Quoting on the call or afterwards, and what each one costs

4 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Introduction

Somebody asks what it will cost while you are still on the phone. Giving a number immediately is the fastest possible response and risks being wrong. Saying you will come back with a quote is accurate and gives a competitor with a rate card the chance to answer first, which in many markets is decisive.

Neither is universally right, and treating it as a matter of personal preference is how businesses end up either underpricing habitually or losing work to slower quoting than the market tolerates. The useful approach is to decide by job type in advance, so the answer on the call is a policy rather than an improvisation.

1. Quoting on the call or afterwards should be decided by job type, not by mood

The framing.

Some work is predictable enough to price immediately and some genuinely is not. Sorting your work into those two categories once is more useful than deciding each time. It also means whoever answers the phone knows what they are allowed to say.

2. Quote immediately where the work is standard

The first category.

Repeatable jobs with known inputs. If you have done fifty of them and the range is narrow, an immediate figure is accurate, fast and a competitive advantage. This is where most businesses are slower than they need to be.

3. Give a range where the work varies

The middle position.

"Most jobs like this are between X and Y, and here is what moves it." This answers the question, protects you, and is far better than declining to indicate anything. Make the range genuinely representative rather than anchored at an unrealistic low end.

4. Never refuse to indicate anything

The behaviour that loses work.

A flat refusal reads as evasion and sends the buyer to somebody who will answer. Even a wide range with an explanation is better than silence. Buyers interpret a refusal as either inexperience or an intention to price them individually.

5. Say what would change the figure

The protection.

Access, condition, discoveries, specification. Stating the variables when you give the number is what allows you to revise it later without appearing to have misled anybody.

6. Be clear whether it is an estimate or a quote

The important distinction.

These mean different things commercially and, in many jurisdictions, legally. Saying which you are giving prevents a dispute about whether a figure was binding.

7. Follow a verbal figure with something written

The confirmation.

The same day, in writing, with the assumptions. Verbal figures are remembered selectively and the written version is what both sides rely on later.

8. Where you must survey, book it on the call

The speed substitute.

If you cannot price without seeing it, the competitive advantage moves to how quickly you can get there. Booking the visit during the first conversation is the equivalent of quoting fast.

9. Measure your quoting speed and its effect

The evidence.

Median hours from enquiry to figure, and conversion by that speed. Most businesses assume they are fast and find the median is several days.

Be careful about quoting quickly on work you have not properly understood. A fast wrong number produces either a loss on the job or a difficult conversation revising it, and both are more expensive than the day it would have taken to check.

Conclusion

Decide by job type in advance rather than in the moment.

Quote immediately on standard repeatable work, give a range with the variables where the job genuinely varies, never refuse to indicate anything at all, state what would change the figure at the moment you give it, be explicit about whether it is an estimate or a quotation, confirm any verbal figure in writing the same day, book the survey during the call where one is required, and measure your median time to a figure.