Ask the Experts | Overcoming the 3 Bid Objection

Question: The objection of “Getting 3 Bids” is our biggest challenge to overcome. Customers still seem to be persistent about speaking with additional contractors no matter what we say. How can we overcome this challenge?

Weldon Long; EGIA faculty member and NY Times Bestselling Author:

This is a question we deal with a lot, especially on marketed leads. In my experience, it’s a little bit less of an issue on tech turnover leads. I have a client that virtually has no marketed leads. They run thousands of tech turnover leads all year and rarely ever have to deal with the three bid objection.

For those of us that depend on marketed leads, it’s one of the biggest challenges we face. But you handle it the way you handle any objection – you have to deal with it proactively. you know that your homeowner is probably thinking about three bids if you’re there on a marketed lead, especially if it’s from one of these electronic digital lead sources – like Angie’s List – where you know it went to at least two other contractors.

So, overcoming the three bid objection is the same strategy we use for any objection, whether it be price, “I want to think about it,” or whatever it is, we have to deal with it proactively. I’d encourage everyone to take a look at the sales training as part of EGIA’s 10 Core Curriculum.

Specifically, there is a video training on the kitchen table sales process where we talk in detail about how to overcome the three bid objection because it’s obviously a common problem in the industry. And the key is, you have to have the conversation ahead of time.

If you go through the training, you’ll see that there’s a basic conversation to bring up the issue and illustrate the fact that getting three bids does not protect them. One of the central questions that we ask in that conversation is, “Have you ever known anybody who got three bids for a project on their home and still had a problem with the contractor?”

Most people have had that experience or know of somebody that has had that experience. Three bids doesn’t protect people. What protects people is a company that they can rely on – a company who will stand behind their services and their installations.

The key thing is not to wait until the homeowner brings it up. If it comes up at the very end of your sales presentation, then you’re in a situation where you can sound a little bit defensive, like you’re just thinking about it.

I like to deal with it head on, very early on in the sales presentation. I like to have an honest conversation about three bids. I call it the three bid myth because I think it’s a myth that permeates our industry both from the homeowner side and from the contractor side. Because if you think you’d probably want to get three bids, you’re probably not going to be very successful at dissuading them from getting three bids.

In most cases, they’ll say they’d choose your company, which gives you a little bit more ammunition to address the three bids objection if you run into it at the end of your sales presentation.

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