You are proud of your (choose one or more) A) quality, B) reputation, C) ethics and D) your business. So when a potential client says…
“I’m just checking around. How much do you charge…?” Your first tendency is to take offense or even hang up! I get it! But wait!
Most people who ask about your pricing simply don’t know what else to ask you! So they fall back on the old reliable, “How much do you charge…?” question!
Remember too that potential clients don’t want to be viewed as ‘easy’. After all, we all want to FEEL like we’re in control! (And that we’re making a wise buying decision!) So undecided prospects will usually question you about your PRICING! (But this doesn’t mean they are ‘price shoppers’!)
So BEFORE you dismiss these (mostly) sincere prospects as ‘stinking price shoppers’ at the very least…
Count the cost of not ‘converting’ each and every lead!
NOTE: The main ‘lead medium’ for most cleaning and restoration contractors is still their phone. But my ‘Lead Conversion’ strategies work perfectly for booking ALL prospects. It doesn’t matter if the lead arrives by by text, Facebook, email, Yelp or even by… phone!
So let’s do a ‘deep dive’ into the true cost of you not converting even one potential customer (lead). (Even if they start out with, “How much do you charge to…?”) Fail To Convert (FTC) just one lead and you immediately LOSE…
1) Your Pro-rated Marketing Cost per Call (PRMCC)! I recently shared how to calculate your PRMCC. If you missed it CLICK HERE.
NOTE #1: Depending on your industry sector and local market your PRMCC per lead can easily run 50 to 100 bucks or even more!
2) FTC means you also lose immediate income. (Cash flow is a bear for many of my SFS students. So especially in residential focus on those wonderful words “immediate income”!) But wait… again!
FTC get’s worse… much, much worse! When you company Fails To Convert a lead you also lose the…
3) ‘Downstream’ client income/profits! On average, a repeat client will be 500% more profitable on their successive services! And yet when your company ‘Fails to Convert’ a lead this long-term, high profit income flow is… LOST FOREVER! Doubt me?
Just use this formula to see the awful hard, cold numbers of Failing To Convert a caller into a repeat client. (Just for grins let’s play with residential.) You must first…
a) Determine your company’s total Repeat Residential Income (RRI) from last year. Wow, where did all this money go? (Remember to exclude all first time customers from your RRI total.)
b) Add up your total Repeat Residential Clients (RRC) from last year. Awe-inspiring, isn’t it?
c) Divide your RRC(b) into your RRI(a). The result will be your average Yearly per Repeat Client Income. (YRCI) Now to strike terror into your heart (or even worse, into your spouse’s heart!)…
d) Multiply this YRCI amount times 20 years! (THIS is your potential ‘Downstream Income Loss’ when you Fail To Convert just one residential lead!)
You instinctively know this formula makes sense! But to drive your FTC results home check out one multi-truck , higher end carpet cleaner’s @ lead ‘Downstream Income Loss’! (We worked this company’s FTC numbers in one of my SFS Training sessions.)
a) Last year’s total Repeat Residential Income: $694,772.74
b) Total Repeat Residential Clients for last year: 1,884
c) Average Yearly @ Repeat Client Income: $368.79
d) Potential ‘Downstream Income Loss’ when this cleaner Fails To Convert just one residential lead? $7,375.80!
Now let’s tally up this company’s @ lead FTC loss:
#1 Pro-rated Marketing Cost per Call: $75.00 lost!
#2 Immediate income from the job: $368.79 lost!
#3 YRCI amount X 20 years ($368.79 X 20): $7,375.80 lost!
Total per lead FTC loss: $7,819.59 LOST FOREVER! Think about this loss the next time you FTC a lead and mutter, “Dirty, rotten, lousy price shopper!”
But wait! (One LAST time!) This $7,819.59 FTC loss is missing one essential calculation that will stagger you! I’ll share this this real soon!
Want to dramatically improve your FTC ratio? Then attend my SFS: ‘Winning over your caller’! online seminar– jam-packed with SFS phone scripts and ‘Lead Conversion’ strategies for prospects that reach out to you by text, Facebook, email and yes… even by phone! CLICK HERE for seminar dates and more information.
Steve