Monday, July 18, 2011

Your Estimate Can Cost You Credibility

Today's tip from the Work Smarter Not Harder team is about roofing estimates. When your estimate is presented as a perfectly round number (e.g., $58,000), it might look cleaner on a proposal and make things easier for the client, but most people will think it is highly unlikely that the estimate is that exact figure, and will assume you have rounded upwards and wonder by how much ($500, $1000, $5000?) as round numbers are always fake.

This may seem like a minor detail to you, and maybe it is, but it isn't to clients. And as you know, people will come up with hundreds of different reasons not to do business with you. It may even seem silly, but some roofing contractors will issue their very first invoice with invoice #436 (or something similar) to give the impression that they didn’t just start their businesses.

This likely won't change your success rate by an enormous amount, but if you are the only roofing contractor bidding a more precise figure on a job that could be a major factor in your winning it (you appear more honest and straight-forward with the client than your competitors). It's a little thing that can make a huge difference.

Please also see the darrenslaughter.com post titled "Can Your Estimate Cost You Credibility?"
Tired of labor problems and low profit margins? Make more $$ spraying coatings with Conklin Roofing Systems!
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1 comment:

  1. Interesting post, is there any statistical information regarding acceptance based on this idea?

    ReplyDelete