Wasting time on the job site can sometimes feel like you’re throwing money out the window.
You're probably already aware of the most obvious ways you might be wasting time on the job, but what about the less obvious?
What about your sales process?
The traditional method of providing quotes and estimates is a waste of your time on and off the job site.
In this post, we’ll tell you where you’re wasting time in your sales process and how to “trim the fat.”
Time is money.
Why wasting time during the sales process is detrimental
We’ve all heard the saying, “Time is money.”
So we know it’s important to keep our employees motivated and productive so as not to waste time on the job.
That being said, it's easier to notice time being wasted during installations or renovations.
During the job, any number of things can lead to time wasted—late employees, looking for tools, waiting for the owner to unlock the property, etc.
But during the sales process, it's a different story. There are no deadlines, no project managers watching—it's just your sales rep, the prospect, and the estimate.
During the sales process, it’s easier to waste time doing double work, which could cost you thousands in fees, labor, equipment, or lost business.
Consider this scenario
Let’s say you’re a contractor and your prospect is looking to add a sunroom off the back of their home. You arrive, they explain what they’re looking for, and you take some measurements and draw up a quick sketch.
Next, you have to go back to the office, draw a better/more accurate design, and whip out your trusty calculator for the calculations.
Let’s say that you then have to transfer your hand-drawn design into a CAD program, and you realize that something isn’t adding up. So you end up back at the potential job site to take new measurements.
This whole process can take days and you haven’t even guaranteed the sale yet!
Your prospects are more likely to accept a bid if you give them an estimate within 24 hours. Here’s why you shouldn’t make them wait:
- Unexpected bills might pop up, and suddenly the sunroom can wait.
- Another contractor company might swoop in and underbid you.
- Because the longer they have to think about it, the more “Uncle Joe” is looking like he can handle the job—and he accepts beer and pizza as payment. (Good ol’ Uncle Joe, he means well, but his construction skills are...lacking.)
How you’re wasting time during the sales process
You’re still using pencil and paper
If you’re still using pencil and paper as your primary media for your designs, you’re wasting a lot of your time!
CAD software has the ability to streamline your drawing process, and it’s not as hard as you may think.
ArcSite’s intuitive visual estimation system allows you to draw blueprints and create custom reports, and it’s so intuitive that you won’t have a problem learning it or teaching it to your team.
You still do calculations by hand
Once again, we say let the technology do the hard part for you!
All you need to do is take the measurements; ArcSite allows you to simultaneously design and calculate the cost of your prospect’s project, right from your iPad.
Don’t worry, you can keep your trusty calculator as a treasured memento.
You’re not utilizing the Cloud
One of the best things about ArcSite is that you can collaborate instantly with your team. Everyone can access the design at the touch of a button.
No more making copies of your drawings to hand out to everyone and hoping they understand what you’ve put on paper! You can even embed location-based photos in your designs for better visualization—for your team and your customers.
And you can finally ditch your industrial-sized filing cabinet! Using the Cloud means all of your designs are easily accessible—even years down the road.
A proven solution
Thousands of salespeople and sales teams are using ArcSite to help them create site plans and produce professional sales proposals, all without leaving the job site.
By combining the power and accuracy of CAD with the ability to create a fast and professional estimate, ArcSite will dramatically cut down the amount of time wasted during the sales process.
