So many companies are looking forward and doing estimates, so many hit a busy season and suddenly it is busy, busy, busy, and… no one is really stopping to take care of the business in play- following up on leads effectively.
People tend to procrastinate. Do you have systems in place to follow up on leads, to track the next step in the sales process? Do we have any sense of the urgency of this buyer? Have we placed a priority on this estimate, is it a plum job for us? What kind of strategic information are we tracking that is critical to helping more homeowners follow up on our estimates?
Any discussion about how to improve our estimate processes, requires a conversation about customer management systems (CRM) or Sales Contact Systems. So many systems are a complicated mix of indecipherable functions which allow users to pigeon hole data where it can’t be found, or track and has no business value. I can tell you tales that are scarier than an Edgar Allen Poe classic. Real money just being left on the table is scary. Simple CRM allows strategic use of data to make more sales. Click here for a discussion of CRM essentials to enable easy business growth.
Too often following up on leads falls back to someone remembering to follow up.
And to often, this becomes a boring letter or a phone call from a “sales” person or office staff asking if your prospect is ready to “get married”- excuse me ready to move forward. Imagine the strength it takes to refuse this offer. Yes, this is blatant sarcasm.
Imagine the business building power you could generate if everyone stopped to realize how much gold is in them thar hills if you just took a little extra time and created some really compelling offers and showed some flair and personality here to help people make a smart decision.
Are wet even tracking the status of our estimates? We probably don’t even have any ready statistics to tell us how well we are closing estimates over time?
And we are not anywhere near following up and finding what happened to the estimate and figuring out what we can learn from the feedback we get from our prospect.
And what is doubly disturbing, is that so many companies are using outmoded software and paper systems for delivering bids, and spending their time copying and filing and and tracking documents and so occupied with getting sales people to deliver reports…
It all comes down to a lot of generating heat and not so much generating profits. Time spent on busy work costs money which could be earned doing substantial strategic work.
This relates very closely to pausing to evaluate operational issues and has very much to do with leveraging slack to make more money.
What Can We Accomplish by Being More Deliberate with Our Strategic Estimating Systems?
There are so many strategic things that can be done – get more estimates signed off for sure, but you can
- extend the length of your busy season,
- many of you can build the parts of your business that create regular repeatable maintenance work for sustainable growth.
- Many others can figure out how to create steady business success, rather than the ups and downs of seasons and economies… and this starts with following up more effectively.
Do you have a question?
Do you need some tips or ideas to follow up more effectively?
It is easier said than done. But the same old- same old? We try not to wrinkle up the noses of our prospects.
Is there something here you agree with?
Is there something that chapped your skin?
Feel free to leave a comment. Or call or email.
