"Just Send Me a Price": Handling Price-First Enquiries

"Just send me a price" is a test, not a question

It's 7:14am, you're loading the ute, and a text lands: "How much to fix a leaking tap?" No address, no photo, no name. Answer with a number and you've handed a stranger a stick to beat your quote down with. Ignore it and you look slow. There's a third move, and it wins more jobs at better margins.

Price-first enquiries are the lowest-converting, highest-effort leads you'll handle. The person leading with price usually hasn't decided who to hire yet, so a bare number just becomes a line item on a spreadsheet they're building of your competitors. The fix isn't dropping your rate. It's changing what the conversation is about before you name a figure.

Key takeaways

• Two questions first: what's the actual job, and what's the cost of leaving it broken? Both reframe price into value.
• Range when scope is clear, look when it isn't: give a bounded number fast for known work; book a site visit for anything you can't see.
• Attach terms to the number: a price with inclusions, a use-by date and a deposit holds far better than a naked figure.

Why the price-first enquiry converts worst

The lead who opens with "just send me a price" is shopping, not buying. They've contacted several of you, they're comparing on the one axis they understand, and the cheapest quote often wins by default. You spend real time pricing work that funds someone else's job.

Speed still matters, though. The first business to respond usually takes the job, so silence isn't the answer either. Our 60-second speed-to-lead breakdown covers why the first reply so often wins. The trick is replying fast without leading with the number.

And follow-up is where most of the money hides. HubSpot's sales research reports 60% of customers say no four times before saying yes, while 48% of salespeople never make a single follow-up attempt. A price-first lead you quote once and forget is a lead you've paid to acquire and thrown away.

The two questions that reframe the conversation

Ask two things before you quote, and you turn a price shopper into a scoped job. Neither stalls the conversation. Both make you the person who understood the problem instead of the person who was $40 dearer.

1. What exactly needs doing? "Happy to price that up. Is it dripping from the spout or the base, and how old's the tap?" Now you're diagnosing, not tendering.
2. What happens if it's not fixed? A tap that's been leaking for a week means a water bill and a warped vanity. Naming the cost of doing nothing makes your price feel small.

Here's the shift: the moment you ask what the job's really about, you stop being a quote in a spreadsheet and start being the tradie who knew the right questions. Price stops being the whole conversation.

Sidenote: if the reply is genuinely just "how much," that's fine too. You've learned this lead is a pure price shopper, and you can decide how hard to chase before you've burnt an hour on a detailed quote.

When to give a range straight away

Give a bounded range immediately when the scope is clear and the job is standard. Withholding a number on a job you've done 200 times reads as evasive, and evasive loses to the competitor who just answered. A washer replacement, a standard service, a call-out fee: name it.

Bound the range so it can't be read as a promise, then attach the condition that moves it. "A standard tap reseat is $180 to $240 depending on the fitting. If the valve's gone it's more, and I'll know once I'm there." You've given a real answer and named the one thing that changes it.

When scope is genuinely unknown, book the look instead of guessing. "I could throw a number out, but I'd either scare you or short myself. Fifteen minutes on site Tuesday and you'll have a fixed price that won't move." A booked inspection beats a wild guess every time, and it puts you in front of the customer where you close.

How to send a number that holds

Send the price with terms attached so it reads as a decision, not an opening bid. A naked figure in a text invites "can you do any better?" A structured quote with inclusions, exclusions, a use-by date and a deposit request tells the customer this is the number.

• List what's included and what's not so there's no argument at invoice time.
• Put a date on it: "valid 14 days" stops a March quote resurfacing in July.
• Ask for a deposit to lock it in. A deposit turns a quote into a commitment, and our straight answer on deposits covers how to set one without scaring people off.

Then chase it. A quote sent and never followed up is the most common leak in a service pipeline. Our automated quote follow-up guide walks through the sequence that turns a silent quote into a signed one.

Name the objection while we're here: "won't a deposit and terms make me look precious?" No. It makes you look like a professional who runs a real business, and the customers a deposit scares off are the ones who were going to haggle you to the bone anyway.

How IgniteOS does this for you

Here's what we'd do: stop pricing from the ute and let the reframe happen the moment the enquiry lands. With IgniteOS, a missed call or web enquiry gets an instant text back that asks the two scoping questions before you've even wiped your hands, so no price shopper sits waiting and no bare number goes out cold.

Build the quote with inclusions and a use-by date, then request the deposit and take the payment on the spot with IgniteOS payments and text-to-pay. When a quote goes quiet, the automations chase it for you on a schedule you set. See how the whole get-paid flow fits together on our get paid faster page, or run your current tool stack through our calculator.

Start the 14-day free trial (card required, $0 until day 14, cancel anytime) and the fastest win is this: the next "just send me a price" text gets answered in seconds with a scoping question instead of a discount.

Frequently asked questions

Should I give a price over text before seeing the job?

Give a bounded range only when the scope is clear and it's a job you've done many times, and attach the one condition that changes it. When you can't see the work, book a short site visit instead of guessing. A fixed price after a look holds far better than a wild number that scares the customer or shorts you.

How do I stop customers haggling my quote down?

Send the number as a decision, not an opening bid. List what's included and excluded, put a use-by date on it ("valid 14 days"), and ask for a deposit to lock it in. A structured quote with terms reads as final. The customers a deposit scares off were usually going to haggle you to the bone anyway.

What do I say to a "just send me a price" text?

Reply fast, but lead with a scoping question, not a figure: "Happy to price that. Is it dripping from the spout or the base, and how old's the tap?" You answer quickly so you don't look slow, and you reframe the job around the problem before naming a number. IgniteOS can send that reply automatically the moment the enquiry lands.

Why do price-first leads convert so badly?

The person leading with price usually hasn't chosen who to hire and is comparing several quotes on cost alone, so the cheapest wins by default. You spend real time pricing work that funds a competitor's job. Reframe with two questions before quoting, then chase the quote. HubSpot reports 48% of salespeople never follow up even once.