What is best practice for quoting?
It’s important to make sure you maximise the potential of winning jobs you quote on. In order to do so there are some best practices you should be looking to follow wherever possible.
Is my account presented in the right way?
Make sure your account is as complete as it can be, and you have your settings configured in the right way. You’ll want to ensure you’re selling your business effectively and that you’re quoting on the right jobs in the right way and not missing any notifications.
Am I quoting on enough jobs?
Simply put; the more jobs you quote on, the better the chance you stand of winning work. Our system is geared towards automation; our instant quoting feature allows you the option to quote a high volume of jobs for minimal manual effort on your behalf meaning more reward for less effort. This can be done in a manageable volume whether you’re a sole trader or have lots of resource available.
Manually quoting jobs is still a viable option for winning work but an over-reliance on manual quotes puts you at a significant competitive disadvantage. Manual quotes can be less effective than instant-quotes as customers and more labour-intensive meaning less reward for more effort.
Am I quoting effectively
These are the things to consider on quoting;
Am I quoting enough jobs? Volume is important, you don’t want to miss any opportunities, but you should do so in a manageable way. Making sure you have instant quoting features covering your key job categories is critical. Am I getting my quotes out quickly enough? Response time is also critical. You want customers to receive your quote as quickly as possible when they’re active on the website. This gives you the greatest chance of winning the job. Instant quote is key to this and makes response time irrelevant. Are my prices accurate and do my messages have the correct information? It goes without saying really but you should make sure your messaging contains all the relevant information and that your prices are as accurate and up to date as they reasonably can be. Am I following up my manual quotes where possible? As mentioned earlier, response time is critical. On manual jobs they may have been posted a while before you quoted, so to maximise your chances it’s often better to follow these up with a phone call or text where you can. Converting bookings
Having won a job, you need to ensure you do everything you reasonably can to confirm the booking. Making sure your Online Booking Calendar is up to date is the first step in helping you to convert bookings. By ensuring your diary is up to date you avoid wasting time on bookings you aren’t available to take and display your availability so customers can easily see when you are free and if that works for them. The next stage is contacting the customer. You should aim to contact them within 48 hours of winning the job. You can now set up an automated ‘Job won’ message so customers receive a message upon accepting your quote, but you should call to confirm the booking also. It may seem like common sense but leaving it any longer than 48 hours increases the likelihood of a booking cancelling due to the delay. It's important to contact the customer within the 48-hour time frame to give yourself every chance of converting that booking and as long as you do so, should the booking result in a cancellation you will be able to process a refund for the job win fee. Who can see my quotes?
When quoting on WCFMC only the customer posting the job can see the full details of your quote.
No other competitors can see who has else has quoted the job or their prices, the only thing they are able to see is how many others have also quoted the job and this number will include your own quote. Related Articles
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