How many times to bother a lead?

[aline]

I had my driveway redone this year. I got 9, that's right 9 FREE estimates. I called one back. The only reason I called him back was to beat him down on his price. It worked and he got the job.

I guess it's too much trouble to call the other 8 back thank them for their time and let them know you decided to go with someone else.

This thread isn't about going with the cheapest contractor. This thread is about getting back with the contractor and letting them know what you've decided to do.
A simple return call with a thank you for your time shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

[aline]

PS: The reason the guy got the job, not so much that he was willing to haggle, I was going to use him anyway, but because he had a nice ad, he showed up when he said he would, and he didn't try to bs me with a sales pitch.

A perfect example of why you should never haggle or lower your price.

Chances are they want you to do the work but just figure they can make you think you'll get the job if you lower the price.

A friend of mine is a siding contractor.
I refered him to someone I know that wanted some siding done.

The guy told me his estimate wasn't the lowest and told me what the lowest estimate was.

I told my friend what the lowest estimate was and he called the guy and matched the price.

The guy told me he was going to hire my friend for the job anyway but figured it wouldn't hurt to see if he could get him to lower his price.

 

[aline]

I had my driveway redone this year. I got 9, that's right 9 FREE estimates.

Who do you think pays for those 9 FREE estimates?
The tooth fairy?

And people wonder why contractors charge so much.

 

[bradleyelectric]

I accept that it is the nature of the business, residential at least. It's survival of the fittest with a side of luck thrown in. If it was as simple as giving a price and getting the job everyone would be doing it. :grin:

What was it that made you decide you needed 9 bids? Did you figure ahead of time you needed 9 bids? Where you looking for someone that had a clean truck and seemed like they could communicate effectively and it took 9 pavers to find that? Were there 9 pavers in the phone book and you wanted to meet them all?

 

[Minuteman]

Nothing valuable for me to add. Just that this thread has 666 views.

 

[Dnkldorf]

This thread is about getting back with the contractor and letting them know what you've decided to do.

I thought the thread was about how long it takes for someone to get the hint, that the customer isn't going to use your services.

That's what I got out of it.

 

[iwire]

A simple return call with a thank you for your time shouldn't be too much to ask.

Seems like your too thin skinned to be in business.

I have to have my driveway done as well, my plan is to mail out to a bunch of contractors, pictures, a print with rough dimensions and my specifications and invite these folks to bid. I will not hide the fact I am getting a bunch of estimates. Any of these people can just toss my invitation to bid in the trash and I would not expect them to call me even though I wasted my time and money sending them the invitation.

If they feel they have to come to the house to look at the job they can do that as well but there is nothing wrong with me looking for the best price.

 

[LarryFine]

Nothing valuable for me to add. Just that this thread has 666 views.

"It's the work of the devil hisself!"

 

[aline]

I have to have my driveway done as well, my plan is to mail out to a bunch of contractors, pictures, a print with rough dimensions and my specifications and invite these folks to bid. I will not hide the fact I am getting a bunch of estimates. Any of these people can just toss my invitation to bid in the trash and I would not expect them to call me even though I wasted my time and money sending them the invitation.

I mail out a lot of flyers as well.
Any of these people can just toss my flyer in the trash and I would not expect them to call me even though I wasted my time and money sending them the flyer.

I feel it's a little different when I drive out, look at the job, spend the time to do the estimate, e-mail it to them and they can't even reply to my e-mail letting me know that they've received it.

How would you feel if 5 contractors came out and looked at the job but only one bothered to get back with you with a bid?

Don't you feel the other 4 contractors should at least let you know they're not interested in giving you a bid?

If I'm not interested in giving someone a bid I'll at least let them Know.



If I'm not interested in giving someone a bid I'll at least let them know.



If I'm interested in giving someone a bid I'll at least let them know.

Should they just leave you waiting and wondering if they're going to give you a bid?

I'm sure you would at least appreciate it if they would let you know they don't plan on ever getting back with you with a bid so you can move on and not wait for their bid.

 

[aline]

Seems like your too thin skinned to be in business.

I do like to blow off steam once in awhile.
What better place to do that then here.

 

[aline]

Seems like your too thin skinned to be in business.

I have to have my driveway done as well, my plan is to mail out to a bunch of contractors, pictures, a print with rough dimensions and my specifications and invite these folks to bid. I will not hide the fact I am getting a bunch of estimates. Any of these people can just toss my invitation to bid in the trash and I would not expect them to call me even though I wasted my time and money sending them the invitation.

If they feel they have to come to the house to look at the job they can do that as well but there is nothing wrong with me looking for the best price.

As a contractor I would contact you and thank you for considering me even if I wasn't interested in bidding the job but I guess that's just me.

I somtimes get e-mails for requests to bid on a project that I either can't do or I'm not interested in doing. I always contact them and let them know.

I feel a little courtesy both ways is appreciated.
What's so wrong with that?

 

[VoltageHz]

I feel a little courtesy both ways is appreciated.
What's so wrong with that?

Nothing is wrong with it, and everyone agrees with you.

We just don't expect it anymore.

 

[aline]

Nothing is wrong with it, and everyone agrees with you.

We just don't expect it anymore.

That's what I feel is really sad.
People don't have the courtesy or maybe it's the courage to say they're not interested.
They just turn off the lights and pretend not to be home hoping you'll get the hint.

 

[bradleyelectric]

Nothing is wrong with it, and everyone agrees with you.

We just don't expect it anymore.

Bob don't agree with him. He's like that sometimes

 

[electricmanscott]

That's what I feel is really sad.
People don't have the courtesy or maybe it's the courage to say they're not interested.
They just turn off the lights and pretend not to be home hoping you'll get the hint.

I don't think it's really that big of a deal. I could have called the other guys back but I didn't. Whoopdeedo. I did thank them when they came out and as far as I am concerned that's enough. None of them followed up with me either. I guess they didn't really want the job. I could count on my two hands the number of times I have received calls telling me I didn't get the job. It just doesn't happen. If that's sad or not I don't know but it is the way it is.

Hey maybe I'll send them a card. It will have a picture of my new driveway on the front

9 pavers were here
9 pavers came through
one paver got the job
too bad it wasn't you

Merry Christmas!

 

[VoltageHz]

Bob don't agree with him. He's like that sometimes

Bob probably agrees that it would be more polite, but Bob is too busy making money to spend time making phone calls, some of which could take time while listening to their sales pitch to try and keep you. I mean... 9 phone calls could take an hour, who is going to cover that cost?!?!

Hell, it would definitely take longer than the time it takes you to put the ladder back on your truck, and you worry about getting paid for that time, correct? :grin:

 

[growler]

PS: The reason the guy got the job, not so much that he was willing to haggle, I was going to use him anyway, but because he had a nice ad, he showed up when he said he would, and he didn't try to bs me with a sales pitch. He also didn't give me a proposal with a list of clauses, exclusions and disclaimers.

A good sales pitch never sounds like a sales pitch. I'm guessing that this was the best salesman of the whole bunch because he is the one that made the sale.

The guy answering the call of nature out behind the garage didn't have a clue as to sales techniques. The best salesmen don't appear to be salesmen at all but they don't go quite than far.

A good salesperson knows not to look like a smooth and polished operator. People keep their guard up against salespeople and the idea is to lower their guard to make a sale.

 

[aline]

I don't think it's really that big of a deal. I could have called the other guys back but I didn't. Whoopdeedo. I did thank them when they came out and as far as I am concerned that's enough. None of them followed up with me either. I guess they didn't really want the job. I could count on my two hands the number of times I have received calls telling me I didn't get the job. It just doesn't happen. If that's sad or not I don't know but it is the way it is.

It really doesn't matter too much to me if they don't call back and let me know that I didn't get the job.

What I'm mainly talking about is when I send an e-mail with a bid, I want to be sure they received it, so I request that they please reply to the e-mail so will know they got it.

If they don't reply I will call them to find out if they received my bid.

Rarely does anyone reply to my e-mail and when I call and leave a message to either e-mail me or call me back and let me know wether or not they received my bid they still don't let me know.

This leaves me wondering if they got my bid or if my e-mail ended up in their junk mail and my phone message got deleted without them getting a chance to listen to it.

I don't want the customer sitting there thinking I didn't bother to send him a bid.

This sounds like what the OP is talking about. He just wanted a confirmation that the customer had received his bid.

All it takes is a mouse click on reply, with a simple message that they've received my bid and another click on send. Apparently this is way too much work for most people.

If they want to call me back and let me know whether or not I got the job then that's great but that's not what I'm talking about. I just want some kind of confirmation that they got my bid.

Often times I find out they got my bid because they call me three months later wanting me to start next week.

 

[cowboyjwc]

There is something to knowing if you have the job or not, so at least you can plan for it.

I had a GC call me one time and tell me that he was looking at an office remodel and that I had the job if it was a go, OK, thanks.

Six weeks later I get a call, "ok I'm ready for you to come out tomorrow and start roughing in the offices" "What are you talking about?" "The office remodel, remember, I told you about it" "I can't get out there for like two more weeks." "But I told you about it six weeks ago!" "Six weeks ago you said you were looking at it. You never said when we were starting."

 

[Ohmy]

I don't think they do. I know I don't.

I had my driveway redone this year. I got 9, that's right 9 FREE estimates. I called one back. The only reason I called him back was to beat him down on his price. It worked and he got the job.

How many man hours did you have in getting those 9 quotes?