Tip #1 of 3: “Use an expiration date or deadline on ALL of your contracts/bids.”

You know as well as I do that people will drag their feet if you let them. That’s why you should NEVER submit an open ended bid/contract.

If you have been in the painting business for any length of time then you know that the price of materials (especially paint, AND GAS) can fluctuate throughout the year.

Putting an expiration date on your contracts encourages people to make a decision, or risk paying a higher price down the road.

So what is the optimal amount of time for the deadline?

Good question.

Typically you don’t want to go much shorter than 15 days... and certainly no longer than 30 days, because the last thing you want to do is keep bugging someone to see if they made a decision.

I personally like 30 days because it gives a good solid follow up time schedule.

If you don’t hear back within 15 days make a follow up call letting them know you would love to secure them in your schedule.

On a side note, you can even at that point offer some kind of special promotion to create even more urgency. (I give you over a dozen promotion ideas inside Painting for Profits.)

If you are unable to get a firm commitment on that first follow up call, let them know that you will be making another follow up call “just before the deadline expires on the estimate.” Then make one last follow up call a few days before the contract expires.

If the prospect still can’t make a decision or they decided to go with another company, simply file the bid contract away into a “FUTURE CUSTOMER” file that you will follow up with again later in the year, with another type of offer.

You do follow up with ALL of your NO’s don’t you? You should! Not only is it a great source of information about your marketplace, and it doesn’t cost anything to send an email with multiple types of offers throughout the year.

RECAP: Never submit an open ended bid/contract... ALWAYS use some kind of deadline to create urgency!

Be sure to read my next post: Tip #2 of 3 – “The POWER of offering your customers different pricing options”

Now go market your painting business,
Andy