Close rate is the in-home half of the sales funnel. The office booked the call; now a technician or comfort advisor has to find the problem, price the fix and get a yes. It is also one of the easiest numbers to get wrong, because a small change in what you count can move it ten points.
Close rate in plain English
Take an electrical contractor's month (example numbers). Technicians present 100 proposals: panel upgrades, EV charger circuits, repairs. Customers approve 45. The close rate is 45%.
Now split it. Repairs: 60 presented, 39 sold, 65%. Panel upgrades and larger projects: 40 presented, 6 sold, 15%. The blended 45% hides two very different jobs. A tech who mostly ran repair calls will look like a star next to one who ran project estimates, even if the second is the better seller.
How do you calculate close rate?
Metric
Close rate
The share of proposals presented that the customer buys.
Close rate = proposals with a sold option ÷ proposals presented × 100
Where the numbers come from: Estimates or proposals in your field software, with their status (presented, sold, lost, open) and date.
Three decisions change the answer. Make them once and print them on the scorecard.
| Decision | Option A | Option B | Our suggestion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit | Each option | Each proposal | Proposal: options on one visit count once |
| Open estimates | Counted as not sold | Left out until decided | Decided only for coaching, plus an aged-open count |
| Date basis | Date presented | Date sold | Date presented, so late sales land in the right month |
Three ways shops count close rate
| Formula | Good for | |
|---|---|---|
| Presented basis | Sold ÷ all presented in the period | Owner reporting; includes estimates nobody chased |
| Decided basis | Won ÷ (won + lost) | Coaching techs on presentation skill |
| Rolling window | Won ÷ (won + lost) over 30 or 90 days | A sales board where big jobs take weeks to decide |
None is wrong. Mixing them is. If one report says 52% and another says 41%, check the basis before you check the tech.
What is a good close rate?
There's no reliable public benchmark for trade close rates. The figures that get repeated rarely say whether they count options or proposals, whether open estimates are included, or what job types are in the mix. Build your own baseline: one quarter of data, split by job type, with the counting rules above. Then compare each tech to the shop's rate for the same job types, not to the blended number.
What moves close rate?
| Lever | Why it works | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Present options every time | The customer chooses which, not whether | Options-presented rate per tech |
| Show proof | Photos of the failed part or the rusted pan make the problem real | Share of proposals with photos attached |
| A recommended middle option | People facing a choice tend to favor the compromise option1 | Which tier sells most often |
| Plain-language descriptions | Customers buy what they understand | Read five proposals aloud |
| Follow-up on open estimates | Big decisions often take more than one conversation | Close rate on followed-up vs not |
| Honest monthly payment framing | Large jobs are easier to say yes to as a monthly figure | Close rate on proposals shown with financing |
The middle-option effect comes from consumer research, not field service studies, so treat it as a reason to design your middle tier carefully rather than a guaranteed lift. We cover how to build the three tiers in good, better, best: the psychology and math.
Why per-tech close rates mislead
Two things distort a per-tech close rate more than skill does.
Sample size. A tech who presented 15 proposals last month and sold 9 is at 60%. One more sale makes it 67%; one fewer makes it 53%. That swing is noise. Use a rolling 90-day window per tech and don't discuss a rate until it rests on at least 30 or so proposals.
Call mix. Techs don't choose their calls. One who runs most of the no-heat emergencies will close more than one running tune-ups that turn up an aging system, even with identical skill. Compare each tech to the shop's close rate for the same job types and lead sources, not to the blended shop number.
When a tech's rate is outside the shop's normal range for the same work over a full quarter, that's a real coaching signal. Ride along before drawing conclusions.
Close rate vs related sales metrics
- Booking rate measures the office before the visit. A low close rate with a high booking rate usually means the visit, the pricing or the leads' quality is the issue.
- Options-presented rate is a leading indicator: techs who present options consistently tend to post steadier close rates and higher tickets.
- Average ticket tells you what each sale was worth. Close rate times average sold ticket gives revenue per proposal, which is the fairest single comparison between techs.
How close rate shows up in TradesWork
TradesWork reports define close rate as proposals with a sold option over proposals presented, and good, better and best options presented together count as one proposal. The good-better-best follow-up board shows close rate as won ÷ (won + lost) over 30 and 90 days, with a dash when there's no data yet. In coaching, the Pro Score scores close rate on decided proposals from 20% to 60% and shows options-presented rate as a leading indicator. Each definition is written next to the number, so you can see which basis you are reading.
Footnotes
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Choice Based on Reasons: The Case of Attraction and Compromise Effects, Itamar Simonson, Journal of Consumer Research 16(2), September 1989, pp. 158–174. ↩
