Guide to quoting to win
This guide to quoting is based on all the experience that our registered businesses and customers have had over the years - from anecdotes to workshops with our registered businesses, we've put it all together to help your business convert more of your job opportunities into paid work.
Lots of this stuff is common sense, and we're certain that many of you are already quoting and communicating with your customers very similarly. However if you learn one or two things from this material, it could be the difference between an extra job or two!
Getting new customers is a process. If you approach each step consistently, and with professionalism you will have a better chance of winning more work. Some businesses will need to skip steps because their quoting process needs less information or to be speedier, or because the business quotes on an hourly rate (eg a quote for a new house is different to an oven repair job).
Step 1: Preparation
Make sure your Service Central web profile is complete and looks good. When you accept a job, the customer will receive an email with a link to your web profile, so it's the first thing they'll see!
Prepare your portfolio of work. Ideas for innovative portfolio's.
Set up your voicemail. Voicemail is fundamental - even if you always return missed calls, you can't contact people who call from the office (private numbers) and not having voicemail leaves your customer with doubt about your professionalism! Even the 'SMS your number' options are less well received than a cheerful human voice asking them to leave a message! If you hate the sound of your own voice, get a friend to record your message.
Step 2: Acknowledging the customer's request
Decide when to call. Best results usually come from calling immediately. If you're not able to call immediately, it's always a great idea to pop the customer an SMS or email to let them know when you'll be calling. If the job is always gone when you call the customer, you'll know you need to contact the customers quicker. You might want to skip straight to Step 3.
Step 3: The initial phonecall
Re-read the job lead - preferably the details online because there is more information online than on your SMS. Remember you can also review the full job details online through our Mobile website. Make sure that the customer knows whether you've fully read the posted job, or that you only have the basic information on hand (from the SMS), and would they mind talking you through their requirements. Remember that a customer has often spent some time making sure the posted job is as good as possible, so if they feel you haven't read it, they might feel like it was a waste of time.
Mention Service Central when you call, as this will remind them of the fact that you're registered, insured and licensed appropriately and build immediate trust and familiarity with your customer. Introduce this into the opening of your call for example "Hi, my name is John and I'm calling about your oven repair job posted on Service Central".
Read our tips for having a great conversation with your customer.
Don't get drawn into conversations regarding costing yet, if you do not want to. If a customer pushes you for an estimate before making an appointment to see the job, reassure them that your pricing and services are competitive, but giving an estimate without seeing the job would be unfair to them.Many businesses offer a quote over the phone that involves a maximum cost - this isn't useful to customers, as they'll want to compare apples with apples, not 80 apples with an apple tree.
If you or the customer aren't ready to arrange a quote meeting (Step 4), make it 100% clear who will call who back to arrange the appointment. It's best not to leave this with the customer as you're selling your services, so you should arrange to call back to confirm.
Step 4: The quote
Gathering information for the quote can be done over the phone or in person, and this will depend on your business. However you gather the quote info, you should now be able to quote the work.
The quote itself is a reflection of your company. Consider the following:
Will you quote verbally or in writing?
If you're quoting in writing, here are some ideas and tips.
If you're quoting verbally, here are some ideas about following up and increasing the win ratio.
Again, instead of waiting for the customer to contact you, set the expectation that you will contact the customer to follow up once they've had a chance to review the quote.
Step 5: Objection handling
Although many service businesses don't feel like it, they do fulfil a sales role. A key term used by good sales people is 'objection handling', which refers to what you do when the customer doesn't want to proceed for some reason.
Often, objections feel like an outright rejection but usually, they aren't.
Sometimes the customer is trying to open up room for negotiation, sometimes they are simply asking for more information. Whatever the objection, they are indicating that they're not quite convinced in value of your services, however are giving you an opportunity to give them more information, clear up any misunderstandings and go ahead with the sale.
Sometimes a customer will put up objections to drive the price down, but it's always a good idea to work out what their “real” issue is. “It’s too expensive” is used often by customers, however if you ask the customer which part of the service do they feel is not value for the given price will give you insight into the real reason behind their resistance.
Ensure that you maintain a good rapport with the customer. Going “cold” or ending the conversation abruptly is not the professional way of dealing with the customer.
Step 6: Closing the deal
The next step is to gain commitment from the customer and close the sale.
Follow-up is critical at all stages, but if you've managed customers expectations and met your deadlines throughout the process you've already won the battle!
Ever heard the old saying "If you don't ask, you don't get!"? We hear that response from customers all the time - they say "They didn't seem interested in the job" or "They left the decision up to me and I forgot to follow up". Ask for the work - it's almost like a job interview. Letting the customer know that you're interested in the work is key to closing the sale.
At this point, you will hopefully have won the work. If you haven't, remember to ask your customers why they didn't want to proceed with your business - it will give you insight into how you can improve your win ratio in future.
