I see it all the time, piles and piles of leads that contractors large and small have paid for one way or another that never close. They don’t close because the quote was too high, they don’t close because the contractor never followed up correctly or followed up at all to move the sales process forward.
This is what we call in the industry – pissing money away!
If you too are guilty of pissing money away, I am here to help. I am going to help you improve your selling skills right now to close more business and stop leaving money on the table, and all I ask of you is to execute on what you read, then pass it on to your friends who are doing the same thing…sound good? Let’s Roll!
If your sales call process DOES NOT include the following steps, then you are doing it wrong. Simply put, you are losing business because you are screwing up the sale. So, in order to improve on your numbers year over year, I want you to:
1. Qualify your leads – Get as much information as you can without losing the prospect to make sure they are an appropriate target for you to sell to.
2. Generate interest from your leads – Potential clients or customers have to want to learn more about how your product/service is going to solve their problems, so let the skill and enthusiasm for your business com shining through, and watch others catch it too!
3. Education is the key – Prospects who are taught that the benefits of your product or service match up with their needs are much more likely to say yes to your offer. This is done by communicating as much information as you can.
The goal here is to create an educated consumer who is past the initial pre-sales questioning phase and ready to get into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to get the job done.
4. Drinking Kool-Aid – Your prospects have to feel comfortable about THEIR decision to buy from YOU. Make it easier for them to drink your Kool-Aid by offering testimonials or compliment cards during your sales presentation.
5. Close in on the close – You have to “set the table” by removing all reasons for your prospect to say no. You do this by continually asking if there are any further questions. You also do this by floating trial balloons throughout the call.
Mention items that have been cleared up during the call so they can’t be used against your close. Then move on to the contract, just don’t call it a contract, call it paperwork, and make sure everyone who is supposed to be on that paper is in the same room, ready to do business.
6. Follow up until you get a yes or no – Having worked on the sales call process with many contractors, I know from first hand experience that home owners are famous for their disappearing acts after you have presented your recommendation. You can call them 100 times and you get 100 voice mails. Guess what – call 101 times.
Call until you get either a “Yes” or a “No”. Trust me when I tell you, even if it is a no right now, home owners will appreciate your thorough follow-up, which increases your chances of getting the call when they are ready to move forward, or when they need someone to come in and clean up the other guy’s mess. If you still need some help, check out my contractor’s guide to selling more.