10 Tips On How To Get Your Roofing Quotes Accepted
The service industry favors a more customer-centric way of operations. Getting involved in the home improvement industry has never been easier, which is why investing in a home services franchise is such a brilliant move! The franchise industry includes various sectors, ranging from painting to flooring to roofing. The roofing industry has become a competitive sector, with many companies now offering their roofing services. Offering customers an excellent experience can be the difference between winning more jobs and not getting any. Roofing can take a lot of time and involve a lot of components. It can be overwhelming to a company’s customers and technicians if the scope of work to be done isn’t specified. As such, roofing quotes have become a significant part of doing business. They help outline job requirements so companies and their customers will know what’s needed to complete a job and how much it will cost.
What Is a Business Quote?
When it comes to services, a quote is a document a provider presents to a potential customer detailing the proposed pricing for a job or order and the cost for the work. A business quote is different from an estimate. An estimate provides an approximate cost for a job and can still be changed, whereas a business quote can no longer be changed once it has been accepted by the client. (1)
While making product quotes is straightforward as you use known factors such as the cost of production, expected profits, and taxes, making quotes for services such as roofing is a bit more complicated since there are fixed costs and other variable costs. Thus, each quote is unique, depending on the nature of the job. (1)
The Importance of Business Quotes
Creating business quotes can be challenging, and it can take a long time to get them right. Fortunately, there are clever roofing software tools you can use to help you do this. These automate the entire quotation and payment collection process. Highly specialist software like this can be very beneficial to businesses in a number of different ways, as follows:
Establishing a Base Rate
During the roofing process, clients may change their minds and opt for something else. If you don’t have a business quote, unforeseen circumstances such as this can affect your business revenue. But if you’ve created a roofing quote before starting the job, it will establish a base rate for the work and provide an outline of exactly what is covered by the price. So, if anything needs to be changed in the process, you can amend your quote depending on what’s been modified from the original scope of work. (2)
Opening Lines of Communication
Sending quotes to customers will open a line of communication between you and them. This shows them you’re honest about what your expectations are. It can also give you a competitive advantage as it opens room for negotiation and allows you to sell your services better. (2)
Providing Feedback about Pricing
When you send quotes to your clients, their thoughts about the rate will give you insights into your pricing. If most of your customers are happy with your pricing, you’ll know it’s fair. But if the pricing is a little unreasonable, you’ll receive pushbacks, which will help you rethink your pricing strategies and update them to win more jobs. (2)
How to Get Your Roofing Quotes Accepted
A well-created quote will show professionalism on your part and give your roofing business a higher acceptance rate. Providing quotes can help speed up the acceptance process, ultimately meaning you get paid faster. But the quoting process isn’t simple. To be accepted, you need to provide all the relevant information and get your pricing right. Here are some tips you can follow when creating your roofing quotes:
Properly Construct Your Roofing Quotes
Your quote is often the first touchpoint your customers have with your company. People will make assumptions about your culture, professionalism, and how organized your business is from the way you present your quote to them. It’s therefore important to ensure your roofing quotes are properly constructed. Include all information necessary, such as the terms and conditions, prices, and any other important details the customers should know.
Also, use plain language. Presenting all information in a clear and understandable manner makes you transparent, consistent, and easy to trust, which leads to higher acceptance rates. To be a little more specific, here are some of the components to include in your roofing quotes. (3)
Cost
When creating a business quote, you need to detail the total costs and the scope of your roofing services. You can break down the total costs by itemizing the labor cost and the cost of the materials to be used. This will clearly show what’s covered in the quote and what’s not. This way, customers will know what exactly they’re paying for. (3)
Roofing Quotes Terms and Conditions
When sending quotes, present all the terms and conditions, including how you expect to be paid. Specify whether you want to be paid upfront after the work is completed or in a lump sum. Just be sure all terms and conditions are clear so customers can understand them before accepting the quote. (3)
Call-to-action Area
Customers who’ll read the quote will either accept or reject it. So, when sending quotes, don’t forget to add a call-to-action area that tells customers what they should do. If you’re sending electronic quotations, consider adding “accept” and “decline” buttons. But if you’re using printed paper, allot a space where they can sign and accept the terms and conditions. (3)
Work Schedule
Once a client accepts your roofing quote, you’re bound to complete the work within the period specified in the quote. So, your quote should include a reasonable time for the completion of the project. You can also consider other variables that may affect its completion, such as bad weather conditions. (3)
Have an Ideal Customer in Mind
As a roofing contractor, you should have an ideal customer, someone who’ll be interested in your roofing services. For example, if the duration of your roofing projects is usually 2 months, a customer who wants the service completed in a month isn’t your ideal customer. (1)
Thus, before creating your roofing quotes, try to paint a profile of your ideal customer. Narrowing your customers down to your ideal one will help you target people likely to be impressed by what you offer. This way, you’ll have a higher chance of securing the job. When establishing your ideal customer profile, consider the duration of your services, pricing, and aspects of the job. (1)
Arrange Physical Meetups
No matter how detailed your quotation is, it can’t cover other information like your experience and licenses. Customers will want to talk to you and ask questions that your roofing quote can’t answer. So once you identify a potential customer, arrange a physical meet-up to have a more detailed conversation with them. (1)
In meetings, be polite, punctual, and presentable and sell your experience and qualifications to them. This offers you a chance to have a more personalized interaction with them, so don’t let it go to waste. You can also visit the roofing site to understand more clearly the job requirements and have a better chance of making the right quotations. This will increase the chances of your quotes being accepted. (1)
Choose a Professional Roofing Quotes Template
Customers want a roofing company they can trust, and you can start building it by choosing the right template for your quotes. The quote’s template should accommodate your business name and logo, which should ideally be at the top of the page. You can choose a digital template that’s easily repeatable, which ensures consistency in your layout and avoids messy handwritten quotes. By using a professional quote design, it makes your business look trustworthy to customers, which, in turn, improves your acceptance rate. (4)
Add the Date of Issue and Expiry Date
The date of sending the quote is the date of issue, while the period within which to accept the quote is the expiry date (usually 14-30 days). These details are important as they help customers know there’s a time frame for accepting the offer. This way, they won’t shelve it and just forget about it. (4)
Also, having a time frame will protect your business from incurring losses because of factors such as the prices of supplies and labor increase. Making your proposed quote available for a certain period compels clients to take advantage of your offer as soon as possible. (4)
Send Roofing Quotes Promptly
How you send quotes to your customers will give them a general hint of how your roofing business is run and what they can expect from you. Customers always expect a fast response regardless of the channel they use to contact you. The same applies when they’re expecting quotations. If you take time to respond, they’ll think your services are slow and won’t likely approve your quote. (3)
Ideally, you should send quotes within 24 hours of their first contact. If you’re competing against other companies, the earlier your quote reaches the customer, the higher your acceptance rate is. If you delay sending it, the customer will probably accept another quote from another company. (3)
Embed a Quoting Machine on Your Website
Digitization has become a significant player when it comes to creating quotations. Therefore, consider investing in quoting software to let you create and send quotes anytime, without physically meeting the client. Doing this also saves you a lot of time. You won’t need to go back to your office to prepare quotes every time you’re out. (3)
A quoting tool will work as your virtual sales representative. Attending to your customers at any time only shows your business is interested in their needs. Using such software will also give the impression you’re running a modern business. This makes your business more credible, causing your quote approval rate to go up.
Keep the Roofing Quotes Simple
The temptation to itemize everything in the quote can be overwhelming. However, this will only show the client which tasks they can do on their own, and they can ask to omit them just to save money. Try to strike the right balance between keeping your quotes simple and itemizing what things are relevant for the customer to know. (1)
Also, if you keep your quotes simple, your customers can quickly go through them and easily understand the details. If you make them too complicated, it becomes difficult for them to decide which items they need, taking them longer to accept.
Make a Proper Follow-up
A client can receive your quote and later forget about it. Thus, make sure to follow up a few days after sending the quote or visiting the site. A proper follow-up will let you know whether they’ve received the quote and what their thoughts are. There’s no specific number of days set before you should make a follow-up. But the sooner you do so, the better. Perhaps 2 or 3 days after sending the quote is a reasonable time. (3)
You can try to schedule an appointment with the client to discuss the quote more clearly. This shows them you care about their opinions and are willing to listen. However, try not to be too pushy. (3)
Ask Questions and Learn from Mistakes
If you try sending quotes and they’re not winning you jobs, use this as a learning opportunity. You won’t always get your quotes accepted, especially if you’re only starting and you aren’t sure how to price your services. However, when you ask the right questions, you’ll know what to improve. (5)
The problem may not always be the pricing. It can also be the content or maybe the quoting process. When you finally identify what you’ve been doing wrong and improve on it, you’ll have a better chance of closing the deal. (5)
Get Your Roofing Quotes Accepted – Conclusion
Your roofing quotes can help deliver the excellent experience your customers want. However, getting customers to accept your quotes is challenging, given it’s normal for clients to compare quotes. So how can you stand out and make them accept your roofing quotes? You can use the tips above to ensure you’re constructing a proper quote. Put all the essential information there and send the quote as soon as possible, and soon you’ll see clients coming in.
References
- “5 Tips to Get Your Next Quote Approved”, Source: https://quoteup.com.au/5-tips-to-get-your-next-quote-approved/
- “8 benefits of offering business quotes to customers.”, Source: https://www.yellow.com.au/business-hub/8-advantages-of-offering-a-quote-to-your-customers/
- “4 Tips On How To Get Your Job Quotes Accepted”, Source: https://opensourcedworkplace.com/news/4-tips-on-how-to-get-your-job-quotes-accepted
- “HOW TO MAKE A QUOTE FOR A JOB: FREE QUOTE TEMPLATE & EXAMPLES”, Source: https://academy.getjobber.com/resources/articles/write-service-quote/
- “5 Tips on How to Prepare Quotes that Get Accepted”, Source: https://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/advice-ideas-and-planning/5-tips-on-how-to-prepare-quotes-that-get-accepted/13094.article