Don’t Send the Estimate, Do This Instead (If They Say “Just Send the Estimate”)

“Send the Estimate So We Can Make a Decision”

[00:00:00] This is a mistake that you cannot afford to make the next time you write an estimate.

[00:00:06] So I was in a meeting with a referral partner the other day and we went through the meeting everything went fine and there was a point where it was time to start to put together the estimate We had gone through a bunch of different pain questions and learned a lot of good information but it was time to put the estimate together And when we left that meeting we scheduled the next meeting like we’re supposed to.

[00:00:24] That person that we were sitting down with h had decided that they were gonna just cancel the meeting and asked us just to “send the estimate so we can review it.” How many times has that happened to you? If somebody asks you to send the estimate after you’ve confirmed a meeting and now all of a sudden they decide I’m gonna just cancel that meeting Just send it over We’re gonna we’re gonna just review it We’ll make our decision then How many times have you heard that Well guess what? This is your point you’re either going to make a decision to send that to them and you’re never gonna hear from them again.

[00:00:51] Or you’re gonna send a response that’s probably gonna make you uncomfortable. And the response is No I’m not gonna send you the estimate Now it probably is a little nicer than that. You’re gonna have to nurture a little bit be a little nicer. But you’re not going to send the estimate.

[00:01:03] But here’s the thing, when somebody asks you to just send the estimate they’re doing a couple of things. One is they wanna maintain or take control of the conversation. So y you don’t want that You wanna be kinda equals as you will Um you wanna be able to be on the same footing as them.

[00:01:18] You wanna be person to person not I’m working for you kind of a relationship It’s not so much a consultant when they do that You’re more of a vendor that way right? You’re a commodity. When you send the estimate, you are now a commodity.

[00:01:28] And the other thing that they do is they’re gonna look at that bottom line the number and make a decision based on that. Number one you become a commodity Number two they’re making a decision based on the number not all the other stuff before you got that number.

[00:01:38] So let me put it this way. When you have that meeting set up don’t cancel it If they do cancel it reschedule it. Insist on it. And here’s what I always tell people. The reason I ask to go through this estimate there’s always questions that come up. Now some of those questions are very easy to answer.

[00:01:57] Sometimes they’re just clarification questions but sometimes they’re questions that can mean something different and may change the scope of this. So I wanna make sure that I’ve written down this estimate or I’ve created this estimate to match what you’re looking for And if it doesn’t then I wanna be able to change it before you get a copy of it. So, I can’t just send the estimate.

[00:02:13] And the reason is if you get a copy of it and all of a sudden it has some incorrect information now you’re looking at two, three different versions of this. Which one’s the right one? And I don’t wanna confuse anybody.

[00:02:23] So when I tell them that they often say, “well, okay then let’s just schedule it.” I rarely ever have somebody still insist after telling them that that they still wanna just send the estimate.

[00:02:33] If they decide to say after I’ve explained why it’s important for us to meet and and go through the estimate together And again this could be vivia Zoom or any other platform or or in person, but if they insist on just send me the estimate, I’ve lost the deal And so then I would be pushing back a little bit more and saying, “Boy it sounds like I’ve just lost the deal, you just need another estimate to compare to one of the people that you’re looking at right?”

[00:02:56] You’re just comparing me to somebody else to give them and keep them honest Is that what you’re trying to do? I just wanna make sure If you’re doing that I just wanna make sure that I’m aware of that up front And and and I say it probably a little bit nicer but basically what I’m trying to say to them is I know what you’re doing Uh I don’t mind being that person that’s gonna send you an estimate so that you can knock down the other person’s price. I don’t mind doing that

[00:03:18] But if if you’re going to do that I also know that I’m not gonna win the deal. So I’m not gonna harass you I’m not gonna pester you I’m not gonna talk anymore to you because I know I’m not gonna win that deal. I’m saving myself time.

[00:03:28] But if you determine that they’re going to be using this with another competitor and they’re gonna compare you with another competitor and they’re basically trying to beat up the other person then call it make them understand that you understand what they’re doing but also making it so that they they’re clear about we’re not talking again correct.

[00:03:45] Because what you’re doing is you’re cutting that communication off and you’re making it so that it’s a hard and steady no, so that if they do come back to you, what you have is an opportunity to say Oh gosh I thought we were not gonna speak again, what happened?

[00:03:59] And you’re gonna delve into some of those other conversations that happened with the other vendor because it didn’t go as planned and they weren’t able to match your number or they weren’t able to compete on what you were providing at a number that was competitive.

[00:04:11] So sometimes people do that where they just are really outrageously high and sometimes they’re outrageously low. But either which way you wanna make sure that you’re having that conversation with them and determining where you are with that.

Asking Questions

[00:04:22] So going back to the conversation when you go through the presentation part part of your process is getting them to ask you questions. The reason you’re getting them to ask you questions is because you want them to ask you questions that are really clarifying what your estimate is going to do for them. And when you do that what’s gonna happen is is you’re gonna get more and more of a feeling of oh we’re working together. This is actually gonna go forward.

[00:04:45] If they don’t ask those questions and they just sit there and they let you present and they go okay great send it over then I would almost ask the question I’m surprised you didn’t have any questions for me because typically questions come up what what comes to mind?

[00:05:00] And insist on a question because if they haven’t asked any questions, what that usually means is they’re not willing to go with you. So that might be another opportunity after that if they don’t ask any more questions after you ask them for a question is say It seems to me like I’m not winning this deal Is that correct.

[00:05:15] Make it make them say No you’re not gonna win the deal because then you don’t even have to send them the estimate. I’ve done it before where I’ve had a conversation with somebody where we went through it, they said thank you very much that sounds great send it over.

[00:05:26] And I asked that question and said I don’t It doesn’t sound like I’m going to get this deal Is that a is that a correct statement? Ththey then came back and said no I’ve got somebody that I’m gonna I’m gonna use We’ve made a decision blah blah blah I say, “great, excellent, thanks for that information”

[00:05:39] And then I don’t ever send them the estimate because I don’t want them to have that as a comparison piece and they they shouldn’t have that information or data to be able to use with anybody else.

[00:05:47] The other part of the conversation when you’re having going through the estimate is to be able to make the adjustments that you need to be able to make wordingwise to make sure that it’s clear so that if there was something of a question that does come up that maybe it’s in the wording of the estimate and how it was written that needs to be tweaked.

[00:06:04] So it allows me the opportunity to then look at that and say, how would I word this to be more clear so that that question doesn’t come up later? Because quite honestly if I’m gonna have a problem I would rather have a problem before we sign a contract than after we sign the contract.

[00:06:18] So that’s why it’s really important for me to make sure that those pieces that they’re not comfortable with or something that they’re asking questions about if it’s a wording tweak that needs to happen then I wanna make sure that I have the opportunity to make those tweaks.

What Are Next Steps?

[00:06:30] Finally, one of the things that I wanna make sure that I do is when I finish that meeting I wanna get a sense for what direction we’re going at the end of that meeting So obviously when we have that meeting the conversation starts out with something along the lines of, “when we finish this conversation we’re going to have either a yes answer or a no answer some form of that conversation.”

[00:06:49] And so we’re either gonna talk about this estimate and we’re gonna either you’re gonna make a decision to move forward or you’re gonna make a decision that we’re not moving forward and that’s okay.

[00:06:57] But the other statement that is not allowed is essentially I I wanna think it over and what you need to do is be clear about what your expectations are by the end of the meeting so that you get a good clear yes or a no answer And if they do come with a thinking over it you can then come back to them and say, “We talked about that not being an option.” When you say think it over it’s basically a no Is that correct?

[00:07:19] It’s really important that as you go through that estimate review that you’re being clear as to what you’re delivering that you’re bringing back up the pains that came out of the conversation in the initial meeting or in the meetings before

[00:07:34] Whatever the pain thing is that you are fixing or the problem that you’re fixing that’s what you’re gonna wanna make sure your whole estimate is worded around so that when you get to the end of that estimate review meeting they feel very comfortable moving forward because the numbers all make sense They can support their decision with the logic that’s required.

[00:07:54] So here’s the bottom line Hold your posture Stay focused on keeping that meeting If the meeting gets rescheduled that’s fine Reschedule it Do not allow a meeting to be canceled and just ask to be send sending the estimate.

[00:08:07] That’s not acceptable And if you do that you’re losing control That’s the key to remember they wanna keep control and so do you but but both of you have to be in control at the same time The only way to do that is to maintain and hold that meeting.

[00:08:20] In the end you’re gonna be able to keep control of your sales process by doing that If you found this to be helpful like and subscribe cause that’ll help this channel grow and continue to give you more information just like this in the future.

[00:08:29] Feel free to share it. And remember slow down and close more.