Waive Diagnosis Fee/ No Trip Charge

There are only a few things customers can really “shop” over the phone. There is the cost of a
tune-up (you should be competitive on this), sometimes the cost of freon (don’t give this info
on the phone), and the most common is some form of “how much does it cost to come out?” or
“what’s your trip charge?”

If you give a number, there are some customers that you will lose instantly and never have a
chance to do business with them. Since we don’t know whether that call is a $89 tune-up or a
$10,000 install, we can’t afford to lose a single call, so we DO NOT BELIEVE in charging a trip
charge or putting any “cost” to coming out.

I have heard contractors probably hundreds of times tell me “I don’t want to charge a trip
charge, but I can’t come out for free!” That is NOT what I am suggesting. I am only suggesting
that we remove the potential barrier for them doing business with you by setting yourself up
slightly differently.

What specifically do I mean?

Don’t charge a trip charge… charge a diagnostic fee… but waive it if you do any work.

What if you need that Trip Charge Fee or Diagnostic Fee to be profitable?

There is NO RISK. If for some reason you don’t do any work, you get the diagnostic fee. If they
do, then you don’t lose that diagnostic fee… you build it into your repair cost. NO MONEY
LOST.

Why is this so valuable?

If you frame the conversation correctly, I will never lose a call because of a trip charge or
diagnostic fee again. On top of that when the customer is presented with the option to “fix”
the issue and we waive the diagnostic fee, the sales psychology changes. They can either
choose to do the repair or “lose” the diagnostic fee. Waiving the diagnostic fee actually helps
improve your tech conversion rate. The below script will help you understand.
Waiving Diagnostic Fee/ Trip Charge Script:

Customer: “How much does it cost to come out?”

CSR: “Some companies charge just to come out, we think that is crazy! We would never charge
just to come out! That being said we do have a small diagnostic fee that covers the time it takes
to take apart your system, figure out what is going on, and give you a firm price to fix it. That
diagnostic fee is only (YOUR PRICE). The cool part is that if you do any work at all, we waive the
diagnostic fee. So to answer you directly, it cost you nothing for us to come out.”

If you train your call center team to answer that question specifically in this way, you will
eliminate one of the biggest roadblocks you have on the phone.