Many field service businesses struggle in one specific area: quotes. If the quotes aren’t done perfectly every time, the business continues to lose money. While your business might still thrive, it would be more successful if you weren’t leaving some money on the table with every quote.
Doing it the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper, is no longer viable. It takes a long time and your competitors will have already delivered their quotes.
You have a couple of options: do-it-yourself using software or hire a professional estimate to do it for you.
Use Software
There are outstanding software programs that help you create solid estimates.
For example, https://costestimator.com/ is an online software program for field service businesses that purports to create clean estimates by having all the pricing in their software. Another, https://www.esticom.com/, includes low-voltage and other contractors on its list of customers.
The goal of the software is to ensure that you account for every piece of the project, from the time it will take to the miles you have to drive.
Hire an Estimator
Hire an estimator to prepare your quotes for you. Having an estimator on your team allows you to focus on the jobs at hand while they help you land new jobs.
If you have enough potential jobs, the estimator is an excellent team member to make sure you win those jobs and make a profit.
Hire a Freelance Estimator
There are also many freelance estimators who will come in and do the estimate for one job at a time. If your business is still small and you can’t afford a full-time employee, a freelance estimator may be the right choice.
Use an Online Estimator
There are several services online that will create estimates for you. They are usually a service that will do it for you, using professional estimators to create your estimates remotely.
One company, https://xactaquote.com/, has professional estimators that prepare the estimate for you. Both sites promise accurate and profitable quotes.
Focus on Your Quotes
No matter which way you choose to get your quotes done, focus on making those quotes the best they can be. Since every quote is the starting point of your profitability, if your quotes are not done well, the rest of your business is going to struggle.
If you’re concerned about money, save money elsewhere. This is the one part of your business that you must get right in order to stay in business and thrive. Include your estimates in a field service management program, like Optsy, so you can have access to the quotes from everywhere.
