I'd just like to chuck a couple more thoughts into the equation
You're not quoting for
just this job, you're quoting for a long-standing relationship with that customer that will hopefully bring in many times more money than the initial job you do for them.
First thing to consider is Customer Lifetime Value. We all know that if we "do a good job" we get to go back again and get recommendations into the bargain. You only have to sell yourself ONCE whilst sat on the customer's sofa convincing them to use your services. After that, you sell yourself through your actions whilst working for them.
In my experiences, it's rare that a repeat customer will want me to come out and quote (in terms of "selling myself") again to them. Most will just book in, or accept an estimate over the phone along with the reassurance from me that whatever the price they'll get the same value for money as the first time they used me. Definitely after the 2nd job for a customer there's no issue; phone call, book job, do job, send bill, receive cheque. I could hug some customers, they're so easy to work for
Then there's recommendations. Again, in my experiences and generally speaking they're very easy to convert! The job is as good as in the bag before they've even phoned. The existing satisfied customer has already done the selling before I've even spoken to the new customer! I find that this is truer the higher up the customer scale you go. Bargain hunters will always be that - less loyal by nature. So, if you're working at lower prices you end up working for less loyal customers, again generally speaking.
Here's the crunch - The higher paying customers feel they are making a more significant and worthwhile spend when they fork out a decent amount of money, so they will tend to be of the opinion that they are sharing something a lot more special than Mr Cheapo, and therefore will be more inclined to want to recommend (AKA boast about) you to their friends. I get a lot more recommends from my high-paying customers than the ones who only have their lounge done once every 2 years or something like that.
Me, I jump at the chance to go out and quote; I'll do my utmost to get my backside sat down on a customer's sofa and tell them exactly what I can do for them and how much they'll benefit from using my services. You simply can't
sell over the phone, you can only price-match. Even if I've literally just rolled up at home and get a phone call, I'll willingly drive straight back out to a customer 5 miles away if it sounds like a decent opportunity.
I take it even further than this. When I can be bothered I actually arrange a home quote with a price shopper. No offence intended to anyone here, but yesterday was a classic example. I take a call and it's a number I recognise as not being a particularly nice area... the customer sounds common as hell, she even lets a couple of expletives out whilst talking to her. My suite cleaning is up to 3 times the price of some of the numpties who work for sheckles round here. To cut a short story long, I arrive at her house, tell her exactly what she's going to get from me and what she's not going to get for 40 quid and a bag of chips and guess what.... she cancels the other guy and I nearly choke in disbelief!
I think the bottom line is that a lot of people are afraid of SELLING. We don't all know how, only a very few are natural born salesmen, the rest of us have to "Uhm" and "Err" our way through face-to-face contact with potential customers. I think if we all tackle our biggest fear head-on and find out it isn't so painful, we all might suddenly find our lives improving a little bit. What fear? Rejection of course. Get over it you big girlies, so what if they say no!
End of sermon
