How do you follow-up with new project leads?

Business Management Client Relations
1

What are the best practices you’ve come up with for following-up with new project leads?

How long do you typically wait to follow-up with a new lead? Do you always try to set-up a walkthrough or do you ever provide an estimate over the phone?

3 Likes
2

We try to get back to any customer as soon as possible. The longer you wait to return a call or email to a potential customer, the more time you give them to find another contractor. Depending on how the lead contacted you, you should email or call as soon as possible. We never give estimates over the phone because it is too easy to mislead a customer or eat your words without seeing a project first. Always do a walk through and give as detailed of an estimate as you can.

3

I like to return calls within the day I receive them, I also never give an estimate over the phone and always schedule a free estimate at their convenience!

4

Contacting the client back in a timely fashion is paramount to creating a good first impression. Obviously a potential client may or may not be free to speak with you when you return their call. However, once contact has been made, then setting an appointment to reveiw the project is a must. There is no way to give an accurate pricing model over the phone on a remodel project.

5

FAST FAST FAST! Did I mention FAST! Same day call back and if possible same day free consult followed by a proposal via email that evening! Along with the proposal comes copies of all licenses and a copy of our insurance binder. If you want to make the sale you need to gain the clients trust and keep it through a succesful project completion!

6

If we don’t answer the call right away, we call the customer as soon as we get the message. It’s not just the initial call though. Following up to check on customer service, and questions they may have, or even making sure they received the proposal. These are all important steps in securing a job. If a customer feels like you’re to busy or they have been forgotten, it can mean the difference between a sale and a loss.

7

I respond quickly to new customer leads - usually within 24 hours. Most of our leads come through referrals, so it is not necessarily vital to respond more quickly, and if it’s the weekend, I usually wait until Monday. For residential work, my initial conversation with the homeowner is as much about the budget as about the scope of work. The great majority of non-referral leads don’t go any further than that for us, as most homeowners don’t have feasible budget expectations. The next step is often a conversation about schedule expectations. Like most contractors, we’re fairly busy, and we can’t help an owner who wants a kitchen remodel to start next week. This gives the owner a chance to disqualify us from the job. Sometimes it feels as if I’m trying to talk a customer out of working with us, but the result of those conversations is a decent match between us and the prospective customer. If we get through that first conversation, we schedule a visit to the project site to learn more about the project.

8

At Ross Brothers we use the Buildertrend App to generate proposals for our clients. Our procedure is as follows:

  1. Send a project manager to take measurements and define the scope of work.
  2. Create a proposal for the client within 48 hours.
  3. The proposal is sent via email to the client and allows for an electronic signature.
  4. When the proposal is sent, the client is notified via text message.
  5. The following day, we reach out to the client via phone and ask if they have identified any questions or concerns regarding the estimate. If they have, we will take the time to either sit down in person or over the phone and review our estimate line by line.
  6. After one week, another follow call is made and we attempt to set an appointment to meet with the client. We encourage clients to come in to our office and take a tour of the operation. We employ an in house designer that will also offer to meet with clients and discuss colors, styles, or other design elements.
  7. Clients that decide to move forward either sign the agreement via electronic signature or during a face to face follow up meeting.

We pride ourselves on customer service and do everything we can to help our clients through the difficult process of picking a contractor and committing to a project.

9

It is always best to sell the customer with you and/or your company. If at all possible meet face to face to show off who you are and what skills you have. Find out how soon they are looking to do the project and judge your call time from there. It can range from the next day to several months. Tend to your customers needs at all times. Even ask if they want you to follow up. If they say no, they probably don’t like you or your number. Then you can find out why right on the spot and fix for the future.