Week 1

Day 27 - Commercial Quoting

Pest status:

how to quote –  There are no set down rules and regulations for how and what you quote for, but you should always ensure you consider your outlay for a service before you consider a price to charge for a service.

considerations -

Some things that you would have to take into consideration when compiling your quote are as follows:

• How much insurance do you pay a year?
• How much does your car cost to run 10 kms?
• How much did your pesticide cost?
• How much did your equipment cost?
• How much a week will the maintenance of your equipment cost?
• How much an hour are you going to charge your customers for commercial work?
• How much an hour are you going to charge your customers for domestic work?
• How much are your lease repayments for equipment or vehicle?
• How long does it take you to properly mix a volume of pesticide to the point of spray?
• How long will the job take you?
• What are the capabilities of your equipment?
• How much are you licences?
• How much are your specialist courses each year?
• Are you employing a commercial salesman? If so how much are you paying him?

prior preparation

• Know your customer
• Read and research all you can about the company (internet best a quick)
• Know your subject, and know the pest you believe they have a problem with or could get

meeting the customer

• Greet with a firm handshake
• Know their first name and last (ensure you pronounce it right, ring the company admin person to get pronunciation.
• Business card ready
• Brochures ready

the walk around

• Do site walk preferable with the customer.
• Ask if they have a site map that you can keep
• Mark down areas where company products can be used, explain as you walk around what products you could use here and the benefits to the customer
• Explain how you would number all equipment your company installs, to ensure quality service and HACCP requirements.
• Explain that your company only uses high quality products and not cardboard. Go as far to tell them that you will not install cardboard stations outside even if they request it, due to the replacement each service, money cost, and the risk factor to humans and pets alike.
• Explain how you will service each piece of equipment and how often and why this is important.
• Look for any signs of pest activity if you locate it, bring it to the customer’s attention.
• Look for any issues that are the responsibility of the customer such as hygiene etc.
• Speak to people around the site.(gain local info on pest problems, managers are not always aware of how bad some situations are)
• Explain your findings to the customer.
• Make a commitment to the customer before leaving site.
• Leave customer with a positive opinion of yourself and the company.
• Deal with any issues that can be dealt with now.

  Following up.

  Ring the customer the very next day, and let them know when you will have your proposal ready to present to them, don’t post it, at least hand deliver it, for large companies they may require a formal presentation, so be ready for that also.
  

calculations – presenting the quote

Now that you have completed all the other paperwork and the only requirement left before you present the proposal to the customer is to calculate your hours on the job:

• Cost of materials
• How much mark up will you add to materials
• How much an hour will you charge your customer
• Do you have any idea of what they are currently being charged for their current service if they have one at all?
• Are there any overtime rates that you may have to include?
• What sort of warranty will you give the customer, or free service period, (this will depend on company policy, you may have to make a policy, remember the more often you service a company, the less problems are likely, therefore you can apply a free service period to make your proposal more attractive, e.g. if you service a restaurant every month then you will give them free service call out any time during the month if required.
• Now calculate on some type of spread sheet or manual system all of the above and come up with a dollar value

Useful website links: