Crazy, you said you were in a slump. The telephone sales game is always a crap shoot at the best of times.

Here's my thought for a slump breaker.

Claim you are having a blonde day! Tell him your rate is $100/hour or whatever you charge, but, you can't figure out whether it would be 1 hours or 2 hours. Tell him you're in the neighborhood and pop by to take a look and see if it's one that you've 'figured out' how to do it quickly. Look at the project, him and haw, stroke your beard and tell him a 'real' price. You will get 80-95% of those jobs, because your estimate is a 'real' estimate based on viewing the job.