How to turn your quotes into happy paying clients

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A wide range of businesses market their services by giving quotes to potential clients.

If you want to get a lot more of your quotes turning into profitable new clients here's a simple marketing strategy you might like to test.

It will take around 10-15 minutes to use this strategy with each quote that you give to potential clients.

There are three simple steps:

Step One: Add three heading to each quote.

And then write 2-3 paragraphs about each heading.

The three headings you add to your quotes are:

1: Your current situation
2: Your ideal outcome
3: My recommendations

Let me explain each heading.

Your current situation:

Here you write down the 'before' picture of the work you are quoting on.

This just means you describe the existing situation that your client is in and why they are considering having some work done by your type of business.

Here's an example for a painter

Your current situation:

You have just bought your dream house that you really like.

You plan to live it in for many years.

However the inside of this house is a colour you don't like and it makes the house look dark and gloomy.

You want to spruce up the inside of your home but you don't have a large budget to do major renovations.

Your ideal outcome:

Here you write down details of the 'after' picture that your client wants by having some painting done.

E.g. Your ideal end result is that you want to have a modern looking home on the inside without spending a fortune on renovations. You want it to look and feel light and airy and open. And you want colours that go well with your existing furniture. You want the inside of your home to feel warm and friendly and you want the colours to make your furniture look great.

My recommendations:

Here you give your quote in detail.

E.g. I recommend you do ABC etc.

The price is $X and includes xyz etc.

(This is very similar to what you do in your normal quotes.)

By adding these three headings you show your potential client that you have a good understanding of their situation and what they are trying to achieve by using your services.

If you have asked some questions in the first meeting with clients it will be very easy to write a paragraph or two about each heading.

Step Two: Make your quote look and feel good:

Something else you can do (that is very worthwhile) is to make each quote look great.

I recommend you add a personalised cover to each quote and have it professionally bound at your local copy centre.

Print your quote on extra heavy paper so it feels and looks good. In your quote you should also include some positive testimonials from some of your best clients.

If you would like to know how to collect great testimonials from your clients I've created a short 10 minute video that shows you how to do this.

You can watch the video with my compliments at this link

Also include some 'before' and 'after' photos of past painting jobs you have done.

A quote like this shows you are professional and gives a client a positive impression about your services.

Step Three: Deliver your quote in person

Finally, try and get face to face to discuss your quote with a potential client.

A good way to do this is to deliver your quote in person and then spend a few minutes discussing it with your potential client.

Delivering your quote in person takes more effort that sending it by email. (However it is a lot more effective.)

These simple changes will greatly improve the chances of turning more of your quotes into happy new paying clients.

'It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.' Arthur Conan Doyle

Take Action:

Try some of these suggestions in the quotes that you give to potential new clients this month. They will definitely increase your odds of turning many of these quotes into happy paying customers.

If you would like some personal help turning many of your quotes into paying clients I highly recommend my business coach colleague Andreas Becker from Big Cheese Marketing

Andreas is a business turnaround specialist and has had a wonderful success rate helping tradespeople improve their revenues and profits.

He is an expert on creating persuasive quotes and is well worth chatting to.

Graham McGregor is a consultant specialising in memorable marketing. Download his 396-page Unfair Business Advantage ebook at no charge from theunfairbusinessadvantage.com.