Ran my own businesses for 26 years. Best results came from three places: Local free papers that make their money only off advertizing, word of mouth, and professional looking estimates and billing strange as it may sound.
That's great stuff, Wiz. In past advertising threads we broke down advertising strategies into 'shotgun' and 'personal' approaches. Handing a business card, or two plus a magnetic-backed is as personal as it gets. Writing a high-quality estimate, personal verging on intimate. The reason I say this is that the contact person will often share what the estimate says with their significant other. They will both revolve those moments around the estimate, reading it, looking at it, judging it AND YOU by what is written and basing their decision on their perception of you, as well as price. If you think this doesn't happen, think again. First impressions are everything and you have two first impressions to get it right, maybe three.
#1 impression, the phone call, minor first impression, brief, but it IS the first impression. #2, meeting the folks and walking through the trees together, really important as you are now two (or more) humans, face-to-face. #3 the estimate. You have been creating an 'impression' in #1 and #2, but #3 is where the rubber hits the pavement. The estimate, to a tree service is like the menu to a restaurant. Everything revolves around the estimate, both the decision-making and the work itself. Take the estimate seriously. I put more weight into writing the estimate than anything else, writing clearly, with enough detail
so that when the estimate is shared with that significant other, there is no question as to what is being talked about. Confusion is a business killer, as is sloppiness and vague statements. People will forgive misspelled words, but unclear written statements.... if your estimates are lame, you better be fabulous on the phone and in person. On the other hand, the phone and in-person part can be mediocre, and you can still win it with a strong estimate.
Generally, I itemize and give an individual price for each item on the sheet, that way the customer knows what is getting done and how much each thing costs. If you don't think this is important, consider that
you are not the issue here. Your clients are. It's
their perception and comfort in understanding exactly what is going on that will be a major factor, both in hiring you
and in referring you on.
Yes, the tree work itself is important, the cleanup mebbe even more so, but it is that human-to-human interaction that forms the impression they will ultimately keep of you. The phone and the together time are brief, but an estimate is a permanent document. It comes from
your brain and is transferred into
their brain. It might be laid alongside other tree estimates they've gotten and they will all be scrutinized. The one who wins will be the one who did #1, 2 and 3 the best. Price has something to do with it, but I have been the higher price on many jobs and still been chosen for the work, mostly because the estimate was more solid than the others.
If your sell rate is below 90% (9 out of ten estimates get the job) you are wasting a lot of time in doing estimates that just suck time and energy and travel; all the things that are part of our work that are not income-producing work.
This should have probably been placed in an estimate-writing thread, but Trim Wizard alluded to the written estimate as one of his successful 'advertising' methods,
as strange as it may sound. I don't think it sounds strange. In fact, the estimate is the focal point of you getting that job, all jobs and for that matter can be viewed as the focal point of your entire tree business. Does this make sense?
