Customer Enquiories - Wits end

Buttercake

Hi Folks,

I have a well established business, first in google searches, directories etc and a name that people associate very well to my industry.

My business is very competitive and quote driven, a lot of people would never have used my services before and may only use it once. My pricing would be along the lines of my competitors or slightly higher.

The problem i have found lately is dealing with enquiries, its non stop with phone calls and emails. Each enquiry os the same: "How much, How Much, How much" before i can even talk about our offerings. a lot of customer say "You're the first one i contacted about XYZ in my industry" and when I give the price "Is that the best you can do"

I list prices on my website but people still call and email through looking for it cheaper. The biggest problem i have is that after enquiring with me they go elsewhere to a competitor with less overheads who will completely undercut me. I find this out when following up.

It seems to be a Lose - Lose situation. any advice would be great, thanks.

mneylon

Welcome to business in post-whatever Ireland

There is no easy solution.

You might offer the best service in the world, but a lot of people don't value that - they look at the price only.

Maybe you need to tweak how you present your services so that it's clear that unless they're willing to pay a minimum of X there's no point in them kicking the tyres?

neris

we use to have a policy of not giving out prices on the phone for the reason that people were just price comparing or competitors checking prices. Not sure if its possible for you to do but we use to pitch our service to them and offer them a viewing. The genuine callers showed up and were more then happy to do so. We did give prices out a while ago as we got lucky in the last few years that when we told people our prices and they asked for a lower price we could say the price your given is the price. Got comical the amount of people who told us: we were in a recession, we,re a business and shouldnt be turning their business away, every where is giving discounts. Like you we had people (current customers & enquires) go elsewhere coz they were cheaper only to come back coz the other service was poor. If you offer a good service and its worth the price do not under sell yourself or under price your self coz joe public has heard in the media all businesses are struggling and grasping for any potential business that may pass their door

Buttercake

neris wrote: »

Not sure if its possible for you to do but we use to pitch our service to them and offer them a viewing.

We can do this, we are the only ones in our industry with a full-time office in Dublin city centre and we can(should a lot more) use it to our advantage.

I find though if I was to say that, they would disappear completely, hang up or tell me to get lost. The value of the service is not that high to warrant a meeting..

neris

Buttercake wrote: »

The value of the service is not that high to warrant a meeting..

the personal touch

jetsonx

OP, what is quality of your website like?

A budget-style website will attract budget conscious customers like flies to ****.

It's all about positioning in the marketplace. The Four Seasons hotel does not have people coming in its doors asking "how much, how much, how much" for afternoon tea.

If this is really a problem for you - you could put a nicely worded message in bold large font on your website. OR you could leave a pre-recorded on your phone before they get through to you...along the lines..."Thank for for calling...Please be aware we do not give out prices over the phone...to view our prices....go to www.yourwebsite.com"

Graham

Is there anyway you can unbundle your product allowing customers to purchase only the specific elements they require?

Why are you more expensive, what do customers get from you that they can't get from your cut price competitors? Whatever your answer is to that, how do you get that across in your price enquiry phone calls?

thecommander

Route your calls from website thru a call answering service? Let them answer the routine questions?

Gloomtastic!

Have you talked to previous customers about their experience? Were they happy with the service/product? Would they recommend you to a friend?
Publish the good ones in a testimonial section on your website. And if you get a high recommendation value. Highlight it on the front page. Also mention it on the phone before giving out any price.

Consider all these inquiries as your opportunity to close more business. You've got leads, you just need to improve your pitch to get them closed to deal with you instead of a competitor. You might need a refresher on your typical pitch, perhaps its got a bit stale. Some new ideas and sales techniques to get people closed might be the trick.

BarryD

Buttercake wrote: »

The problem i have found lately is dealing with enquiries, its non stop with phone calls and emails.

Be happy, at least you're drawing lots of enquiries. Better to have the 'phone' ringing than sitting their silently!

Maybe have a little fat in your advertised price so you can cut it by 10% or whatever.

Buttercake

thanks everyone for their comments and views, a lot of great points.

1. Website; Our current website is ok but a bit stale, with improvements and more focus on premium pricing might help. Also an online quote generator will/should help too.

2. Pricing; Our pricing would be higher than some of our competitors simple reason is we are a full time business, office, high end equipment and tax registered, a lot of competitors are not and work cash in hand. What i probably need to do is focus the business more away from the norm as a quality service. i do this al;ready but it falls on deaf ears with some customers.

With the 4 seasons hotel example, people are familiar with the hotel industry and will know they offer a premium service but in my line of work, its not a industry people are familiar with. they think "everyones the same" imagine Drain Cleaners or Chimney sweeps, its a service most people may only use 1 or 2 times in their life.

When people require this service, they dont know how much it will cost them so they contact my company, find out the "standard rate" which will be higher and then go somewhere else. When I speak to some people and I am unable to offer services being busy, fully booked etc, they would still ask how much it would cost them anyway.

3. Be Happy; of course with enquiries coming in, its great but when its a quoting exercise and people have no interested in using you unless your the cheapest it can wear you down to a nub. I will focus more on arranging meetings face to face for quotes and the "no quotes over the phone" approach and see if that works.

thanks again

BarryD

Every business is different but I tend to avoid the question on the phone that goes 'And how much will that approximately be etc?'. Instead in my line, I'd ask for a sample of what they have in mind and a request to follow up in writing/ email etc. This sorts out several potential problems.

sconhome

It's all about your sales technique and available resources.

As pointed out these are leads coming to you, it is in your interest to engage them as much as possible and get as much information as reasonably possible before giving any out.

Do you capture, names, phones numbers, emails (can I send you a quote or proposal? May I have your email?) during these calls? Be worth visiting these as you can then roll in an explanation of your service to the call before providing any information on pricing.

Even have your pricing based on a questionaire what level of business? is this a casual enquiry? potential for repeat business and so on. Capturing information will also discourage competitors from calling and scoping out your pricing. They will be familiar with your service and know that undercutting is the only way to beat you.

I would have the same in our business. Price comparisons which you can't beat with online etc so the focus is to encourage callers to pop into the shop for fitting and tailored advice. If you know its a price comparison call you can give a rock bottom price for the base service but subject it to a free consultation to find the best fit for your customer.

Obviously industry dependent. But critical to garner as much info as possible.

JMR

If you could be more specific about what your business actually is and what services / products you provide I think you will receive more relevant advice

jcon1913

Buttercake wrote: »

thanks everyone for their comments and views, a lot of great points.

1. Website; Our current website is ok but a bit stale, with improvements and more focus on premium pricing might help. Also an online quote generator will/should help too.

2. Pricing; Our pricing would be higher than some of our competitors simple reason is we are a full time business, office, high end equipment and tax registered, a lot of competitors are not and work cash in hand. What i probably need to do is focus the business more away from the norm as a quality service. i do this al;ready but it falls on deaf ears with some customers.

With the 4 seasons hotel example, people are familiar with the hotel industry and will know they offer a premium service but in my line of work, its not a industry people are familiar with. they think "everyones the same" imagine Drain Cleaners or Chimney sweeps, its a service most people may only use 1 or 2 times in their life.

When people require this service, they dont know how much it will cost them so they contact my company, find out the "standard rate" which will be higher and then go somewhere else. When I speak to some people and I am unable to offer services being busy, fully booked etc, they would still ask how much it would cost them anyway.

3. Be Happy; of course with enquiries coming in, its great but when its a quoting exercise and people have no interested in using you unless your the cheapest it can wear you down to a nub. I will focus more on arranging meetings face to face for quotes and the "no quotes over the phone" approach and see if that works.

thanks again

In a service business try to get some one in to meet you before giving them a price. If it is a small ticket item this may not be worthwhile. But you cant have people tued up answering endless questions for nothing either.

I think you will find businesses are busier these last few months, but customers still have this recession mindset.

pedroeibar1

As Blacknight said there is no easy solution, but you obviously are doing lots 'right' if you are up there on Google and have established a brand name.

I agree with JMR, it is difficult to give detailed pointers when the unit sale price and product/service is unknown, nor do you give your length of time in business. I suggest that your main issue to tackle is product ‘positioning’ - how to differentiate your quality product from that of the competition. Fully explaining the price:quality ratio is a key determinant.

Some people are cheap and only deal in cheap, and would not recognize quality if it hit them in the face. That's life, either steer away from them or consider introducing a ‘yellow pack’ product under a different brand/name. Would it cannibalize or impact on your other business? Frank Keane will sell you a Mini Cooper if you cannot afford a Z8!! Or Spirit will sell you a Volvo if you cannot afford a Jag. Do not demean your main brand/business by doing cheap.

If you are selling on quality you should underline that aspect of your service/product and develop a sales pitch on the lines of 'Our business has succeeded because our quality product is recognized and we have built great relationships with our customers; …… have highly trained/qualified staff and provide a quality service and are fully bonded/insured/ whatever. Explain the difference, e.g. our widgets have 100% top grade fittings, many of our competitors use low grade steel. In the service sector for e.g. lots of idiots went with the cheapest insurance they could get and when they needed it found it did not pay up. What happens when a competitor’s product needs to be serviced? Can you offer any guarantees? Gloomtastic’s point on ‘Testimonials’ is spot on – for underscoring quality the more the merrier, use known names where possible.

There is no harm in demeaning 'cheap' - “This will be a one-off purchase for you, you need to have the quality right; it would be a false economy if you had to look at the shoddy workmanship of a cheap supplier and it will annoy you for years, whereas our product will withstand th etest of time.”

People tend to forget that not every sale will be successful - in some businesses for every 100 enquiries received, quotes issue on about 30, down to the wire on 12 - 15 and close on 7.

The blunt American way is - what are you selling? what will it do for me? what does it cost? when can I have it? In a nutshell, you need to control the sales process and steer the customer onto the merits of your product before discussing price.