[Oak Man]

Hi guys, first post here and all, and I have myself a question. MY boss and I have been arguing over our bidding procedures. I like to go look at the job, (I bid primarily drainage, maintenance, and full service contracts) take my notes, figure out the cost and then type up a nice proposal on our company letterhead. He would rather I go out to the site and bid the job and leave the customer with a basic sheet detailing what we propose. Any ideas out there? Which method do you all think is better?

[Mac]

For maintenance and fert programs, I like a compromise of what you two do.

I like the professionalism of yours on letter head but you have to remember most bids are time sensative in that the first reasonable proposal usually has an advantage. To that end, I will email PDF proposals within 24 hours of a lead contact. The proposal is on company letter head and includes a cover letter. Without having in truck printing capabilities, that is the quickest, most professional method I have come up with.

[cutntrim]

One thing I try to do now more than before, is to actually meet the decision maker onsite for maintenance bids (summer and/or winter). Looking and sounding professional in person goes a long way towards closing maintenance bids IMO. With install bids, meeting the client in person is a given.

[Oak Man]

Good point about the first proposal wins the day. I try to have paper in the person's hand within at least 24 hours from the time I first was able to see the site. I think my boss is more concerned with the amount of fuel it would take to visit the site twice, but you have to spend money to make it and I can always put that time into the bid itself. I have not really started to use E-mail all that much with customers but I guess that is on the way sooner than later as "the times they are a-changin", at least from what things were like 10 years ago. I want my customers to put a face with the paper as I am trying to build relationships with them as hopefully I am going to see them again. Thank you for your help, I look forward to more responses.

[wnklandscaping]

I prefer to also present a proffesional estimate on letterhead to the customer. Time is of the essence however and I went as far as carrying an inkjet printer in my truck so that I could present them the bid right off the bat. I am now looking at either emailing them the proposal in PDF format, direct faxing it to them, or dropping it off the next day. The one nice thing about e-mailing them is you can get and keep a receipt showing that they did get the email and opened it- something that will come in handy since we are also implementing electronic billing and will be sending email bills out to customers this year. We will of course have the regular snail mail option, but we are hoping to save time and money on postage with the email approach. I know that personally I like being able to pay my bill anytime of the day, and get a receipt showing it has been paid right away.
It's going to be a gamble, but we already use Quickbooks for our accounting, and the program I found to do the billing integrates directly with it so it's seamless. Plus the payments are garaunteed funds available in 24hrs or less once the payment is made through the link.

That's for the maintenance aspect of our business- for installs, whether it be pavers, retaining walls, decks, pergolas, etc.. I always meet with the customer twice- yes speed is of essence, but I like to get all the measurements, notes, and pics if they allow so that I can schedule a second appointment to go over the proposal with them. That way I can come back with a complete estimate including drawings and/or a 3D rendering to help sell the job.
Don't know if we'll be implementing the printer in the truck this year, we'll have to see how busy we get- if we are doing or have several estimates in a day- then I will probalbly bring out the printer and take it with me to save some time that night.

Just my $.02- hope it helps!!

Bill