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| Subject - How do you process your bids? | |
| John A. Peters |
How do you process your bids? Let's say that you are like me and you do the fair amount of middle sized jobs for the home owner. Jobs that are larger than a service call and smaller than a contract for a general. How do you close the deal? What I do is come back to the office and type up the estimate. Sometimes I have to have the whole office to myself so it will be quiet enough for me to concentrate. When I'm finished I write down the total price on the lower right corner of the bid and put it in my office managers in box.. The next day she picks it up and fills in the name address, phone number and so on and converts into in to an email and sends it out with a note asking the customer to please call John with any questions or changes as it is very easy to make revisions to the estimate. See immediately follows this up with a phone call telling the customer that there should be an e-mail and their in box and if not please give us a call. As you may know email can go astray or not be received amongst all the other junk mail that can collect in an e-mail box. Eventually I get a phone call from the customer or sometimes it's a message in the office asking me to call the customer and "go over the bid" At this point I figure the customer is like a fish who has taken the hook and all I have to do is reel in the line carefully, by answering all the questions in making changes as needed. If the customer does not call with in a week or so, my office manager calls them back to see if they have any questions and how things are going. We try to keep two or three weeks of work always signed up, backlogged and ready to go on a schedule. Two or three weeks of work means that the electricians will not get worried and start looking for another job somewhere else at another company and two or three weeks is not so long to wait, that the customer will go looking for a new electrical contractor. |
| Wirenutz | sometimes here, during peak season, simply answering the phone is commitment enough to hold a job for a month John these may be T&M where no $$$ is given, usually old work, and of size small enough that nobody is really going to come out and quote it of course, the customer always has the option of considering another sparky after a while, to which we will usually refer to the new kid on the block ~W~ |
| wilkie | We price the job, obtain authorization, do the work, and collect before we leave. If the job takes a couple of days to complete, the tech stays on that job until it is complete. If the customer wants to schedule the work for a later date, thats what we do. We always price the job and obtain authorization during our initial visit. We also never, ever call it a bid or an estimate or any of those other words that we consider profane. |
| wilkie | We price the job, obtain authorization, do the work, and collect before we leave. If the job takes a couple of days to complete, the tech stays on that job until it is complete. If the customer wants to schedule the work for a later date, thats what we do. We always price the job and obtain authorization during our initial visit. We also never, ever call it a bid or an estimate or any of those other words that we consider profane. |
| blackrd | What do you call it? |
| wilkie | If I had to call "it" something, I guess the only thing appropriatte would be an opportunity to serve. When our phone rings, the customer has something thats broken. We go find the problem, and offer a solution. We run every service call with the firm assumption that we will be delivering the service. |
| blackrd | That is a good assumption to make, especially if you convey that to your prospective customer. |
| Alfred | Treat everyone you meet as if they're the most important person you've met that day. Thanks Alfred Johnson 
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| MONOLITH | quote: I like this. 
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| Russell120 | Not exactly what I have to worry about these days, but I think Wilkie's answer is excellent. In almost any "sales" if you can get the customer to make a commitment and get them involved in the process they are far less likely to back out- even if the work extends for a few more days. So long as you are not too aggressive with your approach, they will also be less hesitant and happier about the process. When you leave to give them a quote, that is exactly what you do. You give them a chance to second guess their decision. |
| MONOLITH | The way Wilkie and Russell are describing the process is exactly the way I was taught. If you leave the customer with a 'bid', and say 'call me if you want me to do the work', what you've really done is said 'go price shop'. |
| electrichi | Perhaps yet another approach is to be prepared to take care of it today! People need a reason to get off their fence. Provide one. Even if they are fishing for prices, make them keenly aware, that if it doesn't work out with the contractor they have selected (meaning, you know they are non committal and can sense it), then make yourself available if they (the other contractor) can't do the work. This leaves open the non sore loser attitude. Sometimes we all pick on price only to be disappointed. It is internally challenging to ask bidder #2 back, because you used el cheapo #1. By vocalizing this up front, you keep the door open. I also find it useful, to ask for the job. It isn't sales pushy. It is confidence. We came out today to take care of your problem, and are prepared to. Simple as that. To us, there are no estimates. Firm fixed prices. Some people don't gravitate to this, and perhaps they are not your customers. I also think certain customers we assumme can't afford our services, can surprise us. Most folks think only high end. In general, they are the most demanding and fickle. Give me Joe average any day. Build the bridge and do the work, and get the referal! |