The estimate is a document, not a number

Two contractors quote the same kitchen. One sends a figure in a text, the other sends four pages. The second wins more often, and not because of the price.

Module 7 of the Castells Media academy for contractors: Sales and follow-up.

What the customer is really comparing

What goes in it

Following up over months, not days

And after the job

The four numbers of a slow pipeline. In a fast trade an unanswered quote is dead. Here it is usually just waiting. Those four are the cheapest work available to you, and most contractors write them off after a week of silence.

Do this next: Find every estimate you sent in the last three months that never got a yes or a no, and contact each one this week. That list is your pipeline.

Written by Castells Media, a marketing agency at 1298 Antelope Creek Drive, Roseville, California, working with home service businesses across the US.

Castells Media Inc, 1298 Antelope Creek Drive, Roseville, California