How do contractors close more sales after sending a bid?

Build value throughout the bid. Not all at once. The small things like, we will be caulking the house start right here. See this opening? We will be sealing it up as well. When we are finished caulking everything there won't be anymore bugs or insects entering the home. Make sure they go around the home with you.thats a small example. Dont allow sticker shock. They need to be prepared for what it could cost and most likely will before you ever present the price.  If they are thinking it cost 2500 and you quote 5k, you didn't build value well and (not or) you didn't overcome sticker shock. A simple thing to try for sticker shock is pick out a similar home near by and let them know a full repaint there could cost $5,500. Example of course.  Mention it early on. Dont wait. Give them the quote on site while you are there. I use chat gpt to write mine. I give it all my numbers and the appropriate information and within a minute  or two I send it to the customer to go over with me. I ALWAYS  say this. "Most painters send over the price a few days after seeing the home they are quoting,  we always deliver the quote same day, same visit.  If a car dealer gave you the car price 3 days later you would shop elsewhere  right? If it takes 3 days to give you a price  then they're either ashamed of the product or the price. " hope this long message helps my friend. 

I like to be descriptive in the quote. Not doing a full breakdown of materials etc. But just explaining the scope of work and how far you'll go. Obviously there's things that you do that most guys wouldn't, so be sure to spell that out. That way, if they are comparing apples to oranges it makes it easier to have you as the clear choice. 

If I can't deliver the quote in person, I like to send it to them once I'm on a video chat with them. We can walk through the quote in a couple of minutes and I can see what their hesitations are and what they're getting hung up on just by the look on their face.

If the clients ghost me, I'll occasionally offer them an Amazon gift card to share the winning bid with me. Sometimes it works. Sometimes they ignore me. But it helps me see that it's not always about the price or the quote, sometimes it's a detail I hadn't thought of. 

What is your credibility? Do you share google reviews in your bid or previous work that is similar?

I do things differently than about 80% of my competition. I don't leave my customers with recommendations, I leave them with solutions. In the pest control world, most people only come and put down a few bait stations and walk away. They don't walk around the whole house, go in the attic, go under the decks, they also may or may not point out some holes and tell the customer to get them sealed. I go the extra steps and make sure the entire house from top to bottom is sealed and rodent proofed. I don't tell them to look for a contractor to do more work for them, I take care of it myself. From the inspection to the job completion nothing is left for the customer to do. I can even work as a supplemental service to low quality companies that do the easy work, and I come in and do the higher value work of sealing the home.

When I don't land a job, I tell a prospect what to look for and expect from the company they decided upon. There are immediate red flags you can spot, to know you hired a shady company. And in a surprisingly high amount of cases, they come back and say they wish they hired me in the first place. Other times they say the other guy came and didn't even walk around the house. He just placed a few boxes and left.

My point is to find something that makes you stand out and make sure that is front and center when you present a quote. Tell a potential customer what to look for to recognize an inexperienced and unprofessional company. People love having knowledge and information about a contractors services so they feel like they are not being taken for a ride. If they see these signs you have at least gained their trust and they will think of you next time they have a project or decide after seeing enough warning signs that you are the right pro for the job.

What's your process for submitting a bid? Are you providing options and stacking on the value and/or guarantees for your work (and putting a dollar amount behind those guarantees)?

Hey Tommy, it’s a matter of building a relationship with the client, addressing their concerns and what they value most. The quote being sent should be after the discussion where you provided information on what you are going to solve and you already discussed the price.

Are you sending the quote for approval same day?

are you offering multiple options (good/better/best)

how do you handle objections?

Do you have financing options available?

id suggest checking out http://www.hvacautopilot.com/opt-in for numerous resources including some done for you marketing to help attract new leads.

being sent a

Help them know the value of what you’re offering. Remember it’s not the product, it’s you!  You’re bringing your experience and expertise to a service they need. Price should only be a byproduct of your service. At that point they will understand the cost to your proposal. At that point you have two types of people the one that will pay the amount you have requested or the one that one that doesn’t have the money to pay for the quality of service you’re providing. People want to pay the lowest price until they understand the process or get burned by to many low ball companies that they pay 2 times the cost of your bid. 

I agree with sending the quote as soon as possible while everything is fresh with your customer and building value through the process as well as a big one FOLLOW UP with your customer, you send a quote and haven’t heard back reach out make sure they got the quote and see if they have any questions about it, give y’all a chance to dialogue and check back.

Alot of great information from others, learn from them. The seperator for me is building the relationship, most of the time we talk less about the job and more about the customer and their lifestyle. The more information I get, the more I can relate. The more I can relate, the more I seperate myself from competition. It helps when I feel like I need to charge more for my premium service. Hope this helps

One thing we do - because we don't present in person - is I make a loom video going over the project. Here is an example of one. This way you can talk about the scope, explain why things are the way they are, and it helps justify the costs. Half of the people watch them but I feel like at least this way I'm doing everything I can to give them the info to support my bid. This example I kind of under bid this shower but we're a little slower so I'm trying to get some more work in the pipeline. 

Bathroom Shower Walk Through