A plumbing article that might relate to this discussion
A number of years ago I wrote an article about this for a Plumbing and Drain Magazine. Perhaps you can relate the article to your trade and what's being discussed here. I think selling strategies are the same for all contractors, regarless of specialty. When you read this, consider the concepts - not the specific plumbing references
Here's the article: (Hope it helps)
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Just Sell
As the small businesses scratch and claw to lift themselves from the primordial ooze there is one hotly contested issue that keeps their workboots glued to the sticky mud. They buy the new equipment, update their fleets, hire the personnel, work on setting the right pricing, advertise, go to seminars, join associations, etc, but they have one hang-up—selling to their customers. Not all companies, but enough of them.
Interestingly, the proponents of selling define sales differently than the detractors. The proponents say that sales are nothing more than giving the customer options based on honest information. Those against say, "I’m not a salesman" and "I don’t sell" or "We do volume".
The sales side assumes that customers are intelligent and have the smarts to make their own decisions based on information given. They believe the customers will choose to spend their money on a better product or service with higher value. The no-sell side asserts the opposite—that everything is based on low price only and assumes the customer will only spend the least amount of money possible and is just not interested to want the value of spending a bit more to get a lot more for their money. The non-sales side tends to define selling as a hard sell, they tend to believe that selling is something you do
to a customer. The sales side tends to believe that selling is something you do
for a customer.
Here’s the real question: What do customers buy? The no-sell side wants to believe that customers buy only what they need for as little as possible. The fact is, customers initiate a purchase based on their immediate need, but ultimately what they buy is what they want. It’s the want that must be satisfied, not just the immediate need. They call you for a need, but you sell them what they want.
What do customers want? Ask yourself, what would you need and what would you want if you came home one day and found your basement full of sewage from a sewer backup? What you need is to get the sewer draining immediately, get rid of the nasty stuff and clean up the mess, right? But, what is it that you really want? You would want the problem gone forever. You would want to be given your options based on a quality diagnosis, not just guesses or assumptions. You would want to have trust and confidence in the person and company you’re dealing with. You would want to be the decision-maker and not be told what to do. You are not looking for the lowest price necessarily, but you want the greatest bang for your buck. As consumers, we do it all the time. We go to the store to buy one thing and we come home with the better model that costs just a few dollars more. Why? Because we perceive the better value for the money spent and we wanted it. We believe that we get what we pay for.
It’s not about price. If customers wanted the lowest price, they would buy the cheapest cars, the cheapest homes, and the cheapest tools. Their children would go to the cheapest schools. We would be eating day-old bread. It’s not a matter of what they need necessarily. The need only initiates the purchasing action. People buy much more than they need. How many suits do you need? How many pairs of shoes do you really need? How many purses does a lady need? How large of a house do you really need? If people bought just what they needed our economy would be in a shambles.
Is it a bad thing to offer a customer a sewer repair on a line that you cable frequently? Is it a bad thing to offer a customer a new toilet when the old one can be fixed to live just a little bit longer? You must help the customers weigh their immediate needs against their long-term wants. What are they trying to accomplish? What’s really in the best interest of the customer? Shouldn’t we at least give them a choice? Shouldn’t we give them the opportunity to buy? What’s wrong with that? If they say, "Yes, replace it", great. If not, you’re fallback position is the immediately needed repair. At least, you gave the customer a choice. You let them get involved in the process.
Here’s the stumbling block. Selling can be done on many levels. It can be the honest and sincere application of your skills to provide your customer with options to resolve his problem. It can be offering your customer the same advice that you would offer your own family. It can be predation on the innocent and unsuspecting. It can be an exercise of the ego for a salesman's killer instinct.
Today’s technologies have given us greater diagnostic capabilities than ever before. They can be utilized to the customers’ benefit and appropriately so. However, in the hands of a charlatan, technology can put an unneeded financial hurt on the trusting consumer. Companies that do that are manipulators. They mis-represent their findings. They magnify the problems they find and incorporate scare tactics. They damage the industry at large and play into those TV shows that show these thieves in action. They make the mountains we climb to gain that customers trust even higher. They sour the crop for a few measly potatoes.
Consider the add-on sale. You can perform additional services for a fraction of what that task would normally cost as a stand-alone service. You are already onsite, presumabley. If you’re priced properly, the bulk of the overhead is already paid with your initial task. You can offer your customer a great deal of additional service for just a few dollars more expense. Aren’t add-ons the best deal for the customer? If you answered yes, then sell them. What’s the problem?
If you are building a company on the basis of offering your customers value, you have to sell. If you are aiming to satisfy your customers, you sell. Order takers don’t make any money. They spend their gross revenue to keep the businesses afloat and keep a few crumbs for themselves. Their people are underpaid and overworked. Their employee turnover is high. They drive beat-up trucks. They don’t have the funds or the time to train. They just go, go, go. For what? Why are they in business? Is that the road to financial freedom? Why take all the risk for a paycheck? If that’s all you want, get out of business and get a job someplace—you’ll sleep better.
But, if your ambition is to create a lucrative money machine that does what’s right for the customer and provides its employees with a future, you have to sell. It’s not about how many jobs you do; it’s about what you do with the jobs you have. Profit is not a bad thing; it’s a necessity. It is your reward for taking the risk in the first place. Profit is what converts a company from just being a job into a salable asset. You deserve it, your employees deserve it and your customers will help you—Just Sell.