"Helpful Harry" vs. "Salesman Sam" and "Tell 'Em What They Get!"

Erik's success (see his posts below) inspired me to pass on a couple of very workable techniques that apply to direct sales (face-to-face selling to homeowners). These two techniques have served me well over the years.

The first could be called "Helpful Harry" or "Helpful Harriet".

One of my sales mentors pointed out that he always makes helpful suggestions to his prospects whenever he notices something about their house or grounds that needs attention --- things that have nothing to do with what he is attempting to sell them.

For example, suppose you're doing an estimate to repair a certain homeowner's deck, and you notice that one of their outside faucets is leaking. You simply point it out: "By the way, I noiced that you have a leaking faucet over there on the right side of the house. Might be a good idea to get that fixed ... it'd probably save you some money on your water bill."

Or "Did you know that one of your gutters is pulling away from the fascia? If you get that fixed now, it'd probably cost a lot less then if it falls off in the middle of the rainy season."

Most of the time the homeowner is not aware of these little problems. But in almost all cases, they REALLY appreciate your pointing it out. Often they will ask "Do you know someone who does that kind of work?"

In my own case, more often than not, I don't have anyone I can reccommend to do the work, and I think that's somewhat of an advantage. I'm just being "Helpful Harry", not "Salesman Sam". I'm not trying to sell them anything. I take the point of view of "What would I want to know about if this were MY house?"

The second tip is most important. There comes a time in the sales process when you've calculated the final answer, and the homeowner wants to know "How much?".

Never, ever, just give them the price!

In other words, don't answer "How much?" with "Oh, that'll be $350.00." Always tell them, in as much detail as possible, what they are going to be getting FIRST, before you give them the price.

Example: Homeowner: "How much?" You: "OK, here's what we're going to do with your deck: First, we'll sweep off all the big dirt and debris. Then we'll replace any loose nails or screws. Once that's done, we're going to take a wire brush and sand paper, remove all the ground in dirt and get down to the bare wood. If that exposes any large problem areas, we'll fill them in with our Amazing Filler Material. There's one rotted board over there in the far corner that we're going to replace. When that's all done, we'll lay down our first coat of Super-Duper Deck Sealant. Then, after it dries, we'll put down the 7-Year top coat, and.... etc., etc., etc." --- all said in a matter-of-fact, this-is-what-we-do-all-the-time manner --- followed by something like "and for that we're looking at $350.00"

To that, the homeowner usually says "When can you do it?" And you've got the sale.

"Tell 'Em What They Get!" works because people place a high value on their money. If you don't tell them exactly what they're going to get before you give them the price, they won't have anything to compare the high value of their money to. On the other hand, if you give them the nitty-gritty details, you establish exchange value for their money, and they become willing to give it to you --- because they perceive what they are getting has the same high value as their money.

---- Hugh

P.S. I'm not in the deck renewal business, so don't count on my description of that process as being very accurate!