PDCA Residential Forum

I ask, “Mr. Jones, along with a new color, could you describe to me what you expect the surface to look like when the job is completed?”

He may say “I want a nice paint job,” or “What do you mean by that, you’re the expert?”

I then explain there are different levels of preparation that can be done and I want to make sure that we meet all of his expectations. I may say “Some people are looking to ‘clean’ up the home and add some curb appeal in order to sell in a year or so, and others want a 1st rate job that will last for years.”

It gets the conversation moving and you end up having the customer write the spec for the job. Then when you follow up you can ask questions like, “When you and I met we talked about ......what did the other contractors say they were doing about that? Notice the open ended question.  Chance are they didn’t probe like you did.

Well put, Tom! I thought you would post something on this subject! Now how do we communicate what you said on a proposal in written form? That is the tricky part, eh?

The problem I am having is being to thorough in my bids and telling people about the levels of prep. I then come to find out my competition is doing a very basic paint job, for half the price and acts professional about it! How do I compete against that.

Is anyone using the Levels of Prep standards of the PDCA? If so...how are they working for you?

David;

I don’t think you’re giving anything away in your detailed proposals, but you are selling to a budget-conscious consumer who is choosing a cheaper option.  We hear that too, but perhaps less often. 

Any and all cold calls requesting estimates we initiate with “you’ll find us the most expensive”.  Finally, when we are at capacity or nearing it, we charge for our estimates if the customer has not been personally referred.

So, two solutions are available to you; discount your prices by 50% to close your sale; or more aggressively qualify your prospects.

What’s your close ratio these days?

Nigel:

How is that working for you? When you tell people, “You’ll find us most expensive.” What kind of responses do you get? I want to have a good sales process, which is sometimes why I try to talk about levels of prep and expectations with a client. I just had an experience where the homeowner liked us a lot when I showed up, followed my sales process, talked about price, etc. They hired me for the interior kitchen cabinets for a few thousand bucks but hired my main (cheap) competitor in town for the outside because he was half the cost. I found out later, she was NOT concerned about a first rate paint job on the outside. She still hired two companies. If I had known she wanted a basic paint job, I probably could have gotten both jobs. So, what do I do? Just disqualify her over the phone or have a better sales process in trying to discover her pain/expectations?

I’m curious to know how telling people you are the most expensive helps in your process? I’m guessing people won’t be offended by it. Am I right? They probably say, “Why are you the most expensive?” What is your response to that?

David; you answered your question when you offered ‘have a better/sales process’.  It is easy to try and convince a prospect of our merits, harder to ascertain their expectations and budgets.

The approach we use is intended to deflect the budget conscious because we have overhead(my Starbucks habit), pay benefits(health insurance, vacation, training) and so will never be able to compete with the smaller, less formal company.  I want to get this on the table asap, not out of arrogance, but for clarification.  If people ask directly, we explain that we are a professional company, passionate about painting, and that because we treat our employees as valued professionals, our costs are higher.  We talk about training, retention, service, background checks, etc.

Responses are usually favorable because we have no advertising presence beyond National Public Radio and so cold calls are rare. Typically a cold call comes because our vans have been seen in a neighborhood that is upscale so there is an expectation that we are more expensive anyway.

I personally hate estimating so do what I can to avoid going on sales ‘adventures’; my close ratio is 45% so I’m still losing projects and typically due to pricing so I’m still bidding some ‘junk’.  We did lose one big job years ago because the client thought our bid was too low.

Alas.