Anybody, How and the heck did my personal phone number get twisted into my website, got a call for an estimate today on my personal line, weird, asked the lady how she got my personal number, she said it came up on the google search sarasota . I do not recall ever tying those two together at any point, I know better. Any ideas? when I google my personal number it comes up with the header showing my personal number. But you need my number to find it...???
Ok got this... in my meta tags google crawled my site and dummy me put my personal phone number in the meta tag... ok.. must have been burning the oil that night... But how about some help with this one..
Estimate was a tire kicker, she really wanted me to price her job over the phone with no address, no information what so ever!!!, Like how much do you charge for a pool cage, " heck pick a number" like...ummm $19.95 sound good, duh.. what size is the cage?, 2 story?, how much foliage?, Pool or no pool?? Really dirty or somewhat dirty?? Plants in the cage???
Well I have a 2900 sq. ft. house and it is tile?? SO how much? and how do you clean the roof? Chemicals, and do you tarp the plants, yes and heavily water as well... ok so how much?? I told her basically we would rather not qoute over the phone but to give you a ballpark, xx. per sq. ft.. there are many other facets to give a proper estimate, I told her I can go by and look at it and give her a firm price. SO she says well I will think about it and call you back if I do.. Basically a tire kicker or what?? Help needed here was this what kind of calls you get or was I getting B.S.somehow.
Kim R
-- Edited by Presidential Pressure Washing on Tuesday 11th of January 2011 05:52:14 PM
In my opinion, that is not a customer I want, nor would I chase. You have to decide what your target market is, Were the money making jobs are and go after them. I turn business down if it is not what I am looking for or if I can not make good money on the job, and especially if I don't feel good about the prospective customer. I know some will say "you can't turn down work", but I make sure when I go out to do a job I make good money doing so, and most importantly, I feel good about that particular customer. I wont go into the whole "bad" customer scenario, but I have learned over the years from other service businesses, what or who I want as a customer and who I do not want. If you get a call like that again, take the burden off of You at that moment. Tell the person you do not do the quoting, and that you will dispatch a truck, or schedule a representative to visit them at the home to evaluate the scope of work and to discuss the process and pricing. Ask them for their address and contact info. This takes the burden of trying to make a sale over the phone without really having a chance to present your business, processes, company advantages over your competition etc. If they are not interested in giving you the info, you do not want or need their business. Just my 2 cents. Been there done that....
Excellent 2 cents,, very much appreciated and puts a spin on things for me, your input really gives me a different perspective and how to deal with this should it happen again. I have been out of the loop with the roofing bus., and this being new business type, caught me off guard, but I am schooled now by Chris Madden and will apply this from this point on!! Thanks so much....again!
I'm just sharing my opinions from my personnel experience. I hope the info helps someone, or many out there. You will like your business classes. I attended the Darla Moore School of Business at USC in Columbia SC. I love business ideas, and crunching numbers. If you ever get put on the spot especially on the phone, take the heat Off of you and make someone else the decision maker, or the person with the answers. This gives you time to regroup, and get all the answers, or presentation in order.
I have had so many of those calls I just state I have to view the site for these reasons. # 1 It could have been your competition trying to get an idea of what you charge,use and say to customers. # 2 Not that you have anything to worry about but it could be your insurance company. I had my workmans comp insurance call my house pretending to be a customer. Asked alot of questions a customer never has asked, I played it cool and they then identified themselves at the end of the call. So I just sy... " I am sorry I don't give estimates over the phone it's not fair to either one of us. Estimates are free and I would be more then happy to stop by and leave you one. So if it's B.S. I dont waste my time and give away free info to others.....if it's legite they give their info......
When asked over the phone to quote on their details when their done, I'll ask some questions about there home in general. I express that it sounds like you have a beautiful home and I'd enjoy looking at your home and roof, but more so, before I quote any roof cleaning I like to inspect the roof first to make sure it doesn't need replacing or repair. When is a good time for me to stop by?
Bottom line, change the direction of the conversation, cause them to act instead of them causing me to act.