Mike Andes shares five ways to close more landscaping jobs: write detailed estimates with specific line items, price based on actual hours and materials instead of guessing, make it obvious how customers say yes, follow up automatically until you get an answer, and show up fast.
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Hey, everyone, it's Mike Andes and you're listening to the Landscape Business Course podcast. Today we're talking about the five things you must do in your estimates and on your estimates to close more deals. Now, today we're talking about lawn care and landscaping, but this really applies to most estimates. The number one thing you must do is have very accurate and detailed verbiage. Having vague words like we're going to chop down trees or we're going to try trim bushes is much less professional and seemingly in the mind of the consumer, perceived as less valuable than when you make more detailed notes. For example, instead of saying we're going to chop down trees, you want to specify which trees you're going to chop down and are you going to do it at the ground height? Are you going to do it above ground? Are you going to actually grind out the stump? Making sure to include things like cleanup and if you're going to remove the debris is other things that most landscapers forget about and therefore are very vague on their estimates. By giving a detailed account and notes of what the estimate actually includes and the step by step process that that project cleanup or lawn care service entails is going to add to the perceived value of the service. It's also going to cover your butt if that customer ever comes back to you complaining that the service wasn't done correctly or how they perceived it should be done from the onset. Another thing about having detailed verbiage is it gives the customer a sense that you are professional, you know what you're talking about, and you took time on their estimate to actually think through the process of the job. The second thing you must do if you want to close more landscaping and lawn care jobs is don't make up your prices. Time and time again, I see landscapers make prices up literally out of thin air, and usually round numbers like $500 for that cleanup or I'll do $800 for that project, just round numbers that they literally pull out of a hat. Your estimates need to be standardized and consistent, and they need to be based upon budgeted hours and the supplies that go into making that job happen. If your prices are just made up, then you can haggle, then the customer feels like they can just ask for a discount. But if you have set budgeted hourly prices that you consistently give and you have standardized pricing for how much you charge for your materials, you can go with confidence to the consumer and make sure that you stay steadfast on your pricing. The third thing you must have on your estimate and that is making it clear to the customer what the next steps of the sales process is. Time and time again I see landscapers send out estimates email. They do it in the letter, they do it in person, but they never actually give the next step of the sales process. How did the customer accept? What did they do? What? How do they come back if they want to change something on the work, change order, or change something on the estimate, you need to make it very clear in your estimates how that customer can accept the job or come back for questions in the form of either having a button that they can accept the proposal or at least an email address where they can contact you if they have questions about the pricing or if they want to change something on the job. Number four is follow up. Ideally you'd want to have an automated follow up process that has automations, but regardless of whether or not you have automations, you must follow up on your estimates. You've already spent money on marketing, you've already spent time on going and meeting with the customer. You've already spent your office, you spent money on your office to have to answer the phones and get them on the schedule for that estimate. And now you're not going to follow up until a customer actually gives you a yes or a no. You should continually be following up with that customer, whether it be emails, phone calls, text messages, automated voice notes, whatever you need to do to follow up with the customer every couple days until they give you a yes or a no. This is where the money lies. You can literally double your closing ratio and the number of accepted estimates simply by following up with the estimates you've already given out. It's a waste of your time, it's a waste of your money, it's a waste of the customer's time. If you've done do an estimate, you put it all together and then literally you never hear back from them. At least get feedback on why they didn't go with you or they went with another service. The fifth and final thing that we must do as estimators in the lawn care and landscaping industry is take time out of the equation. In other words, you need to be fast. You need to have this is all a speed game. How do you take time out of the sales process? By getting the estimate back back to the customer as fast as possible and even before the estimate is created. How do you get to have a meeting with that customer as soon as possible instead of booking them for an estimate a week from now? How can you make systems and have them in place where you can meet them within 24 hours. And even before the estimate is set up, how do you make sure that they're not leaving you a voicemail or sending you an email that you don't get back to in three or four days? Whether you have office staff, a calling center, whatever, you need to take time out of the equation, get right back on voicemails, get set up for estimates quickly, and then get the estimates to them asap. The amount of estimates that are lost and business that is lost in the landscaping industry is amazing simply due to the fact that we take three, four, five days, sometimes weeks, to get estimates back to the customer. In many cases, when I see customers going out and getting three or four estimates, usually the person that wins the job is the first person that gets the the estimate to the customer. Simply getting the estimate to the customer in a timely fashion proves to them that you're efficient and that you're going to do what you say when you say it. And for some customers, that's all they need. We have done all five of these things at Augusta Lawn Care. It's what we train our franchisees on and I know it will absolutely help you in your business. Make sure to comment below on where you're at, what you're up to, and other tips you might have for doing estimates. Make sure to like this video and share it with someone else that would enjoy it. Thank you so much and have a great day.
