ESTIMATES. FACE TO FACE OR LEAVE ONE?

[bobbygedd]

HEY FOLKS, JUST WONDERING HOW U ALL FOUND IT TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE, WHEN SOMEONE CALLS FOR AN ESTIMATE, DO U JUST LEAVE ONE IN WRITING, OR MAKE SURE U SPEAK WITH THEM FACE TO FACE? I HAVE FOUND THAT SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY DONT WANT TO SPEAK WITH ME, THEY SAY JUST LEAVE ME AN ESTIMATE IN THE MAILBOX, OTHERS DONT SPECIFY EITHER. I STARTED ADVERTISING MONDAY LAST WEEK, AND DID 5 ESTIMATES ALL FOR CUTTING AND FERT, AND DID NOT GET ONE REPLY YET. ALL OF THESE WERE DONE BY JUST LEAVING A BID IN THE MAILBOX, NO FACE TO FACE CONTACT. HAVE U GUYS FOUND FACE TO FACE TO PRODUCE MORE WORK? THANKS, BOB

[1MajorTom]

We find that most people in our area like us to set up a time when they will be home so they can meet with us.

We have done a few estimates without meeting the potential customers, but we have never just left an estimate in the mailbox. I think if you are going to go this route, it would be more effective to tell the customer that you will stop by and look at their property and give them a phone call in the evening to discuss their yard. That way you get to at least talk to them again.

[Randy Scott]

If they don't want to talk face to face and give you a chance to sell yourself and explain some procedures or what their lawn may require, I would assume they are merely looking for the cheapest and those customers are the ones you can do without!

[1MajorTom]

I would assume they are merely looking for the cheapest and those customers are the ones you can do without!

Nah, I don't think that is always true. Maybe sometimes, but not always.

We actually had one customer who we didn't even meet until this past October after taking care of his lawn all season.
He's a busy guy, doesn't get home from work until late, but he still cared about his lawn. I think the little time he does have, he doesn't want it chewed up by people coming by and giving bids. You can sell yourself over the phone, if need be, but it's a little bit harder.
Not everyone cares just about price.

[eslawns]

Either way, but leave it up to them. I ask when it would be convenient to meet them and discuss their needs, but sometimes they may just be busy, or afraid you'll want to try a hard sell. I have several clients like this. They never complain, always pay quickly, and don't chat my ears off if they're home when I mow. Model clients, IMO.

[Skookum]

If asked to just leave it in the mailbox, on the property or even with another person like a manager at a commercial property, I do what the potential customer asks. But, I make sure when getting the address info, I also get the phone number and I call them to make sure they understood the qoute and to see if they had any other questions.

When giving the qoute, I also put in a list of other services and prices if I would like to do those services on that property.

[Richard Martin]

Since I tend to charge more than most of my competetors I always try to meet one on one with the potential client. I have never just left a bid somewhere. If you are going to charge top dollar it is important that you sell the job or else you may find yourself doing a lot of bidding and no cutting. Like you said, "DID 5 ESTIMATES ALL FOR CUTTING AND FERT, AND DID NOT GET ONE REPLY YET".

[jcoat]

When the customer asks you to leave the estimate in their mailbox and they don't respond, another contigent perhaps is that the mailman is picking up and throwing away the estimate before they can respond to it! I wouldn't think this is the case, but from my father being a retired postmaster AND the many times this has been addressed on the site, this could be the scenario (You know, once that mailbox is planted, it is property of the USPS and any propaganda is considered trash <my thoughts only>). You might tell the customer that your policy is to meet ALL CUSTOMERS in-person so you can establish a relationship with them. Tell them you do this to differentiate yourself from the competition and you want to sell customer service, as well as, lawn maintenance.

[GrassMaster]

Hello Everybody:

I always want to talk to them because you can find out a lot about what they want & their Gripes too! In almost all cases you find out why they are unhappy with other Lawn Service & that's very important.

I had several tell me what they were paying, who they were using & then I had some that would tell me a bunch of wierd stuff that they expect to be done. If I was there I might not be able to decide if they a customer I want or if they were a Zero or Bullet? :-)

EXAMPLE:

I had this one Doctors wife talk to me for over a hour telling me all this Mumbo Jumbo & I thought she was crazy. I would have bidded the lawn at $150 a month year round. After talking to her for a hour I decided it needed to be $285 a month. I got the job & it was very profitable.

She treated me like crap for a month or so. Then she treated me OK. Then later I found out she was Big Time in the Junior Leauge. She called me one day to yep you got it, watch her Kids Play outside, well I said NO & she kept on & On. Well stupid me did it.

I was there 1 hour 15 min. she gave me $50 & I told her NO again. I told her I needed work real bad & I wanted nothing but year rounders. I wanted folks just like her & she knew what I was talking about! $$$$$

2 months later I had gotten over 15 from her, referalls. All Doctors & Lawyers, well 1 stockbroker too! No matter what I told them price wise they agreed to pay it! LOL

End of that month that I did the LOL Babysitting job, she included the $50 in my check.

After her I did all bids in person, even if I had to go to their job or what ever? All those wierd ones I listen good & price by the way they act? I did real good too!

Don't worry if you don't get 1 out of 5, I hardly ever did. I was happy with 1 out of 15 or 20. I charged the crap out of them & if I'm going to do this work I'm going to get paid for it.

BTW, I have got paid $650 a cut for residential (it was the lawn from Hades too), twice a month for over 1 1/2 years & lost the account because the guy called me at lunch one day & wanted me to put down over 1,000 bales of pinestraw in his flower beds before 6:00 that afternoon. I could not have got that much straw delivered there by 6:00 if my life depended on it. Oh well in this business you got to take the good with the bad. :-)

[Five Star Lawn Care LLC]

Deffinatly with GrassMaster on this one.....meating clients face to face makes them feel a lot more confident about your service, and it allows u to sell your service a lot better...when i give an estimate face to face i get on average every 9 out of 10 as weekly clients....then on the other hand when i dont speak to them in person i aveage 3 out of 5.....this system has proven very succesfull b/c i am good at communicating with people and selling my service. If u are uncomfortable talking directly with potential client then u may just want to drop the estimate in the mail box, but the company that goes up to the door and addreses the clients needs in person is more than likely going to get the job if your prices are the same.

[Bassman]

I have found the earlier post by RandyScott to be the case most of the time from my experience. If I had to put odds on success rate gaining new prospects meeting face to face versus just leaving a written estimate it would be 10:1 in favor of face to face. The ones that call 5 different companies at the same time not caring about anything but price are the ones I try to weed out and avoid while talking on the phone, so as not to waste my time going out to bid.

[Rex Mann]

Bob,

We always make an appointment face to face with the decsion makers. We always tell them how long it will take. We tell them what will happen in the meeting. We tell them what will happen at the end of the meeting. We do all of this on the phone. If they do not agree to all of this then we move on. Move on, yes! They think our time is not valuable. Do I want to meet with soneone who is "shopping" for prices. NO!. I am not the lowest priced firm around. Think about this-do you always buy only the cheapest or lowest priced items there are? Didn't think so. Commercail jobs are the exception to this rule. Buying is an emotional descsion.

Only 7% of our communication is verbal 55% is body lanuage and 38% is the tone in which something is said. Therefore, with a face-to-face meeting all of the communication avenues are available to you.

I could go on and on and on but, I'll spare you.

Get the face-to-face and you'll be on your way to closing more contracts.

Good luck.

Rex

[linky]

I always try to meet with the customer to disguss the work that they want done.People like to get a feel of what kind a person will be doing the work.I like to get a feel of what kind of customer they may be.After meeting with them i tell them i will drop off an est. the following morning. I try to take the time to evaluate est. to make sure all bases are covered.I give them several days to look over the est. and then give them a follow-up call-they usually beat me to it.If they chose someone else -the follow up call may help you figuer out why.This method takes more time but i feel it pays off.

[bobbygedd]

well, there u have it, face to face it is gonna be. bad part is, now ill have to shave, and put on some decent clothes, o well. thanks alot folks, u have all been very helpful. BOB

[65hoss]

Face to face is always the preferred method. If you are a likable guy it will show up, if you are knowledgable about lawns they will notice. Out of sight out of mind. Try never to be out of sight.

[cleancut]

If I don't meet the person face to face, I alway just leave an estimate at the house and call them back that night...That way if I don't get it, I can go ahead and fill the spot..I usually tell them on the phone that I only have a few openings and they usually go ahead and jump on board...This has work good for me so far...This week, I've picked up 28 new accounts....Derrick

[lawman]

Face to face. It is harder for them to turn you down and you can point out things that you could not put on a flyer.

[Mid Rivers]

I prefer face to face. :>

[LJ lawn]

gee, lets see, um,didn't we discuss this like almost every time i spoke with you bob? everyone seems to agree with what i've told you all along-go meet 'em in person.i know it's tough,you actually have to put down the coffee and get out of the truck.ha,ha.

[Evan528]

I ussually meet with them face to face but tell them i will mail them a estimate in a day or two. I dont like giving prices face to face.... im not cheap and more times than not the customer has that shocked look on there face and rude un thoughout comment. If you mail a estimate it gives them time to read over it... think about.. then decide.

[cclllc]

Face to face is the professional way.I like for them to walk me through the property and feel them out on what they want and expect.

[cantoo]

I like to do a face to face when doing estimates and I usually take my wife with me because she is the one who will be doing the cutting most the time. We discuss their needs and then I tell them I will measure the property and get them an estimate drawn up right away. If it is a small property or one that I don't think we will get I will sometimes give them a price right away to save me some time, but I always follow it up with a written estimate.

[lawnboy82]

grassmaster- maybe 2 years ago this was? when i had just turned 17... i was workin for this lady around the corner from me. she is maybe late 20's early 30's? so she tells me to go to a friend of her's house. i go there one night. it was kind of late but what the heck. the lady is young, attractive, and blonde (gotta love those blondes) so we are talking and several times she mentions that her husband is constantly out of town on business, never home, all that good stuff. and if i remember correctly when i am doing this she is out there in like a robe or something. this was late one friday night. so i told her the price. i priced it for like 5 bucks higher than what it should have been, no biggy, cake yard. took me 20 minutes to cut it by myself, trim etc.. always had to be done. lady started paying ahead of time after a while. i was so stupid. i only talked to her husband once. never saw him. well apparently they sold the house, he is now down in florida and she lives with her friend that i still work for. i think i should have tried to get some from her. yes?

[65hoss]

lawnboy,
I guess you vote for face to face? :)

[bobbygedd]

yes, L.J., u can now say "i told u so". anyway, your advice is always, well, sometimes good advice, and is always appreciated, but i just wanted to see what the rest of the world thought. by the way, u give that nice old lady her cat back yet?

[lawnboy82]

sometimes yes sometimes no. i have some people like that woman that work out well. others, i say to myself and to my friends that if i ever marry a woman that looks like that i want you to shoot me once in the head and make sure i am dead. then i have another where i deal with the secretery and not the homeowner. the old man just comes up, everything looks nice, good job, give evelyn the bill.

[LJ lawn]

oh yeah,about that cat..hey bob- remember that barbecue i had last year?you remember having the outrageous barbecue chicken i gave you? well.... that wasn't chicken.