O.K. I get the excited call. "Hey saw your ad, looks great -- can you take a look at my room tonite after work?" So, I jump in the truck, fight rush hour traffic, get to the house, do the digital picture thing, and everything we should do in terms of showing him where the projector, screen, speakers, acoustical treatment etc. should go.
Then he schedules a visit to see our Theater... (by appointment). I do the whole theater demo, answer a million questions, really sincerely being the best salesguy I can. No pressure, no B.S. -- show him a few ways to save lots of money and all that happy stuff.
The customer requests a proposal (or bid). I spend an hour or so, on a nice proposal, send it out right away (as he requested), and follow up with a friendly email and phone call.
Next day the guy calls back, "Hey looks great! I'll get back with you in a couple days".

A few days come and go --- no response... Finally I catch him on the phone..."Oh, yeah hi buddy! Hey thanks for the info... my brother in Montana has a few lines of projectors, and my uncle works for a speaker distributor... I wanna get their opinions too!"

We all know how these deals usually end up... Plus, when he gets all this stuff, he'll be calling me to come out and do the system set-up on his receiver because he is too stupid to follow the owners' manual instructions --- right? Ever happen to you?

Well, once in a while, you have to expect this, but it is happening more and more...
I know I might lose some real business from time to time, but I'm beginning to think I should charge a fee, (that, if they actually buy stuff from me)--- would be refunded.
Is this being unreasonable? After all, if I tabulate the time spent: 1/2 day preparing to go out to his house, (rescheduling other things that day) drive (70 miles round-trip), 1/2 day for him to come to our showroom & his Q. & A. period, a couple hours doing his proposal... that adds up fast! He really had me going too..."Oh man, yeah that sounds like a great projector and speaker system bla bla bla... Yeah, I want to do it, boy you are a great help, appreciate your honesty. The sooner we can do this the better."

This guy had me explain wiring routes, how it would be fished, how the wiring would be hidden, what wirinig would be run to the projector, how soon could we do it, what was the est. cost of running the wiring, could wire-mold be used, where would he need power... What are the acoustical panels made of, where would they go... That's fine, but not if you have every intention of then buying everything elsewhere and doing the install yourself... (oh yeah, as I was leaving his house after a 2 hour consultation), he informs me his 22 year old son is "real handy"!!!

Sorry to rant on, and repeat myself, but this is not an unusual example. It just seems that if I put an electrician or plumber through all that hoop-jumping I would feel pretty damn guilty, ya know? If I were truely serious about hiring a pro, I would understand their need for a fee to do the stuff I did for this knucklehead... Or I am I just being a cynical jerk?!

I even qualified this guy up-front... Who, What, When... He made it all sound up front, like he was a busy professional, and needed our services, and that it would be happening within a few days of our meeting, and wanted "The Very Best"... Turns out, he started having panic attacks when, in our conversation at his home, discovered the least expensive projector I sell is $3,000!!!

My thoughts on a fee would be something very reasonable... like maybe $120 bucks or so... I figure if they don't use me, at least I have given them good information that will still benefit them in the long run. Especially with gas going up to $3 to $4 bucks, anything helps.

it's like once a week with these strokes. they waiste your time and dont get me started. i think it will be 250 bucks to visit, refund if you use us.

I charge a consulation fee to come out to the house and it is applied toward the cost of your system. As a guide line I use my basic service rate as the amount that I charge and it's based on a minimum of 1.5 hours. I find it really makes a difference and the client's approach to you and your company.

Another thiing I do is charge a minimum of 1.5 hours to come out to the house to service systems, especially if it's not an existing customer, even if it's for a 5 minute fix.

Something else that you may want to think about, is to propose a system design fee after the inital consult fee. This allows the client to shop around, if they want, most of the time they're not likely to go else where because they may feel that they've got an investment in your company.

absolutely! We charge as much as $1200 for a design fee.. non-refundable. That is for a drawn up set of plans and a proposal that is at the targeted budget. We'll consult over the phone, but to come out and actually spending the time to draw up a plan, it's gonna cost ya!

And like FRR, I charge a minimum of 2 hours at $85 per hour for any service call to cover gas and my time on the road.

or

Stan, I am sorry to have to say this, but this is like the 5th thread from you about this same topic. For god's sake start charging!

We have a pamphlet that we give to prospective clients that describes the company, personnel, and what we do. It also has price ranges for various projects. It describes the elements of a low end and high end theater for instance and gives price estimates of each component. This is the only thing a customer gets for free. He decides about what he wants then pays us to generate a proposal and plans. (we use d-tools) The fee is NON-refundable. BTW why are you driving to a customer site if you have a show room. Generally people to free in home estimates because they don't have a show room. For goodness sake, if someone calls you, invite him for a demo and tell him to bring plans. You want to see all the goodies he can have, right?

We are a small company without a showroom, and we keep kicking this one back and forth.

I handle it this way:

I'll go to a customer's house no charge, and get a good feel on them. Since I'm a sales guy who also installs, I know how to read people pretty good. If I get the feeling I'm being shopped, I will ask them flat out:

1) What is your budget for this project?
2) When are you looking to have us start installation?

If I get any hemming-and-hawing, I shoot them a ballpark (verbal) then and there, and ask them if they want a proposal done. If I think they're gonna be a waste of time, I explain that proposals are $99, applied to purchase. I explain that the cost covers my time and expense in research and preperation. If they don't want to pay it, I wish them good luck, ask them to keep us in mind for the future, and MOVE ON!!!

If you are in a larger company (and are allowed to make the decision to charge for proposals), then do it if you feel it'll help you weed them out, but I'd recommend reading a few good sales books first. Sounds like you're not qualifying your customers properly. If you don't know the answers to the two questions I asked above by the time you're done talking to them the 1st time, then you didn't do your job as a salesperson properly.

You can't ask enough questions. Period. I can tell you what my customers had for dinner last night (Why? Because I build RAPPORT), what other company(s) are bidding on the job (I ask them), What their favorite show are to watch (To help build and idea of what experience they need), etc.

Point is, if you ask them enough questions, you'll know soon enough if they are shoppers or not. Fact of matter is you'll get the occasional stroker, and when you do, WALK THEM. But you need to be able to pick them out before they waste your time.

Oh yeah, don't forget to ask closing questions to help identify them. Questions like "So, do you want to go with a front projector, or is a rear projection system what you are interested in purchasing today?" will tell you right away what's on their mind.

This is elementary stuff, and lots of times people forget to use it. Remember, your job is to SELL product. We tend to get caught up in the wow factor of what we sell, but if you were selling left-handed spangler wrenches, the same tactics apply.

Now go sell!!! I want to see a closed customer story by the end of the weekend.

Fred

I'm going to go against the grain and suggest that what you're describing is all part of the sales/cost of doing business process. All of us who've come from retail backgrounds will testify that on a retail sales floor, "stroking" and wasting time is all part of the business.

For example, take the car salespeople or realtors for example. They typically spend 12+ hours per day taking test drives, showing homes, making follow up calls, etc. Certainly, a lot of time goes into that process, and more leads then not don't pan out, but if realtors started charging $200 for a showing (with the fee going towards the home, should you decide to buy it) then the prospective buyer wouild probably go with a different realtor.

In the original post, you mentioned the fact that they'd saw your ad. That alone should immediately qualify them as not being qualified. In this business, word of mouth rules, and being driven in off of an advertisement means nothing more then your advertising has worked as planned and has handed you a potential sale.

That type of customer is a far cry from from those who call and say "you did my buddy's system. He loves it and referred me to you".

If nothing else, you could use this as a chance to have some fun with your boss and say "they decided to go with the company who doesn't have political bumper stickers on their work trucks."

1st mistake - as AHEM said the fact that it was a phone call from an ad should clued you in on where this was going.

-- can you take a look at my room

Anyone that wants it done RIGHT NOW is probably compulsive and there's good chance the interest will disapear or they'll buy somewhere else for lord only knows whatever reason that struck them at the time.



I no longer email design "quotes". closing rate seems to be much higher if the quote is presented in person. I also can't seem to get a good quote together in anything close to an hour. That's something I need to seriously improve.

We all know that you can't close every deal but this guy sounds like he may well have just been looking for info or was just a little too impulsive. When I do a presentation I'm pretty vague about specific placements of things unless they want to pay for my design. I also explain the importance of professional install. The handy buddy doesn't have the experience to make sure the system sounds the way it should and is realiable over the long term.

Also if you make the work sound too easy they'll think they can do it themselves or you are charging too much in labor.

Don't take this as being critical. All of us lose deals for one reason or another but I can see a few places where I definately would have approached this a litttle differently. Hind sight is always......

AHEM and Ted....great points....sales is my favorite part of this gig with the personal interactions

my number one way to "weed out strokers"....don't advertise

So true. We don't advertise, and probably half the remaining small list of real tire kickers I've dealt with over the years came from vendor's dealer links. Along with a few good projects, I might add. A mixed bag, there.

Well put Fred!!!

Stanley,

I think I talked to this guy a month or so ago. After my lengthy phone conversation I blew him off. It may not be the same guy but when he started talking about family members in the business I automatically pulled into the QQQ, Impaqt school of "this is NOT your client". If I'd had no work in the book I might have indulged him in a trip out but I let him know he should find another company as we had too many projects going to give his the time it deserved (nicer then saying " I know you are going to yank my chain and buy all the s--t from your brother so piss off you schmuck!")

I get stroked once in a while but I think I'm more like Fred. My closing ratio is not bad. If it were any higher I'd be raising my prices. I can't always weed them out on the phone but I'm pretty good at weeding them out on the first visit and not putting too much forward. Sometimes I get the guy who I know is just using us for info and I cut the meeting short and e-mail him a pricey proposal the next day. What this does is get them off the calls, etc. AND if for some reason they turn out taking it... you've made some money. Other times I'll just politely decline to bid.

Picking and choosing your deals is a luxury few of us have and I'm not in that category. It is imperative that you douse the ones that will suck your soul... the ones your gut tells you not to take. Your business survival depends on you developing this ability. I don't charge for the first visit because too many others don't in our market. Living in Seattle and working 30 miles away you are racking up fuel charges. You might have to MOVE TO TUKWILA... AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH! (then we'll all really start calling you insane as your mind melts away).

I have a bid today in Enumclaw, which is 50 miles each way from my shop. I view it as a calculated risk. I may end up wasting four hours of my day but after spending a half an hour on the phone with her I got that they want to make a decision fast... I know who I'm up against... I know what kind of products they need so I'll be able to generate a proposal on site... and I know their budget. If I'd spent three minutes and said "sure, I'll be there" without getting as much as I could up front I'd almost guarantee a wasted trip. Qualifying is the key... spend more time on the phone... a lot of my initial calls last a half an hour... even veering off subject to get a feel for what kind of person they are, what they like to do, etc.... when you think about it, it's a lot less time then the driving and certainly doesn't cost as much.

I did that, he quoted "around $10K".


I asked him this, he said - "How is your schedule looking next week".


Good Policy!


I qualified the Sh#t out of this guy. He is a sales-guy as well, and knew how to play the game!

If you don't know the

Totally agree, but I got that info out of him first off.



This guy is getting his "walking papers"!



I pinned him down on the equipment verbally at the house, he agreed it sounded great, I told him I'd email him the breakdown, so we could get on schedule.

When I touched bases with him, to see when we should start, is when he started coming up with all the crap about his connections, handy family members etc.

I know I'm sounding a little defensive, it's just that this guy being a veteran sales guy, knew how to extract the info he needed!



Yessir! Thanks Fred. I AM going to institute a deposit plan, and structure my dog and pony show so I don't give away the farm (info wise).

Been selling for many years, and have good "radar", but once in a while, ya just get hosed!