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So you’ve done the hard part, you’ve been called up to give a quote for a job, but how do you make it look professional?

Getting customers to ring you to quote for a job is hard, but dealing with quotes makes it even more difficult. It’s time consuming, and you’d rather be doing other things, but here we give you 5 easy ways to create a quote that looks professional and help you bag the job.

• Presentation – Gone are the days where a hand written quote is the normal. Customers appreciate a well presented piece of paperwork. You can easily create a template in Word to save time, or sign up with us for a 3o day free trial!
• Logo – it doesn’t have to be fancy, but you’d be surprised at how much of an impression this creates on your customers.
• Brag a little – put a testimonial on your quote, or even send a few with with your quote to your customer. It’s reassuring, and again makes a good impression.
  
• Break it down – one way to gain trust and win work is to break everything down on your quote and even add short explanations if needs be. Customers will thank you for not treating them like an idiot and it makes the quote easy reading for them, another big bonus point for you!
• Time – Speed is your friend. Get your quote finished before your competitors do. It shows an effort and dedication to the job to your customers too for getting them the quote so quickly, so even if you can’t fit them in straight away to do the work, you’ve already won them over.

Stick to these 5 tips and you’ll be able to knock out a professional looking quote in no time!

Heating engineers and plumbers all know it’s important to advise boiler work during the summer.

But why is this?

Continuing in our guest blog series, Glenn Layzell from Swale Heating tells us why it’s important to recommend boiler work to customers during the summer.

For most home owners, the summer is a time to enjoy the rare sunshine without the need to worry about things such as their central heating.

With money likely to be tight in most households with things like upcoming summer holidays to fund, it can naturally be tough to successfully persuade potential customers to dive into their bank accounts to spend money on their central heating system at this point in the calendar year.

However, as many installers are no doubt already all too aware, the summer is the perfect opportunity to do any planned work to an individual’s heating system.

Why is this?

Well the main reason is that the whole experience is a lot less stressful when the weather outside is nice.

When the sun is out, people’s heating systems are more likely to be switched off, removing the critical demand for a fully functioning central heating system. There will of course still be a disruption to the levels of hot water available in the property if you are repairing or installing a new boiler, however this is a lot more manageable in the summer. It is generally the cold outside conditions that play a part in heightening the importance of a central heating job more, especially for households with young children or elderly residents.

It can therefore be hugely beneficial for heating engineers to promote the benefits of doing any installation, repair or service work in the summer.

It is obviously not always possible, but if a homeowner can set aside some budget or afford to pay for any planned central heating work during the spring/summer months then it also leaves you as a heating engineer with more time to work on emergency repair and installation jobs that require more immediate attention during the colder weather months.

This can remove any potential disruptions during busy periods and will ultimately improve the customer service levels, something that will benefit everyone involved.

Planning

Planning, as with most things in life, can make things a lot easier in the long run and this certainly applies to heating system work. If you can get this point over to any potential customers then you will be able to benefit from happier customers, improved customer service as well as filling your calendar with jobs during the spring/summer months when work is more likely to be harder to come by.

As things stand, popular boiler manufacturers such as Worcester Bosch and Vaillant are offering extended warranty period of 5 years as standard (with greater warranty periods available for advanced installers) on popular boiler models. With Worcester’s offer due to end on 30^th June, this can also act as an extra incentive for customers to get any new boiler installation work done and dusted.

Your customers can then lay back in the deck chairs while on holiday, safe in the knowledge that they can rely on their heating system when they need to later in the year.

About the author

Glenn Layzell works for Swale Heating who have over 40 years’ experience in providing great value new boiler installations and central heating repairs in Kent & Sussex.

Want to guest blog for us?

If you’d like to guest blog from us drop an email to emma@yourtradebase.com  to get featured!

Whether you’re a sparky who’s seen everything or new to the game here is a refresher to invoicing.

Invoicing. It’s that painful piece of paperwork for any job, so we’ve put together a simple list for you to know exactly what you SHOULD include, and some are what you MUST include on your electricians invoices.

Here is what  you SHOULD include –

• Presentation – Gone are the days where a hand written invoice is the norm. customers appreciate a well presented piece of paperwork, and it gives a great impression of your company (along with the good work of course). You can easily set up a template in Word to help you save a bit of time doing this, or of course signing up to YourTradebase for a 30 day free trial!
• A company email address – They’re easy to set up, it gives one contact point for your customers to email, and you look professional – all from a free email account!
• Your payment details – Not only does this speed up the process of payment for you, but again gives the impression of a well oiled machine that is your business.
• Logo – It doesn’t have to be fancy, but you’d be surprised at how much of an impression this makes on your customers.
• Due date of payment – It shows you mean business, and you run your company like one too. So make sure you clearly set out a proper payment schedule to each and every one of your customers (even if it’s a standard one you blanket use for all of them).

If you’re VAT registered here is what you MUST include –

• The amount of VAT on each line of the invoice and the VAT rate charge
• OR
• The total amount of VAT on the invoice and the rate of VAT applied to all items
• Your VAT number
• If you’re a limited registered company you MUST include your company name
• The time of supply (also known as tax point) if this is different from the invoice date

A bonus sparky tip –

And here is just one last tip for you – stick the 5 MUST include rules for your invoices on a post-it note (if you’re VAT registered), and put it somewhere on your desk. So the next time your invoicing for a client you can easily whip it out and know exactly what you need to include!

If you have any suggestions of topics you’d like to see in our blog email emma@yourtradebase.com, alternatively keep up to date with what we’re doing on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

We’ve got sparky’s covered with our electricians software packages. Try YourTradebase free for 30 days.

Still a bit unsure on what you SHOULD and NEED to include on your builders invoices?

Paperwork is stressful at the best of times, so we’ve put together a simple list so you to know exactly what you NEED to include, and what you SHOULD include, so you never have to wonder again!

Here is what you SHOULD include –

• Presentation – Gone are the days where a hand written invoice is the norm. customers appreciate a well presented piece of paperwork, and it gives a great impression of your company (along with the good work of course). You can easily set up a template in Word to help you save a bit of time doing this, or of course signing up to YourTradebase for a 30 day free trial!
• Logo – It doesn’t have to be fancy, but you’d be surprised at how much of an impression this makes on your customers.
• A company email address – They’re easy to set up, it gives one contact point for your customers to email, and you look professional – all from a free email account!
• Due date of payment – It shows you mean business, and you run your company like one too. So make sure you clearly set out a proper payment schedule to each and every one of your customers (even if it’s a standard one you blanket use for all of them).
• Your payment details – Not only does this speed up the process of payment for you, but again gives the impression of a well oiled machine that is your business.

Here are a list of what you MUST include if you’re VAT registered…

• The amount of VAT on each line of the invoice and the VAT rate charge
• OR
• The total amount of VAT on the invoice and the rate of VAT applied to all items

• Your VAT number
• If you’re a limited registered company you MUST include your company name
• The time of supply (also known as tax point) if this is different from the invoice date

And here is just one last tip for you – stick the 5 MUST include rules for your invoices on a post-it note, and put it somewhere on your desk. So the next time your invoicing for a garden wall, or a conservatory to can easily whip it out and know exactly what you need to include!

Check out our online software for builders that helps make this easy! Or better still, grab one of our builders invoice template to get you started

If you have any suggestions of topics you’d like to see in our blog email emma@yourtradebase.com, alternatively keep up to date with what we’re doing on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

Is the Yellow Pages any use any more?

Or is it just an expensive dinosaur in this digital age? Well our guest blogger Double Glazing Blogger is asking just that!

To Stay In Yellow Pages Or Not Stay In Yellow Pages? 

That is the question. It is directory book advertising renewal time and I am seriously doubting the impact that these books, such as Yellow Pages, BT Phonebook and Thompson Local have now.

When I started seven years ago, just before online advertising really took off, I can remember taking lead after lead from these directories. As well as from word of mouth and recommendation of course! But now, I’ll be lucky if I make one lead every 3 months out of those tired old books! And they’re not cheap either!

Yellow Pages is by far the most expensive of them all.

You can quite easily spend thousands in there and not see any sort of return on your investment. Thompson Local is quite a bit cheaper but again, any sort of ROI is highly unlikely. So, the debate in the office was whether we ditch all paper advertising altogether and focus on other means such as online and vans etc, or do something smaller in the Yellow Pages and ditch the rest. My own personal view is that we should come out of them totally and focus on web advertising and website expansion. I just don’t see the point when we now probably make just a half-dozen Yellow Pages leads per year.

The argument against pulling out.

The argument against that was about image. If we’re not in the books in some way people might think we have gone bust. Plus, the elderly aren’t online, well some are but not all. How else would they find us if they still use the directories as a means of finding products and services?

I argued that there are far more silver surfers out there than we appreciate and if they really wanted to find our details they would. Probably via a family members’ smart phone! Print advertising is really in it’s last throes is some cases, especially directories. I cannot think of the last time either myself, or mum and dad went to the Yellow Pages to look up something. We have always gone to Google. So I guess that is the question we have to ask ourselves if we are to solve the debate: if we’re not looking in them, who is?

The web.

Over the past few months we have put more emphasis on our website, given it a full re-design and brought it right up to date. In fact, I think our company site is one of the best out there now! It has more than paid off, with traffic, leads and sales all going up since we focused more on it. Which I think is proof in the pudding that online does genuinely work better that directories!

You can read comments on the full blog, or take a look through Double Glazing Blogger’s other topics too.

Thanks Double Glazing Blogger!

If you’d like to be involved and write for a guest blog for us drop us an email, not only does it help out fellow tradesmen, but will we also give links back to your website or business!

Take a look at our other blogs, or let us know what you think on our Facebook and Twitter!

Competition amongst tradesmen is tough these days.

And you have to be more savvy now than ever to create a good reputation for your company. So here are our top 5 tips to create a more professional looking tradesman’s invoice that will help you build a good reputation, and turn your company into a well oiled machine!

1. Presentation

Gone are the days where a hand written invoice is the norm. customers appreciate a well presented piece of paperwork, and it gives a great impression of your company (along with the good work of course). You can easily set up a template in Word to help you save a bit of time doing this, or of course signing up to YourTradebase for a 14 day free trial!

2. Logo

It doesn’t have to be fancy, but you’d be surprised at how much of an impression this makes on your customers.

3. A company email address

They’re easy to set up, it gives one contact point for your customers to email, and you look professional – all from a free email account!

4. Due date of payment

It shows you mean business, and you run your company like one too. So make sure you clearly set out a proper payment schedule to each and every one of your customers (even if it’s a standard one you blanket use for all of them).

5. Your payment details.

Not only does this speed up the process of payment for you, but again gives the impression of a well oiled machine that is your business.

If you want some more tips and help with ways to deal with estimates, quotes, invoice, and managing your jobs take a look at our guides section. Also you can keep up to date with us via our Twitter and Facebook channels.

YourTradebase is a company created by a tradesman for tradesmen.

So we’re always happy to hear feedback from our users, whether it’s good or bad, so we can improve YourTradebase to work even better for our users.

Here is one of our users – Robert Homer, who works as a fascia and soffit installer, giving his reasons why he uses YourTradebase –

“I have been using yourtradebase for about 4 months now and find it very useful indeed.  I particularly love the dashboard function as helps me stay on top of where I am with each customer and the associated paperwork, especially when I am brain dead after a hard days graft”

If you’re a user of YourTradebase and you want to give us your thoughts drop Dean an email – dean@yourtradebase.com and you could see yourself up here!

If you want to see why Robert find YourTradebase helpful sign up for a FREE 14 day trial.

When it comes to VAT, invoices can get a little confusing.

So we’ve made it easy for you with the 5 thing you NEED to include if you’re VAT registered and invoicing a customer –

1. The amount of VAT on each line of the invoice and the VAT rate charge
   OR 
2. The total amount of VAT on the invoice and the rate of VAT applied to all items
3.  Your VAT number
4. If you’re a limited registered company you MUST include your company name
   
5. The time of supply (also known as tax point) if this is different from the invoice date

Think about writing these down on a post-it somewhere and sticking it above your desk so you can easily and quickly refer to it if you’re unsure about something.

Want more hints and tips on how to manage your paperwork and jobs? Take a look at our guides section, or keep up to date with what YourTradebase is doing via Twitter or Facebook.

Customising, sending, and printing your paperwork.

Looking professional can help every Tradesman win more work. It gives the customer much more confidence in you if paperwork looks professional giving you an edge over your competitors, as well as giving you pride in your work.

YourTradebase is not only designed to help you organise your jobs and paperwork, but to also help you win more work. And our options for designing and sending your paperwork, will help you do exactly that.

You can now customise your paperwork in every way, letting you have complete control over how you want your paperwork to look. From where your logo features and layout, to whether you show full prices can all be changed to exactly how you want your customers to see it.

You can also decide how you want to send your paperwork. You can easily print, email or download your paperwork all from YourTradebase itself, so there’s no hassle involved.

These new features in the new YourTradebase are all about ensuring that YourTradebase works for you. To help you effectively and easily manage your workload and jobs, in a way that suits you.

You can sign up for a FREE 14 day trial, we don’t ask for credit card numbers, and there are no catches, just 14 days absolutely free to try out our service. You can also keep up to date on everything that is going on at YourTradebase on our blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

This is the second in our guest blog series.

This week Tom Key from DirectHeatingSupplies gives his recommendations for all you plumbers and heating specialists out there for choosing the right radiator for your customers.

Radical Radiator Efficiency Levels

With heating bills soaring and more awareness being raised about the environmental impact of energy wastage, it is easy to see why more homeowners are placing greater importance on finding an efficient heating solution for their property

Although factors such as insulation and usage obviously pay a big part, ultimately it is the products installed within the property that end up having the biggest impact on the efficiency levels in the property.

So for example, it may be worth recommending that customers who haven’t done so already move to a new condensing boiler model. This can pass a £300 heating bill saving over the homeowner.

Heating controls are also a fantastic way to ensure homeowners are able to control the temperature of their home, ensuring they can reach premium efficiency levels if they so wish. With a decrease of around 1 degree offering savings between 1-3% from an annual heating bill, it is certainly something a lot of property owners are now looking at.

Away from your boiler, the quality of the radiators installed across your home can also play an enormous part in the levels of heating efficiency in the property.

A lot of radiators lose valuable heat energy through the wall that faces the back of the radiator. Stelrad’s new Radical range of radiators looks to combat this. It is able to produce more than 50% more radiant heat than other radiator ranges by pushing it into the room via the front radiator panels rather than losing it to the outside wall.

The Radical range therefore has energy saving built into the very fabric its design. There are 132 radiators in the range in total and they vary depending on:

• Size: heights of 300 – 600mm & widths between 400mm-2000mm,
• Style: K1 and K2 rads both available) and
• Pipework connection: angled and straight H block connections available in both 10mm and 15mm sizes.

All 132 radiators in the Radical series fix up to the central connection located at the bottom of the radiator. This can be beneficial for those installers looking to lay pipework prior to purchasing the radiators (or them being delivered) as it removes the need to know the exact radiator size in advance.

The radiator comes with a Thermostatic Radiator Valve that can be utilised on the left or right side of the radiator, removing the requirement to change the flow of water or return pipework. These TRVs allow the homeowner to dictate how much water can flow into the radiator, allowing them to run the radiator at a level that looks to maintain strong energy efficiency levels.

Your customers will be happy too as the Radical Radiators come with a 10 year manufacturer warranty in the event that they stop working as expected.

Stelrad genuinely believe this is a radical step in the right direction (hence the name) so if you have a customers who is adamant that they want an economical, efficient central heating solution, you may not need to look much further than the latest range of Stelrad radiators.

About the writer: Tom Key works for Direct Heating Supplies, retailers of cheap radiators and new boilers nationwide.

Remember if you’d like to guest blog for us then just drop an email to emma@yourtradebase.com . It can be anything from tips and anecdotes from working with customers to trade regulations you think fellow tradesmen need to know about.

Keep up to date with what’s going on at YourTradebase on our blog, Facebook and Twitter.

This is a new feature to our blog, where we will have both tradesmen and trade companies as guest bloggers.

They will range from advice, hints and tips to anecdotes about customers. So if you’d like to be involved and write for us email emma@yourtradebase.com, and you can be our next guest blogger!

To kick off the very first guest blog is Andy Crichton, a specialist painter and decorator who runs his traditional painter website. Andy and fellow Traditional Painters offer their services around the UK, hand-painting kitchens and furniture, wallpapering, emulsioning, specifying materials, offering tuition, and even painting wooden boats. They have seen it all.

Here is Andy’s contribution –

There are several themes that keep coming up from disgruntled decorators:

• Don’t share your secrets else everyone will do it and you will lose out.
  Blogs on construction based websites are for solving problems, telling people something they may not know, or showing case studies of work. I had a few things to share, spent hours every night for weeks and months on the site and eventually the content was read in sufficient numbers by people in my area and work came in.It is sad how many really good tradesmen and women are sat at home because they won’t give their knowledge away and embrace smarter and more in depth presentation ideas, unlike the tradesman who has all that “basic” information ready for potential clients, for free.

• Websites can say anything, so people don’t believe what they read.
  I have read a lot of articles and visited sites of tradespeople I know. I know them and their work, and some aren’t always being truthful. I was always brought up to under promise and over deliver, and so I could deliver what I promoted on my site.Being able to practice what you preach is sometimes overlooked, and online marketers often fabricate to impress. But when it comes to the crunch, if you say you know what you are doing online, but in real life you are clueless, your credibility will be out the window – because the downside of the internet is that dissatisfied customers can express their disappointment to a LOT of people quickly.

• Almost no decorators have a solid web presence that brings in work.
  Most who are online have been ripped off and are paying monthly fees for sites that are glorified brochures, not sales generators. Tradesmen who see the value of a good website, and use a blog to help potential clients to understand what is involved, will have a lot more calls coming in, than if they just relied on the old ways of marketing. And if they do it themselves, the internet marketing path is much more affordable than the printer and magazine ad days.This is the sort of approach I took, and now encourage my kitchen painter colleagues to do too.

Andy Crichton

Thanks Andy for your contribution!

Take a look at our other blogs, or let us know what you think on our Facebook and Twitter!

Our new task system is now up and running in YourTradebase!

Whilst we already had tasks as part of the YourTradebase offering, we’ve now tweaked it to work even better for you.

In the new task system everything to do with paperwork is automatic, so you don’t have to spend time creating tasks for yourself. So for instance if you create a quote and save it as a draft, a task is then automatically generated to remind you that you have to send it to your customer. After you’ve sent a quote, a task is then generated to remind you to chase it up! So it’ll even help you win more work.

This new task system works for all areas of the paperwork side to YourTradebase. So it’ll automatically remind you if an invoice hasn’t been paid (not that money is easily forgotten about!). If it hasn’t been sent. If there is a estimate that hasn’t been followed up. We like to think it’s a friendly reminder that can help things run a bit more smoothly, and make sure that you never forget a thing!

All of these tasks are shown on your dashboard. So when you logs in, you can get an instant overview of jobs and paperwork that need your attention.

As well as this, we’ve also added the function to ‘remind later’ your tasks. So if you’ve logged on to YourTradebase to create new quotes, and not send invoices; this ‘remind later’ means you can set it to tomorrow, the next day, or next week.

Of course you can still create tasks for yourself. From reminding yourself to buy supplies, or call your plasterer to ask him about a job you have on. But by having this new task system automatically take care of your paperwork, it can help you save even more time!

To stay up to date on all of our news, take a look at our Facebook and Twitter pages, or blog.