[Stonehenge]

Had a message from a potential clinet - had some possible paver work, was trying to decide to DIY, or hire someone.

The DIY sent up a red flag, so I called back, told him I wanted to try to find out as early as possible whether we were going to be compatible, and whether there was an available budget for this kind of work. If there was, we'd take the next step and set up a meeting. If not, I could answer some questions on the phone now, and bid him good luck with DIY.

So we got some rough size figures, and I shot him a ballpark price, which was higher than he thought it'd be. I told him what it'd cost to just have me design something, and he said 'he'd talk to his wife.' I'm sure I won't here from him again, but I'm thankful that I didn't set up an appointment, drive out, make a design, and show it to them, only to find out then that they didn't have the funds for it.

So, what will I do with the 3 hours I just got back? I know -

[Nebraska]

Are you charging for designs now?....or was it bait to see how serious he actually was?

[Stonehenge]

A little of both, I guess. Just tired of wasting time in this process. I wanted to keep raising prices until I hit about 2/3 close ratio. I thought that when I hit that point I was charging about as much as the market would bear.

I'm about at that ratio this year, which is good because that means I'm charging roughly the right amount, but now I'm also finding that I hate losing 1 of every 3 bids. And most every time I've lost a bid, I've been able to pinpoint the reason why - poor screening on the front end.

So I threw the design fee idea in there, see if he'd bite. Seemed easier to deliver too: it wasn't 'pay $5K or take a hike', instead it was 'pay $5k for the whole thing, or $200 for a patio design.' Seemed to be easier to tell him that. I'm such a sensitive guy..

[Rex Mann]

Jeff,

Good for you to prequalify over the phone. Your time is as valuable as their time.

When you say you lost the job 33% of the time, what exactly do you mean? To me that means that they had the proposed work done, but by another company. If they ended up having nothing done....there was no work or job to loose.

Keep up the screening process.

Peace,

Rex

[Stonehenge]

Rex,

My definition of 'losing' is a little loose, because I'm not able to accurately determine which ones we lost to a competitor, which we lost because there was not enough budget for anyone to do it. So I've lumped them together, because I'm finding many times, the ones we lost to a competitor were because they were price shoppers and picked the lowest bid. Those people seem to send out the same kinds of signals as those who are just fishing for info or really have not been educated about what it costs to do work like ours.

In either case, I should have picked up on that vibe and been able to nicely direct them elsewhere.

[jwholden]

Around here, some guys are charging up to $250 to design a landscape (I'm sure some charge more, but the 250 is what it costs to get them out there). I started telling potential clients there is a $100 design fee which is credited if we get the job. I thought this would help to qualify some people. I don't think $100 is enough.

I have kept very good track of where all calls came from this year and after running an ad in a local paper and coupon magazine mailed to three towns 90% of my work comes from referrals and the majority of my wasted time comes from the ads. I was actually considering running the ad without my phone number in it on the way home from work last week (It was a long day).

I don't want to give up advertising because you need to get fresh cusomers but definitely need to work on my screening process as well and learn to say no. No. No. No. No.

[Stonehenge]

I gave up on newspapers about 5 years ago. I was getting leads at a rate of $750/lead.

Compare that to hanging little marketing packs on 100 doors and getting 5-10 leads. All of the paper and baggie together cost about a buck. So $100 (plus my time), and we'd net anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 in work. Not a bad haul. This year was around $30-40K in work....from 100 little baggies.

But weeding out the wheat from the chaff early in the process is something I want to do more of. Time is not my friend, so I must more of it than I am right now.

[jwholden]

Would you consider a referral from a client a good lead? IE Suzy Spendy said to give you a call?

This is one time I get more excited about a lead, though there are still some bad apples there!

I have an arborist who gives my name out and I have had very good luck with his leads. Not much for big jobs but transplanting and some pruning he doesn't want.

One lead that I don't get excited about is when the neighbors walk across the street to say, "Hey, can you give me a price?" That's usually all they want, A PRICE. I have started to make potential clients do some work to meet with me.

I have set times to meet with clients, they can change their schedule to meet me.

I NEVER call the potoential client first. I find that if a client hands me a phone number and I call the friend they think I am desperate for work and can afford to waste my time or work cheap.

BTW, I have no ambition of being a 5M business, would love to have 2 or 3 motivated, happy, sober, resposible, driving employees working with me so take my .02 from that perspsective.

[Stonehenge]

Originally posted by jwholden
BTW, I have no ambition of being a 5M business, would love to have 2 or 3 motivated, happy, sober, resposible, driving employees working with me so take my .02 from that perspsective.

You say that today - let's see if that holds true when you're a few years older, a few pounds heavier, and the old body doesn't bounce back like it used to. Besides, my Joe Black thing is just an exercise - $5M I pulled from thin air.

Funy and true story - my guys were just mentioning that neighbors come up to them asking them 'how much does something like this cost?', and they don't know what to tell them. I said 'Good. Tell them you don't know, and give them a card and tell them to call me.'

I used to have a set time everyday to meet with clients. 7pm. Never changed, except on Saturdays. Just this year, to enable me to bring in more biz, I have to be a bit more flexible,, so that I can fit more than one appointment in per day - I used to only be able to fit in one. Now I can have 3 or 4, and still check in on the guys and do some paperwork.

You always hear about service, service, service. But I think there's a balance that has to be found in that arena. I think it's possible to give too much service.