Mike: Someone asked me this last week — and I think half of you are dealing with the same thing right now. He said, "Mike, I sent out fourteen estimates in June. Good leads. Real jobs. And eight of them just… went quiet. No yes, no no. Just nothing."
Chris: The ghost zone.
Mike: The ghost zone. And I asked him — what did your estimate look like? Was it one number? One option?
Chris: One price, take it or leave it.
Mike: One price. A PDF. No expiration date. No way to approve it online. And no deposit to hold the spot.
Chris: So the homeowner gets this PDF, sees one big number, doesn't know if it's high or low, puts the phone down, and says "I'll think about it."
Mike: "I'll think about it." Which means—
Chris: Which means they're calling somebody else. Or they're calling nobody. Either way, you lost the job without ever losing the job.
Mike: And the fix is not a better price. It's a better estimate.
Chris: Every estimate that sits unanswered past seven days is a crew slot you can't fill. In June, that's not an inconvenience — that's revenue you already earned the lead for and gave away for free. The shops closing at fifty, sixty percent right now are not better at the work. They're better at the estimate.
Mike: I'm Mike. That's Chris. Today we're building one reusable good-better-best estimate template — three options, a seven-day clock, one-tap online approval, and a ten percent deposit — and we're giving you the exact words your CSR says on the phone and your tech says at the kitchen table.
Chris: So let's talk about what's actually happening when an estimate goes quiet. Because most owners assume the customer found a cheaper price.
Mike: That's the default assumption. "They went with somebody cheaper."
Chris: And sometimes that's true. But more often — especially in busy season — the customer didn't choose somebody else. They chose nobody. They stalled. The estimate sat in their inbox, they got busy, the urgency faded, and now it's July and they still haven't fixed the thing.
Mike: I had a stretch last summer — sent out maybe twenty estimates in two weeks. Good jobs. AC replacements, duct work, a couple water heater swaps. And I kept checking the board waiting for approvals to come in. You know what came in?
Chris: How many?
Mike: Six. Out of twenty. And at least four of those other fourteen — I know they didn't go with a competitor. They just didn't go with anyone. I'd follow up and they'd say, "Oh yeah, we're still thinking about it." In August. For an AC replacement.
Chris: Still thinking about it. With no air conditioning.
Mike: Still thinking about it. And I'm sitting there wondering what I did wrong on the estimate. Was my price too high? Was my scope confusing?
Chris: And the answer is probably neither. The problem is the format. You gave them one number, one option, and an open-ended timeline. That's a recipe for indecision.
Mike: Okay, so walk me through why three options changes that.
Chris: There's a pricing strategist named Rafi Mohammed who wrote about this in Harvard Business Review. He calls it the good-better-best framework. The idea is simple — when you give someone three clearly different options, they stop asking "should I do this?" and start asking "which one should I pick?" That's a completely different mental question. One leads to action. The other leads to your estimate sitting in a drawer.
Mike: And most people pick the middle.
Chris: Most people pick the middle. That's the compromise effect — it's well-documented in behavioral research going back to the early two thousands. Three options, clearly differentiated, and the middle one feels safe. Not the cheapest, not the most expensive. The one that feels right.
Mike: Which, if you've priced it correctly, is the one you wanted them to pick anyway.
Chris: Exactly. And your average ticket goes up because some percentage — maybe fifteen, twenty percent — picks the best option. They were always going to spend more. You just never gave them the chance.
Mike: Okay, but I've seen guys do this badly. They put three options on a page and the customer calls back confused. "What's the difference between option two and option three? Why is this one eight hundred dollars more?"
Chris: That's the trap. If your three options aren't clearly different in scope and outcome, you've just created confusion. Good should be: safe and working today. Minimum scope. Better adds a meaningful upgrade — efficiency, comfort, extended warranty. Best is the full package. Highest efficiency, longest warranty, complete scope. Each one has to be a sentence the homeowner can repeat to their spouse.
Mike: A sentence they can repeat to their spouse. That's a good test.
Chris: If your tech can't explain the difference between the three options in thirty seconds at the kitchen table, the options aren't clear enough. Rewrite them.
Mike: All right, so we've got three options. Now what about the clock? Because I'll be honest — putting an expiration on an estimate feels aggressive.
Chris: It feels aggressive if you frame it as pressure. It doesn't feel aggressive if you frame it as price protection.
Mike: What do you mean?
Chris: Your material costs change. Your labor availability changes. In June, your schedule fills fast. So the expiration isn't "decide now or lose the deal." It's "we can hold this price and this availability for seven days." That's honest. That's true. And it gives the customer a reason to act this week instead of next month.
Mike: So it's not a countdown timer. It's a guarantee window.
Chris: A guarantee window. And here's the operational reason it matters — without an expiration, your open estimates pile up. You've got forty, fifty outstanding estimates and you have no idea which ones are real and which ones are dead. Your follow-up becomes random. Your board planning is a guess. A seven-day clock forces the estimate to resolve one way or the other. Yes, no, or expired. All three are better than "still thinking about it" in perpetuity.
Mike: How do you set that up in the software?
Chris: ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro both have a default expiration setting. In ServiceTitan, you go to Online Estimates in your settings and set the default expiration window to seven days. Every estimate link you send after that auto-expires. Housecall Pro — same idea. Settings, Estimates, there's an "expire after" field. Set it to seven days.
Mike: And Jobber?
Chris: Jobber's a little different. As of right now, Jobber doesn't have a native default expiration toggle the way the other two do. So the workaround is — you add "valid for seven days" language directly into your quote template, and then you set up an Automation to send a follow-up nudge on day six. It's one extra step, but it works.
Mike: So the customer gets a nudge the day before it expires.
Chris: Right. Something like — "Quick reminder, your options for the AC replacement expire tomorrow. Tap here to approve and lock your date." Short. One link. Done.
Chris: Now — the approval link. This is the piece that most shops skip, and it's the one that makes the biggest difference in how fast estimates close.
Mike: Because right now a lot of guys are still sending PDFs.
Chris: PDFs, or worse — they're telling the customer to call back when they're ready. That's two steps. Open the PDF, read it, then pick up the phone and call. Every step you add between "I want this" and "I approved this" costs you conversions.
Mike: So what's the alternative?
Chris: One link. The customer taps it on their phone, sees the three options laid out, picks one, signs with their finger, and they're done. ServiceTitan does this through their Online Estimates feature — you include the estimate link in your email or text template and the customer approves right there in the browser. Housecall Pro's Sales Proposal tool does the same thing — sends with an approve and e-sign link automatically. Jobber routes everything through Client Hub, and you toggle on "require client signatures" in your Quote Approvals settings.
Mike: And the customer doesn't have to download anything, create an account—
Chris: Nothing. Tap, pick, sign. That's it. And there's a case study from Radiant Plumbing and Air in Austin — vendor-sourced, so take it directionally — but they saw twenty-seven percent higher close rates on estimates that used a streamlined digital approval versus their standard process. Same company, same techs, same pricing. The only difference was how the estimate was presented and approved.
Mike: Twenty-seven percent. On the same jobs.
Chris: On the same jobs. Now, that's one company, one vendor's case study. But the direction is clear — reducing friction in the approval step moves the needle.
Mike: Okay. Now the deposit. This is the one I want to push back on.
Chris: Go ahead.
Mike: Because I've had customers get weird about deposits. Especially residential. They hear "deposit" and they think you're trying to lock them in or you don't trust them. And in a market where everybody's competing for the same homeowner — I don't want to be the guy who lost the job because I asked for a hundred bucks up front.
Chris: I hear that. And if you're asking for fifty percent up front on a diagnostic, yeah, that's going to scare people off. But ten percent on a job they've already approved? That's different. A four-thousand-dollar AC install — the deposit is four hundred bucks, applied to the total. You're not charging them extra. You're asking them to confirm they're serious.
Mike: And what does that actually do for the shop?
Chris: Two things. First, it filters. The customer who approves and puts down ten percent is showing up for the appointment. Your no-show rate on approved estimates drops. Second, it protects your schedule. You blocked a crew slot for that job. If the customer cancels the day before, you've got a deposit that covers the cost of the empty slot — or you let them reschedule and the deposit moves with the booking.
Mike: So the deposit follows the job, not the date.
Chris: The deposit follows the job. And that's the language your CSR uses — "the deposit goes toward the total and it follows your booking." It's not punitive. It's a scheduling commitment.
Mike: Okay. I can see that working at ten percent. I'd be nervous going higher on residential.
Chris: Ten percent is the right starting point for most residential work. Jobber's own guidance says ten to fifty percent depending on job size, but for friction-sensitive residential — AC, plumbing, electrical — start at ten. You can always adjust after you see how it lands.
Mike: All right. So we've got the template — three options, seven-day clock, online approval, ten percent deposit. Now how does the team actually present this? Because the template is useless if the CSR doesn't set it up right on the phone and the tech fumbles it at the kitchen table.
Chris: Right. So the CSR's job is to set expectations before the estimate ever arrives. When the customer calls, the CSR says something like — "We'll send you three options: a good, a better, and a best. Most folks pick the middle. The estimate's valid for seven days so you're not rushed but it doesn't drift. When you're ready, tap the approve link, pick your option, and place a small ten percent scheduling deposit that goes toward the total. If plans change, we can reschedule and the deposit follows your booking."
Mike: That's clean. No pressure, no sales language.
Chris: No sales language. Just logistics. And notice — the CSR said "most folks pick the middle." That's not manipulation. That's social proof. It tells the customer what to expect and makes the decision feel normal.
Mike: Now what about the tech? Because the tech is sitting at the kitchen table with the homeowner, and that's a different conversation.
Chris: Totally different. The tech's version sounds like this — "I priced this three ways. Good gets you safe and working today. Better adds the efficiency upgrade and extends the warranty. Best is quietest, most efficient, full scope. Most homeowners in homes like yours choose the middle. We can lock your date with a ten percent deposit now, or you can approve online later. Pricing holds for seven days."
Mike: "Homes like yours." That's a nice touch.
Chris: It's specific without being pushy. And the tech gives them two paths — approve now or approve later. No dead end. No "so what do you think?" hanging in the air.
Mike: Because "what do you think" is the worst close in the history of closing.
Chris: It's not a close. It's an invitation to stall.
Mike: And then the estimate goes out — email, text, or both?
Chris: Both, ideally. The email has the detail — "Hi, thanks for having us out, here are your three options, valid seven days, tap this one link to approve." The text is the nudge — "Your options are ready, tap here, valid seven days, ten percent deposit locks the schedule." One link in both. Not a PDF attachment. Not a "call us back." One link.
Mike: And if you're on ServiceTitan, that link is the online estimate link you set up in your templates. Housecall Pro sends it automatically with the proposal. Jobber routes to Client Hub.
Chris: Right. Each tool handles the link differently, but the customer experience is the same — tap, pick, sign, deposit, done.
Mike: Now — I want to come back to something. Because I can already hear the objection. "Three options is going to confuse my customers. They already take forever to decide on one price. Now I'm giving them three?"
Chris: That's the wrong way to think about it. The research on this is actually pretty clear. Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published a famous study — the jam study — showing that too many options paralyze people. Twenty-four flavors of jam, nobody buys. Six flavors, people buy. But three clearly different options with obvious tradeoffs? That's not overload. That's structure. You're not adding complexity. You're replacing confusion with a framework.
Mike: So the problem isn't options. The problem is unclear options.
Chris: The problem is always unclear options. If your good, better, and best all look similar and the customer can't tell why one costs more — yeah, you've made it worse. But if each tier is one sentence, one clear outcome, and one obvious step up from the last? You've made the decision easier, not harder.
Mike: And the seven-day clock — someone's going to say that feels like a used car lot. "Act now or the deal's gone."
Chris: And if you say it that way, it will feel like a used car lot. But you're not saying "act now." You're saying "we can hold this price for seven days." That's a service. Material prices shift. Your schedule fills. The expiration protects the customer as much as it protects you. And if they need more time? They can call and ask. You're not slamming a door. You're setting a window.
Mike: A window. Not a door.
Chris: A window. And the data backs this up — open-ended timelines increase non-decisions. A short, clear deadline with a reason behind it increases action. That's not sales pressure. That's behavioral science applied to your estimate workflow.
Mike: So — that guy I mentioned at the top. Fourteen estimates, eight ghosts. I told him to try this on his next ten. Three options, seven-day clock, one link, ten percent deposit. Same services. Same prices. Just a different format.
Chris: And?
Mike: He closed six out of ten. And two of the four he didn't close told him no within three days instead of disappearing for six weeks. So even the losses were clean.
Chris: That's the part people miss. A fast no is almost as valuable as a yes. Because now you know. You're not chasing a ghost. You're not holding a crew slot for a job that was never going to happen. Your board is real.
Mike: So here's the question for this week. Pull up your last ten estimates. How many of them had three clear options? How many had an expiration date? How many had a one-tap approval link? And how many asked for a deposit?
Chris: If the answer to any of those is zero, that's your project for this week. Pick your top service — whatever you sell the most of — and build one good-better-best template. Set the seven-day clock. Turn on online approval. Add the ten percent deposit. Train your CSR on the phone script and your lead tech on the kitchen-table talk track. And if you want the step-by-step for your specific tool — ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or Jobber — we put together the Three-Option Estimate Playbook. It's on the Resources page. Exact clicks, the talk tracks, and the email and text templates you can paste today.
Mike: Run it on your next ten estimates and see what happens. That's it for this week. I'm Mike.
Chris: I'm Chris. Go close something.