Paper Quote or E-Mail Quote?

Jamin_Mayer

Jamin_Mayer

Location
Longmont, CO
A large majority of my quotes have been done with carbonless paper quotes. Where the customer gets the quote at the end of the appointment.

For larger bids, I take notes, transfer them to a Word Doc, then e-mail it back.

I have also sold many bids over the phone; using Google Street View, google satilite, & Bing's Bird's Eye view to do simple bids. For which, I e-mail them a Word Doc of the quote.

I hope I'm not revealing a trade secret, but I find that the closure rate of e-mailing a bid is much higher. I get the impression that it is clearer to read/understand and gives the customer confidence (via e-mail) to ask questions about the bid. For which, I call back and acknowledge their questions, answer them and find that they just schedule the work.

It makes me wonder if I should do a majority of my bids in this manner.

Is anyone else finding those results/observations to be true?
thinking.gif
 
True.

I use Quickbooks to email estimates and invoices. If I meet the client on site I'll give them a paper copy with only the major points written in my chicken scratch and then at night I'll type it up with much more detail and info, click send, and then they seem to have a much better feeling about my legitimacy as a company. If they're not on site then it's email didgital only, if they want to make changes to the spec then it's easy enough to edit and send the updated estimate. Seems to help avoid confusion too.

If I had a smart phone I could do all this from the truck cab too, mayb e that's the next leap.

Google Earth can save some drivetime too, although when doing an over the phone estimate I make it clear that it's an ESTIMATE only and not a quote or bid. Actual billing will reflect actual hours worked. (some people really like this)
 
I don't always meet with the customer for bread & Butter type jobs so emailing is the way I go most frequently. Actually I prefer to do the bulk of my communications via email.

Email offers several advantages, first, there is a transcript of the whole conversation...makes it easier to spot misunderstandings, miscommunications and prevents a lot of game-playing by the customer. Second, it gives me a chance to organize my thoughts and avoid a lot of my own mindless chatter. Third, I can answer emails any time of day and often well after a telephone call would be considered too late.

If I meet with a customer I will give them ball park numbers that are usually spot-on as well as general specs. I then explain that I am there to gather the data necessary to give them the best possible proposal and that I will plug everything into my "black box" at the office and email them the formal proposal.

Like you Jamin I'm feeling a much better closure rate with the emails.

Also with emails you don't have to thumb through a bunch of paper nor do you have to worry about misplacing one either.

I like the fact that if I have offered an email proposal and I don't hear back I can just hit "forward" on the proposal and mention we hadn't heard back. Quite often that results in a, "Oh Yeah! We meant to do that, when can you get us on the schedule?"

3 years ago we were lucky if we did 10% of our proposals and general communications/sales through email. This year all but 4 were happy to use it and the 4 who didn't were not online in any manner.

Times be a changing!
 
I agree, Jamin.

I notice email bids get better closure.
I also did written (2 copy) quotes for first 9 years. Then this last year I have seen more people almost expect an email bid.

So, this December I bought an Android phone. Really like the smartphone aspect of self-employment... stay in touch quicker seems to be leading to more jobs. I have started to write up the days invoice - email it to myself, then 'forward' it to the client before I leave the jobsite. Even attach a quick picture that shows everything cleaned up!

Also - I have heard a few customers tell me that my bid was very thorough. Details very great in the email description of work proposed. One big job (5,600) chose my company over a lower bidder because I comunnicated better.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...One big job (5,600) chose my company over a lower bidder because I comunnicated better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bingo! As you pointed out, the communication factor is better. There can often be a lot of verbal details that they won't remember, during an appointment. But, when we put those details down on paper (in an e-mail), they can clearly understand them.

I just got a nice job as well. And I think the communication factor really helped. I'll ask the customer why they chose me after the job is done.
grin.gif
 
Yes, I focused last year on better 'closing' of sales.

On the jobs I really want, I go the extra mile and put together a detailed list of what we do. Even attach a photo. Insurance, Bond docs too...

The big job we did - (million dollar house) The owner liked that I used plywood over his flagstone walkway. Also, liked that I wrote my schedule: 8am to 4pm, clean up jobsite and end of each day. Also: Payment due upon completion of job. He gave each of us a bottle of wine too! Wife said she will email me the pics she took. Hope so, will post on TB.

PS - Bids were $5k, I was 5300, My old boss bid 5700. Owner tossed in another 300 bucks for extra's
 
[ QUOTE ]
An issue I ran into is with older clients, who haven't switched to the paperless way. How are you handling these situations?

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point. I don't send e-mail bids to elderly, for that reason.
 
[ QUOTE ]
the 'island' way is a little strange. You know... the island people.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know those people. I spent a little time in Gig Harbour, and Fox Island. They are like the San Juans, but further south and just as weird. Lapsed hippies and degenerate inbreds, not quite Deliverance, but not exactly the hardy provincial stock that James Truslow Adams described in The Epic of America. Estates, property, and chromosomes run through the same narrow channels and bloodline. . . . They looked like something out of Guernica, both eyes on the same side of the face and their bodies disfigured and grotesque. I never did learn the language, but it didn't matter - we worked there for a week and then loaded up the rigs and never went back. Now, years later and on the mainland, I sometimes go down to the terminal and watch the ferries leave and remember that place.

But back to the topic of the thread. I write my invoices in twos and threes and the yellow carbon copy is printed with color. People respect the logo as well as well as the layout, and I've condensed it down to a 5.5" x 8.5" half-sheet of paper. I write a quote that nobody folds. I also email them but I can't tell you how. You'll have to PM me for the details . . .
 
I have not specifically noted any better return on emailed bids. I think that sometimes the estimate can be moved to the junk file, especially if the client isn't watching for it (didn't get that one anyway).

We use pre-printed forms and an ink jet to produce a typed estimate on site. The stationary and the truck (car) match. There is never a time when MY handwriting will be able to communicate effectively. Always have prefered typing.

IMO communication is key. Communicate how the client prefers.

Earlier comments that I definitely agree with:

Email is better than phones at 4 am or 10 pm.

Questions are more effectively answered in writing with a trail.

FAR easier to find stuff.
 
first time around being self-employed, I spent hours creating paper forms and $hundreds on printing carbonless copies. Then a stint as an employee, and when I went back out on my own all my old forms were gone (old computer/old software).

I looked at the file cabinet full of old bids that I never even open except to insert more forms and decided not to waste all that time recreating. I use an iPad to grab a google satellite image, draw some indicators on it to create a map of the property, photograph any unique issues for specific trees, and write it all up in Pages app, then email it. One device, one-stop shopping, I send myself a copy and save it to customer files on the computer when I get back to the office.

Even the old folks here in tech-friendly Austin tend to have email, but I can always email myself the bid, print it, and mail it if that becomes an issue.

I can't say if the sell rate is higher since I don't do both, but nobody has complained yet.
 
Most of our quotes are delivered to the client on paper. We use arbor gold to produce proposals etc and I write them up in the car right after a meeting with the client. I then go back and present them with a printout. This is good because it gives me the opportunity to talk about the numbers in the proposals then and there. It also allows me to gauge their impression of the pries etc.

Of course if I can't hand a proposal to someone then I just email it (or fax it).

As much as arbor gold bugs me, having all of my data in a database that I can query in many ways makes it easier to track sales, production etc. I cant imagine going back to the old way of hand writing and then entering proposals again into the computer. Also I would despise having to sort through individual word or excel files that aren't linked in a database.

I plan on trying to be more paperless this year, shouldn't be too difficult.

Vince
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
An issue I ran into is with older clients, who haven't switched to the paperless way. How are you handling these situations?

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point. I don't send e-mail bids to elderly, for that reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

Although two of 4 customers I had who were not online this year were elderly I'm finding that even 80-plus year old clients (and that is a large segment of my market) are quick to respond that they are online.

While they may not be super surfers or highly integrated into the cyber world they are connected via the basics.

I'm always asking, "do you use email" and even the elderly are to respond in the affirmative.

So, in all my interactions now I assume they are connected but still ask.
 
True. Now that I look back on my experience with eldrely. It seems they are connected online more than we think. As you say, they aren't "super sufers."
smile.gif


I'll have to remember this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom