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I have been thinking about this for a couple weeks...

I know for every lead that comes through the phone can have a varying range of questions to be asked and are asked of us. So with that, I would like to get a better grip on my phone call screening process and ask of others here what kinds of questions do you entertain in general?

Some questions I consider after doing my homework of the property:

Primarily Exterior homes:

If the home is older than 1978 I ask:
~ Has the home been resided since 1978?
~ Has any lead abasement ever been done to the home?

Any other thoughts here?

Please do entertain screening calls for Interiors and post your questions to the customer here. Exteriors is relevant to the time of year but soon winter is coming and it would be good to get a fix on this for interiors too.

 

[tsunamicontract]

I try to ask open ended questions and see what they have to say. Like what kind of project are you thinking about having done? Not saying thats good, just what I do.

 

[ewingpainting.net]

I don't ask to many questions since I want to get my foot in the door. Then I evaluate what their wanting, then I have my questions.

 

[tsunamicontract]

I think what Jason is getting at is how do you tell which jobs you do not want to go look at over the phone. With high gas prices you don't necessarily want to go look at every last garage door people want painted especially if it is 40 miles away.

 

[ewingpainting.net]

You can usually find that out within the 1st few min. In the call. I ask basic questions like what painting needs do you have, where is the job located, what time do you want to meet? To many questions may overwhelm the client and it is always better to have a look at it yourself. With the basic question you should figure out if that job is for you or not. Most the time the HO does not know if asbestos is presents or not let. I have had it happen to me where the HO tells me one thing and when I show up it not what they said. Just because the HO didn't know.

 

[vermontpainter]

I generally try to find out size of project and timeframe in which they want to get the work done. If it cant fit our schedule, there is no sense in wasting each others time. If it is just they stairway ceiling because they did the rest themselves and didnt have a big enough ladder for the stairway, that sort of thing eliminates them.

Other than that, I think its more an exercise in listening to what they are asking for.

 

[fauxhall]

You can kind of get a feel for whether or not its worth your time by listening to what they are saying. Things like "I'll go buy the paint at home depot" and "it's a small bedroom so I think it'll only take an hour or two" are big heads-ups! At the same time though you never know what will happen until you show up at the door. Sometimes it's a matter of telling the customer what they need.

 

[bikerboy]

I ask most of the questions above, but also "How did you hear about/find us?" I want to know what form of advertising is working.

 

[tsunamicontract]

I ask most of the questions above, but also "How did you hear about/find us?" I want to know what form of advertising is working.

I actually have been having most people offer that info without asking recently which is nice.

 

[fauxhall]

I was thinking about that one also. Usually you want to cater to the crowd that you can profit from. Thats why I don't advertise in the pennysaver or on the wall in the grocery store.

 

[ewingpainting.net]

I ask most of the questions above, but also "How did you hear about/find us?" I want to know what form of advertising is working.

I do the same I have, I have gotten my 1st two jobs off my website :thumbup1: Wouldnt even know it if i hadnt asked.

 

[Brian]

We have a very strict screening process. The customer must be in our service area and they must be willing to meet with me. Other than that, I don't care what they say on the phone.

I think screening is a huge mistake. The premise is that we are looking for certain answers. If we don't get those answers, then it's not a job for us. What if the customer doesn't know the script? What if they give us the "wrong" answers?

For example, I looked at a job this week that originally was a call for a radiant barrier. It was on the edge of our service area, and these jobs are typically in the $1200 to $1500 range. Nothing to get excited over.

When I showed up, she wanted a price for painting her entire interior. We didn't get that information on the phone, and if we had decided that she didn't meet our criteria, we would have lost a chance for a much bigger job.

As Richard Kaller used to say, you can't push a pen through the phone. My job is to sell paint jobs, and I can't do that if I'm not meeting with people who want to hire a painting company.

Brian Phillips

 

[bikerboy]

Very good point Brian.

 

[plainpainter]

I know folks say they want to follow up on every lead - but for every 'profitable' job you land because you don't screen - I'd say you will run into many more customers that want you to do some ridiculously small job that will only take an hour - and expect to only pay you for that single hour of labor. I have to be honest - I am a big fan of screening. The amount of time and money spent on gas and rig depreciation meeting with customers who think $350 is a fair price to re-paint a bedroom - is easily made up by screening. Bottom line - if you can't differentiate yourself from the competition - then price is the only factor a customer will use. And I firmly believe if you can't firmly differentiate yourself from the competition on your first telephone call - then you ain't gonna do it even showing up on their premises. 8 out of 10 jobs I close - I close on the spot! And those are people I prequalify on the first phone call and have 'sold' them during that phone call. Lately - I have been doing more 'blind' visits to homeowners asking for an estimate, without pre-qualifying them, and the results are abysmal.

 

[Dave Mac]

I know folks say they want to follow up on every lead - but for every 'profitable' job you land because you don't screen - I'd say you will run into many more customers that want you to do some ridiculously small job that will only take an hour - and expect to only pay you for that single hour of labor. I have to be honest - I am a big fan of screening. The amount of time and money spent on gas and rig depreciation meeting with customers who think $350 is a fair price to re-paint a bedroom - is easily made up by screening. Bottom line - if you can't differentiate yourself from the competition - then price is the only factor a customer will use. And I firmly believe if you can't firmly differentiate yourself from the competition on your first telephone call - then you ain't gonna do it even showing up on their premises. 8 out of 10 jobs I close - I close on the spot! And those are people I prequalify on the first phone call and have 'sold' them during that phone call. Lately - I have been doing more 'blind' visits to homeowners asking for an estimate, without pre-qualifying them, and the results are abysmal.

If your closing 8 out of ten jobs, why do you need to cold call??? Plain painter dont you have a $1,000 min job as well and your a one man show. Ill dooo small bedrrom, walls two coats, client have paint their, for 350 all day long, and my painter will have job inspected and check in hand before lunch, and he will either go to another job, or go home and be paid for a full day.

PlainPainer I watched you post for years, I really dont think you like the painting buisness, ever think of getting out and find something you enjoy?

 

[[email protected]]

why do you need to cold call???

Just as an fyi, this topic has nothing to do with cold calling. :thumbsup:

It's all about being called for service. Not calling to give service.

 

[Dave Mac]

Jason, sorry for getting off topic, I agree with most of what brian has to say on the subject

 

[johnisimpson]

The biggest thing i ask is if the caller has a specific time frame for completion. had plenty of callers who wanted their deck finished in time for a party on saturday and it's already wednesday afternoon. sometimes you can sell them on having it done right and within a proper timeframe but sometimes you save yourself the trip to bid just to find out they have unrealistic expectations.
i'm not too restrictive in who i screen but i do think some screening pays off.
i agree with others that on some callers it is good to get them talking with open ended questions. you can learn a lot and adjust accordingly

 

[plainpainter]

If your closing 8 out of ten jobs, why do you need to cold call??? Plain painter dont you have a $1,000 min job as well and your a one man show. Ill dooo small bedrrom, walls two coats, client have paint their, for 350 all day long, and my painter will have job inspected and check in hand before lunch, and he will either go to another job, or go home and be paid for a full day.

PlainPainer I watched you post for years, I really dont think you like the painting buisness, ever think of getting out and find something you enjoy?

Firstly, I simply give my opinion on screening and you flip out on what MY opinion is. Secondly who said anything about cold calling? Thirdly, if I was living in a parallel universe - where I didn't have to come out to meet with a customer for a single day job, just a drive there, customer picks up paint, then a drive home with a check received that same day - then yeah I'd be doing $350/day repainting walls only. That ain't the real world - I just did a 900 deck painting job, and even though my labor was a total of 14 hours 'on-the-job' - I had a 6 round trip commutes of 45 miles each time. First round trip - delivering proposal, second round trip - pressure washing deck, third round trip - spent an hour vaccuming paint chips off grass, so as not to make customer mad and bought paint, fourth round trip - spent an hour picking up lumber, 2 hours installing trellis, and 3 hours sanding; fifth round trip - tarped, vacuumed, and painted deck; 6th and final round trip - collected check, because as usual homeowner is never home when you finish.

Do I like the painting business? Less and less. I constantly look for other things to do - painting is just a fall-back for me now. I am moving on to bigger and better things - but my thoughts have nothing to do with 'painting' per se - they are thoughts and opinions about business - it doesn't matter if you paint, mow, or frame - business is business and all the same principles apply whatever you do. I personally think way too many guys here take the 'act' of holding a paint brush way too seriously. I'll consider myself succesful when I never hold a paint brush ever again.

 

[vermontpainter]

Plain

You pretty much have to work all of this into your pricing. Its never the amount of labor and materials it will take to prep and apply, there are always the additional items that you know will happen. And yes, I know what that does to your competitive bidding, etc. It is what it is, we all do it.

I have to say that I can see where Dave was coming from. For months now you have had alot to say about how the paint industry has been "whored out" and ruined. Its good that you are moving on to bigger and better things. Its probably time. For the rest of us, we have to figure out how to make it work in this industry these days.