Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL EP 188 Quote Without Fear: How to Price Cleaning Jobs Without Getting Taken Advantage Of

Transcript

CBL EP 188 Quote Without Fear: How to Price Cleaning Jobs Without Getting Taken Advantage Of · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to the cleaning business live.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: I am your co-host, Jamie Runko, and I am with Shannon Miller.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're gonna be talking about systems first.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: How to quote without fear, especially when the client is sitting right in front of you and trying to control the whole conversation.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've been there.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a couple of ways to do an in-person bid, right?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're, you know, you either come in and you they say, okay, just walk it and come back and tell me, or you sit down first and then you have a conversation and they want to, you know, they want to get to know you to see if you know what you're doing is legit and you know what you're talking about.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'm laughing because they they do watch you and I remember sitting on the couch because I used to bid way different than I do now, right?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I because I was charging by the hour.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, okay, well, this room, this room, this room, and I would like count it up, I do the math, and they come out with like to the decimal, right?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, this is what I think.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And they were like, and you can, it's like that it's the invisible tick, tick, tick, tick, yeah, right.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I used to do the same thing, and then I'd spit out a number right at the end of the walkthrough.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I do not do that anymore.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I do I do do in-person bidding still, and usually I take the lead, and I'm like, do you mind if I I'm sorry, like I I'm sorry, like I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm looking for, and you can talk to me as I'm rubbing my fingers across the top of your showers.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they want to tell you, they want to control the direction of the conversation, and I they want to tell you every all their problems, which all their points, and and that's okay, but you're gonna do it as we're walking.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if you've ever felt like your quote feels off, like you gave too much or said yes when you shouldn't have, you already know something went wrong, right?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: If we we are and we all if you've done it, don't beat yourself.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: We've we've all done it.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people don't realize how much pressure happens in with these in-person bids.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: I know that I had so much pressure, like at the end of the quote, at the same moment, I would give you the quote, especially if it's in-person, you really you don't give a range.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: You you you really need to nail it.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I have come to realize, like, hey, give me an hour or two.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put together the basically like a proposal a proposal, an estimate specific for your house, and I send it off via my CRM and they approve it or they don't.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: They approve it or they don't.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't want, I know that whenever I do all the estimates, I don't want every single one that I get.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want every single one.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's because there's there's boundaries.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like I did a bid yesterday, and he was a little pushy.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: I had to be like firm with him, and he couldn't understand why, like he wanted a full wipe down of all the cat.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, he didn't want to commit to frequency, so it's it's treated as a one-time cleaning, right?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm giving him a one-time cleaning price because it's frequency.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: So he's wanting to have a one-time cleaning, all of the details, all the bells and whistles, but he's not wanting to pay for the one-time cleaning.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So then he was like trying to slide in the wipe the whole cabinetry off.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, we'll spot it for you, but it has to be like McDonald's, right?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And just know, I hardly ever go out in an in-person bid.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was rusty.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I had to come up with two documents, I had to find a boulder, I had to get business cards, I had to put a uniform on.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, wow, it's been a long time.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, do I look okay?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not all sweaty looking.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole pretense to preparing for an in-person bid.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Just know that he had 15-foot ceilings.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So to do the cabinetry requires ladder work.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna have to get up there and wipe.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that that was the first thing.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And second of all, it's an added on charge because he's not committing to frequency.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's wanting it, but he doesn't want to pay it.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I I've genuinely felt bad for this person.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: He was very nice, he's a widower, and his wife took care of that responsibility.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So he's trying, he knows, he knows what he likes.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of is this gonna be worth the price that I'm paying to have this done because this stuff drives me nuts.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we had we went back and forth over what was gonna be done and not done.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I can't, I'm not gonna tell the clinic tech to do it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next cleaning tech in two or three more months, when you decide that you're ready, isn't gonna want to do it because it's not bid for it.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, come on.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I did one and they came back around with a quote.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I quoted this person over a year ago.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And um, they never bit, and then they came back because the cleaner that they hired, it just she goes, I I just don't work out somebody in my house all day.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: But the things that she wanted done every single time, I'm like this.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so I send her the bid.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: My system is totally different, they look over everything, and I already felt that we're not gonna be the fit for her.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna be the fit.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: So she's like, I have some questions, and I'm already like, I just I don't think we're gonna be the right company for you.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I usually will give them a bid, and then you know, you know, here you go.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then if they want that, they'll usually go through those types of people, and I know exactly what you're talking about.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get like 52 bids for every single cleaning company will have visited the house, and then they'll overanalyze things, and it's not their fault, it's just they're there's that type of person.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so then out of the 52, then they scale it down to like 16.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: So then they want you to come back for a second bit.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, my bid still stands.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and it was she uh it was 400 a month.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: 400, and this person is immaculate, it was huge with pets, even though it don't pass the the threshold of the kitchen.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: You still have anytime you open up that door, we know pet hair flies all the way over into the other area.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I it was just I'm just making sure that you know it's not a pet because he's way over here.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have kids, even though you see all those hands.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, okay, so what's your budget?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we can start taking things off.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I can I put it out on it indirectly.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, uh but we can't start until June because me and my whole family's leaving for three weeks.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: To Tahiti.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you, it was not Tahiti, but it was like close of vacation somewhere.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was somewhere three weeks, and I was just like that.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's whenever I decided.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yep, no.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you can't you can afford three weeks to take your whole family to Costa Rica, then you can afford 400.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the amount of I and I could already feel once we were I send my team in there, there would be scope creep, huge scope creep.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: I could already feel it like okay, so I know that you can can if I move out the the dressers, do you think you can hit those?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was just so it was over the top, Shannon.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: It was over the top.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So excuse me.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: That there is, there's a lot of pressure whenever you're yeah, they're watching you.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: In-person walking, because that's immediately also when you start second guessing yourself to throw you off because you're like not expect you're expecting them to behave, right?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is a meet and greet.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be witty, you have to come up with the answers right then and there.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Where you know, on the phone yesterday, I was like, Well, you know, you gotta think of like McDonald's, right?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Every person can work every position in that back of the house at McDonald's.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: No one deviates from that.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: I go, if I if I go hypothetically, if I were to come and clean, if it was me and I did it for you, then the next person came in and they're like, Well, Shannon's gonna ream me if I do this, right?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I go, it's it's McDonald's.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be consistent.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's why you can go anywhere in the world and get a McDonald's hamburger, with the exception of India, because Indy Indians and India do not eat hamburger.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: They they that's just part of their religion, they don't eat cows.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So he kind of got it then, but I had to kind of politely put him in his place.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: But you do, you have to be witty and you have to be on your toes because people will, they want, they're not listening.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: They just want to talk about the next thing because they're so they're like, you know, the whatever the issue is.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: So they want.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: You we're there to help them.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: We are, but there's a fine line of where that is.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Very this person that you can tell they they she ran the show, and it was just like uh and you don't even have to pull your big girl panties up and be like, okay, no, I'm I'm not the one that's doing the cleaning up.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're not solo cleaners.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: There is a you know, we have a system, we have a system that's consistent.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows what a a weekly versus a bi-weekly versus a monthly, which consists of every four weeks, what to do in those.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're only wanting monthly services, that's a deeper clean.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: And those are more feather dust.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And the whole wet wiping of the baseboards every time, and no, we're not, we're not.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: We have other people that were scheduled.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I know we're getting a little it's all in the same topic, but you do you start second guessing yourself right in the mid-middle of especially when they throw you for a loop, whenever they're like, Well, the dog's over here.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is just one one scenario.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so many.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what do you mean you don't wet wipe the cabinet, the front of the cabinets every single time?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but yeah, I I think the conversations that you have, they live inside of the process and not instead of.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to be firm.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I had to be firm with this gentleman.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, he was super duper nice.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was like, then when he couldn't get the cabinets, and he's like, So will you wipe the baseboards off?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, but that's an upcharge.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So your house is 3,800 square feet in a buck fifty.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I go, that's all hands and knees, you know.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's not, I I and I you even overexplain.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, we're not just wet like we have toothbrushes and and we have the stuff.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like we are professional cleaners.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then it came down to about, you know, I we I need a trust.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, my trust, I have background checks on file.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're bonded for crying out loud.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: I just have a storefront in our hometown.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: My name is everything to me.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have to ask them why are you having you know what I mean?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what about trust?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, did you have an experience in the past where trust was questioned?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because then they'll tell you, well, I had someone steal something, or oh, I had this happen, or oh, I had that happen.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I get it, we are it really does come down to trust and convenience and reliability.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you have to ask, like, I I always bring up, you know, we were accused one time of stealing a cocktail ring.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Wasn't a fancy, semancy, like$8,000 one, but it was a pretty high-priced item.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what it was is we were coming, this is when we still worked in teams.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why I ever did that, but she put it up for safekeeping and then couldn't remember and then like called me about it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't, I don't go in your closet.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know anything about anyone, right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: It took her three months, and then she found the ring and wanted us to come back, and the relationship had deteriorated, right?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I never did go back.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then the person who was accused, because it was a guy, he didn't want to go back.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to go back.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Once it's tarnished, it's kind of a done deal.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, because you always Yeah, it brings your whole team's morale down.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you check later Tiffany necklace out because it's worth 20 grand.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why would you keep a piece of jewelry that's 20 grand sitting around?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right, okay.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: But there there is a really human moment.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it really it really does change when you start to do in-person versus non non-in-person bidding.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it does take some finagling to learn how to do a non-in-person bid, and it it's very methodical, and there's really a lot less emotion.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I find because I hadn't done an in-person bid in a long time, I was way too chatty.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I spent an hour and 10 minutes there.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I should not have.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Took a half hour to get there each direction.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my god, I just blew two hours and 25 minutes.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: I closed the deal, but I was just like, oh my god.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I exactly what I learned.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I it does.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: It takes a lot of practice, a lot of questions, learning the right questions to be asked, you know, and how you come up with that number.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it all comes back to like I see in the groups, some people charge by their square foot.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like that should be only part, that's only part of the piece of the equation.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: The equation.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, asking questions like is there an upstairs and a downstairs?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: This person had an upstairs and a downstairs.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: That takes time.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's upstairs too.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it was dark wood, and we all know what dark wood is.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you can see if that sunlight hits it just right, you can see every little dust bunny that ever existed right there on it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, boy, that is beautiful.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen a lot of model homes with it.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, every homeowner that I've had that has gotten it put in, they get it removed like six to eight months later because it dry because the sun hits it and they can see all of the dust.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're second-guessing your own self-like, oh my gosh, am I that dirty?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, but that's honestly that's it depends on how what pets and all this and that, but yeah, it's so gorgeous.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Dark wood is so gorgeous, but you literally can see every how you really live.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, and you know what, people do want they want to feel comfortable in your home whenever you're quoting.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So doing in-person bidding, it sets the homeowner at ease.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I get that.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: I get that, right?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not realistic for you to do as a long-term goal, especially.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, diesel is$6.50 a gallon right now in my town.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't even you showed me a price the other day of what it is up in Northern California.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not like I said, I spent two hours and 25 minutes.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: We won't even talk about the gas, all the other things I had to do, but I hadn't done one in a long time.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, it'll be fine.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can, you know, I was like, oh blah blah blah, see what I can do, right?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's it's not recommended for someone seasoned like myself or Jamie.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're brand new and you want to get a feel of the lay of the land, I often refer back to the Kirby vacuums.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Those were sold in the 90s, they were$2,000 in the 90s, a commitment.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And those guys went door to door selling those Kirby's.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: How many homes have you been in to see a Kirby?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in hundreds.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: They they they whip out their Kirby.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm not using that.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it has a transmission.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't care what it's got.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm we're not using it.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Prime it.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: The rainbow vacuums, those were really popular too in the in the late 2000s.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's and they're like, well, this is great.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, this is great, but it's not commercial friendly.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is not meant for commercial use.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's not cost effective.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's like having someone.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: What was the story I had?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: The one lady who wanted me to use the the fancy towels, not the microfiber towels, the e-closs, or um, what's the other one?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember the name of them, but yeah.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: So she wanted me to, she wanted to hand me those, and then it's she didn't have enough for me to use for the whole house.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: This was back in the day.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So she wanted me to boil them on the oven to clean them so that I could ring them out and use them as I went.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's not happening ever.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, the same.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're watching I love Lucy and eating bonbons.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're not we're not sitting on the couch and then cleaning and then sitting on the couch.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Just boil them.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Just boil them, bring them out with the tongs after you pick them up with the tongs because they're so pipe.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot to doing quotes without fear.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it does take practice.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Learning how to close a deal, learning how to sell takes practice.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way to learn how to sell, you can read all the books and you can watch all the videos.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be helpful, but doing it is part of the sales process.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think people get a lot of really scared of losing the bid.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: They get offended.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's and it's easy to be personal about like, well, they didn't like me, they didn't like my bid, they didn't like what I did, they don't understand what I stand for, they don't.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is like or the other side, well, this is this is hard work.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have labor and payroll taxes and workmen's comp.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I just tell people flat out, I'm like, look, when I had Castle Keeper Cleaning, my marketing budget for the year was 150 grand.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: I go, I'm I can't operate.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: I go, you need an independent.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I would tell them, I'm like, go to Facebook and look for an independent cleaner.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Their margins are not going to be the same as mine, and that might be more budget friendly, right?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: No skin off my back.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then they come back later, okay.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to give you guys a try, is what usually ended up happening.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've had some of them stay for like 10 years.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: It does, it does take uh quoting without fear, especially not going in person, does take a lot of sex practice.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: It does.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the only way to do it is by doing it and learning and critiquing your questions as many and and and selling.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: You have to sell your company, you have to sell your services.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about the sales.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing as doing in-person bid, only except you're just doing it on over the phone.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Asking the right questions.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're doing an in-person bid and you're quoting without fear, you're giving you have to be obviously comfortable.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of us are a little shy, but you have to give eye contact, you have to smile, you have to do the things that you would do with another person.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: You just pretend that you're at lunch with them, right?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, they're giving me eye contact.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm listening, they're giving me eye contact, they're listening.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it becomes like a and I call them meet and greets.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I label them nowadays.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like meet and greet me too.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Doing a meet and greet, it's kind of like a date, and uh you're gonna see if you like me.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna see if I like you, and I you know, and then they laugh, but I'm being serious.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't like you, guess what?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Only take about 15 minutes, right?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, unless I get to talking, right?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: So don't do it.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the most efficient way.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's I can usually close just about everything I walk into.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not time efficient.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not efficient for anyone, especially at my level, to go to it.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I like I had fun.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: We had a good time, but I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta go.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like the time is valuable.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, gas is just especially now.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't suspect that it'll be like this forever.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: I expect it to drop some, but it's gonna stay up there for and we're already up there.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, for us, diesel is 750.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think it went up another 10 cents, 760 a gallon.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, and then what did that guy take?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: About what, an hour, a little over?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was out an hour and a quarter, hour and 15 minutes.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: It took a half hour out there, half hour back.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: So two and a quarter hours out of my day from drop off to pickup were taken up by this person who wanted to give me a scope creep.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, but you you do have to ask yourself this if you have to have a coding process.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Jamie and I are having a casual conversation of my recent experience, but you have to have a process.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I had to find my unit, I had to, I couldn't find the logo short.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, where are they?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: I had to find a, you know, the I had to find out my little book.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Where is it?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see it here, but I had to get a notebook.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: I had to make sure I had two pins in case one didn't work.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I had to print out two of my customer agreement, right?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm not gonna go to an in-person bid and not close the deal.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want the credit when once you get the credit card number, you know, depending on the legalities of your state, it's a close, they're not gonna continue shopping because they gave you the credit card number.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: You've closed the deal, they've signed the contract.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're done.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then you then you're gonna thank them, and then you're they you know, you're gonna try to ease back out because they still want to talk.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're like, yeah.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I didn't realize what time it was, you know, on my phone.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta go.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I have another, I always say I have another appointment.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to say um now that I closed the deal, bye.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: These are things to think about, and they are in sometimes it is having a conversation.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: I probably was, in retrospect, critiquing my thing.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: I talked too much.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I figured, you know, he was a widower, he needed a little extra conversation, and that ended up closing the deal.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to weigh that out for what's best for you.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And what it really comes down to is you're walking into a quote as a cleaner and you're hoping they choose you.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm walking into as a cleaner or an operator or a business owner is usually what I am, and I know I'm gonna close it.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you've made me drive all the way across town and I'm gonna spend two hours and 25 minutes with you, I'm closing the deal.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Every angle I know how to get make sure that I leave with the paper so that you know it's it was worth my time.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you can pre-qualify people too.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, are you getting other quotes?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're entitled to ask.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay, it's not a crime to say when someone says I'm getting 12 quotes, I won't go.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be the one that goes, I'm gonna close it.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there, it's all when they say they're getting 12 quotes, it's all about price.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: They don't, that's not a it's an ends to a means.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're not really interested in a long-term relationship with you, which is what cleaning is.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's it.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Some some clients for 16, 17 years, it's just a one-time deal with them.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's a you're an ends to means, and don't take it personal.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I I've offended, like, what's what's wrong with my price?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Or yeah, or somebody that's I have questions.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you better ask somebody else because it's not we're we're not the ones for you.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that happens.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sure does.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it really is a mindset.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Clients can feel it immediately.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you're confident and you know what you're talking about, and you're walking like Jamie mentioned, sliding your finger across the shower door, looking the blinds, rubbing your fingers across there, looking on top of the refrigerator if you can see without getting on a ladder.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've the big deal, the easy closing deal for me, excuse me, bubble water.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's Snuck that snuck out is way back when I used to do a lot of in-person bids, I would actually, if it was a hardwood floor and they mentioned they wanted underneath the bed clean, I would lay on the floor and look underneath.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh yeah, you've got some big dust bunnies under here, and their eyes would get really big.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's usually the closing mommy for now.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like she got on the ground and looked, so I know they're gonna get that job done, right?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you're not really there to impress them.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: You're there, you're there to get them to buy in.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And how you do that is having the contracts, having it signed, and leaving.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can leave a welcome packet, you know, uh an above-all cleaning foldered packet, which gives you a transportation.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can do it digitally.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen people, I had a couple of them made last year, but then we're doing some transitioning, so I can't even use them anymore.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: But you can get a PDF made.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah, the VA, if you need her information, is happy to make those for you right in Canva.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you just print it out when you need it.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you, or you can send it digitally.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can save it as a file on your phone and send it over.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is some of my best work here.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's all kinds of little things that you can do if you just take one extra step and follow up because guess what?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: 99% of the others aren't gonna do it.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: We we're we're pretty much 90% all digital, everything is completely digital.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: We do have some clients that are elderly that still write checks, and you can tell with the the chicken scratch that they have that they're elderly, but I'm okay with that.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: That that's something that you want to know, be sure that you are okay with taking on our checks.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: We only take checks from very, very few people.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Everything else is digital.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: My contract, they I do have the trifolds of the brochures above all cleaning services.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: I give that to them.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: But nine times out of ten, they've already looked up your company.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you're you're there.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: They called you, so they've already done their little bit of research on you.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: So this kind of concludes this very short session on quoting without fear.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is just some of our strategies that we have used so that you can take them and use them as your own.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: But be prepared.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and there's gonna be times where you're gonna get ghosted.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you live in a big metropolitan area in in like Greater Maryland or Washington, DC, you might have to pre-charge for a quote and then deduct it off of their first initial cleaning, just so you can make sure that they're gonna be there and not ghost you.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing worse than driving an hour in traffic after you've already had a long day with whatever went down.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're like, you're knocking on the door and you got your clipboard and you're all ready to go, and like you can see them and hear them, but no one's answering the door.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you gotta take that into consideration too.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely, I think we're at a point now digitally.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and you should also be able to buy off your website.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: So if you haven't got a website, that should be something you consider.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And people should be able to buy off your website.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're in 2026, and I know I have been slow to incorporate this in my own thing.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was just spitting out poofs, but you can go to my website and you can buy a cleaning package.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have something there in case someone in the middle of the night goes, I'm gonna buy Jamie a cleaning package.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then you wake up and you're like, I just wonderful.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and buying from Shannon, her already digital, everything's already done, and you just put it, copy and paste it, kind of tweak it a little bit to make it your own.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And why not?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you I we know that Shannon has done how many just move out.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is just move out cleans, you guys.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's like 15,000.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say 13.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: 13,000 move out cleanings.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I think you know what you're doing.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely whenever it comes to quoting, bidding, and everything.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you guys, if you found any value in this episode, please like, subscribe, share with other cleaning business owners so that we can reach a bigger audience and get these algorithms going and reach more cleaners like you.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Bye you guys.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.