What to do about callers who only want a price over the phone

When a caller only wants a price over the phone, give them something true and then offer a next step. For work that really is fixed, say the fixed price. For anything else, give an honest range, say what moves it, and offer a time to come and look, with a written price before any work starts. Take their name and number whatever they decide.

A caller who opens with "how much?" is not wasting your time. They are a customer at the very start of making up their mind, and how that first answer sounds decides whether you get the chance to price the job properly. This guide is written with plumbers in mind, but the same thinking holds for any trade where no two jobs are quite alike.

Why do callers ask for a price before anything else?

Because they have been told to. Citizens Advice tells people getting work done on their home to try to get written quotes from at least three different traders before deciding, and not to rely on a verbal quote. A caller ringing round for prices is doing what the consumer advice says, not trying to catch you out.

That is only one kind of price caller, though. There are others, and each needs a slightly different answer:

• The budget check. They want to know whether this is a small bill or a big one before they take a morning off work to let somebody in.
• The landlord or letting agent. They need a figure to approve, or to pass on to an owner, before anything can be booked.
• The genuinely simple job. Some jobs really can be priced on the phone, and the caller is right to ask.
• The pure price shopper. They will take the lowest number they hear, and nothing you say will change that.

Only the last one is a caller you cannot win, and the same short conversation will tell you which of the four you have.

Is a price over the phone a quote?

Be careful with the words, because customers are told they matter. Citizens Advice explains the difference like this: a quote is a fixed price, so the customer knows what they are getting and what it will cost, while an estimate is a rough guess, so they might end up paying more.

A figure given on the phone for a job nobody has seen is an estimate, and it should be called one. "It is normally somewhere between this and this, and I would give you a proper price once I have seen it" is honest. "It will be this" becomes a promise the moment the caller writes it down, and it is the job you have not seen that turns out to have a seized valve behind the panel.

What can you honestly say about price over the phone?

More than nothing, and less than a quote. Four things are nearly always safe to say.

Your fixed charges

If you charge to come out, charge for the first hour, or have a set price for a standard job, say it plainly. A fixed charge is the one number you can give with total confidence, and hiding it only means an awkward conversation on the doorstep.

A range, with what moves it

For the jobs you do every week, you already know the spread. A dripping tap might be a washer or might be a new tap. A leak under a sink might be a loose fitting or a split pipe in a cupboard nobody can reach. Give the range and name the two or three things that decide where in it the job lands. The caller hears that you know the work, and a range with reasons sounds very different from a guess.

What a visit costs, and what it gets them

If the job cannot be priced blind, say what happens instead: you come and look, and they get a written price before anything is done. If the visit is free, say so. If it is charged, say that too, and whether it comes off the bill when they go ahead.

What you will not price without seeing

Some work should never get a figure on the phone: a leak with no visible source, anything behind a wall or under a floor, a full bathroom. Saying "I would be guessing, and I do not want to guess with your money" is a better answer than a number you will have to walk back.

Which questions turn a price call into a booking?

Answer the price question first. A caller who feels dodged hangs up. Then ask a few questions of your own, because the answers tighten the range and move the call on:

• What exactly is happening? "Dripping from the spout" and "dripping from underneath" are different jobs at different prices.
• Can you send a photo? A picture by text often narrows a range enough to be useful, and a caller who sends one has made their first commitment to you.
• How soon does it need doing? An urgent job is decided on who can come, not on who is cheapest.
• Where is the property? It tells you whether the job is yours at all before anybody spends more time on it.

Then make the offer, with a real time in it. "I can come on Thursday morning, have a look, and give you a written price before I touch anything." A caller comparing three voices on the phone now has one of them offering a date, and that can matter more than a slightly lower number from somebody who never follows up.

What does a good price call sound like?

Below is an invented example, between a caller and a one-person plumbing business, to show the moves above working together:

• Caller: "How much do you charge to fix a leaking tap?"
• Plumber: "There is a fixed charge to come out, and that covers the first half hour. A washer or a cartridge is done well inside that. If the tap itself needs replacing, it is the charge plus the tap, and I can tell you which it is once I have seen it."
• Caller: "So you cannot give me an exact price?"
• Plumber: "Not without guessing, and I would rather not guess. Is it dripping from the spout or from around the base?"
• Caller: "The spout. It is the kitchen one."
• Plumber: "That points to the washer or the cartridge, so it is more likely to be the smaller figure. If you text me a photo of the tap I can be surer. I could look at it Thursday morning, and you would know the price before I start."

Nothing in that call was a quote, and nothing in it was a dodge. The caller got a real number, a reason for the range, a question that showed the plumber knew the job, and a date. Written down in a script, it is also a call anybody answering your phone could handle the same way.

When should you let a price caller go?

When it is clear there is no job for you in it. The caller who says outright that they are going with the cheapest. The job outside where you travel. The work you do not take on. Be quick, be polite, and give them your fixed charges anyway, so that if they ring round and cannot get anybody to turn up, your number is the one with a real price attached.

Keep the details even then. A name, a number and a line about the job cost nothing to write down, and a caller who went elsewhere and was let down has a reason to ring back.

Should prices go on your website?

The ones you would say on the phone, yes. Fixed charges and "from" prices for standard work answer the question before the phone ever rings, which means fewer calls from people who were never going to book, and more calls from people who have already seen your figures and are ringing to arrange a time.

Only publish a "from" price that a real job can actually come in at. A headline figure nobody ever pays is the fastest way to start a call on the wrong foot.

What if somebody else answers your phone?

Then your rules on price need to be written down, because the person answering cannot read your mind and should never be left to invent a figure. Which jobs get a fixed price, which get a range, which get a visit, and what that visit costs.

At Reception Hub those rules are agreed with you during setup, and callers hear your prices in your words and nothing you have not approved. Answering the price question and taking the full details is on every plan. Sorting genuine enquiries from the ones you do not want, and booking the visit into your diary during the call, start at Growth. Chasing up written quotes you have already sent is part of Premium. The four plans sit side by side on the pricing page. For the rest of what a plumber gets, from emergency calls to jobs booked while you are under a sink, see our answering service for plumbers. Builders pricing larger jobs from a site visit will find their version on the answering service for builders page.

To talk through how your price calls could be handled, ring 01709 222834, or leave your details for a call back. There is a free seven-day trial, and no card is needed to start it.