“Hi, can you tell me how much it will cost to install a 40 gallon water heater?”
How many calls a day do you get that ask these questions! I can only hope that you are not giving your customer a price over the phone. There are so many reasons as to why you don’t give out prices over the phone. Here are just a few reasons:
- Your competition is the one calling so they can underbid you on your next job.
- Your potential customer is price shopping for the lowest price.
- You have employees sitting around the office doing nothing. Let them price it out.
- You have no idea what the job entails.
- You have no opportunity to build a relationship with that customer.
- You don’t even know where the customer lives. 35-50 miles away?
- Are you going to stand behind the price after you find out you have zero access?
- Does the current repair need a major code upgrade?
I could probably list 20 more reasons as to why. By not giving your prices out over the phone will benefit you in these ways:
- You competion will never know your prices.
- Customers won’t be able to compare your price to your competition.
- Utilize your employees, give them the opportunity to sell the job.
- Visiting the job you are able to give a firm well informed price.
- You have built a relationship with a new customer who will call you back for your selfless time spent.
- After driving 50 miles you may be able to charge a trip charge due to the distance built into the estimate.
- Come to find out, with current codes, that job is now 3 times the price because you have explained to the customer that the repair is out of code and has to be tackled a different way.
So, how do you divert the customer who demands a price over the phone. Secretary, office manager, owner or tech depending on who answers the phone can give this reply. We will use a secretary in this instance.
Ring…
Secretary - “Thank you for calling Bakers Plumbing, this is Holly, How may I help you this morning?”
Customer - “I would like a price to install a 40 gallon water heater”.
Secretary - “And whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with this morning?”
Customer - “This is Frank”
Secretary - “Hi Frank. If you could just give me your address and a phone number We could have a plumber out to give you a price around 1pm today, will that work for you?
Customer - “I just wanted a price, I don’t want to waste anyones time”.
Secretary - “Oh, You’re not wasting anybody's time. We would appreciate the opportunity to provide you a price that is specific to what you need done. All estimates are cheerfully given!”
Giving prices over the phone is a “no-no” for any service or sales profession. Call it one of the Golden rules to abide by. Subscribe below to get more articles that come out twice a month regarding service industry standards, outspoken comments and things you won’t here about in general community round table meetings.