13 Dec Changes in how we will process inquiries and requests for consultation and quotations coming in 2015
By Mike Gambino
On our company Website, Facebook page and this blog we are constantly trying to get the message across that we are not the low price leaders of the landscape lighting industry. In fact we don’t particularly care what our competitors are charging for their products or services. This has nothing to do with how we price the products and services we offer and the value we bring to the marketplace.
We cannot match the lower prices of generic products available on the internet never have and never will be able to and we would never attempt to try. Currently my installation team has a combined 40 years of experience, 25 years contributed to that sum by me who is on the jobsite day in and day out actually performing work along with my 3 techs. To say that we don’t eat. breath and sleep this profession would be a huge underestimation. It is our life and we derive zero of our income from any other home improvement unlike so many of the other also ran service providers out there who offer landscape lighting as a part time side line.
After 25 years and 1,000’s of successful high end lighting projects and the positive word of mouth recommendations we receive going forward. One would think that we sell every consultation we go out on and meet with totally qualified property owners who “get” what we do and are totally on board. Just a matter of getting a signature and a check. Unfortunately that is just not the case. We probably average a fifty percent or less closure rate of all of the projects we submit a quotation for.
In spite of all of the marketing and information we put out there the simple fact of the matter is that at least half of all of the people we meet with do not buy a custom built lighting system from us. I can tell you straight up that the reason is never because of the great end result they know they will get, quality or experience that we bring. The reason plain and clear is that they would never invest the kind of money that it would take to put one of our systems in their yard or from anyone else for that matter. They just aren’t putting that kind of money into the project.
From the standpoint of being a fellow human being this is understandable and we hold no ill feelings towards those who reject us. From the standpoint of business it is a very inefficient waste of valuable time to realize that this will never work out for them due to price. Price is a condition we need to know about before we waste our valuable time and the time of the prospective property owner.
Our goal for the new year is to raise our closing percentage by at least 25%. That means that in 2015 we expect to do business with 8 out of every 10 prospects we meet. We plan on achieving this by better qualifying those who contact us and are interested in meeting with us to discuss our services.
We will achieve this by implementing the following procedures and sticking to them with very little exception or deviation.
#1- Before we will pick up the phone and make a call to speak with someone we’ve never done business with we will require a short questionnaire be filled out on our website with general information about the prospects needs and general budget. Simple questions such as how did you hear about us? Have you viewed our work live or photos of our work and do you like it and think it will fit with what you are wanting to do? You would think this would be a given but you’d be surprised how many people are not even familiar with who we are or what we do and want to meet to discuss their project.
Photos of the proposed work area sent with the questionnaire are optional but helpful and highly recommended.
#2- After a short conversation on the phone or by e-mail an onsite meeting will be scheduled or not depending upon whether we mutually feel that we are a good fit for their project.
#3- Design consultation fee shall be raised to a minimum $125 and determined by how far we have to travel to visit the site. Consultation fees will be waived when a purchase is made at the initial meeting and will not be applied or credited if a decision to purchase anytime after that.
#4- All decision makers must be at the meeting for the entire time of the consultation which can take up to 2 hours or more.
#5- Proposals and Quotations will be provided at the first and only meeting unless the project is unusually large. In which case a second meeting will be scheduled where a proposal and quotation will be then presented.
Our goal is to achieve a more efficient process for acquiring and signing on new clients and projects.
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