Customer Quotations

[TradeDean]

there is no comparison ................... you might as well compare it with a cash discount.

I was saying that the reason referrals work so well is because someone has passed their opinion on to some else and given that person some faith in you.

Testimonials work in a similar way they can provide faith in your service as a tradesmen. Not on the same level but in a similar way!

 

[saxondale]

Testimonials work in a similar way they can provide faith in your service as a tradesmen. Not on the same level but in a similar way!

can you not see that outside the confines of this thread testimonials are seen as "probably faked .............. bought ................. spam" and that means I click off that site that bit quicker.

 

[Matt1959]

Should you really need to ask for a testimonial?... should it not be given freely?

no you shouldnt have to ask and yes they should be given freely but this is 2010 not 1965 when someone who had a job done sat at their writing bureau and penned a letter to the local carpenter thanking him profusely because "that was what you did" back then. Nowadays, people are busy, busy, busy and often wouldnt think to thank someone because thanking is an old fashioned thing to do. So, the only way to get testos is ask for them

 

[TradeDean]

can you not see that outside the confines of this thread testimonials are seen as "probably faked .............. bought ................. spam" and that means I click off that site that bit quicker.

Ok...... I thought we went of topic earlier but now I am really lost!

 

[Tej]

no you shouldnt have to ask and yes they should be given freely but this is 2010 not 1965 when someone who had a job done sat at their writing bureau and penned a letter to the local carpenter thanking him profusely because "that was what you did" back then. Nowadays, people are busy, busy, busy and often wouldnt think to thank someone because thanking is an old fashioned thing to do. So, the only way to get testos is ask for them

Lol.. Matt

Guess if you offered a tenner you get a normal testimonial....
offer a score.. and the sun shines outta your arse

 

[Tw Installations]

which one - a testimonial or membership of a trade ass. as the two are nothing alike.



point I`m making (as a consumer) is testimonials mean nothing to me

Sax

I find that really hard to believe

If I went on to Amazon looking to buy a Book on Plumbing and 217 people said it was the best book they had ever read on the subject, i would find it really hard not to buy it

What your saying is that if 217 people said the book was the biggest pile of xxxx they had ever seen, that wouldn't matter to you?

If you dont value other peoples opinions why are you on a forum?

If 250 people on this forum ( ukbf ) said xxxx xxxxx was the best s.e.o guy on the planet that wouldn't influence you in the slightest if you were looking to get s.e.o. work done?

Tommy

 

[Matt1959]

Sax

I find that really hard to believe

If I went on to Amazon looking to buy a Book on Plumbing and 217 people said it was the best book they had ever read on the subject, i would find it really hard not to buy it

What your saying is that if 217 people said the book was the biggest pile of xxxx they had ever seen, that wouldn't matter to you?

I

interesting point actually. I just bought a digital camera and before doing so I googled "x digital camera review" if I then get a list of say 5 reviews about that particular camera, that can make all the difference for me in purchasing. Same for cars, same for other products - all these things are products - so why should services be any different, perhaps we are too close to it, I don't know.....,

 

[TradeDean]

interesting point actually. I just bought a digital camera and before doing so I googled "x digital camera review" if I then get a list of say 5 reviews about that particular camera, that can make all the difference for me in purchasing. Same for cars, same for other products - all these things are products - so why should services be any different, perhaps we are too close to it, I don't know.....,

That is a prime example!

Testimonials are reviews. They a a device to aid in a purchasing decision and lets face it we work in an industry that needs to provide these real opinions/reviews!

 

[Tej]

interesting point actually. I just bought a digital camera and before doing so I googled "x digital camera review" if I then get a list of say 5 reviews about that particular camera, that can make all the difference for me in purchasing. Same for cars, same for other products - all these things are products - so why should services be any different, perhaps we are too close to it, I don't know.....,

There is a difference.. The items are "material" in most instances and from manufacturers that are household names ( in most instances). Obviously you will take the reviews on board... and you will assume that the reviews are not faked.

Important point that TW makes is about the forum and the reviews/opinions about seo etc. you have to take on board peoples opinions, and weigh them up yourself....

 

[G. Lasagne]

Come on folks, you surely being members of a business forum must appreciate the importance of testimonials, if you havent been reccomeded then its one of the few things that can make up a customers mind.

Also on the quote front, i think they need to be as professional as possible regardless of the job.

Mine are about 8 pages log in a presentation folder, but i have designed them in a such a way that they are completed and signed for by the customer, so i can print and assemble 20 quotes in about 30 minutes.

They get a price there and then and quite often i get the job there and then, because my quote looks professional, they already have a price, they have been left brochures etc etc etc, why would they accept a quote from "billys plumbing service" who post them a scrappy bit of paper 3 days later.

Who would you choose?

And i have no doubt whatsoever that when i get a few 100 testimonials on my site that conversions will increase massively,

 

[lockie]

I do most quotes over the phone or by email.Its quicker than post which gives me a massive edge over my biggest competitors who like to send shiney suited sales reps and take a week or so to give a quote.

 

[G. Lasagne]

Another thing that ive realised since my quote conversion rate shot through the roof.

"nobody gives a sh.t how much 1 metre of pipe costs or a bag of cement" they care about one thing and that is "how much is it gonna cost"

I dont give a breakdown on materials anymore, just a final price fully installed,
And i have never been asked for a breakdown in the last 4 months either.

So you can make your quotes professional without having to spend hours working out hw much everything costs and getting it to add up, i have never posted a quote out for months since using this method, and i have never looked back.

Matt - i will email the quote to you, it might give you some ideas

 

[TradeDean]

Come on folks, you surely being members of a business forum must appreciate the importance of testimonials, if you havent been reccomeded then its one of the few things that can make up a customers mind.

Also on the quote front, i think they need to be as professional as possible regardless of the job.

Mine are about 8 pages log in a presentation folder, but i have designed them in a such a way that they are completed and signed for by the customer, so i can print and assemble 20 quotes in about 30 minutes.

They get a price there and then and quite often i get the job there and then, because my quote looks professional, they already have a price, they have been left brochures etc etc etc, why would they accept a quote from "billys plumbing service" who post them a scrappy bit of paper 3 days later.

Who would you choose?

And i have no doubt whatsoever that when i get a few 100 testimonials on my site that conversions will increase massively,

You got it bang on there G! How do you get yur customers to provide a testimonial?

 

[Tw Installations]

Another thing that ive realised since my quote conversion rate shot through the roof.

"nobody gives a sh.t how much 1 metre of pipe costs or a bag of cement" they care about one thing and that is "how much is it gonna cost"

I dont give a breakdown on materials anymore, just a final price fully installed,
And i have never been asked for a breakdown in the last 4 months either.

So you can make your quotes professional without having to spend hours working out hw much everything costs and getting it to add up, i have never posted a quote out for months since using this method, and i have never looked back.



I Completely agree with your thinking on Price breakdown, I think when you focus on the price breakdown so will the customer.

I tend to think of it not as a quotation but as a "Plan of Action"

for example Plan of action,

Gas Hob Installation


· Shut down gas boiler prior to installation.
· Connection of gas hob, all consumables used to be new fittings
· Gas isolation valve fitted for gas hob installation and all gas work carried out to the appropriate legislation.( Gas safe Register – previously Corgi)
· If relocation of gas appliances, then all under floor pipe work will be soldered as per required legislation
· Gas Safe Registered Member 30XXX

Everybody might do this but just saying you "do all this" will put you in a more favourable position.

Also by thinking of it as a "plan of action" your assuming you have the work, your providing a plan as to how your going to help the customer get from A to B, everybody want to feel like their making the right descion in choosing YOU so a proffessional Quote or "Plan of Action" is just another form of reasurrance

Tommy

 

[lockie]

Another thing that ive realised since my quote conversion rate shot through the roof.

"nobody gives a sh.t how much 1 metre of pipe costs or a bag of cement" they care about one thing and that is "how much is it gonna cost"

I dont give a breakdown on materials anymore, just a final price fully installed,
And i have never been asked for a breakdown in the last 4 months either.

So you can make your quotes professional without having to spend hours working out hw much everything costs and getting it to add up, i have never posted a quote out for months since using this method, and i have never looked back.

Matt - i will email the quote to you, it might give you some ideas

Im not surprised.I was on another forum recently and there was a debate over rates and every chippie was quoting these day rates.I found it weird and when i pointed out that as a customer i would just want a final price they seemed to think i was mad.When i suggested perhaps pricing a bit more to allow for problems that arose they thought that was even madder.Now as a customer my thinking is i want to know how much and how long will it take.If someone quotes me a day rate then im at their mercy as it could take so much longer than they say.
Even if its a bit more than i expected but its a final price and not a day rate i would go for it for the reason its that price and no more.

I can see why the guy is doing a marketing for trades cd, so many just dont get how customers tick.

 

[TradeDean]

I like that Tommy! I Just might use this as a blog post..... Plan of action with a cost!!!! Nice

 

[Tej]

LOL... love all these new fangled expressions

Plan of Action!!... what happened to "method statement" which has been around for years... or better still.. provide a "spec" which has been around even longer AFAIK.

Pasta lover.... in all the years of providing quotes/estimates.... no tradesperson that I know has ever advised potential clients... cost of materials.
I can understand the clients knowing the cost of a particular boiler... but they would know the list price..they could even find out the cost of materials ( length of pipe , sand, cement etc) off t'internet... not the actual price you would pay after negotiating your trade discounts..

so.. if you were giving them the list price cost... bit of kiddology

Would agree with Lockie with regard to day rates... should be a no no.

IMHO... Quote/estimate.. should show spec and cost for the job.... bit old fashioned... but works.

 

[Bri]

....

"nobody gives a sh.t how much 1 metre of pipe costs or a bag of cement" they care about one thing and that is "how much is it gonna cost"

At last someone who is on my wavelength. I argue constantly with my business partner that when we are on site pricing a job he always mentions to the client, the cost of the van for the day, the fuel, bridge costs, and how much it costs to be insured to do this type of work.WHY?

Quote presentation: Its taken years to realise this, yes we've done the we want to have the professional national company look and we sent out quotes on Conquerer headed paper inserted into lovely company printed glossy folder, had templates made to make the quoting easier. WHY?It didnt convert any more people than we were already getting.

We now approach it differently, we work on an eco policy that we do not provide quotations on paper, we wil provide a budget cost by email stating our proposal, as for instance a job can range from £150.00 to £500,000(obviously we would take more care in presenting the higher value quotes), but we will still present them professionally by email. Once this has been considered by the client and our follow up, they generally email us back any way with an approval. We will then back this up with a written quotation and they give us a purchase order. Most times they are happy with an email quote and supply a purchase order from that.Saves a hell of a lot of paper. Also when you are tendering often you are quoting three or more companies for the same job, we used to mail out the same quote to the companies and hopefully win. Thats two or more wasted quote packs. Some of you will say, Ah but thats two or three more companies that now know about you, true but we want companies that are going to use us to work for, not use us as a quoting comparisons. We email each a budget cost based on their requirments, as often you are quoting from drawings then if we are successful we will provide a true cost quotation, which is always near the budget cost isnt it.

So email quoting has been successful for us so far, like many others that have posted we rely on our professionalism, experience and knowledge of our trade in front of the client to sell ourselves. We've thought about the testimonial route for our website as its fashionable at the moment, and gone NAH, what for. We dont advertise, we are recommended and we do the leg work too.

 

[Matt1959]

I rarely post quotes but thats being lazy. I prefer quoting via email or verbally. Posting quotes has to be a no brainer - the more seperate means of communication you use, the more chances you have of making a good impression on the client surely:| - most people like opening letters addressed to them! Not posting quotes and citing eco reasons seems bonkers to me, no offence Bri

 

[Bri]

Not posting quotes and citing eco reasons seems bonkers to me, no offence Bri

None taken.I agree,its cattle manure, but they like to hear it unfortunately.