Your sales process is leaking. Here's where.
On a $10,000 job, the sales process is where most of the money is won or lost. Not the ad. Not the website. What happens between the first call and the signature.
The good news is that leaks in the process are the cheapest thing in your business to fix. The leads are already paid for.
The seven places it leaks
1. Answer fast. Call back or reply within five minutes. The first company to respond usually gets the visit. Wait until the end of the day and the homeowner has already booked someone else.
2. Show up like a pro. On time, branded, in uniform. Text a photo of who's coming before you arrive. The homeowner is letting a stranger into their house. Make it easy to say yes.
3. Inspect with the customer, not for them. Take photos and video of what you find. Walk them through it in plain words. People trust what they can see.
4. Give options. A good, better and best price. One price is a yes or no question. Three prices is a which one question, and people like to choose.
5. Offer financing on big jobs. A monthly payment can turn a no into a yes on a $15,000 foundation repair.
6. Offer the service plan with every job. It raises what the customer is worth to you and keeps you in their house for years.
7. Follow up every estimate that didn't close. Day 1, day 3, day 7, day 14, day 30. Most owners stop after one call. The ones who don't win jobs everyone else gave up on.
Find your biggest leak
Track three numbers by channel every month:
- Booking rate: good leads that turned into appointments
- Show rate: booked appointments that actually happened
- Close rate: appointments held that turned into jobs
A low booking rate is a speed or phone problem. A low show rate is a confirmation problem. A low close rate is an inspection, options or follow up problem. Each number points at a different fix.
Then track what got away
For every estimate that didn't close, write down why. Price, timing, went with a competitor, financing declined, never answered your follow up. After a few months, the pattern tells you exactly what to change.
Before you buy more leads
If your close rate is under 20%, more leads mostly means more money leaking out the same holes. Fix the process first. It's often the cheapest growth there is.
Here's what a good close rate looks like. The full sales process and the tracking worksheets are in our free playbook.
Not sure where your business stands yet? Our free Growth Ladder assessment takes about four minutes.
- Run It Like They Would, The Next Right Move (2026)
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