Need help qualifying customers.

[Adrian 155]

What methods are you using to qualify customers?

... in other words, lately, they have simply been wasting my time, money and gas. I am at the point where I literally need help to find out which ones are pulling my chain, and which ones are for real. What ???'s are you asking them to find out their sincerity about a job other than timeline, and budget, and scope of project. Please help, and is there a surefire formula to keep their interest after the tirekicking.

Thanks in advance.

[Adrian 155]

cmon guys, help a brother out.

[dpaull 80]

Those kind of questions are going to vary from customer to customer really. Sometimes you don't qualify for one second. It's literally a ... "Hi my name is Dave" -- handshake -- "When would you like to schedule to have this done?" ... type of thing.

Maybe you're over-qualifying. Remember your ABC's of selling -- that is, always be closing. Ask for the sale. Overcome objections. Then ask again. Qualifying should be simple -- they either need the service done or not. From that point on, they are qualified. Then it's all about the benefits of you vs. someone else and making things right so they WANT you to perform the services. Don't get hung up. Always go for the kill when you sense it's time. Whether that's 20 seconds or 20 minutes into it. You could probably benefit from a book on sales from a book store to be completely honest.

[Jarrod 22]

Great question Adrian. I have been trying to perfect a "system" of my own to weed out people who waste my time too.

Basically, when they call, I tell them that my minimum job is $550.00. for a deck or pavers resto. At that point, they will either say "Holy cow man! I was expecting to pay about 2 or 3 hundred!" - OR - "We understand, our deck is quite large and it will most likely cost more tham $550.00." Even people with small to medium size decks will most likely accept the minimum price. It's the cheap people that will freak out. And that's a good thing because you just saved some time and gas.

I just saved myself a 30 min. drive just the other day by doing this. The guy called me for a quote for his deck. I said "I'll be happy to give you a free quote sir. It sounds like you have a small to medium size deck, my minimum job is $550.00."

At that he said "Well forget it then." I asked him how much he thought it would be and he said "I got it done 5 years ago for $300.00."

After explaining to him all the reasons why contractors can't do decks right for $300.00, he still insisted that he wanted it done for that. I thanked him for saving me from wasting a 1 hour round trip and said goodbye.

[Tegrey 121]

Adrian,

Various methods may be used for qualifying a customer. By giving a min. price, asking if they have a budget, what is it? Are they getting other estimates, by who, when. What has been their past experience with contractors. How soon they want their project completed. Any question which eliminates a low baller or someone just shopping around. The bottom is will they accept your bid on the spot if acceptable? Know their neighborhood. Is it fitting in your price range? One way is have your questions written out by the phone you answer. Anyone can ask the questions and be ready to react. Thank You.

[Adrian 155]

I'm taking notes guys, thank you so far, but keep them coming, PLEASE!!!!

All very good help. I have implemented alot of what has already been suggested. My close ratio is good, but there are still a few weeds to pull.

On top of just trying to keep the phone ringing with usu. ad spaces around town and SM leads my ROI is just simply shabby. June and July have not been the most favorable months this year. Rain, school letting out ect. have allowed me quit a bit of bench time and PM for my equipment.

Ironically as I am responding to this post I just recieved a call to do a deck resto and I applied some of these responses. I landed it over the phone. Thank you a thousand times over folks, but, please keep them coming.

Someone out there must have a magic wand that they waved in my direction, or the good lord is simply tired of thumping me on the head.

Please keep them coming. I REFUSE TO GO DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT,LOL.

[Adrian 155]

What I really need is Mr. ********** to chime in and give me a swift kick in the pants like he has done annually for the past 3 years. He a real motivator and I know he has a few rules on qualifying customers. Cmon Ron, I have a strip of leather between my teeth and a book stuffed down my pants to ease the pain....... bring it!!!

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Ask where located to get a feel for their income and size of property.

You can get a jump on that if you include on your answering machine some instruction to leave location and a brief message..

Ask if they had the work done before. If they offer more info about past deal and imply they want cheap deal rather then same/quality deal you can ask them why they not going with that fella again...musta been a reason. If they hem and haw a bit after treading there or something seems fishy in offering to talk of past prices then very likely they are cheap shoppers. Don't discount them yet though as they still may have open pockets..never know if the last guy may have done poor job but did in fact charge them heaps. They may be shy due to wanting to keep the bid pure and unfettered..you know, keeping you legit as to what you can and want to provide. Nobody wants a contractor to sacrafice their price so much that they get shabby work. But so treading into past work and what they experienced will tell you what the main thing is in their head. It is either cheap price shopping or quality ruled shopping.

Once you know job size you can tell them your minimum or an approximate figure subject to measuring and inspection. If all is not well and you know they cheap but still want to waste your time then push the estimate schedule back awhile.

Close deal as soon as possable. People are fickle and do indeed shop to feel good..can be at your expense if things are held open too long. I made this mistake recent on a job and regret not just setting the date for them. Gave them too many options and discussions of choosing what to have done. Shoulda upsold while there doing job.

[Barry M 73]

Adrian

Instead of giving methods of pulling weeds, I'd like to back up a little and attack the root of the problem. What media or advertising efforts are the majority of the price shoppers coming from?

[Adrian 155]

Good question Barry. Most responses are coming from newspaper ads in two papers. The papers are distributed in 3 cities around me. The T.V. ad is not pulling in any responses and I am discontinueing for Aug. indefinately. It's cool, but it's not working. Plus the usual 2-5 hits a week from Svc. Mgc. leads in which about half are tirekickers. I have just started an ad in a national circular called the "coffee news" which is distributed weekly to diners and coffee shops ( never tried that before).It is not a national ad though, only local area. Too early to tell on that one as it has only been out a week. For what it is worth, i will be trying an ad at the new local drive in theater which will air before the previews start. But mostly from the newspaper ads.

Although there are alot of tirekickers in the newspaper ads, I still get some legit business fom them. I am sure I will keep those running as long as possible.

Am I wasting too much bait by putting too many lures in the water?

[Jarrod 22]

There's half the problem Adrian - newspaper ads. Barry brings up a great point. If you advertise (correctly) you will weed out a lot of cheap people. Even with this effort, you will still get some "cheapies."

[Camelot 68]

This is a great thread...we can all learn from this. I'd like to hear some of the other veterans chime in on this.

- John

[Barry M 73]

Adrian

It's at this point that some would throw in the flag and make up their mind that advertising in the paper sucks and doesn't work. That would be like the FAA giving up on flying and saying that it doesn't work because of an isolated airplane crash. It sounds ludicrous but companies make this premature assumption about certain media all the time. When in fact what bombed was the ad itself.

Media like the paper and YP's obviously hit a large audience and aren't going to be targeted to just YOUR potential customers like a mailing list and PC's would. So your ad has to weed out the price shoppers. What does your ad look like? Does it give the perception of value? Is it different from all the other ads? Most important does it prequalify prospects to do busy with you?

IMO the problem with most ads in this type of media is that the ad is trying to sell a service directly. What I mean is it's not giving anymore information, it just says this is who we are, this is what we do, now give us a call and hire us. That's too direct! Remember you want your customers to say, "I would be a fool not to do business with this company."

Don't try to make your ad sell a service but rather make the ad sell information. For instance: call for a free consumer awareness guide or call a prerecorded message to learn what consumers need to know about pressure washing.

I have an ad in the service directory of the local paper under 'roof cleaning'. The headline reads: "The Truth About Roof Algae" sub headline reads: "How Low Pressre Roof Cleaning Can Save You Thousands" visit (roof website) for more info. Then my guarantee, my toll free number, and my logo at the bottom. That's it, it's more like I'm selling a web address than power washing services like my competitor is.

They go to the site and see a headline that reads, "What Most Roofing Contractors Don't Want You To Know" and the copy educates them about roof algae bla bla bla. Quess what? After they read that info they say, "I would be a fool not to hire this company." It's a very non threatening approach. You aren't just walking up to them, getting in their face and saying HEY! How about you do business with me? Your handing them FREE information and prequalifing them at the same time. As they visit my site they begin to see the value and not the price. Or if their price shoppers they figure I'm going to be too much and they leave.

Have you ever seen that Sleep Number Matress commercial? They don't try to sell you a matress, the give you a number to call for a FREE no obligation information kit. It works and is very effective. Hope this helps.

[Adrian 155]

awesome info. I'll be re-thinking my ads approach to the customers from here on. I have always taken the "sell it in 7 words or less" appoach, or you lose them. Thx. That's valuable info. Back to the revamping boards.

[yazbird8 17]

I "target market" only..Only direct mailings to my high end target...When I receive a call I always insist that the potential customer be there when I give estimate...ALWAYS.....I always show them my book of before & after photos which are on glossy photo paper....I do it page by page sometimes and a dialog is opened up between us through the photos....I always mention customers in their area which I've done...I always tell them I have loads of references....I believe that emphasizing quality and professionalism goes a long way to selling yourself to them....I always ask for their business and I always give a particular week that I will start their job...Oh, and I try to let them know that quality work from me costs more money and that mediocrity from others costs less but will leave them disapointed.....If they have looked at my Before and afters then they know exactly what I mean...

YAZ

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[Barry M 73]

I "target market" only..Only direct mailings to my high end target...

Stephen,

Your right, in conjuction with a good mailing list, this is probably the most effective method of advertising besides word of mouth. I am a big advocate of targeted mailers but I'm finding out that when supplemented with other types of media it becomes even more effective. Ken has posted about it many times.

Think about it like this, lets say someone see's your small ad in the newspaper and doesn't think much of it. Then they see your lettered truck in their neighborhood, they may think they've seen you before but that's about it. Then their kid plays a little league game against a team sponsored by your company, okay now they know they've seen you before. NOW they get your PC in the mail and they are sure they've seen you around. Whether it be consciously or unconsciously somehow they feel comfortable with your company. It's a whole "well I've seen them around and my neighbors have used them" sorta thing.

Now compare the last senario with them just getting your PC out of the blue having never seen you before. You'll get a much better return when you hit em with a jab, uppercut, and then the big roundhouse. Just my 2 pennies : )

[Adrian 155]

I am not positioned well enough to sponsor a team ( although I love the idea ), but it does seem that I am at least getting my punches out there. I do have first time customers tell me that they have seen me scurrying around town though so it's a start. From the sound of things I am not doing it all wrong, just simply not pinpointing my demographics properly. I need to advertise smarter instead of just try and get my name out there.

Since my relocation to Tx. I am definately feeling the lack of income since I am not pushing commercial as much as resi work. My own choice as I want to build on my woodworking skills. It's happening.... just not as fast as I would like. In Ga. I barely advertised at all due to the contractors that had me always hopping on comm. projects. Again my choice to focus more on resi's. But now I have some new ammo to work with. What is your sleep #?

I love that approach.

[James 624]

This year 90 percent of my Biz has been from past customers and regular maint's plan's I have set up. Most from the Deck Maint.plan's I created 10 ? years ago. I have done a couple of house maint's (cedar) this year(nothing better) and many complete redo's of decks with house washes.

This means no advertising, the customer knows you, no price problems , less product costs, and great referals from a network of happy customers. My phone doesn't ring as much but when it does it's high end work. The last couple of calls have been from my old window cleaning clients. All pre qualified.

Just do great work and word will get out!!

[Barry M 73]

*Ding ding ding*....We have a winner! James that is a great testimonial that customer loyalty is priceless.

[Don M. 14]

Like James said, just do good work and word will get out.

Yesterday we had a deck strip/housewash. That night the neighbor came over and couldnt believe the gutters looked that good. We landed his house to wash next week.

We will be putting out flyers on that street, along with target PC mailings and our yard sign.

[Don M. 14]

P.S.

Barry, your the new "Joe Polish" of PW. :)

Man, you have came a long way. I am very impressed with what I just read. I wish I could write like you.

[PressurePros 248]

Yeah Barry, good stuff ::wink:::

[Adrian 155]

Like James said, just do good work and word will get out.

Yesterday we had a deck strip/housewash. That night the neighbor came over and couldnt believe the gutters looked that good. We landed his house to wash next week.

We will be putting out flyers on that street, along with target PC mailings and our yard sign.

Not a question of doing good work. I have that dept. covered. My question is about getting a better feel for my potential customers mindset and budget and sincerity of the project. I am trying to save myself time and money.

[Adrian 155]

This year 90 percent of my Biz has been from past customers and regular maint's plan's I have set up. Most from the Deck Maint.plan's I created 10 ? years ago. I have done a couple of house maint's (cedar) this year(nothing better) and many complete redo's of decks with house washes.

This means no advertising, the customer knows you, no price problems , less product costs, and great referals from a network of happy customers. My phone doesn't ring as much but when it does it's high end work. The last couple of calls have been from my old window cleaning clients. All pre qualified.

Just do great work and word will get out!!

James, that's awesome. Let me ask then How you handle new potential customers. What ??'s do you ask them to qualify.

My whole intent with this thread is how to not waste my time and money, but rather, somewhat gaurantee that they are worth the time and effort it takes.

[Barry M 73]

P.S.

Barry, your the new "Joe Polish" of PW. :)

Man, you have came a long way. I am very impressed with what I just read. I wish I could write like you.

Thanks Don,

Actually I just copy and paste what Ken says and then add my sig. ; )

[Don M. 14]

Adrian,

I know what your saying, but personally I just dont think its there.

Tire Kickers and people not serious is just part of the business. I know I have went out on bids thinking there is no way these people are going to accept my price. THe house looked like Sanford and Son. 15 mins later I walked away with a deck and housewash for almost 2K. If I would assume these people were just tire kickers I would have never gotten to establish that relationship nor gotten the job.

As far as advertising goes, I found out newspaper ads and phone book ads 95% of them are not serious. I also found out with direct marketing, coupled with the right offer and the right demographic will get people motivated and call. The offer will help you sell the job.