Turn that request for a price quote into a valuable customer experience. In this episode we answer the question “should I quote prices over the phone” with a resounding No! Read on to understand why it’s not professional, how to focus on value, and why the person asking may not be your ideal customer.
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3 Golden Nuggets
- Never give pricing over the phone. No professional gives pricing over the phone because there’s no way to truly evaluate the problem without seeing it.
- You’re selling an experience, not a commodity. Customers buy from those they know, like and trust.
- Every customer is not your customer. You want the customer that pays you what you’re worth. If you don’t try to service every request, you’ve got more time to focus on your ideal customers, and provide them a better service.
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Show Notes
Turn that Request for Pricing into a Valuable Customer Experience
Should I Quote Plumbing Prices Over the Phone?”
We get asked this question all the time. And it’s a valid concern, especially when you start out.
Let’s look at this from the perspective of systemizing your business so you can scale and grow. In this case, systemizing the phone process so your business is not dependent on one person. That is key to being able to scale your plumbing business.
Pricing Quotes
So, should we quote plumbing prices over the phone? Absolutely not.
(12:51) Never ever give pricing over the phone. Number one: It’s not professional. No professional gives pricing over the phone because there’s no way to evaluate the problem.
How do you know what their issue really is? They may say the water heater is leaking. How many times have you gone out for a leaking water heater, and it turned out to be the water softener next to it that was leaking, some other drain issue, or the HVC condensation stopped up and the pan is overflowing? Customers generally have no idea. You have no idea.
It’s not professional to give any kind of pricing without going out and looking at it.
Turn it into a Customer Experience
(17:48) Number two: It doesn’t provide value. What you’re selling really is an experience. If you’re creating a business that you can scale and grow, then you are selling an experience, not a commodity. That goes back to what I always say: it ain’t about plumbing.
(19:40) Over the phone, they don’t have a chance to see you show up in your nice truck. A uniformed employee with an ID badge that puts shoe covers on, that’s a part of the experience. We expect you to do the plumbing when you get there, but it’s also listening to the customer vent about what happened like how the toilet kept them up all night.
(20:25) It’s not about a water heater. It’s about having hot water, having hot showers, and being able to do the dishes. You can’t provide that value by giving a price over the phone.
(32:30) Customers won’t trust you if you’re just throwing out numbers. And customers buy from those they know, like and trust.
Know Your Customer
(29:20) Every customer is not your customer. You want the customer that pays you what you’re worth and values your value. If they really need the price over the phone, it’s not the customer for you.
Try not to chase the work. Almost everybody starting out gets a few construction jobs. We did. But growing a successful plumbing business is not about doing remodels and new construction. It can be hard to think of a customer as not my customer when you don’t yet have enough customers. But there are plenty of customers out there.
And you’ll be surprised; if you don’t try to service every request, you’ll have more time to focus on your ideal customers, and provide them a better service.
(34:25) With a good phone process, you turn a request for a price into a visit. Your customer service rep has to say, “Well, ma’am, we do have an opening here. We’ll get you taken care of between 10 and 12 today. Do you want me to schedule you?”
We have a perfect phone script that works. Check out The Success Academy to learn more.
Don’t give pricing over the phone. You may think it’s a slow week, so I will just do this one. But that customer is not looking for the service you provide. And ultimately, they won’t trust you. There are plenty of your right customers out there: that value their home, value who comes in their home, and value the service you provide.
Richard’s Call to Action.
If you want to learn more about numbers that matter and how to best run your plumbing business, why not schedule a free 30-min strategy call with us? Let’s talk about your goals and where you want to be this time next year, and we’ll help you create a path to make that happen. Schedule your free strategy call here today!
