Estimate follow up - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Guardi Pro · 05-01-2006, 05:18 PM

Hey guys... Once you have given your estimates do any of you do some sort of follow up, if you have not herd anything back? This is referring to residential repaints only... Reason being is we have several estimates out and nothing. It's really starting to get to me

After each estimate, felt good about it...Meaning, gave a good presentation, answered all questions and concerns that homeowner asked, gave them our portfolio to review etc, etc. Now were not the cheapest out there, but are professionalism and work is second to none at least we think so and so our clients have said. Our work is about 75 to 80% referrals, but the last couple of estimates have been from ads. We keep one running in the local paper year around. We feel that the estimates given were where thay need to be for us. Maybe just to expensive for them. Or maybe they just want cheap and sloppy

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

**ProWallGuy** · 05-01-2006, 05:36 PM

Did you try to close them at the first meeting? I do.
And yes, I have a follow up system. I keep hammering away until they say yes or no. And then, if it's no, I ask why.

Woz the Painter · 05-01-2006, 05:56 PM

Could be cheap and sloppy, I'd tell them for a price you could do it cheaper and sloppier!

**joasis** · 05-01-2006, 06:47 PM

Your word of mouth advertising is always the best, and the worst always come from print adds, in my opinion. Unlike others I do not do follow ups, but if I happen to run into the person I gave an estimate to, I will ask given the opportunity. In your case, it might be helpful to get a little feedback to find out if you are pricing above others, or if they are just kicking the tires. I can't tell you how many times I get asked how much will something cost, and I always reply, let me know when you are ready to look at doing the job seriously, and I will give an estimate.

I will insert something here about jobs and pricing. Years ago, I worked in engineering and estimating for a steel building manufacturer, and their market stratagy was to sell 10% of what we quoted. Sounds kinda goofy, huh? If we sold say, 15% of quoted buildings, then we raised prices, less then 10%, we adjusted down. The steel building market is very competitve, and there are lots of tire kickers.

I find most people are more interested in quality and time, rather then counting pennies on an estimate. My own problem is still learning when to flatly say no...thanks for calling, but I'm sorry I can't get to it for 6 months or more.

Guardi Pro · 05-02-2006, 08:39 PM

Thanks for the input guys... I guess for the call backs, there is a fine line on tightening up sale and being a pest. I do agree with you Pro wall by calling them back and we will start doing so.

**slickshift** · 05-02-2006, 08:48 PM

Absolutely I follow up if I haven't closed at the bid presentation
I'd like to say twice a week or every two weeks is good, but really I play it by ear
Some can be every two, three days
One I called once a month for about 6, 7, months
...yeah I got that one

Guardi Pro · 05-02-2006, 08:53 PM

Thanks SLICK

Mike Finley · 05-02-2006, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guardi Pro

Maybe just to expensive for them. Or maybe they just want cheap and sloppy

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

Way too many maybes is your biggest problem I see. You really should work on eliminating those mysteries. Try workiing on asking questions of your customer to find out the answers to those questions. Best case scenario you should never leave a prospect having to wonder if they are a customer who wants it cheap and sloppy or a customer who wants to pay for a quality job.

AAPaint · 05-02-2006, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Finley

Way too many maybes is your biggest problem I see. You really should work on eliminating those mysteries. Try workiing on asking questions of your customer to find out the answers to those questions. Best case scenario you should never leave a prospect having to wonder if they are a customer who wants it cheap and sloppy or a customer who wants to pay for a quality job.

On that same note, Mike. How do you recommend tactfully deciphering this. I seem to have a problem in this area sometimes. I'm bold and just say "we're not cheap because we're extremely knowledgable and thorough in every service we offer, and because of that we have a two year warranty that is double most of our competition's..." At that point they will usually say "oh we don't want cheap, we want it done right", but there are those that you just can't tell. Or you know they're still trying to be cheap, just not admitting to it....

Mike Finley · 05-03-2006, 12:04 AM

In sales lingo they are called "Hot Buttons". All customers have what are referred to as "Hot Buttons". Long ago when I sold cars it was pretty easy since after a few years you got the same 10 types of customers walking through the door over and over again. Looking at in in stereo types, a woman with 2 young kids, her hot buttons are going to be safety issues. A young single guy, his hot buttons are going to be looks, power, toys. Those are easy. Then you get into personality types, there are people who are number crunchers, they want to know how everything works, they want to see the value in things. Then there are what we called drivers - they were all about getting to the deal, they were usually business owners or professional people and don't want to waste time. Then there were party people - they wanted the car buying experience to be fun...

It is a big waste of time to spend 30 minutes telling a mom about how much horse power the car has, like wise it is a big waste of time putting a young guy to sleep as he drools over the new Mustang as you spend 30 minutes telling him about how safe the car is. If you spend some time watching your customer they will give you non-verbal hints about what is important to them. Some people could careless about your warranty. If you start telling them about your warranty, do it slowly, don't go into a long winded talk with no breaks, do it slowly and watch their reaction. Are they listening intently or are there eyes drifting away, are they now looking at your pictures again? Those are all subtle clues telling you they could careless about warranties...

What it all boils down to is each customer you face has different hot buttons. As a professional painter by now you probably have every facet of your nuts and bolts painting down pat. But what you might not realize is no customer will put equal emphasis on every facet of what you do. The more you discover about your customers hot buttons the easier it will be to sell them on your company.

If a customer is very concerned with timeliness, then you emphasize how quick you are, how you get in, get the job done right and get out. (A customer relates a story to you about some other person they have hired in the past that took a month to do the work - they are telling you they are concerned about how quickly you work)

If a customer is concerned with cleanliness - then you emphasize how neat you work, talk about how you tarp and tape off and clean up every day. (Looking around a customers home can give you clues, is the house neat or is it a mess?)

If a customer is concerned with the quality - then you emphasize how well you paint and pay attention to detail. (If the customer keeps coming back around to details in the photographs of your painting that's a clue) Don't spend all day talking about how much of a quality painter you are if it isn't such a big concern to your customer. As a craftsman we all think that quality is as extremely important to every customer we face. To some it might be, but to others they don't know the difference between a pretty good paint job and a great one. Even if you do give every customer a great paint job, don't dwell on it if it isn't a customers top priority.

If in meeting with a customer I sense the customer is more into the excitement of having her bathroom finally remodeled, I touch on our quality sure, but I move on to spend more time talking about how much fun she will have getting to pick out new faucets and finally getting rid of that ugly wall paper and how great it will be to finally have a new bathroom to show off. It's in my best interest to talk about what the customer finds important and wants to talk about.

I'm just guessing at some of the concerns your customers might have in regard to painting. I'm not a painter so I can only try to guess what customers talk to you all about. But you should get the idea that customers all have hot buttons and the more you talk about the issues that deal with their personal hot buttons the better you will appear as the person to do the job.

Looking at a customers home and carefully listening to what they say give you clues, but you can also just come right out and ask them questions. Simply ask them what are your major concerns in regard to anyone painting the inside of your house. Hell, they might come out and talk about something that has nothing to do with painting - "the last person we had do something for us let our prized poodle get out the door and run away." That's the time to explain to them the precautions you take to never let something like that happen.

People can have lots of wacky concerns, that you might not even be considering as you meet them. The old "answer a question with a question" game works wonders. A customer ask you ' "Do I get to keep the left over paint at the end of the job?" Instead of saying "Yes, we always leave it for you in case you might need it", because 9 out of 10 times your customers always want the extra paint for touch ups, you might be better off answering their question with a question and asking, "Why, would you prefer we leave it or would you rather us to dispose of it?" The customer might surprise you by answering "Oh, can you get rid of it for us? That would be wonderful! The last guy left us all these half empty cans of paint, and my husband is such a neat freak it drove him crazy, and it cost us $100 to get them disposed of." Time to tell them how you always give the customer a choice and it would be no problem to take all the remaining paint with you. You just found a hot button and pressed it and got one step closer to the sale.

painterofeveryt · 05-03-2006, 05:26 AM

Very nice post mike ! Thank You

AAPaint · 05-03-2006, 07:01 AM

Yes, thank you very much, Mike. That is exactly the advice I was looking for.

Guardi Pro · 05-03-2006, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Finley

In sales lingo they are called "Hot Buttons". All customers have what are referred to as "Hot Buttons". Long ago when I sold cars it was pretty easy since after a few years you got the same 10 types of customers walking through the door over and over again. Looking at in in stereo types, a woman with 2 young kids, her hot buttons are going to be safety issues. A young single guy, his hot buttons are going to be looks, power, toys. Those are easy. Then you get into personality types, there are people who are number crunchers, they want to know how everything works, they want to see the value in things. Then there are what we called drivers - they were all about getting to the deal, they were usually business owners or professional people and don't want to waste time. Then there were party people - they wanted the car buying experience to be fun...

It is a big waste of time to spend 30 minutes telling a mom about how much horse power the car has, like wise it is a big waste of time putting a young guy to sleep as he drools over the new Mustang as you spend 30 minutes telling him about how safe the car is. If you spend some time watching your customer they will give you non-verbal hints about what is important to them. Some people could careless about your warranty. If you start telling them about your warranty, do it slowly, don't go into a long winded talk with no breaks, do it slowly and watch their reaction. Are they listening intently or are there eyes drifting away, are they now looking at your pictures again? Those are all subtle clues telling you they could careless about warranties...

What it all boils down to is each customer you face has different hot buttons. As a professional painter by now you probably have every facet of your nuts and bolts painting down pat. But what you might not realize is no customer will put equal emphasis on every facet of what you do. The more you discover about your customers hot buttons the easier it will be to sell them on your company.

If a customer is very concerned with timeliness, then you emphasize how quick you are, how you get in, get the job done right and get out. (A customer relates a story to you about some other person they have hired in the past that took a month to do the work - they are telling you they are concerned about how quickly you work)

If a customer is concerned with cleanliness - then you emphasize how neat you work, talk about how you tarp and tape off and clean up every day. (Looking around a customers home can give you clues, is the house neat or is it a mess?)

If a customer is concerned with the quality - then you emphasize how well you paint and pay attention to detail. (If the customer keeps coming back around to details in the photographs of your painting that's a clue) Don't spend all day talking about how much of a quality painter you are if it isn't such a big concern to your customer. As a craftsman we all think that quality is as extremely important to every customer we face. To some it might be, but to others they don't know the difference between a pretty good paint job and a great one. Even if you do give every customer a great paint job, don't dwell on it if it isn't a customers top priority.

If in meeting with a customer I sense the customer is more into the excitement of having her bathroom finally remodeled, I touch on our quality sure, but I move on to spend more time talking about how much fun she will have getting to pick out new faucets and finally getting rid of that ugly wall paper and how great it will be to finally have a new bathroom to show off. It's in my best interest to talk about what the customer finds important and wants to talk about.

I'm just guessing at some of the concerns your customers might have in regard to painting. I'm not a painter so I can only try to guess what customers talk to you all about. But you should get the idea that customers all have hot buttons and the more you talk about the issues that deal with their personal hot buttons the better you will appear as the person to do the job.

Looking at a customers home and carefully listening to what they say give you clues, but you can also just come right out and ask them questions. Simply ask them what are your major concerns in regard to anyone painting the inside of your house. Hell, they might come out and talk about something that has nothing to do with painting - "the last person we had do something for us let our prized poodle get out the door and run away." That's the time to explain to them the precautions you take to never let something like that happen.

People can have lots of wacky concerns, that you might not even be considering as you meet them. The old "answer a question with a question" game works wonders. A customer ask you ' "Do I get to keep the left over paint at the end of the job?" Instead of saying "Yes, we always leave it for you in case you might need it", because 9 out of 10 times your customers always want the extra paint for touch ups, you might be better off answering their question with a question and asking, "Why, would you prefer we leave it or would you rather us to dispose of it?" The customer might surprise you by answering "Oh, can you get rid of it for us? That would be wonderful! The last guy left us all these half empty cans of paint, and my husband is such a neat freak it drove him crazy, and it cost us $100 to get them disposed of." Time to tell them how you always give the customer a choice and it would be no problem to take all the remaining paint with you. You just found a hot button and pressed it and got one step closer to the sale.

Mike... Thanks for your thoughts and an educational post!

lxdollarsxl · 05-03-2006, 09:32 PM

Maybe if you dont get an answer the day of a quote or within 2 days of it, then maybe you dont want the job. I have found those that mess around with a reasonable quote (not the cheapest and not the most expensive), are maybe using your quote to cut someone elses price - someone they wanted from the start. All my work is word of mouth, i dont advertise, and keep busy, but i dont chase anyone after they have had a quote, its not worth the grey hairs. Quote em and forget it - it will either come back with the job or it wont.