Tradie Tips: Following Up on Quotes

Regardless of whether or not you have given a potential client an estimate on the spot, or attended a site to inspect and quote, you need to be following them up. Sitting around waiting for customers to call back will never win you jobs, which is why you will often need to make the move for a follow-up.Communication is always key when trying to gain business, and your potential client will appreciate you being proactive and taking the work out of it for them. However, when it comes to following up quotes, there's a fine line between sounding desperate or looking too casual, which is why it's important to have a process in place.

Take Notes

Life is busy and you can’t be expected to remember every detail from a conversation that you had a week ago, but a potential client will expect you to. This is why it’s important that straight after quoting, you make sure to jot down some notes about the job. It’s been proven that taking notes with a pen or paper helps to boost memory, so even if you don’t have them near you at the time of the phone call, you’ll be more likely to remember the conversation and details about the job, and more likely to impress the client.If you’re using job management software, you can also enter the client in straight away and add some notes to the job. Trak has this feature built-in with our Notes function. After every client interaction, write a quick note or upload a photo for future reference. Even if the customer doesn’t use your service this time, they may remember your name in the future, and it never hurts to have them on file.

Make Sure They’ve Received the Quote

Unless you handed the client the quote in person, you have no way of guaranteeing that they have received it. For even some of the more tech-savvy individuals, emails can still be overlooked or lost in a sea of spam.If you haven’t heard back from the customer in 24 hours, it never hurts to send a friendly message or email to check that they’ve received it. They may not have had a chance to review it in this time, but your message may serve as a reminder to do so and could prompt them to give you an answer sooner rather than later.If you’re sending your quote through Trak, the risk of your email being marked as spam is minimised greatly due to our advanced mail servers. We also track all emails sent, to ensure your quotes get to where they need to be.

Give Them Space to Think

Unless they require emergency work, many customers will still need time to think and discuss with friends or family if you, your company, and your quote are the right fit for the job. Bigger jobs can put a strain on money or lifestyle for some customers, so what they don’t need is the pressure of daily phone calls asking them to make a decision. This will only lead to them being irritated, and will likely send them looking elsewhere.After sending out the initial quote and the brief follow-up message checking that they’ve received it, a good rule of thumb is to wait between 3 and 7 days before contacting the client again, depending on the size of the job. This gives them an opportunity to go over the quote in detail and get their finances in order, without overwhelming them. If the customer doesn’t answer when you initially call, leave a message and let them get back to you, it’s possible that they still haven’t made a decision.

Check-in Again

If you still haven’t received an answer after the last step, don’t be disheartened, but more importantly, don’t be desperate. Give the client up to another two weeks before reaching out again. If you’re still unable to get in contact or receive an answer after this time, keep their details and notes on file in case they decide to call again in the future.If there’s still no response from a client at this point, although they may still be unsure, it’s important for your business that you don’t waste more time than necessary on chasing a dead-end job. At this point, they have your quote, details, and evidence of follow-ups from your end.

Use Reminders

Make your life easier and don’t rely on yourself to remember when to call - let the computers do it! As soon as you give the initial quote, set reminders in your phone or on your job management software for the days and times that you need to call the client. Just remember to remove them if they call you first, or it could lead to some serious confusion.To save you from this dilemma, Trak has advanced workflows that allow you to follow up automatically. Simply configure your settings and messages and let Trak take over. Adding jobs and creating quotes on Trak is a simple process, and shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes. If you’d like to find out more about how we can help your business, contact us here.

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