Deck Specific Sales Help

Danno6102

Guys, I think I need some help in the sales department. All my sales meetings seem a little awkward to me & unorganized. They just don't have a smooth flow to where I get all the info I need to give a good estimate & come away confident they were impressed with what they heard.

Would any of you be willing to help me out by either posting or PM me how your typical initial phone call goes & what information you gather from them, to how your intial sales presentation goes at the customers home?

Here's what I tyipcally do. I usually contact them within a few minutes of receiving their information. On the initial phone call I try to get an idea of what they are looking for. Composite or Pressure treated, deckorators railings, etc. so I know what literature to bring with me to our appointment. Then set a date & time to meet at their home to discuss further.

At the home, I hand them a business card before I even step in the door. Then I have them show me where the deck will go & ask them to tell me about any designs they like or features they are interested in. Look through the literature I brought & get some choices narrowed down. Then I proceed to show them my portfolio, it has some info about me & my company, a couple of my past decks in it with detailed photos, contractor program affiliations, some standard deck pricing to help prepare them for the "sticker shock" & some bullet points about what makes my decks superior to the next guys. I also have my proof of insurance & make it a point to show them that I am covered through such & such a date.

I then say thank you & take measurements & out the door. Usually 20-30 minutes tops. I usually have them an estimate in a day or two. On the estimate, I list what the lump sum deck price would be then list out upgrades & downgrades seperately so they can tweak the price to better fit their budget. Follow up with a phone call the next day to make sure they received the estimate & see what they thought. I usually get voicemail, with no returned calls or emails.

I've done 8 estimates so for this month & have not closed a one & have no work lined up yet this season!! I feel my pricing is reasonable & in line with my known competitors, so I feel I need to refine my sales pitch. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid & feeling the pressure to close some sales. I do not want to blame this on the economy.

mike stanislaw

You said that you have them an estamate within a day or two. With every sale you must meet your clents and sell this estamate. Never never give a price over the phone or e-mail unless your have sold the project before hand and you are using the phone a easy way to show a price deffrence

Danno6102

I was hoping that in the intial meeting at their home I had sold my quality to them. I also do a detailed estimate that pretty much lists out the reasons my decks are superior. I never give pricing over the phone or email without meeting face to face with the customer.

parkers5150

danno, i think that you're asking the wrong people. if you are a professional then you obviously have a list of previous clients that for whatever reason, decided to go with you. I feel that if you are doing business correctly then you should have no problem contacting these people and asking them why they chose you. in fact it should be standard practice for you to follow up w/ every client at the end of every job good or bad in order to guage yourself and your business.

Stone Mountain

do it much the same way. The difference is that I rarely spend less than an hour with them. In fact it's usually 1 1/2 hours, sometimes 2. You have to make them your friend. You sit, have coffee, talk about their dogs (and yours), their car, their house, how nice the hardwood floor is, how great the kitchen is, how lousy the weather is, what you had for breakfast, how big their daughter's bosum is, whatever.
20 minutes is literally just a price. You are not "Selling" you.
Think about it. To the customer, when they go and buy a toaster, they can go to the store, look at it, pick it up, fondle it, hold it, caress it, make love to it. Then they put it down and look at the one next to it. Then most people will go to the next store in the mall and, if the toaster is cheaper they'll buy it.
They don't care nor do they want to make friends with the checkout clerk.

What you are doing is giving them a written description of that toaster. They have no idea how it works, what it tastes like, if it's triple chromed or just metalized plastic.

When it comes to home improvements, however, it's different.
In the eyes of the homeowner, a deck is a deck. They don't know and don't really care if you mitre the corners and the other guy doesn't. (Untill of course the deck is built). Their EXPECTATION of all contractors is that the job will be done properly. No one is going to come in, give a lowball price and tell them that , "gee, golly gosh, no, my job is pretty mediocre, and if you want first class go to someone else".
If you come and go in 20 minutes, what do they know about you? The price. They have nothing to judge you on except some squiggles on a piece of paper. You have to get to know them, befriend them, make them feel that your only purpose in thsi world is to make certain that they are happy.

Once they have gotten to know you, it will be much harder for them to discard your quote.
I am not a "closer". I have sold this one way for 30 years, and for me it works.

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nlgutters

I agree with Stone. You should spend 20 minutes just talking at the table before you even go out to see the site where they want the deck.

make them help you measure the area and point stuff out as you go.

If i was going to spend 8-20k on a deck and the person i called out spent only 20 minutes i would assume they where not rtealy intrested in me or my business.

I would assume it would take 30 minutes talking about just the diffrent kinds of decks. And the customer may think they know what they want but you should be their helping choose materials colors and the diffrent options. Tell them what they need to spend to get the deck that they will be enjoying with their family and friends for years to come.

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Chris G

Personally, I never ask questions about material or actually, anything about the project over the phone. The phone conversation are friendly but brief. They say "How about 5:00 Thursday". I say, "I'd love, to but that's gonnna put me right in the middle of rush hour, and I'd just be grumpy". They say, "I hate traffic too, how about noon"?...."Perfect I'll see you then".

Now I have established myself as a reasonable person who hates traffic, (if the person on the other end actually likes traffic, then yes, I suppose we are off to a bad start, lol.).

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Greg Di

I agree 10000% with Stone. And...

Your pricing in 2009 might just not be inline with what it was last season. Unless you know for sure, at this point, don't assume it is....

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PA woodbutcher

Also agree with stone. I just sold a 18 square roof for 15 grand and only spent 15 minute talking about her roof. The other hour and a half was spent talking about the wood work in her house. Her husband was deceased and his work was fantastic.

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Bill Z

When you say "within a few minutes of receiving the information", what do you mean? Where are these leads coming from? All one source?

Danno6102

Mostly, my website. Either through the contact form, or email. Both go straight to the Blackberry. Phone calls that go to voicemail usually get called back within the hour.

I hear what you guys are saying & will give the small talk more of a shot. Bad part is I'm a serious workaholic, so I just have this habit of, get in get out & get it done, move on to the next task. Guess I need to slow down.

Tried it a little with the guy I met with this afternoon. Probably not a good case. Seemed like an intravert. Didn't talk unless poked, then was basically one word answers. Hard to carry on an hour long conversation with someone like that, but I did learn his dog's name was Harley & he learned my 130 pound retiever is on a diet.

Bill Z

IMHO, what people mean when they say "small talk" is that you need to have rapport with the customer. I agree, but when you are a serious workaholic, it may wear you down trying to dream up small talk. Either you're good at BS or your not. Depending on your market, people may want to get right down to business. I don't spend a lot of time on small talk, just enough to be friendly and businesslike. Then I ask, "Why am I here?" or "What would you like to accomplish as a result of our meeting today?" or "Obviously you've contacted us about a new _______, what would you like to have now that your old _____ doesn't do for you?" ..or a some form of a question that draws out their reason for having an interest, the reason they called now, and why having a new X is important to them. Doing this effectively lets them know you care about their needs first and you're not there just to sell them something or pet the goldfish.

If you don't know what they want to buy, and why they want it, all you can do is throw your product, benefits, and prices against the wall and hope something sticks. Hope is a lousy way to run a business.

Once you know what and where the target is, you have a much better chance at hitting it. Talk to them about how they'll feel when they are sitting on their new deck, relaxing and not worrying about re-staining it. That is, IF those things are important to them.

I'll go out on one more limb, NEVER send a price and specs if you want the job. If you've done a decent job of discovering their goals, they owe you the opportunity to sit down in person and review your proposal. Get them both in the room, sitting down (think about how many times you've ever sold something standing up?), read your specs out loud and quote the price confidently and precisely. DO say fifty-one thirty three, NOT five thousand one hundred thirty three dollars. Set and wait for them to ask you a question.

Ok, I'll shut up. And no offense to you small talkers, whatever works for you is fantastic.

4thGeneration

No BS at all. You need to keep it real. Look around their settings and listen to them. Whatever they are interested in you can speak on with your own experience. For instance if you hear the Mom say she has to pick up her kids at 6 from soccer practice you can relate if your kids are in soccer or once was. All you have to do is build on their experiences with your own and find a common ground.

I was trained by a workaholic, but you know what? What is the used to working yourself to death if you are not making money or not enjoying life or too stressed out. People can sense what you are about the first 5 minutes into a convo.

I will never again leave a estimate at a door, with a maid, in an email or over the phone. If people expect you to take your time to travel to their home, estimate the job and use their gas, they need to be respectful to hear your "sales pitch"

If all they are doing is hoping to get a drive by estimate then they have to understand I can hook them up with a college kid that will work for $7 per hour plus materials. Nothing wrong with it, but too many customers expect low prices and quality work. The two are not married.

Hope this helps

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John Hyatt

Wait a sec....his dog's name was Harley!!!! Man I would give a 10 per cent discount just for that!!! Sportsters Rule

I sell myself,then sell the job. It takes a little something to know how to do this and mostley years doing it. A little less blackberry and a little more insite there are always clues if you look and hear them.

Of course you have to have Quality in product and Project,like the Gentalemen above,and the site needs to be simple and Good. Being total work is good but like westside story " I wanna Bust!!,Bust Coooool "
J. www.deckmastersllc.com

deckndave

Known competitors is the key word here. I would like nothing better than to bid against the real, legitimate builders in my area. I think the market is flooded with too many layed off carpenters that might build a fine enough deck, but they can build it for $3-5,000 less because they have none of that pesky insurance and overhead. I just landed a 20 sf cedar deck for $1250 and I am F@%&*ing thrilled!...Seriously!