Call Screening Or Qualifying

Century Man

I'm looking for a training program for the people who answer the phones. We need to do a better job of qualifying the request for service.

CM

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Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax remodel
Northern Virginia interior and exterior remodel
FW&D Remodeling Services blog

mdshunk

Are you saying that you have too many leads to handle?

Rule #1, for me, is never EVER prequalify. It's surprising how many people have purchased that I'd have summarily disqualified if I was that sort. Run every lead.

KitchenSync

CenturyMan, tell me a bit more about who is answering your phones; are they part of your company or a phone service? Receptionist?

Mr. Mike

check out the Phil Rea "selling the appointment" I use that system and it is very good, I am a one call closer so this the most important part of making sure it is a closing situation.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

Century Man

Ms. Sync:

My receptionist answers the phones. She has had to learn the trade talk, lingo, terminology, but she has great phone skills and is assertive. I want to find a training program that will teach her what questions to ask in order to get the most valuable or useful information from the client. She is the first real person the client speaks to in the sales process.

CM

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Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax remodel
Northern Virginia interior and exterior remodel
FW&D Remodeling Services blog

mdshunk

How about getting her a script, flowchart, or at least a form, with the information you want to collect during the initial contact? What's she do now... writing the information they volunteer on a note pad? She really doesn't need to be up on the lingo as long as you give her a clear idea of the information you need. Name, address, phone number, project type, time frame of project, when will husband and wife both be available for estimate visit, etc.

Mr. Mike

the phil rea script cant be beat.



http://www.r2rassoc.com/products.php

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

heartoftexas

It's a great day at ******* heat and air. This is **** how can I make you smile today?

I know someone who has his staff answer this way.

I have the entire script if you want it, but it's for ac/heating

KitchenSync

Ok, so in-house. It sounds like she's not getting the right information for you so you're chasing down leads that don't go anywhere. Do I have the jist of it?

I don't know if this'll help, but I was the receptionist/design assistant/designer for my family's business for many years. When I was first in the business, my parents sent me on a sales training course, which covered the art of asking questions. The "Selling the Appointment" is a good start, but really, any sales course/book/video is helpful for someone who's never had one.

Here's what we like our receptionist/design assistant to do.

1) Pre-qualify. In which case, I want to know how the client heard about our company. If it's a referral, there's not so much work in building value into the message; the clients are calling because they heard some good things. Value is already there.

2)Next step: find out what the clients are looking for. How much do you want your receptionist to qualify? Should she send you out if the client is complaining about spongy floor around the toilet? In which case, you may want her to ask more questions, such as "Is there anything else wrong in the bathroom that you'd like to change?" or "How old is the bathroom?" or simply, "Have you been thinking about remodeling the entire bathroom or just fixing that floor?"

Now, you may want her to simply book the appointment and go out without the extra questions because, after all - spongy floor! But sometimes a casual remark, like, "Is this your long-term home?" can lead to how much the clients have thought about paying. "Oh, no. We're selling the home and need to get that taken care of as cheaply as possible," or "We don't really care, but just wanted to get an estimate," or "We'd planned to remodel next year, but this won't wait." Which one do you want your receptionist to send you out on?

3) Where is the client located? Get that in early. ("Wonderful! Are you close by, or across the bay?") May not be an issue where you are, but I wasted a lot of time in my early dates pre-qualifying and building our company up only to find out after a 20-minute phone call that the clients weren't in our area.

4) Timeline: When are the clients thinking about remodeling? We have a lot of "ladies who lunch" here, who think nothing of spending an afternoon discussing finishes on their "someday" remodel. If they don't have an immediate timeline, ("Oh I'm just getting ideas for now") is vastly different from a pipeline or down-the-road lead ("It's a kitchen we're budgeting for fall, but we're getting ideas now.") I'd invite them both to our showroom, but might go out on the second if my calendar was clear. Chance of converting to a sale? Sometimes you never know. However, knowing which one of these you will go out to may help your receptionist.

5) For the "do you give a free estimate" crowd: we don't get many, but I tend to answer with, "Tell me a bit more of what you're looking for, and maybe I can help" instead of answering the question. That leads into more questions which will determine whether the client is a potential lead. If it's not going anywhere. "I'm getting 3 prices and I don't really care where they're coming from" leads me to the "That's too bad; we specialize in (fill in the blank) which won't be helpful for what you're looking for. Perhaps I can suggest..."

6) Always leave the caller with the impression that you a) would be happy to help, or b) can't help and are regretful. Do you have a way you'd like your receptionist to bow out gracefully from leads that might not work out?

Also, a lot of the call is time spent listening, and taking the cues from the client. ie. not getting excited at hearing "we're ready to remodel now!" because remodeling to one client may mean replacing a faucet and others, it's gutting the house. (I once paid a great deal of money for an Anthony Robbins seminar. The gist of the 6-hour session? "Find out what a client wants, and give it to them!" )

Again, a simple, "Great! What are you looking forward to remodeling in your home?" can help. (Closely followed by, "That's exactly what we specialize in!" Enthusiasm sells. Period.) And sometimes it's amazing what one can discover by not cutting off a client too quickly: "We're not experts in building hamster cages, but do you want to tell me your plans anyway? Oh. You're converting the bottom floor and need the entire 1300 sf basement reconfigured? All righty then!"

A final note: I've gone on a lot of leads which bore no relationship to what the design assistant told me. Clients sometimes don't always share on the phone what they end up telling you.

Mr. Mike

Is there any way you could post it up, it may have a few words I can use with mine.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

MEL

Dave Yoho has a product called "Leads, Leads, Leads". IT's a set of CD's and a workbook. IT's mostly about generating leads but a has a Cd devoted to "Selling THe Appointment".

It's better than Phil Rea, much more thorough and professional.

I do a lot of driving , I think I've listened to it a hundred times.

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MEL

heartoftexas

Can I email it to someone and they post it? I am not sure how to post images or files. But I could figure it out if explained.

MattCoops

Only "qualifications" we need is if the prospects are willing to give name, address, and phone, and they want to schedule an estimate.

We don't start asking questions becuase then you set yourself up for an over-the-phone estimate.

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Matt with Cupan Custom Tile & Paint of Lowell, Massachusetts
Design and installation of ceramic tile and natural stone for floor, wall, and countertops
(978) 601-8774 | cupantile@gmail.com | view tile pictures and more

Mr. Mike

If you email it to me I will post it up for us.

thediamond@insightbb.com

There is a lot of truth to that, most people are actually trying to disqualify most callers instead of setting up a closing situation. I do think that with out any training on how to set up a closing situation that your leeds are not that valuable.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

heartoftexas

emailed it

Mr. Mike

it is certainly a difficult one to post up, someone please send me a message so I can email it your way.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville

orson

I purchased this CD. I was incredibly disappointed considering the cost. I would say this CD is worth about $2.99

If you're going to charge $69 for a CD it better be a hell of a lot more insightful than this.

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Lancaster Remodeling Contractor - Lancaster Remodeling
Kitchen & Bath Remodeling PA- Bathroom Remodeling Lancaster PA
Custom Kitchen Remodeling PA - Ruby Construction FaceBook-Lancaster Bathroom Remodeling

Mr. Mike

As good as I did with it I was thinking $400.00 would be about right.

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Commercial Painter KY. Residential Painter Louisville Painting Photos Louisville