How do contractors close more sales after sending a bid?
I have been a bit discouraged lately, not getting the jobs I am bidding (residential painting).
Any recommendations on how to close a sale?
Forum Discussion
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 agree with everything besides the last part. I usually tell them it will be a few days to get the quote over because I like to sleep on it and make sure I feel good with the numbers before sending it over. I’m up front that I’m more expensive than other painters but it’s because I do a more thorough job than others. I express how passionate I am when I transform spaces and I don’t stop until I’m satisfied with the result. I get probably 80% of my bids that way and most people don’t even get another quote, they wait for mine, put down the deposit, and wait for their spot in the schedule.
If we use the sleep on it line, we'll lose the job. We do pressure washing and most guys bid according to the neighborhood (nice / high end / golf community, etc) and how rich they think the people are. We overcome that and help them understand we fairly price everyone the same based on XYZ. For us, XYZ is size, level of growth and how many stories. Then we give options for upgrades like tarping, plant treatment, etc. That way, they know I'm not sleeping on it and making a number up but fairly pricing. I totally get what you're saying and it probably works in your industry, but certainly isn't cross-industry. I think your passion is probably huge for you! It is for me and people remark about it. Keep up the great work! 80% is huge!!!
Thank you for taking the time to share this. This is extremely valuable advice, and I can see how building value throughout the entire walkthrough—not just at the end when presenting the price—makes a huge difference.
Good advice! Thank you for
sharing
