[Tony Rowley]

I do all of my quotes over the phone to save time, today I got a call and the lady wanted the following cleaned:

Through lounge
Hallway
A flight and a half of stairs with 2 small landings
A large double bedroom

Been cleaned before about 4 years ago, how am I with stains etc etc etc....

It local to me and I know what type of house she lives in from the conversation we were having so I tells here it will be £120 (reasonable I thought) phones go silent!!!!!!

She then asks me do I work for myself, will it be me cleaning the carpets, is there any VAT. I explain to her that its only me, this is how I make a living,  I have all the proper gear,I am good at what I do etc etc etc.

She decides that she will dig out the invoice to see how much she was charged 4 years ago before booking with me, although she wasnt happy with the last clean!!!!!

Not bothered if she calls me back or not as I booked 3 jobs today each one more than that.

Some people can be so fickle.

Tony

[Carpet Dawg]

Dont let it get to you Tony   some people are just strange, Thats a very good price for her.

If she's not your client then who cares what she decides to do

Tony

[Neil Williams]

The thing is if you did go and visit with a view to a price I bet she would have gone for £120 on the spot.
The trouble with telephone sales is that it is based on one thing.....price

[Jim_77]

Neil is absolutely spot on.

Tony it's unbelievable that if you knew she was so close and it sounded like a "premium" customer you didn't push for a home quote

If saving time is your priority I've got a way of saving even more time... When your phone rings, answer it with the words "Oh f*** off will you" and then hang up

It'd be so much easier without all these annoying customers taking up our time!!!!

[Tony Rowley]

Jim, I was warming to you but now you have gone and ruined it!

I convinced 3 others with higher prices today so am happy that my approach works for me.

This is my third December and I will have made more money by this Saturday than the last 2 Decembers together so I must be doing something right. Not a fortune like you Jim but I manage to get by.

Tony

[peter maybury]

I quite simply do not have time to go to every job to quote, I am simply too busy. Selling on the phone is something that I find quite easy. All the questions that your customer asked would have been answered well before giving the price. If during conversation I get the imression that the customer warrants a visit then I will way up the size of the job along with the distance. We are all different and what works for one may not for another.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[Jim_77]

Sorry Tony my post was very much tongue in cheek 

I was just trying to stress the point that if it isn't out of your way, why not invest a little time and a few pence of diesel to go out and make them feel special?

The thing is, the majority of other cleaners will just get straight down to price over the phone so you can immediately surpass your competition by giving the customer a much more personal service before you've even plugged your machine in!

Peter does make a very valid point though - if you're extremely busy you might not have the chance to get out there and quote in person - after all, booking a home visit for a quote 5 days in advance is pretty rare, they are going to want to find out sooner than that.  The most I think I can swing it is 2 days.

It's all about balance I suppose.  But I do stand by my point, which is that if it is very close to home, even if you're stacked out with work there's no excuse not to get out there in person even if it means going at tea time.  After all, the strongest business we all build up is right on our doorsteps.

Only happens rarely but I went out on 2 quote visits this evening at 5.45pm and got back at 7.15pm.  Both are former customers that needed re-activating from some years ago, both of them accepted and booked in on the spot.  Quite a lot of ££ worth of work in the bank for a little time and effort

If I hadn't have shown them the courtesy of coming out at a time that suited them, it might have been difficult to secure the work.  The first one started off as a lounge carpet on the phone but ended up as a whole 4-bed house

[John Kelly]

I always priced over the phone when I was cleaning full time. Had mates who went out and quoted every job but they weren't getting in till 7-8 at night. I was in and tucked up most days by 3. Did they make more than me? don't know for sure but I don't think so.

[davep]

Phone for me too. Only ones I don't get are the price shoppers and dont fancy going out in the evening for them to waste my time.

[Mike Halliday]

I nearly always do home quotes and usually can do them during the days as i'm in the area, maybe 1 night a week i will do some quotes between 6 & 7.

 i hate turning up to a job which i haven't seen & I can book my diary much better when I inspect the job.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I only quote about 10% domestic and 50% commercial, the rest I do over the phone.

Cheers

doug

[Jim_77]

Dave, I never go out to quote for price shoppers, those are the ones that get filtered out over the phone

There's definitely an art to handling enquiries on the phone - I'd even go as far as saying it's more difficult than the actual "work" we do on site.  I certainly am not a master of phone selling but try my best!

It's easy to sell on the phone if you're the cheapest but unfortunately I've never had that luxury

[Helen]

Dave, I never go out to quote for price shoppers, those are the ones that get filtered out over the phone

There's definitely an art to handling enquiries on the phone - I'd even go as far as saying it's more difficult than the actual "work" we do on site.  I certainly am not a master of phone selling but try my best!

It's easy to sell on the phone if you're the cheapest but unfortunately I've never had that luxury

Ditto.
If callers would announce straight away " I am a price shopper" or I want a quality service, life on the phone would be so much easier

[Kinver_Clean]

I quote over the phone for domestic but never for commercial after quoting for a 15 square room then finding it was metres not feet.

[JandS]

Why the hatred for price shoppers?
Everybody on this forum does it I'll bet.
If I want a new clutch fitting I'll ring round
not just take the first price.

John

[Kinver_Clean]

Maybe but you would not go to a backstreet workshop who fitted hardboard linings.
Fortunately not so many about nowadays.

[john sliman]

jandS
 you are right that we do shop around for the best price but i think in our game when you are offering a very good price you do wonder just exactly what a potential customer is thinking what is a good price are they looking for groupon prices which you can bet none of their family would work for that rate per hour.
john   

[Carpet Dawg]

I always quote over the phone. Not enough hours in the day.

[peter maybury]

I do not use the terms price shoppers or time wasters as every one that phones me is somebody interested in employing my services. If I do not make the best of the opprtunity to convert the call to a sale it is my short coming and not something I will make an excuse for. It is important to spend time on the phone to customers to find out what their experience and expectations actually are. If you are happy to just throw a price at them then excuse them as price shoppers then it is your loss.
As Jim says this aspect of our business is is so important and your success depends on it.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[Billy Russell]

I do not use the terms price shoppers or time wasters as every one that phones me is somebody interested in employing my services. If I do not make the best of the opprtunity to convert the call to a sale it is my short coming and not something I will make an excuse for. It is important to spend time on the phone to customers to find out what their experience and expectations actually are. If you are happy to just throw a price at them then excuse them as price shoppers then it is your loss.
As Jim says this aspect of our business is is so important and your success depends on it.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

Good job it's Jill that answers the phone most of the time then!!! Otherwise you wouldn't have many customers!!!!!!