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I know I have posted this before, what I do is screen hard on the phone to try to weed out price shoppers, tire kickers, and dreamers before we waste time on a face to face, much less an estimate or proposal.
Any "Good Lead" gets a free estimate, which is still standard in these parts. Anybody questionable gets offered a "consultation" with a fee of $75.00. This works well. Most of them say they'll get back to me, and a few bite. Some are actually just looking for a consultation, which is fine. Our close rate is about 90% of our face-to-face contacts, but probably closer 35% of all calls. I may be leaving money, screening so hard that a few good ones get away, but I'm definitely losing money when I am spending Saturday with bad leads. As I have posted before, I am pretty assertive in asking those telling questions. People who are serious about the work and can afford it never seem offended. It probably helps that our advertising, and even our name, makes us look "high end", so we don't get bargain hunters, usually.
I have a screening outline that I have offered before. Send me your email and I'll share it.
Last edited by spiderlily : 04-22-2006 at 03:45 PM.
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