People seem to really like the quick-profit tactics I’ve been posting on Instagram lately, so here’s a quick tactic I used to double my close rate on emailed bids.

The trick is to break your emailed quote into as many steps as possible. Specifically, I mean expand the scope of work into as many separate pieces as makes sense.

See the above picture for an example of one of my project managers using this tactic.

(The homeowner’s response by the way was:
“Hi John, After talking it over this weekend we’d like to hire you to re-do our shower. We really appreciate the thoroughness of your quote. Let us know how to send you the deposit so we can get on your books this summer. We are looking forward to working with you and your team! Sincerely, Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner”)

Now the reason this tactic works is threefold.

1. The more steps & info you include, the more the value of your service increases in comparison to the price. Good contracting customers don’t buy based on price, they buy based on value gained per dollar spent. So increasing the amount of steps in your quote is a good way to raise perceived value-per-dollar. For example, “clean worksite and haul off debris” should be split into 2 separate steps. This makes it seem like they’re getting 2 things for their money instead of just 1.

2. It makes you look better by comparison to anyone else they would have gotten quotes from. Compare this email to a different contractor who might have just sent them an email along the lines of “Customer name, The total amount to do the bathroom work we discussed came to $x,xxx. Let me know if blah blah blah.” All other things being equal, you’ll win the contract no contest.

3. Doing this just makes it easier for the homeowner to understand and picture in their mind. (Remember, most homeowners probably don’t even know what grout caulk is.) So by breaking your quote down into small packets of info they can understand, they will be better able to imagine the construction process. And if they can picture your work in their mind easier than a competitor, they’re already imagining working with you. That’s huge.

So again, the main takeaway is to break your emailed quote into as many steps as possible.

And provide the price only after the scope of work breakdown so that they anchor the price to the value provided first!

Now there’s other optimizations you can make to this strategy as well, such as adding safety mechanics, using the assumptive close, clever postscripts with urgency mechanics, etc.

But the main thing is just really stretching out the scope of work. This tactic takes an extra 5 minutes MAX to execute, but can easily double your close rate via email.