A video call handles first conversations, rough assessments and design discussions well. It handles measuring, condition assessment and anything requiring touch badly, and knowing which is which is the whole skill.

What a call can replace

The first visit is frequently a conversation with a look around attached.

Establishing what somebody wants, whether you are the right business for it, roughly what it will cost, and whether you get on. None of that requires being in the room.

The looking-around part sometimes does and sometimes does not, which is the judgement.

For a business doing several first visits a week, each costing an hour of travel either side, moving even half of them to a call returns a working day.

What it handles well

The second is the one that changes the economics most. Ten minutes on a call establishing that a job is outside somebody's budget saves the two-hour round trip that would have established the same thing.

What it handles badly

Being clear about this matters, because a bad remote quote is worse than a good visit.

Measuring, unless the customer is competent and you accept the risk. Condition, particularly damp, rot, or anything requiring touch or smell. Access, which cameras flatten and make look easier than it is.

Levels and slopes, which a phone camera disguises almost entirely. And anything structural, where being wrong is expensive.

The rule that works: use a call to decide whether to visit, not to replace the visit on anything you would be held to.

A worked example

A kitchen designer doing three or four first visits a week, each around two hours including travel.

He moved first conversations to video: twenty minutes, the customer walking through the space with a phone, discussing what they wanted and what it might cost.

About a third of those did not proceed, having established that budget and expectation did not meet. Those were previously two-hour visits ending politely.

The remainder became visits, but better ones, because he arrived knowing the brief and the rough scale and could spend the time measuring properly rather than starting from nothing.

He recovered roughly a day a week, and the quotes he produced were more accurate because the visit was doing one job rather than three.

The customers preferred it as well, because a twenty-minute call was easier to fit in than an appointment.

Making the call work

The practical part, since most of the failures are logistical.

Send a link that works without an account or an app installation. Anything requiring the customer to sign up loses a proportion of them before you start.

Confirm the day before with the link repeated. Say how long it will take and what you would like to see, so they can be in the right place.

Ask them to use a phone rather than a laptop if they need to walk around, and warn them that reception in a basement or a garden may be poor.

And have a fallback: if the video fails, continue on the phone rather than rescheduling.

The counter-case

Where insisting on a call costs you work.

Customers who are uncomfortable with video, which is a substantial minority and not confined to any age group. Offering it as an option is fine; requiring it is not.

High-value work where the visit itself is part of the sale, and turning up demonstrates seriousness in a way a call cannot.

And anything where the customer wants to size you up before letting you into their home, which is entirely reasonable and better served by meeting.

The right position is offering both and letting the customer choose, with a preference stated rather than a requirement imposed.

Quoting from a call

Worth its own care, because this is where remote assessment goes wrong.

Quote a range rather than a figure, and say plainly what would change it. Be explicit that the quote is based on what you were shown and is subject to confirmation on site.

List your assumptions in writing: that the surface is sound, that access is as shown, that there is nothing behind the wall.

That is not covering yourself defensively. It is telling the customer what you could not see, which is information they need in order to trust the figure.

Recording and notes

An advantage of calls that visits do not have.

With permission, a recording gives you something to review when writing the quote, and resolves later disagreements about what was discussed.

Ask first, always, and say what you will use it for and when you will delete it. Most people agree readily.

Even without recording, taking screenshots of what you were shown, with permission, gives you a reference that a site visit relying on memory and a notebook does not.

How it changes what you charge for

A consequence worth thinking through before offering calls freely.

A business that charged for site visits, or absorbed them as a cost of quoting, now has a cheaper way to do the first stage.

Some businesses pass that saving on, offering free consultations they previously charged for. Others keep the price and improve the margin.

What is worth avoiding is devaluing the visit itself. If a site survey is genuinely skilled work that produces a document the customer keeps, it is worth charging for whether it happens in person or not.

The call is a cheaper way to have the first conversation. It is not a reason to give away the assessment that follows it.

What to keep as a visit

Deciding this deliberately is what makes the arrangement work.

Anything you will be held to a fixed price on. Anything structural or safety-related. Anything where the customer needs to meet you before deciding.

And any job above a value where the cost of being wrong exceeds the cost of the trip, which is a number worth working out for your own business.

Below that line, a call is sufficient and considerably cheaper for both of you, which is the whole argument.

How to quote from what a customer sends you is covered next, and it has the same limits.

Frequently asked questions

What can a video call replace?

Understanding the brief, qualifying budget and timescale, rough assessment, design conversations, progress updates and follow-ups.

What does it handle badly?

Measuring, condition assessment involving touch or smell, access which cameras flatten, levels and slopes, and anything structural.

What is the rule?

Use a call to decide whether to visit, not to replace a visit on anything you would be held to a fixed price on.

How do I make the call work?

Send a link that needs no account or app, confirm the day before, ask them to use a phone if walking around, and continue by voice if video fails.

When does insisting on a call cost me work?

With customers uncomfortable on video, on high-value work where turning up is part of the sale, and where somebody wants to size you up first.

How should I quote from a call?

A range rather than a figure, with your assumptions listed in writing and a clear statement that it is subject to confirmation on site.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Driving two hours to establish somebody's budget?

A twenty-minute call does that, and the visits you keep become better ones.

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