Plenty of good small businesses are better at the work than at winning it. If selling feels uncomfortable, or leads come and go without turning into jobs, start here.
Read the headings first. If one sounds like you, tick the signs underneath that fit your own business. Recognising the problem is the first step, and for some of these it is most of the work.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Enquiries arrive while you are doing paid work, so replies are slow and there is no routine for following up.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Selling gets pictured as pressure, when most buyers are simply waiting for someone to help them decide.
Read next
Guide coming soon.
Is this you?
Why it happens
If the quote gives the client nothing to compare except price, price is what they compare.
Read next
Guide coming soon.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Asking for the decision feels presumptuous, so the conversation ends without one.
Read next
Guide coming soon.
Is this you?
Why it happens
A reliable referral source makes marketing feel unnecessary, until it stops.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Boundaries were not set at the start, and every exception you allowed became the new normal.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Being good at the work does not make anyone aware of it, and trying every channel at once leaves none of them with enough effort to work.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Inboxes are full of automated outreach, so a message with no specific reason to talk now looks like one more of them.
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Guide coming soon.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Satisfied customers assume you are busy and do not recommend you unless asked, and a thin online listing means people searching nearby never find you.
Speed is the easiest edge a small business has over a bigger one. Have a quote ready to send the same day. If you lose track of which quotes are still open, Billbooks keeps every quote and its status in one list.
Read: why a fast estimate winsMore problems owners run into: cash, pricing and invoicing, books and expenses, mindset and growth, when things go wrong, tools. Or see every problem in one list.