Tips and Tricks
What Are Homeowners REALLY Thinking?
Ever wonder why you might feel that your business isn’t firing on all cylinders? We’ve compiled the inside scoop into what really goes through a...
If you’re a contractor who works on home exterior elements, you need to know how to help homeowners when their homes are damaged by hail, wind, or worse.
Is your business prepared for the storm season this year? If you’re a contractor who works on roofing, siding, gutters, windows, doors, decking, or other exterior elements of the home, you need to know the facts and how to help homeowners when their homes are damaged by hail, wind, or something more catastrophic like tornados or hurricanes.
So what should you expect for storm season? This will no doubt be challenging for exterior contractors looking to fill the demand brought on by storm damage. The shortage of skilled labor will be a persistent problem as well as general labor further exacerbated by competing unemployment benefits to sit at home.
Here are three tips to create the most efficient sales workflow in order to get out in front of the pending demand.
1. Offer Pre-Inspections or Offer Maintenance Services
There is a difference between offering a “Free” roof inspection to homeowners with the goal of creating an estimate that involves very little documentation and truly generating a comprehensive inspection report for a fee.
Free roof inspections have left a bad taste in consumers' mouths from storm chasers. However, many homeowners are paying for pre-inspections before putting their homes on the market to avoid delays during closing. In the same way, roof contractors should consider marketing comprehensive pre-storm inspections for a fee (usually $200 to $300 which could be a credit if damage occurs) or create a maintenance service plan like many HVAC contractors. Offering a maintenance service plan creates a list of potential customers and for a small monthly fee gives homeowners the benefit of priority and pricing insulated from demand surge.
2. Get Estimates Out FAST
To speed up the process of measuring a roof try using aerial measurement software. There are several aerial roof measurement services such as RoofScope, SkyMeasure, and others that can help you get the details of a roof without having to pull a tape. It’s also way more accurate and can be imported into your sales platform like One Click Contractor with the click of a button! Bonus: With this type of technology you can create an estimate in 3 minutes or less. The quicker and more efficiently you can get estimates out, the more jobs you can close.
Want to get the inside scoop on how these services work? Check out our latest blog post: How Remote Measurements Can Save You Costly Mistakes.
3. Tools and Processes to Sell From Anywhere
When severe storms hit, homeowners are looking for contractors to be able to act fast. Contractors who will win the job need to be able to quickly investigate and then create estimates -- FAST. Many times estimate speed can be a make or break factor to winning the job. How can you be faster at getting estimates out? Skip the paper contracts and go digital - from measurements to estimates, to presenting, to closing the deal - getting a signature and getting paid all in one solution. You can close up to 30% more jobs when you ditch paper contracts for good. When you’re able to conduct business from anywhere - even the front seat of your truck, this will enable you to speed up your estimate time and get more quotes out -- and speed matters! Check out One Click Contractor’s all-in-one sales platform to go from finding new projects to getting paid all in the same solution.
If you’re going to weather this year’s storm season, finding an all-in-one sales platform that allows you to simplify your sales process and save you time is a big step. When selling virtually, creating a presentation that provides the customer more information about your company, past jobs, references, or how you will protect their begonias when you put on a new roof is an important differentiator. Embrace and adopt this new way of virtually measuring, estimating, presenting, and closing the deal without ever setting foot in their home. When contractors are busy they tend not to think about their selling process but when the backlog is gone panic starts to set in. Today's way of selling home improvement projects will forever become the new normal to keep you and your team busy and keep your business thriving!
To learn more about how One Click Contractor can help you create quotes
quickly and efficiently, schedule time to connect with a member of our team.
