There's a disturbing trend amongst service professionals.  A growing number of businesses, such as plumbers, auto repair, and dentists, no longer give a pricing estimate over the phone.  The will be happy to come out or have you come in as the case may be, for a price. The other evening I needed a plumber to assist me on a problem with a rental property.  Nothing a good snake wouldn't cure.  I called six local plumbers.  All but one, Roto Rooter, refused to give me a price on the phone, but offered to come out to the house for free.  Now, I have to tell you, I was tempted to invite them all to come out and give me a price.  I wonder what kind of bidding war they could get into? (I bet they would just drive away when they saw the competition's truck!) However, Roto Rooter does lend a lot of support to one of my favorite TV shows, Ghost Hunters, and I figured that they would give me a price that was fair, albeit higher than the least expensive.  Besides, they were at least willing to let me know the cost of the service before they showed up.  They won my business. So my advise is simple: If you (or the person answering your phone) can't articulate why you're better than the competition, then you've got some training to do!