December, 2004

Estimating Services Let Salespeople Focus on Selling

Using off-site estimating services has helped several companies maintain their competitive edge and free up salespeople’s time to focus on their main tasks.

By Craig A. Shutt

At Spencer Home Center in Lexington, Va., plans are sent to Greenville, S.C.-based Enterprise Computer Systems, which performs the takeoff service and returns the plans. "For a straightforward ranch home, we’d do the estimating ourselves,” says president Eric Spencer. "But for anything more complicated, we send it out.” Spencer began using the service after he realized that his salespeople were spending a significant amount of time doing the estimates.

The Enterprise system requires the store to send the plans with a basic filled-in form to the company.

The system includes a custom database for each user, which contains specific item numbers, phases, assemblies and delivery loads. The completed estimate is finished in three, five or seven days depending on the level of service desired. It can be deposited into the company’s point-of-sale system as a quote via the Internet or returned via fax or e-mail.

Spencer considered buying Enterprise’s estimating software, he says, but the low number of plans the company estimates (about three per month) didn’t make it cost-effective. The Enterprise system, which bases its costs on turnaround time, works better, giving him estimates in less than five days at seven cents per square foot. "The takeoff is accurate and includes products and delivery logistics, which makes it more efficient,” he says.

Interstate Lumber in Greenwich, Conn., uses the Enterprise service as well as a local freelance estimator. The estimator worked for Interstate prior to starting his own business and supplements his work with Interstate’s estimates. "We find both are accurate, and our older salespeople use the freelancer, because they know him, while the newer ones prefer Enterprise,” says Gary Schneidman, the company’s CFO and controller. His company does nearly 30 takeoffs per month, requiring the use of outside aid.

Interstate uses Enterprise’s automatic delivery system to receive estimates into its computer, while Spencer rekeys the information.

"It takes very little time at that point, and it allows our outside salesperson to review it for accuracy,” says Spencer. The software added to the expense of Interstate’s system, Schneidman says, but it saves the rekeying effort and eliminates potential errors. Using the outside services, either a freelancer or Enterprise, offers significant advantages, both agree.

"It allows our outside salespeople to focus more time on selling,” says Spencer. It also eliminates the labor and benefit expense of an employee devoted to estimating. "Our customer satisfaction improved, too, because we were able to guarantee the timing on estimates,” he points out. "It works well for us, because I know the software they’re using; we just don’t use it directly.”