Every business has to give its customers a price for its services. This is usually done through an estimate or quotation. This seems relatively straightforward on the surface of it but getting it right and converting sales, as a result, is far from easy. For one, you risk losing customers to your competitors if you set your prices too high. There’s no denying that the painting industry has stiff competition. If you price your services too low, you may not end up turning a profit and incurring losses which could compromise your business’s sustainability. (1)
With that said, your quotes must be accurate and mutually reasonable. Luckily, companies like Jobber have developed estimating software to simplify this process and make these calculations easy to manage and understand, distinguishing your painting business from others that still use manual approaches.
- Improves accuracy
In today’s business environment, sending an erroneous quote is one of the main causes of customer dissatisfaction. A quote is often the first point of contact a customer has with you and your business, so it needs to portray professionalism, accuracy, and attention to detail.
Market research indicates that it takes 12 positive experiences to repair the damage caused by one negative experience. And as if that’s not enough, an average dissatisfied customer shares their negative experience with 16 other people. Conversely, the satisfied customer shares their positive experience with an average of nine people. The key takeaway here is don’t make sloppy mistakes on your quotes that tarnish your reputation and take a lot of time and energy to rectify. (2)
Manual calculations can never guarantee 100% correctness. For higher precision, consider using painting estimating software. Some of the best ones have advanced algorithms that can detect errors in your calculations and notify you immediately.
Before jumping right in and using the software, take the time to really learn how to estimate your jobs accurately as this ensures you feed the correct information into the software.
- Projects a professional brand image
Professionalism is key to achieving customer satisfaction. You can project a professional brand image through your communication style, the technology you use, your level of organization, and your punctuality in responding to queries. (3)
The world is now technologically advanced. Clients expect you to use modern systems in all your business processes. Sending them a manually prepared quote might be an instant turn-off. People like to receive well-designed quotes as it sends a message that you will do a good job for them and that you value their custom enough to take your time to present your communications well. All these factors influence whether somebody is going to want to do business with you.
- Saves time
Reliable estimating software comes with a rich database of typical line items needed for a painting job. As such, you simply have to pick and modify these depending on the current job. This makes the estimating process lightning quick. You can’t compare it to starting a quote from scratch on a word processor or spreadsheet.
Moreover, most estimating software is compatible with most devices, including computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Being able to work on your mobile phone is critical because these are carried with people wherever they go. So, while doing a reconnaissance visit to a job site, you can quickly enter the job details on the estimating software instead of scribbling notes on paper. When you get back to your office, you won’t have the burden of transferring every detail. You simply continue with the calculations on the same software. This way, you’re able to send clients quotations very promptly.
Remember, consumers are becoming increasingly impatient and more demanding. In recent research, 55% of customer support agents reported that they only have an hour or less to respond to a potential customer. Failure to do so may cause the customer to move on to a competitor. Sending quotations promptly to customers raises your likelihood of earning their trust. (4)
- Comes with more beneficial features
Most software options come with a range of additional features aimed at improving business efficiency. Aside from estimating, you can typically do the following tasks:
- Track employee’s time
- Process payrolls
- Prepare and send invoices to clients
- Organize customer information
- Keep a record of completed jobs
- Serve clients with state-of-the-art customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities
- Monitor the location of your workers any time during a given workday and amend schedules if needed
Being able to conduct all your business management tasks from one single platform significantly improves your business efficiency. You’ll be in a much stronger position to compete in the marketplace and customers will reward you for this with their customs.
Conclusion
Running a painting business involves a lot more than mixing paints and climbing ladders. Before getting to that point, you need a solid customer base and sales pipeline. One way to improve your chances of securing an order from a potential client is by using estimating software. It makes your quotes significantly more accurate, saves you time, and portrays you as a focused entrepreneur ready to take on jobs. Do your research, find the one that is right for you and start enjoying all the features to make your business run better and stand out from the crowd.
References
- “Price lists, estimates, quotations and tenders”, Source: https://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/price-lists–estimates–quotations-and-tenders/
- “Customer Experience Is The Future Of Marketing”, Sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/10/13/customer-experience-is-the-future-of-marketing/?sh=2148af49193d
- “What is PROFESSIONALISM? What does Professionalism mean to you?”, Source: http://graduate.auburn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/What-is-PROFESSIONALISM.pdf
- “7 Ways To Be More Responsive To Your Customers”, Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2019/11/06/customers-loyalty-small-business-responsive/?sh=46ddb252348c