend that they visit me at my office to define the project before I waste time visiting them.

Mike Finley

The more you pre-qualify the more contracts you won't sign. If you just want to cherry pick then pre-qualify away. If you want to grow or have a big machine to feed then don't pre-qualify anyone, let the chips fly and close those that you will and lose those that you will, but rest assured you will sign more contracts and get better and better at selling the more times you get in front of your customers.

I wouldn't put up with that situation if it was me, but it sounds like you are doing commercial work or being used as a sub by a GC and that's a different animal. But if I arrive on time for an appointment with a customer and they aren't ready for me I am not waiting around, we can reschedule or cancel. That attitude sounds like it goes against my thoughts on not missing opportunities, but customers who have no respect for my schedule this early in the process are only going to be bad customers further on.

Tscarborough

Of course, Mr. Finley, we disagree on this aspect of sales, but that is the exact reason that you prequalify: To save your valuable time for those with whom you are NOT wasting your time.

I can sell much more, more effectively, to those persons who are ready to buy than I can convince someone who is not ready to buy that they should. Maybe if you are sitting around the office waiting for the phone to ring it is worth it to work every lead, but otherwise, it is not.

realpurty2

It isn't a matter of cherrypicking, but rather I need a full time Estimator with none to be found. As it is now, Ken is doing every estimate after hours (both commercial and residential) electrical and the remodeling side in addition to supervising his crew and being on site 75% of the time, there just isn't enough of him to go around. If for no other reason than to establish the reputation of being "customer friendly", I'd like to be able to make a face to face with every call we get but sometimes it's 10-15 calls per day for estimates and 75% of them are price shopping with no real intention of doing the work any time soon. We couldn't possibly handle the volume we're getting if they were all sucessful sales. I am at the crossroads wondering if I should budget in a fulltime estimator or start to screen the calls a bit more before they make it to Ken's daily schedule.



Actually no Mike, neither of those were commercial or sub work. Both times it was HO's who schedule us to come for the estimate at the same time another contractor was already scheduled. Maybe the other was running late or staying long, but either way, it meant a wasted trip for us. One I rescheduled, the other I cancelled completely by telling him we could reschedule but it would be 2 months before we could get out again.

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Mike Finley

How many of these are you closing? If you aren't closing at least 1 out of 4 there is either something wrong with your sales process or something wrong with where you leads are coming from.

I'll give you a big exaggeration on the latter issue just to make the point.

Let's say you are running an ad that says "Call us for a free estimate, we give every customer a one hundred dollar bill just for making an appointment with us"

That crazy exaggeration demonstrates the point that your message can definitely contribute to what your advertising is bringing you.

One of the big reasons I highly believe in limiting your pre-qualifications is I am a firm believer in my advertising doing the pre-qualifying for us. We pretty much make sure the message is very clear at what we do and there is no doubt we aren't a cheap handyman type service. The look of the ads, the quality of the pictures, the quality of the paper if applicable, and especially the message all contribute to who is going to pick up the phone. I never include phrases that suggest a sale, a deal, an offer or anything like that. It limits the draw of the ads, but it prequalifies the leads to some degree. Which is why I say never pre-qualify because I always want good leads in the first place. Another reason why I have no desire to deal with Service Magic at this point and wade through dozens of crap leads when I can generate high quality ones myself.

Tscarborough

"when I can generate high quality ones myself."

That is the key. Self generated leads are good leads, while random yellow-page ad leads are crap.

theworx

I don't know if it would help, but ask them if they have a budget for the work in place. You don't have to ask for any monetary figures, just if they are prepared to accept quotes for the work to be done. At least if they answer yes (we have a budget) you know they are serious about getting work done and not just using you for research (tire kicking) to see if they can actually afford it!!!

Done in a professional manner might help weed out the price checkers (wasting your time)... A simple question: "Do you have a budget in place for this job" may save you trips for nothing... And I figure a great pre-qualifying procedure...

Mike Finley

The trend in every after sale report generated by companies themselves or 3rd parties has been the same for decades...

They all show that customers who contact you but didn't buy from you, (substitute you for any industry, product or service, be it time shares, sofas, motorcycles...) within 90 days from contacting you, the statistics show that up wards of 90% of them have bought the product or service they originally contacted you about.

This means statistically there are no such thing as tire kickers. The odds of someone being out to waste your time and theirs or get a free lunch out of the deal (unless of course that is what you advertised to get them in the door, then that's your own fault isn't it?)... the odds are infinitesimal small that you actually have somebody wasting yours and their time in front of you. Almost every single person who contacts you within 90 days will purchase the product or service you are offering.

The only difference is who they will purchase it from. Of course the first thing that everybody says is something along the lines of "They are dreamers or they don't want to pay our price, or we don't work for customers like that..."

All can be true, but the only person wasting anybodies time is you with your advertising that is drawing those "dreamers and cheap skates" to you instead of presenting a message that makes them reasonably sure there is no reason to dial your number.

That's my marketing philosophy in a nut shell and exactly why I don't believe in a lot of pre-qualifying customers who contact me, instead I believe my leads are pretty pure and it is in my best interest to get everyone of those leads into my sales system to let it go to work on them and get a signed contract.

Teetorbilt

'No freebies' ensures that everyone is there for business. It cuts down on a lot of 'small talk'. It saves much time and money on your end.

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go dart

phone skills are huge in qualifying leads. the best skill is listening. get em talking then shutup. ask the important questions, then shut up. are you getting estimates? was the other company refered? is this something you plan to start soon? ( very important) i simply ignore phil rea when he calls it disqualifying as like purty i can't run every lead that calls but i can run every lead i believe will sell, and thats enough. i've watched many promising leads dwindel as they start to mention they've already purchased cabinets, showers, fixtures whatever. i know my nitch and a poor lead is still a 1 1/2 hr comittment of my time.

Tscarborough

Mr. Finley, while I do not doubt your numbers, extrapolate that concept out a bit further and you will see that a ninety day sell period is not cost effective for a small operation, especially one that is able to generate sufficient qualified leads to maintain work volume. You CAN spend time convincing that 70% of tire kickers, eventually, or you can concentrate on the other 30% who have money in hand and are ready to buy.

Again, if you are struggling for leads, then you may have to pursue every single one, but if you are limited by time and production capability, it only makes sense to qualify and sell those who are ready to buy.

realpurty2

This may sound like a strange response to the question but of the ones who we really did feel from the beginning were serious, we've closed 75% or more. Some we could tell just from visual cues that the work they were asking for was out of their budget once we got to the site. Ex. 70yr old couple who decided they wanted/needed a new 8x18 block foundation with concrete slab porch with roof addition and the entire house re-roofed. Couldn't decide if they wanted shingles or metal roof so they asked for both prices to compare. We spent days on that estimate getting it as fine tuned as possible. Their dentures hit the floor when we gave them a $16k shingle bid and a 19k for the metal. Those we are batting zero.. which could be a sales issue or that they were not prepared for the actual cost of their project when asking for the estimate. That's also the type estimate that is somehow slipping past the screening I do on incoming calls.



Only problem is that I haven't done any advertising other than the continuous listing in the services directory of the local newspaper which is nothing more than name, license no., phone and web address.

Some of the most recent tire-kickers are looking for a licensed contractor to submit an estimate on storm damage to the insurance company then planning on doing the work themselves or hiring a handyman and pocketing the left over funds. Ex. Couple in a mobile home calls with a tree in the middle of the living room. Needs tree removed, roof repaired, drywall replaced, flooring and electrical that was zapped by lightning.

We don't normally choose to work on mobile homes but going on the assumption these people truly needed their home repaired and it appealed to my senses since they had a new baby with no home so we went and did a detailed estimate like they asked. The guy assured us he'd schedule the moment he got the approval from the insurance. I did everything possible to get him to sign the contract so that we could get him on the schedule and secure the job. He kept giving excuse after excuse and I am bad about not chasing down any one so I stopped pushing after the third wall I hit. They either take it or we move on to the next in line is my attitude here lately. (I know, I'm getting jaded already.) I did my usual follow up call and was told that the HO was actually a handyman himself and had already started the work, he just needed the estimate for the insurance to pay off. I know it happens, but we busted ass to accomodate his rushed priority since he had a tree in his living room and having to stay in a motel and he lied just to get the free estimate from a licensed contractor.

Sorry for the long winded answer, just giving enough info to help with the replies.

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George Z

"All can be true, but the only person wasting anybodies time is you with your advertising that is drawing those "dreamers and cheap skates" to you instead of presenting a message that makes them reasonably sure there is no reason to dial your number."

Very true, I have tested this in a limited way.
Only changing the wording of a community newspaper ad, would bring different
responders. Also in our new website, the "click here for an estimate"
will not be as readily available.

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realpurty2

That is most likely the reason for some of the junk leads.. our new phone directory just came out and it's our first time for the construction division to be listed so we are the new guy on the block.

I know change is on our horizon, I'm just not sure if it's going to be a change in qualifying and turning down some calls here and there or an expansion/addition of an estimator to handle the volume. The commercial electrical division is on auto-pilot and doing fine. The residential construction division is one year in business this month so it still has bugs to work out. I can say this..(which my gut tells me to listen to) it would be deviating from the business plan and timelines to add in a full time estimator at this phase of growth. I either didn't plan it right in the beginning as far as anticipated volume or the new phonebook listing is bringing in abnormal statistics that will not stay consistent over time, which means the estimator would not be needed eventually. Oooh the joys of owning a business. Where was that 9-5 hourly job I gave up for this??? Pass the rum, beer or whatever it is you guys use, I'll get through it eventually.

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denick

Realpurty,

Your doing a better job of thinking it through than most I know. Stay the course. Take a deep breath or three. Adapt, use your initiative, overcome.

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Nick

"Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving" Albert Einstein

Mike Finley

Didn't mean to be confusing, but it's not a 90 day sale cycle. It's a common measurement that shows statistically that within 90 days almost everyone looking - buys. It doesn't mean people are taking 90 days from start to finish to make a purchase.

Once again, they are not tire kickers, they just didn't buy what you were selling, it could be because of your companies prices in ratio to perceived value, it could be because somebody pre-qualified them to not be ready to buy instantly, it could be dependent upon what part of the sales cycle they are in, it could be dependent upon where they are financially temporarily, it could be a number of things...

... the bottom line is they will buy, that makes them not tire kickers, just somebody you perceive as a tire kicker because they didn't meet your criteria, some of it legitimate of course and some not, the legitimate part can be they weren't your quality of customer to begin with.


That in my world would be absolutely ridiculous. I really don't care if they are ready to buy today, tomorrow or next month or next year even, I'm putting them in my system and priming them for when they are ready to pull the trigger they do it with me.

Mike Finley

A few things you might want to consider based upon what you are telling me.

#1 Service directories are notorious for generating lower dollar amount jobs.

#2 Being so generic means you are pulling in very unqualified leads, very generic leads.

#3 Offering to do everything instead of being the goto guy for specific reasons means you are going to be getting lots of generic inquires.

Addressing 1,2 and 3.

In regard to #1 Branch out of the service directory with some other sources that target the customers you want instead of the customers targeting you.

In regard to #2 - Try qualifying yourself a bit more than being so generic in name, lic, phone number and web address. Give the people you want to call you a reason to call you.

In regard to #3 - keep it in mind in all you do, get known for something, whatever it is, specialize in being the best at it and people will seek you out for it and your closing rate on those people will be through roof.



That is a perfect example of people perceive you as the problem of doing everything and anything. Generic is as generic does.

Mike Finley

I noticed on another post you mentioned you could rent a billboard for only $300 a month, I would recommend considering it. $3600 a year for a bill board could be money well spent provided it's in a good location, it is full size and situated where you could have enough room to display a really complete message. Branding in a smaller community is really easy and effective compared to a large one and the biggest hurdle is just keeping your name in front of the community, you could imagine that the right billboard would easily do that for you. Changing the artwork once a year would be enough to keep it from getting stale.

I would love to do a bill board in my prime selling location but I have been told they are going for over $10,000 a month where I would do it!