A sales process that fits an owner-operator
Five stages, written down, that the person answering the phone can follow.
Why you need a process at all
Without a process, your close rate is whatever mood you were in when the lead came in. Process turns selling into something a 22-year-old can do consistently.
The five stages
Lead in. Qualify. Quote. Follow up. Close or close out. Each stage has one job and one decision.
Track the dropoff
Most owners can't tell you where leads die. The 30 minutes a week it takes to log lead → quote → won/lost is the highest-ROI work in the business.
Take your version of this question further
This is one operator-tested angle on the question. Your shop, your size, your trade, and your team change the answer. Ask your specific version inside Ask a Shop Owner to get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.