The rest is organization, follow up and follow through.
Last spring my husband and I decided that we would get a jump start on searching out options for air conditioning in our home. Our furnace is on its last legs and our place gets mighty hot during the summer. Because we both work remotely from home, the argument in favour of the investment was pretty strong. We haphazardly called a couple of places and got a couple of quotes that were pretty steep. I wanted to support a small local guy so I found a small company with a good website and emailed him to let him know what we were looking for. The next day Bob called me and we arranged a time for him to look at our current solution and provide a quote.
Bob was very nice, he presented very well and it was clear he knew a lot about ducting, air and furnaces. He sat at my kitchen table and told me honestly, in his opinion that we didn’t have the ducting to support a successful installation of A/C. He told me that though it would cool our place down it wouldn’t make it ‘cold’ on the hottest day of the year – which in his opinion, is what should happen if you have proper A/C. He also advised me that if he did install it, chances are we would have regular malfunctions and issues with the unit for the same reasons. He suggested we buy a couple of portable units to get us through those few heat waves and save ourselves about $5000.
I told Bob, that I appreciated his honesty and that I would like a quote for a new furnace minus the AC. Within 48 hours Bob turned around a reasonable quote for the purchase and installation of a new furnace.
My husband and I really liked Bob and were impressed that he was smart enough to know that he could have turned over a fast buck and installed the AC. That he knew that over time he would likely lose time, money and credibility if we were calling him on a regular basis to service a unit that wasn’t working because it shouldn’t have been installed in the first place.
Longevity over instant gratification - good job Bob!
Given that we were now into spring, I thanked Bob for the quote and advised him that we would defer our new furnace purchase until late summer/early fall.
I never heard from Bob again.
I didn’t say no. I said, not right now. It’s December and I still haven’t received a reply to the email I sent Bob to say that we were going to wait. My furnace is still a piece of crap but we’re hoping it can get us through another winter so we can defer the costs for a little while longer since blogging and writing a book don’t actually bring in money.
I don’t know a lot about Bob’s business or his strategy or plans for growth. Maybe he has enough business that he doesn’t need to pursue it. Maybe he doesn’t want the headache of employees and dispatching…. Who knows. This isn’t uncommon. Many people are ‘busy enough’ so they don’t need to follow up, because their phones are always ringing. Lucky bastards.
I hope that was the case for Bob because it’s very likely that had he called me in September and gave me 2 or 3 good reasons to do it now, I’d have a nice quiet energy efficient new furnace.
If you have a small business with no active sales people, here are a few tips on how to turn leads/quotes into revenue
Organization, follow up and follow through.
- Keep a database of all past and potential customers and attach any quotes or communications.
- If you have a computer you can do this in outlook. If you don’t then get a date book and an address book.
- Block off a chunk of time every week or month for email or phone follow up – OR hire someone to do this a for you.
- If you are uncomfortable doing this, email me, it’s what I do. I’d be happy to help and my rates are reasonable.
- Always address receipt of a response to a quote whether they say yes or no.
- If they defer you, politely ask when a good time would be for follow up.
- If they’ve chosen to use a different vendor ask them why – there’s a chance if you know the reason you could still win the business.
- Follow through…. Do what you said you would do and once it’s done always always always check back with the client one or more times over a period of time to make sure they are happy with the product and/or service.
- Ask for referrals. If they do refer you, be sure to send them a thank you of sorts. Wine or chocolate works well for me.
What if you are busy enough? What if you have so much work coming in that you don’t really need to follow up on stale quotes? What if you are one of the lucky ones who is making the money they want to make with a consistent steady stream? If so I’m not sure why you’re reading this, however if you are, this is what I suggest you do:
Find a competitor you respect, who is looking to grow their business and work out a referral deal.
As an example you could have them follow up on your quotes and if they win the business they pay you a commission. This shows you care about your customers and/or the people who may have referred the business to you and also could provide you with an additional revenue stream that doesn’t cost you anything.
If you have a solid product/solution/service; if your prices accurately reflect the value of your solution; if you are organized, follow up and follow through and if you genuinely care about the satisfaction of your customers you have a good chance for great success.
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