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The Contractor Coaching Partnership Blog

Qualifying your prospects so you don't waste time with tire kickers

Posted by Mark Paskell on Tue, Jan 08, 2013 @ 10:18 PM

Contractors and Remodelers are starting to get busy with consumer calls for remodeling and home improvement work. It is important to have a qualifying process to make sure you do not wast valuable time with tire kickers or consumers who want to use you.

  • Are you a remodeler or contractor who is sick and tired of wasting time with tire kicking prospects?
  • Are you spending hours bidding incomplete architectural plans and scope of work against 5 or more contractors and not getting the job?
  • Are you frustrated that the prospect doesn't level with you on the budget?
  • SHow to shorten the sales cycleWould you like to stop wasting time with unqualified prospects?

I spoke with two contractors today who are frustrated and sick and tired of wasting their time with homeowner prospects who are tire kicking and using them to get free advise.

The first call was from a contractor who went out to the site and discovered that the job was not ready to be priced. He met a homeowner who had incomplete plans and no defined scope of work. They said they wanted a bid in one week and they want the job to start the first week of February.  When he told the homeowner the plans are incomplete, there was no defined scope of work and that he could not provide a price the homeowner got mad.

The second remodeler had a call to provide an estimate for an insurance claim. The homeowner had a significant leak and sustained damage to numerous rooms. The homeowner wanted the contractor to provide a bid for repairing all the damage which included a kitchen. The contractor asked if there was a scope of work and appraisal from the insurance company and there was not. The homeowner assumed that the contractor would provide a detailed broken down estimate for free for the insurance company. Insurance companies want line item broken down estimates that take hours to complete. The contractor did not want to waste his time estimating anything without a clear scope of work that matched the insurance company approved repairs.

Create a qualifying process before you agree to go out an meet prospects for free.

In order to make sure you are using your time wisely it is helpful to create a qualifying process before you go out and meet with a consumer. When you speak with your prospect let them know that you offer free consultations not estimates before you go to see them. This way if you get there and things are right for you you can gracefully exit. 

Lead Form  (a cardbox flap or piece of wood is not a lead form) 

Creating and using a lead form can help uncover valuable information about your prospect. In our Contractor Business Success Program on 3/12/2013 our Workshop #5, "Smart Selling for Tough Times" will cover how to use your lead form to maximize your time and qualify prospect. 

Register Here For Contractor Business Success Program

 

A lead form will include spaces for contact information, where the lead come from, type of work and printed questions designed to obtain critical information about the prospect an the project. In our workshop you will learn some helpful strategies on using this essential tool to save valuable time.

Here are some highlight topic that we will cover in the workshop:

  • Learn how to use and customize a lead sheet to best serve your company.
    • Get a Free Sample MS Word Lead Sheet ready for you to use and or customize.
  • Learn how to get prospects to open up with information when they call so you can do prequalifying yourself and train your team to do so as well.
  • Learn how to use the information you or your team will capture to improve sales meetings and results.

 

 

 

 

Tags: contractor workshops