When is the best time for a painting contractor to follow up after the estimate?
Following up after the estimate is what every high achiever does; however, knowing when to follow up can be one of the most stressful things to consider.
Well, I have great news.
I’m going to share 1 simple tactic that made following up after the estimate easy and stress-free — and will help you to win more bids!
But first…
Did you know that the majority of painting contractors never follow up after presenting their bid?
Maybe that’s why 72% never grow past 1-5 employees as reported by the InPaint Magazine Survey.
Here’s the crazy thing, you’ve already done all of the hard work.
- All of the marketing, branding, and networking
- The time to drive out and measure the job
- The time to figure up and provide your proposal
Unless you’ve closed it on the spot, which we show you how to do, here, you’re now at the 99-yard line and all you need to do to get across the goal line is to follow up!
But not, with an email.
Following up by email is not what high achievers do. No.
High Achievers follow up by phone call.
Emails get ignored or worse lost.
Consider this, if you don’t practice empty inbox, how many emails do you currently have in your inbox?
Exactly.
Most likely, they also have 10,000 plus emails in their inbox, as well.
Plus, you want to hear the tone of their voice.
- Are they confused?
- Are they excited?
- Are they frustrated?
Many times there is a miscommunication in the process and you’ll never know what it was via email or text.
3 Reasons Most Painting Contractors Don’t Follow Up With Phone Calls After Presenting Their Bid
- We don’t want to bother them.
- We don’t know the best time to call.
- Negative self-talk.
Can you relate to any of these?
Let’s address the negative self-talk first.
- The other guys underbid me.
- They didn’t like me.
- I was too expensive.
Ah, bologna…
But we all struggle with it. I did, big time.
Or maybe your self-talk is, “If they want my service, they’ll call me. I’m not chasing them down.”
Ah, yeah, that’s pride. And we remember the ancient proverb from the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, right?
Pride comes before being destroyed… Prov 16:18
Whichever one it is, or maybe it’s all of them, the key is to change our story about it.
Instead, consider how busy they are and we are making them remember to follow up with us!
No, it’s our job to make their buying decision with us as easy as possible.
When you shop on Amazon and find that new 60 inch TV that you’ve been looking for, does Amazon say,
“We’ll get you a price for it in a few days and then you’ll need to call us to purchase it,”?
No way!
Amazon has the buying decision process too easy for us, right!
They have this locked down!
“Yeah, Steve, I’m not a billionaire who has the resources to set up a system like Amazon.”
Well, Jeff Bezos wasn’t either when he got started.
Keep this in mind, most high achievers started out broke just like you and me.
They were just hungry and humble enough to learn and change the story in their head.
Now that we understand that it’s our responsibility to make the buying decision as easy as possible for them, the question remains…
How do we also make it easy for ourselves, like I promised in the beginning?
To make following up easy and stress-free, simply ask them the “Yes-or-Yes” question to schedule a time to follow up with them.
This is so important.
This is what high achievers do. This is what set’s you apart from the majority of struggling painting contractors.
Here’s how to get started with a stress-free follow-up.
When you represent your bid, of course, we also ask for the job –we aim to close most of the jobs on the spot. But if they need time to think it over,
we simply ask them for permission to follow up via a yes or yes question.
Like this:
“Is it ok if I follow up with you this Thursday or Friday?”
They always said yes and picked one of my yes options.
Then, while looking at my calendar, I’d again ask ANOTHER a yes or yes question,
“Does 10 am or 4 pm work better for you?”
They would then select one of those 2 times, or request another.
Find the time that works for both of you and then you SCHEDULE it in your CRM which should sync automatically into your calendar, too.
If you’re not using a CRM yet, then make sure you schedule it in your calendar.
If you’re not using a calendar, start now.
When you follow up, if they are still not ready, follow the stress-free process again and schedule the next follow-up call.
Say this:
“Is it ok if I follow up with you next week, say same time? (They respond.) Thank you; I’ll call you then. Have a nice day.” 🙂
How long do you follow up?
Sales Legend Harvey MaCay said until one of the two of you dies, but how about until the job is awarded. 🙂
One of my favorite stories from following up is one customer that
I followed up with for 6 years, but I’ll save that for another time. 🙂
In conclusion, the best time to follow up is when it’s most convenient for them, and make sure you
- Ask permission to follow up.
- Ask a yes or yes question.
- Schedule it in your CRM and or calendar right away.
- Follow up by phone call.
- Rinse repeat.
By following this process you’re increasing your value to the customer by showing interest, a trusted process, and taking the burden off of them for following up.
This is one of many, many ways we teach to build value into your bid, so that you’re not competing on price.
Bonus tip: after every estimate, send a handwritten note card simply saying,
“Dear Mr. & Mrs. Jones, thank you very much for having me out to your home. It was a pleasure to meet you. 🙂 – Steve”
Use this tactic to win more bids and take the stress out of following up—both for the customer and yourself.
Remember to Dream Big, Hustle SMARTER…
You’ve got this!
Steve