What should an electrician do when a homeowner says they need to think about a quote?
When a homeowner says they need to think about it, the job is not lost, but it will not be won unless someone follows up. "Let me think about it" often stands for a question the homeowner has not asked yet, about the money, the timing, or whether the work has to happen now. A calm check-in that offers to answer that question gives the homeowner a reason to come back to you.
What does a homeowner mean when they say they need to think about it?
Sometimes it means exactly that, and often it covers something the homeowner did not want to say at the kitchen table. The number may have been higher than they expected, or they want to talk it over with a spouse who was not there, or they plan to get a second price and did not want to tell you so to your face. Some homeowners simply find it hard to say no in person, and "let me think about it" is the polite way out of the conversation.
Each of those reasons is a question or a worry that is still waiting for an answer. The electrician who checks back is the one who gets to hear it and answer it.
Why are electrical upgrade quotes so easy to put off?
A repair quote comes with its own deadline, because something in the house is not working. An upgrade quote often has none. You came out to replace a fixture or add an outlet, saw something in the panel or the wiring, and wrote up work the homeowner had not planned to pay for. The lights still come on, the house seems fine to them, and your quote now competes with the summer vacation and the car payment.
That is where the job stalls. The homeowner has not decided against it, and nothing in their week pushes them to decide at all, so the quote goes into a drawer and stays there until someone from your company brings it back up.
How can an electrician follow up without sounding like a salesman?
A follow-up that offers help reads very differently from one that asks whether the homeowner is ready to buy. Offering to walk the homeowner's spouse through the quote, to explain one of the lines on it, or to answer whatever question came up after you left gives them an easy way back into the conversation. It also reminds them that your company keeps track of its customers.
Pressure tends to backfire. A homeowner who feels pushed into a decision may go looking for a second opinion, and the second electrician gets the job. Calm and plain answers from someone who is easy to reach keep you in the running. For the timing, see how long to wait before following up on a quote.
What happens to the quotes nobody follows up on?
In a busy month an owner might write a handful of upgrade quotes. A couple of homeowners say yes on the spot and the rest say they will think about it. The owner means to call them back, but the service calls keep coming, and the quotes end up in the truck's door pocket and the owner's email. By the fall some of those homeowners have hired someone else and some have forgotten the conversation entirely, and the owner cannot say how many, because the quotes were never kept in one place.
Other trades that write big quotes see the same thing. An HVAC company quoting a replacement system watches its quotes sit for weeks while the homeowner works out the money and the timing.
What a fix looks like
On a Monday morning the owner opens one list and sees every upgrade quote from the past month, with the amount and the date each one went out. The panel upgrade quoted three weeks ago is flagged, so the office calls to ask whether the homeowner's spouse had any questions about it, and the homeowner books the work for the following week. Another homeowner says spring, so that date goes on the record and the call happens in spring. By the fall the owner can say how many of those quotes turned into jobs and how many went to someone else.
The Home Service Guild Marketing Operations System sends the follow-up reminders on open quotes and connects to Housecall Pro if that is where you write your quotes.
Questions owners also ask
Should I lower my price when a homeowner says they need to think about it?
Not before you know what is holding them up. The worry may be the timing or a question about the work, and a discount offered too early answers a question they never asked. Find out first, and then decide whether the quote needs to change.
What if the homeowner says the work can wait until next year?
Then write down when they said to check back, and make sure someone does. A clear "not right now" is still an answer, and a homeowner who hears from you at the time they named will remember that you kept your word.
Who should make the follow-up call, the owner or the office?
The person who can answer the homeowner's question should make it. For a question about the work that is often the electrician who wrote the quote, and for scheduling or payment it may be the office. Either way, the reminder to call should come from a list so it does not depend on anyone's memory.
