What Keeps You From Closing More?

As marketing brings in leads, leads must bring sales – or what’s the point of all this effort?  Indeed, if your leads aren't paying off, there’s trouble afoot. 

There is a huge difference between being “close” in a sale, and getting to “close” on a sale.  One pays, and the other, well, doesn't   If the “no close for you” scenario is happening too often at your company, there could be a reason.  One of, say, seven reasons: 

1. Too much technical input – The former technician who is wowed by technical features, installation procedures and the sheer mechanics of a new system often fails to say how any of this actually benefits the customer.  Forget trying to impress them with your head knowledge.  Impress them instead with their benefits. 

2. Not listening – A customer will give the clues for a sale to the salesperson who is listening.  So watch and listen.  

3. Not communicating clear benefits – You can talk all you want to about systems, efficiency, prices, financing, maintenance and your superiority.  If the customer can’t fit this into his “What’s in it for me?” mentality, you may as well just go home.  Close on benefits and solutions that make sense to the customer.

4. Not asking for the sale – In high school, all us guys learned this painful lesson at the prom:  No matter how neat your hair was, how cool your outfit was, how many times you flossed your teeth, or that you had the exact right amount of Hai Karate cologne on, eventually you’re going to have to ask the girl to dance.  Same goes for salespeople.  There’s a semi-uncomfortable impasse at the end of the presentation where you must get a decision.  These closes can move you past that point toward the real point of your visit, which is to get the sale.

5. Not selling the company – Customers are often convinced of many things in the presentation from you and from all the other companies, but they’re looking for that “difference” which is often the integrity of the company.  Tell it.  Sell it.  Close on it.

6. Not selling your honesty and trustworthiness – Just like the above, too many salespeople get stuck on a great presentation that has no “personal” feel to it, no relationship, no eye-to-eye transfer of trust.  The salesperson that fails to appear honest (even though he or she may be beyond reproach) will not close many sales. 

7. Not presenting the “closing solution” to the customer - This is perhaps the biggest crime of all.  A customer wants his “solution” packaged for him (that’s why you’re there!)  Then, he wants this package presented as a logical, natural progression from his current situation to your solution for him. 

Now that you know what not to do, let me share one very important mindset shift.  A full 80% of all sales are made based upon how well you are liked by the customer.  From your neatness in appearance, timeliness in arrival, respect to customer’s homes, listening skills and more, much of your “sales” are really related to your likeability.

Even your website needs a little personality added to it. Customer’s go to your website way before your technician even steps foot in the driveway. If your site is “ugly” and hasn’t been updated in over a year, you’re most likely pushing customers away.

Try including testimonials, home-care tips, employee profiles and even a website only coupon or discount customers can use. Tie these all together with a nice format and easy-to-read text and your customers will know you’re professional way before your tech rings the bell.  

Also, remember that likeability is more than just smiling, being polite and complimenting the customer’s house as you walk in the door.  It is a method of immediately identifying with the customer and starting a relationship. 

You don’t need to change your personality, just become more “in tune” with your prospects.  See things as they do.  Pay specific attention to all members of the family who are available at the sales presentation.  Laugh with them; acknowledge their fears or concerns; ask permission.

By the time you are halfway through your presentation, you’ll be recognized as “one of the family,” so make yourself at home and identify with every person you meet. 

Being likeable – as simple as it sounds – will be your most powerful closing tool.  As you become more of a genuine, caring friend, you’ll find people accept your suggestions not like a salesperson, but as an adviser. 

Remember, people more likely buy from friends than from strangers. The quicker and more sincerely you become a friend, you’ll raise your closing ratio and your number of friends immediately.  Not a bad outcome! 

"Hello. Thanks for calling Delta. How can I make you prefer travelling by horseback today?"

I just flew back from Phoenix, having presented at the first ever Sales, Profit, and Marketing Summit with Joe Crisara and his fine group from Contractor Selling.com. It was a rewarding, fun time, but as this small part of my business life (speaking) can be, it was exhausting.

My last changeover in Atlanta was very tight.But after a swift train ride and a sprint for a scheduled 10:45pm departure, I skidded to a stop at my gate to see the status board announce: "DELAYED: DEPARTURE 11:20pm". Whew. Made it. A small crowd of significantly bored people flipped through magazines in the waiting area.

So I grabbed my iPad, went to an adjacent restaurant for a glass of water and brief rest. At 10:58, I walked back over to my gate to board. Then I looked in horror to see the entire waiting area empty. Reeling in denial, I asked the gate attendant if they were through loading.

"Oh, they left.You weren't here and they left." Her concern was similar to that of a cantaloupe, yet with less expression.

The Rest of this Story is for Mature Audiences, or those who'd like to reach their destination on the airplane they purchased a ticket for...

Tree Dude, Part 2

I had no idea that Part 1 would trigger such response. In fact, there wasn't going to be a Part 2 until my inbox filled with responses, questions, comments from curious readers.

Let me start with this, and if any reporters take this out of context, may sandspurs invade your undergarments. I do not hold any hostility nor consider the arborist trade much different than much of the service world. (And the respondents in that trade were positively, the exception to any characterization, as evidenced by reading SMI!)

My experiences are the "other side of the trucks" to help all trades see through another's eyes. The difference here: I'm on your side too.

I had a pretty humorous (and startlingly similar) story from reader Tom Fore of Roanoke, VA who shared an exact quote from his Tree Dude after excessive tardiness. See 'Theater of the Absurd' in this issue. You can insert "carpet cleaner", "sheetrocker", "roofer" and virtually any trade you want... that phrase is being openly acted out for frustrated homeowners across America. Honesty points go to Johnny who actually said it.

Interestingly, one of the most thoughtful responses came from one Patrick George of Heartwood Tree Service in NC. After reading his email, I wish he'd make a 450 mile house call. Patrick is definitely NOT 'Tree Dude' but a certified arborist, yet admitted...

"Tree dude fits about 85% of the guys in my industry." That is important for any tradesperson to know because a reasonably-held standard rockets you past nearly 90% of the crowd. Good observation, yet Patrick had a question that was echoed by several others:

"Why did you pick this guy?"

People felt I surely was "connected" enough to get good referrals, or that I could choose someone with an IQ higher than that of wilted lettuce. Yet here's the truth of why I picked him, plus a sales number you have NEVER seen before...

"I Can't Afford That"

The following is an excerpt from a single conversation, but we hear "similar" comments regularly. If you read the 3^rd paragraph closely, you'll find a very common business fault that strangles many contractors.

"I can't afford that," sighed Carey, a 14 year contracting veteran in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. "I used to say this whenever some 'new' business thing would pop up."

"This happened fairly often. Like when we looked into a new digital copier/printer. The sales rep proved I'd save money over the old way. He'd show what I overpaid in toner, time wasted with employees having to get up and down instead of sending documents by email, the whole thing. And I'd give my standard response, 'I can't afford that'."

"Eventually, after over-spending on our old system, we replaced it. I'd have been ahead if I'd done it sooner. But nooo " ... Carey mocked himself, "I couldn't afford it."

"Same for my old clunky phone system, training my techs, or replacing my aging trucks. Nearly every time I had to replace one, I'd look back and see that repairs, rotten mileage, and lost time in the broken trucks had cost me real money. Not to mention the negative 'image' they sent customers."

"That's when I realized something that changed my business."

What Carey realized is a falsehood that hurts, even bankrupts many small businesses. The link explains this truth: Business die when small problems seem big and big problems seem small.

Measurement That Matters

We're warned that pride is a bad thing. And I fully understand. Pride entraps its victim in a blanket of mock superiority on its way to personal doom. Boasting becomes pride. Pride becomes conceit. Conceit becomes no one.

Funny, but the ever-boasting blowhard of self-achievement 'thinks' that their accomplishments make them more attractive, more fun to be around, more likable. None are true. Just as this paragraph started, they make you a blowhard. Knowing all this...

My son graduated from High School this past weekend. I am proud of him. There, I said it. He got a scholarship in an honors program. He won the headmaster's Award for Excellence. And all this was achieved with at least half of his parents not being all that great of a student (guess which one!).

If my chest pokes out any further, I will have Eva Mendez' profile... or snap a rib. So I'll stop.

The thing about school is that they 'measure'. Scores are scores, grades based thereupon, college acceptance/scholarships directly correlative, segments sliced accordingly. "Oh, you made a 33 on the ACT test? You go in this stack. And you with the 18, you go over here."

In the job world, the surface measurement is usually money. This - along with pride - is another set up for the Scriptural Sin Grab Bag. Sure, many worthy alternative definitions of success abound: title, influence, responsibility, result, impact. All are important; all worthy of your focus. Harder to measure, but worthy.

Yet here is THE problem with most contractors' measurement and focus Click to see how many thousands of people he can offend in 2 sentences or less...

Two-Faced or True-Faced?

“This is going to hurt you worse than it hurts me,” I’d hear just before getting my rearward region spanked into next week. Whenever I used to hear this phrase – which was shockingly regular – I used to think, “Then why do it?” I mean, can’t we spare some pain for BOTH of us by overlooking that little melted-crayon-in-the-EZ Bake incident?

Didn’t work that way. Found that out when I had children. It was one of those “upside down truths” that you appreciate with age.

Later on, my early sales training had brainwashed me into thinking that manipulation and aggression were actually the more tender side of selling. When various closes and techniques were being discussed one day, an older, quite wealthy salesman halted the conversation with, “I don’t ‘sell’. I just give people reasons to buy.”

From that moment on, it stuck. My whole “sales” idea got turned upside down (or right side up!). Earning trust, giving useful ‘buying’ information, and truly counseling people with the good and bad side of a product or service came much easier. Sales “closes” were more often the work of the customer themselves. This rid the anxiety of over-selling and gave sincerity to the “Congratulations” for making a good decision.

This approach allows you to be true-faced, not two-faced.

The wealthy salesman made another comment, more powerful than the first that proved he was ahead of his time. Ignoring This Shift Can Kill Your Online AND Offline Sales…

That path lead me and Hudson Ink into the world of “two step” marketing; first getting a request from a customer for more information, and following that with a conversation that would lead to a sale, or not. Either way was/is fine. Another bit of upside-down truth:

You get the sale by creating a customer; not the other way around.

Web Marketing further confirms the success of this buying pattern shift. Consumers can access mountains of information that didn’t formerly exist. Their new-found empowerment has led to a sometimes hard-to-swallow set of “old” sales and marketing dogmas. The hard-driving, “close early, close often” salesperson is increasingly frustrated. Websites that employ sales overkill are labeled “spammy” and avoided similarly.

Sites like Zappos, Amazon, even WalMart, realize that transparency aids the sales process. Relationships are built before the sale and increase closing (conversion) rates. Openness and resistance to “hard-sell” also increases referral rates and positive online reviews.

Customer Retention results soar with gentle non-salesy recontact. This is why we’ve seen Customer Retention sales absolutely explode in the recession-weary world. People want the relationship, and reward it handsomely.

Contractors who invest in Customer Retention are getting excellent returns now. (8% of your Total Marketing Budget toward Customer Retention can trounce any other 8% in any other media with its hand tied behind its back. Want a FREE in-depth report and free sample of ‘The Ideal Customer Retention Sales Strategy’? Click here.)

Lesson: When you craft and cultivate relationships, you forgo “hard selling,” though your sales increase. There are no “closes”. There are only “openings”. You merely continue the conversation, advising, “being there” for them, and gaining more business, faster, as a result.
Oh, the remaining sage advice spoken to me by the wealthy salesman? “Salespeople don’t sell the most; Advisors do.” More than a pithy comment, it’s true. Confirmed by MarketingSherpa.com in a recent study. Advisors outsell ‘salespeople’ 4:1.

Be an advisor. Then you too can be true-faced.

Questions:

1. Does your marketing talk more about you or about how you solve customers’ problems? (Change the “we” stuff to “you” stuff. Don’t be afraid to give free advice.)

2. Is your Customer Retention marketing budget more or less than 8% of your total marketing? (If below 4%, you likely have a steady stream of “forgotten” customers going to the competition. Click for a full Customer Retention report.)

3. Do you have “old style” salespeople or “old style” marketing that are sales-focused and performing less than they did just 3 years ago? Make the shift.