Dave55,

I understand your dilema, you are using better materials and adding more stuff than the other guys. Great selling point, but one that is hard to get across to customers.

Particuarly to the "cheapies" out there. They are only interested in the cheapest price.
The most important thing I have learned is how to figure out in the first 10 minutes talking to someone, whether they are looking for the cheapest, or most responsible contractor out there.

I still haven't mastered it, but I am getting better.

The first impression is what usually sells a job, in my eyes. If a guy shows up in torn up jeans and unshaven with yellow teeth, he could know everything there is and still not get the job. Yet someone else who shows up with a photo portfolio of recent jobs, and the experience to show customers different things, has a better chance of getting the job.
Residential work is an art all to itself. Just dealing with some of the people brings on unexpected headaches.

Electricmanscott,
Agreed that you can spend alot of time on the phone with folks, but why?
I try to keep it short, and do as much business face to face. I can tell more from a person that way. Also, time on the phones suck, but we all gotta do it. Time on a phone is lost time. You generally don't make money while on the phone, but phone time is like opening a door. Use it to do that, open the door for you. Then get a face to face and close the sale. We all spend alot of time on the phone from all those @#$@$$ telemarketers that keep calling. I would love to send them a bill for wasting my time. I could retire by now.

The phone is a tool, you have to use it to your advantage,not let it dictate to you.

Sticking with the "free" estimates. I like to think along these lines. If I needed AC work done on my house, I would never pay a guy $50-$100 to come out and give me an estimate. What happens if the guy bids too high or too low, he still has my $100 and I'll never see him again, in fact he probably won't return my calls anyway.
Now I'm back to calling someone else and another $100 out the window.
When it comes to estimates, I TRY to do all of them on the same day, like a saturday, or during off hours, say after 5pm. I already did my work for the day, and then this type work is a un-billable hour, but really not.
See what I am saying here. Your spending time doing it, but really not stopping billable hour work to do it.Make sense?


Good luck.

Dnk......