I market for leads get 15-20 a day. I want to learn how to sell the job, training

[gpstrade]

I market for a tree company to get leads, I average 15-20 leads a day. I have been asking for a while for them to teach me how to sell the job. They will not,

Is on the job training the only way to learn how to price a job. I have been searching the internet trying to find training course for this part of the business. I am in the Maryland area. If someone can help me please respond. my email:
[email protected]

 

[jefflovstrom]

I market for a tree company to get leads, I average 15-20 leads a day. I have been asking for a while for them to teach me how to sell the job. They will not,

Is on the job training the only way to learn how to price a job. I have been searching the internet trying to find training course for this part of the business. I am in the Maryland area. If someone can help me please respond. my email:
[email protected]

Dude, You need to have climbed and pay your dues to price a job. You market guy's got to have a 'go to guy' or go climb a tree,
. Your crew is what you are selling and you have no idea what they go thru to do what you sold. I could go on,
Jeff

 

[gpstrade]

Dude I was going to write you a post but your not worth it

 

[ozzy42]

Dude I was going to write you a post but your not worth it

And what would that post be?You going to disagree with him when you know nothing of the subject?

What Jeff told you is absolutely correct.You can not possibly bid tree work if you do not know how it's done.
There is a reason you drew a blank when you googeld it.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Dude I was going to write you a post but your not worth it

No need, I've heard it before from salesmen that don't know what they sell!
Jeff :msp_biggrin:

 

[jefflovstrom]

BTW, I am worth it.
Jeff

 

[Rftreeman]

Just charge by the inch of the diameter, let's say $2 an inch, yeah, that should be good.....

 

[treemandan]

BTW, I am worth it.
Jeff

We know Jeff, we know. Did that yackass get you all upset? Now now, take it easy, don't shoot him, wait til he gets a littl closer.

 

[treemandan]

BTW, I am worth it.
Jeff

Seriously, WTF!? You sound like a Maybeline commercial !

 

[jefflovstrom]

Hopefully I am chasing off trolls.
Jeff

 

[David (saltas)]

You cant sell what you cant do, without the can do guy getting screwed

 

[ctrees4$]

I market for a tree company to get leads, I average 15-20 leads a day. I have been asking for a while for them to teach me how to sell the job. They will not,

Is on the job training the only way to learn how to price a job. I have been searching the internet trying to find training course for this part of the business. I am in the Maryland area. If someone can help me please respond. my email:
[email protected]

My price per job is built around my experience,overhead,and how long it will take to finish....sooooo I think a good price you should start with would be around 0.00 an hour. :Eye::Eye:

 

[atvguns]

The OP is looking a little red right now

 

[flushcut]

Is on the job training the only way to learn how to price a job.

Yes, but it is a hell of a lot more. You can get OJT but YOU NEED to do the work to full understand what it takes. Personally I would never consider a sales person who has no real world experience. So pick up some gear and get to the learning as you have a long way to go.

 

[jefflovstrom]

The best salesman has had saw dust in his eye's from taking down trees on a windy day. The best salesman knows what it is like to handle a 3120 off the ground. The best salesman knows what is like to do complicated rigging over targets. The really good salesman knows to ask for advice from his "Op's Manager' before submitting a bid.
Jeff :

 

[046]

since this started with a legitimate looking question ... will try to explain why folks are responding the way they are.

it's been posted before ... here goes again.

1. there is nothing wrong with ignorance. we all had to start somewhere.
2. nobody likes stupid

it's never wrong to ask legit questions if you don't know. it's a catch 22 if you don't know what's a legit question from a stupid one. so grow some thick skin if you want to stick around AS. Some of the most knowledgeable tree folks on the WWW are here.

so far I don't see anything stupid in your post, just ignorance of why it's not possible for a newbie to quote jobs.

sorry all a newbie sales guy and can do is sell the company in general. then set up a time for the foreman to give actual estimate.

there's many factors in tree work that can effect the time/gear/manpower necessary to complete a job. then factor in liability/risk if something goes wrong.

two similar size trees, one next to a house, other tree out in the open will be completely different in amount of time to complete. the tree next to house will probably need to be roped down piece by piece to prevent possibility of damage to house. tree out in open is felled in one piece.

then factor in what type equipment crew is running. a bucket gets the job done quicker, but costs to purchase/maintenance/insurance for major gear is not free. some jobs are not possible to do safely without a crane...etc, etc, etc,

the list goes on ... it's just not possible for a newbie to estimate jobs. even experienced tree folks will estimate wrong and end up doing a job for a net profit of zero $$ or worst go in the hole finishing up a job.

if you really want to learn... go drag brush for a week just to get a taste to see if you really want to proceed.

I market for a tree company to get leads, I average 15-20 leads a day. I have been asking for a while for them to teach me how to sell the job. They will not,

Is on the job training the only way to learn how to price a job. I have been searching the internet trying to find training course for this part of the business. I am in the Maryland area. If someone can help me please respond. my email:
[email protected]

 

[sgreanbeans]

The best salesman has had saw dust in his eye's from taking down trees on a windy day. The best salesman knows what it is like to handle a 3120 off the ground. The best salesman knows what is like to do complicated rigging over targets. The really good salesman knows to ask for advice from his "Op's Manager' before submitting a bid.
Jeff :

So that's what you will have me do when I get there! Sales hmmmmmmmmmm. Sounds good. I don't know a 3120, but I do know a MS650!
BTW, u ever hook up with Mikey G at Brickman?

On a serious note, you have to know what you are looking at before you can bid. If you cannot recognize the hazards and do not know how to mitigate them, then you will always loose. Whether you get the job or not.

 

[imagineero]

Bidding jobs really isn't all that hard to be honest, and I find that guys with a sales/estimating background do better at it than tree guys. To cut down trees you need to be good at cutting down trees. To sell tree work you need to be good at selling. Lots of awesome tree guys are hopeless salesmen and drastically underestimate the amount of time they need to complete a job.

To put realistic bids on jobs you need to know some base costs for your operation. It starts with what gear and employees you have, insurance etc. For myself, I'm a small time operator with a mid size truck and small crew. I set my base rate at $90 an hour for myself, my gear and my truck, plus $25/hour for every guy on my crew. If I go out with 3 guys then my base rate is $165/hr. I charge $250/hr for chipping but I can chip most jobs in an hour or 2 at most. I do residential work in the city so most trees I'm dealing with aren't that big. A full day job for me needs to come out at 8hrs x $165 + 1 hr chipping @ $250 = $1570. A more realistic charge for me for a full day job is $1700.

You then need to factor in where you will lose time. I start out with 1 hour allowance for unpacking and packing gear, setup etc. I add half an hour for cleaup. I add extra for all the following reasons plus many more;

the job is far from the street (extra crew)
the passageway is narrow (the tree needs to be cut up smaller)
there is delicate paintwork, brick work, stone work (smaller pieces, more crew)
there are powerlines around
It's a big tree - add extra crew
It's more than 13m3 of chip - I need to do an extra load in my truck
The trunk size is over 24" - I need to do more ripping
It's a technical tree
It's a species I don't like to cut
It will need a lot of lowering
There are stairs
I need to hire extra equipment (EWP, crane)

For smaller jobs I price them according to what portion of a day I think they will take, allowing for travel and setup/packup and cleanup. If I dont think I can get another job in the area then I price
it as a full day.

My basic approach to most jobs is to pace out the distance form the street to the tree, measure the DBH height and spread, then make an estimate of how many cubic metres of chip there will be. I then look at what the ground is like around the tree (lawn, pavers, concrete?) and what else is under the tree (driveway, shed, house, precious garden, fence, footpath, road, powerlines). Then I look at the conditions of the path to the street (width, surface material, stairs) and make a note of all these things. I add up how many hours I'll need to chip and how many crew I'll need. Then I add in setup, packup, cleanup and travel and come up with a number. If I feel that number is light I add to it. Those jobs are cream. Then I sell that number to the customer.

For an inexperienced guy, the hardest thing is working out how many days a tree will take to climb. If you have a top climber on your crew then he can probably take down almost anything in a day. You'll get an eye pretty quick for 'one day or two'. The finer details of the takedown can be worked out by the crew. Jobs with a few trees end up being more cream. Jobs with lots of trees end up being underbid by every idiot out there and aren't worth doing. Pruning is a hard sell and always ends up taking more time than what you think. Not many customers are happy with what they get on a prune, and most prunes need to start at the $500 range and go up from there. It's easy to make money on removals and lose money on prunes.

Shaun

 

[swede11]

Lots of awesome tree guys are hopeless salesmen and drastically underestimate the amount of time they need to complete a job.

.

Shaun

That surprises me, but I'll take your word. I can fathom not being a great salesman; the other part makes me say hhmmm.

Anyways, your post was very helpful, thorough & detailed. One of my weak points is knowing how much to charge. But on the other hand, I don't really need to know any time soon, plenty of other **** to learn.

 

[TreeClimber57]

Just charge by the inch of the diameter, let's say $2 an inch, yeah, that should be good.....

I did know a company who used to price by the inch - maybe they still do.

They had it something like $20 or $30 per inch up to certain DBH.. then went higher..

It apparently worked most of the time - so they said; and saved them money on estimates. Frankly I think you would overprice a lot of smaller jobs and get &*#$@ on others.

There are too many factors involved to go on simply diameter.

Realistically I do not know what business one can really do the most accurate estimate if they do not know how to do the job themselves.. and have not lived it. I guess maybe laying asphalt in driveway or roofing maybe can do by sq ft.. but even then I expect there are exceptions to the rule.