Somebody calls, describes the problem in two sentences, and asks what it'll cost. You give them a number. Now you're a number on a list, and the cheapest number usually wins. You never got to show them what they're actually paying for.
I spent years in the trade before I started Keenversion, and this is the habit I see costing shops the most money once the phone is ringing. Here's the approach I walk clients through instead.
Charge a dispatch fee, and say it with a straight face
A modest dispatch fee does two jobs. It filters out the people who were only ever shopping for the lowest price, and it tells everyone else you're a professional whose time is worth something. The folks who push back hard on a dispatch fee are rarely the ones who were going to hire you at a fair price.
Build the value on the first visit
When you get there, don't go straight to the thing they called about. Run a proper safety inspection and write it up on a form they keep. Walk them through what you found first, then get to the original problem. Now they're not comparing your price to a stranger's guess over the phone. They're looking at a written picture of their own house.
Give three options and only sell what they need
Lay out three ways to handle it, from the must-do fix to the full job. Let them choose. Don't pad it. Selling someone work they don't need wins you one ticket and loses you the referral, the review and the next call.
Price the task, not the hour
Hourly pricing makes the customer watch the clock and wonder if you're dragging your feet. A flat price for the task takes that worry away. It also means every customer pays the same for the same job, which is easy to stand behind when someone asks why.
That only works if the prices are written down. A price book (every common task, with materials and labor built in) means you don't have to be the one quoting every job, and a tech you trust can quote it the same way you would. That's how the business grows past you.
The short version
- Don't give a number over the phone. Book the visit.
- Use a dispatch fee to filter out price shoppers.
- Inspect, write it up, and show them before you quote.
- Offer three options and only sell what's needed.
- Flat task pricing from a written price book, so anyone on your crew can quote it.
If you're getting calls but not closing them, that's usually where the money is going. Book a free diagnostic call and we'll look at where yours is leaking.