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Roof Cleaning Northern Virginia (571) 250 9650 wrote:

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There seems to be a lot of info on the board for marketing, but very little for sales - closing the deal.  The best marketing in the world is useless unless you can land the deal, right? 

I've been giving a lot of thought to closing ratios (mostly mine ) and although on the surface it seems straight forward, there appears to be a lot more to it.  A VA based RCIA PM and I had a good discussion about this topic just yesterday.  Perhaps the collective us can ferret out some good benchmarks and facts based on this unique industry of ours.  Some thoughts to kick this off for those so inclined.  (These are rhetorical questions):

• Generic rule of thumb for closing is 65% so I'm told.  Any higher and one should raise their prices.  What about those clients that never get their roof cleaned by ANYONE after getting quotes ?  Should they be excluded from the data set?  Do they account for a 'static' number?

• Should closing ratios be tracked based on the marketing mechanism or lead source as well?  (ie Pareto chart? ) eg closing 62% from CL, closing 79% from company web site, 99% from the RCIA BBS, and 36% from referrals?  (Remember, these are rhetorical

• Is 65% an accurate target for such a specialized field as ours?  Customer acquisition costs can run high - should the closing ratio be higher as a result?

I suspect comments, suggestions and information will vary from region to region.

FWIW, I'm closing 75%, even after raising my prices late this season. (My RCIA competitor told me what his target prices were so I raised mine as to not under cut him nor dilute pricing in the area.)  I'll likely raise them again this spring, presuming I can crank the funnel more.

What say you RCIA PM colleagues?

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I heard the 70% rule too! At the get together I think everyone should bring something to the table. I'll be bringing this book I'm reading to it.

 It sounds like you are really computerized! Maybe you could bring that!

 I'm pretty good at closing. Job I sold yesterday I'm 150 higher than the last guy. And sold an add on for even more money!

 He was smiling and shaking my hand!!! I couldve asked for even more money! lol!!

 I was already heading in this direction, the book finished it!!!

 Edit: Lets work together and crush the franchises!!!

 

-- Edited by gutterdog on Monday 22nd of November 2010 11:15:43 AM

AC Lockyer wrote:

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Ted,

I have kept track of closing ratios for over a decade and have all the sheets for each and every week. Here is what we did at Mallard Systems and TerraClean over the years.

We kept track of all leads that came in one week that closed that same week. We called that the "one to one ratio". We just didnt track the leads beyond one sales week.

Mallard Systems averaged by the close of 2003 a 64% closing ratio "1 to 1", with a $480.00 average job. On many Mondays we would get from 50 leads and total in excess of 80 for the week. This was for a single branch. Our normal production for one branch was about 24k a week.

TerraClean relaunched Mallard Systems in Sept, 2009 after we sued All Florida Roof & Exterior for the license back. The relaunch after nearly 3 years of All Florida running the central Florida market into the ground yielded nearly a "1 to 1" closing ratio of 80% at a $980 average job.

Now I had discovered / invented some propitiatory sales techniques between the 2003 and 2009 years that made a huge difference in our numbers.

Eventually if you ran down every lead till it was closed or dead it looked like this.

7 of 10 closed within 3 days.

8 of 10 closed within the week.

1 of 10 did nothing and the roof remained dirty.

1 0f 10 had a competitor do the job.

So if you ran it all the way out to 20 leads we had closer to a 90% closing ratio.

I recommended you track each and every call, where they found you and spreadsheet it all together for archiving. Soon you will be able to identify peaks and valleys in your seasons and be able to capitalize on buyers moods and patterns.

AC

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This is what I need to learn how to do!!

 

gutterdog wrote:

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Edit: Lets work together and crush the franchises!!!

Dang straight Mike!!

 

AC Lockyer wrote:

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Ted,

I have kept track of closing ratios for over a decade and have all the sheets for each and every week. Here is what we did at Mallard Systems and TerraClean over the years.

We kept track of all leads that came in one week that closed that same week. We called that the "one to one ratio". We just didnt track the leads beyond one sales week.

Mallard Systems averaged by the close of 2003 a 64% closing ratio "1 to 1", with a $480.00 average job. On many Mondays we would get from 50 leads and total in excess of 80 for the week. This was for a single branch. Our normal production for one branch was about 24k a week.

TerraClean relaunched Mallard Systems in Sept, 2009 after we sued All Florida Roof & Exterior for the license back. The relaunch after nearly 3 years of All Florida running the central Florida market into the ground yielded nearly a "1 to 1" closing ratio of 80% at a $980 average job.

Now I had discovered / invented some propitiatory sales techniques between the 2003 and 2009 years that made a huge difference in our numbers.

Eventually if you ran down every lead till it was closed or dead it looked like this.

7 of 10 closed within 3 days.

8 of 10 closed within the week.

1 of 10 did nothing and the roof remained dirty.

1 0f 10 had a competitor do the job.

So if you ran it all the way out to 20 leads we had closer to a 90% closing ratio.

I recommended you track each and every call, where they found you and spreadsheet it all together for archiving. Soon you will be able to identify peaks and valleys in your seasons and be able to capitalize on buyers moods and patterns.

AC

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Thanks for the informative insight AC.  I ask the following partly out of my own curiosity, as well as to move this conversation along even further:

If a closing ratio is 90%, and the 10% balance just doesn't buy the service from anyone, isn't it time to raise the prices?

The rule of thumb for the 65-70% ratio assumes that you're 'too expensive' for the  balance, and thus are in the sweet spot - that magical point between maximum revenue and maximizing what your market will bear.

Any others have thoughts, expertise or insight on this extremely important topic?

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Roof Cleaning Little Rock Arkansas wrote:

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I have a few thoughts. Not sure about expertise or insight!

My closing percent fell quite a bit from last year to this year but at the same time we did 2 1/2 times the work we did last year. With a much higher per job price.

Im sure I couldve left prices the same and raised my closing percentage but even with doing more work I couldve possibly have only made the same money. (I can definately improve on my actual sales skills though)

Im not sure what that means ^^ but Im pretty sure if your closing 90% its time to ask for more $

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(Not a hijack, just a temporary detour  )

And you may one of these days......


But im not wearing a lime green shirt!

Roof Cleaning Northern Virginia (571) 250 9650 wrote:

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AC Lockyer wrote:

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Roof Cleaning Little Rock Arkansas wrote:

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Thanks. This was our 2nd year. Everyone knows how the first year is LOTS of figuring out to do.

Basically Id say I had a better plan.

I intend on having an even better plan for next year but id be shocked to ever make another jump like that.

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I can give you 400%  Can I only say that in my cage LOL

 

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Ahem.....  Speaking of the cage..  If not in the cage, at least limit it to the 'guest side', please?  We should have a 'commercial free' zone here in the Premium section.

Thanks.  Now, back to the topic at hand:

 

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All I can add is I so agree Ted. Thanks! I'm trying to learn something from what you and others are posting, not what's in between the lines of a "system" no one can talk about.