The Perfect Pitch

How do you show your customers you are competent about your product/service?

My wife and I noticed a small leak near our chimney recently and was advised it most likely was coming from our roof.  We called for three roofing quotes to validate if it was truly a roof issue or if it was something else.

The first contractor came out and pointed out things on our 15 year roof to look for.  He showed me where the previous homeowner did a bad job near some pipes and that we most likely were leaking but can’t see it due to three layers of roof.  He showed where some of the roofing is curling which is a sign of needing replacing.  He inspected around the chimney (even on the side of the house away from the roof) to see where our water was coming from.  He explained how water runs around a house and what signs to look for.  He went onto our roof and measured the pitch.  The contractor gave me a quote and said I should consider replacing in a year.  The transaction was about 35-40 minutes.

The second contractor pulled up to our house and walked immediately to the door.  He sat down with me and said I needed a new roof.  I asked him how he knew since I did not see him stand and look at the roof and didn’t even look at it from the back yard.  He said he can tell because the shiny surface was missing from the front tiles.  He gave me a quote.  The whole thing took about 15 minutes.

The third contractor never came out.

The first contractor provided a lot of value added service to me.  He educated me.  Measuring the pitch made me feel the quote was more accurate.  He provided advice on the real problem why I called him but still explained that the roof will need replacing.  He actually looked at our entire roof before he provided the diagnosis.

The second contractor approached me as though he was the expert and I should just trust him.  He did not demonstrate anything to make me believe he was competent like the first contractor did.  A roof is not cheap so do not discount time spent to build credibility with your potential customers!

Do your actions help your customers see that you are competent and credible?  Do your processes allow value added time for your customers?  Do you think the first contractor wasted time with what he did to give me a quote since the second contractor was more efficient (not effective though)?

My 2009 Hansei: Scarcity inspires creativity and innovation.  How can I help harness that inspiration?

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