At Stroud Homes, we’ve spent (and continue to spend) tons of time and money making our quoting systems super easy to use, lighting fast – and accurate. Why this fanatical focus on the quoting process?
We show our builders how to capitalise on that advantage by issuing as many quotes as they can get out there … and how to avoid the traps like my neighbour, bobcat guy!
Meet Bobcat Guy
Let me tell you about my neighbour. He operates a one man bobcat/mini-excavator hire business – and a great story he told me about quoting. He’d responded to an inquiry, visited proposed work where the prospect told him that he didn’t have much money. The bobcat guy went home, halfheartedly prepared a quote and never got around to sending it. Why? – because the prospect said he had no money! What else would you do?
What was happening here is the prospect was trying to improve his quote with a poor boy story. Blinded by the poor boy story, the bobcat guy missed the point that the client wouldn’t have called unless he wanted the work done! A few weeks later, the prospect called the bobcat guy asking “Where is my quote?”. The bobcat guy had to re-do the quote because he’d lost his calculations. When he finally got the quote re-done, he took it back to the prospect who again complained about the price and said he’d call in a couple of days.
Bobcat guy left the meeting fully expecting to never hear back.
Two days later, the prospect called back and gave the bobcat guy the go-ahead. He admitted at this time that his wife wanted the work done, but he didn’t think it necessary – in the end the wife won.
Four Lessons from the Bobcat Guy
What are the lessons to be learned here?
- When the client is sending a mixed message, assume the best. In this case the prospect called to request a quote, a good sign – then said he had no money, a bad sign. Bobcat guy nearly lost the work because he assumed the worst.
- Ignore the “poor boy” story. Everybody says that – even when they’re loaded.
- Judge prospects carefully. In a way, it is none of your business whether the clients have the money or not. Your job is to provide a quote ASAP.
- Some people don’t have the money, but be careful about jumping to conclusions. Err on the safe side, get the quote out and let them decide whether they have the money.
The Key Ingredient in a Quoting System
The “key ingredient” to quoting easy and quoting quick is a great system that will separate you from your competitors.
- Can your staff provide a quote without a lot of effort?
- If it is a big deal to prepare a quote, is it any wonder that people avoid doing quotes until they are very sure the client will proceed?
- Make it easy to quote, and your staff will give out more quotes!
- If you are going to start cranking out a larger volume of quotes, do you have the ability to maintain accuracy in those quotes?
- Can you ensure that you are offering a new home build to everyone for a fair price?
- If you know the residential building industry at all, you’ll already know that underpricing/overpricing is rife – not for any reason other than poor quoting systems. The long term effect of underpricing is an unprofitable business, the effect of overpricing is your clients eventually work out that they paid too much – which leads to an unprofitable business. At Stroud Homes, we see easy, fast and accurate quoting as a super important part of your business.
At Stroud Homes, we’ve solved these issues well with our quoting system. That’s why the offices, signs and vehicles keep popping up in new areas around Australia!
Would you like to find out more?
We are looking for builders in areas around NSW and VIC (the horse has bolted on QLD). Call us on 0435 803 411 for more information or to arrange a conference call with James Stroud.