Best Selling Techniques

Maybee someone would like to give up one of their secrets?

I will start with an easy one-two "Honesty"

I was sitting at the table with Mr. and Mrs. They were giving me the 20 question routine about what to expect. I said well to be honest you probably will not want to be home when we are here it is going to look and sound like world war 3 and you know us guys in the construction field occaisionally have some bad language - my guys have been caught once or twice peeing in the bushes - you are not going to be able to see out your windows - your flowers are going to be covered with tarps plywoods and trash you better take all them nic nacs off the walls your house is gonna rock. The Mrs got some goofy look on her face got up poured a glass of wine came back with the bottle while the Mr. was rolling on the floor laughing cause i scared the crap out of the Mrs and he knew i was serious. Two "Humor"

I then came back with "dont worry look at the job when we are done if you see something you do not like you can keep your money - i am asking for 0 down and your business all you need to do is pick a color - what color do you like?

carrb. you do not have the first idea how to sell. trust me on that.

contact me at drag70buickgs@att.net i will help you out.

Wow! I said before that there are people getting $1,000.00 a square for 4 / 12 one layer reroofs. They do it every day.

I'm a mix of Lanny, Egg and OS. :laugh:

At the end of the day (so they say) I want to make decisions that are right for me and take the ultimate responsibility for that, the reward for that, and the punishment for that on myself. I flatly refuse to give all my power over to some silver-tongued smoothie. I loved his speech, but Mark Antony was a bold-faced rabble-rouser. The minute a salesman gets my brain-stem heated up I back away. The more you want something, the more you need to question your own motive. If it's sane, you will be sane. If it's off, you will look, feel, and act goofy in direct proportion to the mistake you have agreed to. I truly hate that and refuse to be party to it in either direction.

I admire those that excel at selling, too. IF they have the product to follow through. If you're selling a roof and don't even know who the installation will be subbed to, you lose my admiration.

I sell to my customers the way I would like to be sold to. But then, I'm the type of guy that if a car dealership had a self-checkout line like Home Depot, they'd get all my business.

---Selling is a real skill & talent. Everybody has their own style and I am sure everybody has a fair amount of success. However, there are REAL salesmen in this world who sell. They are heads and shoulders above the rest of us who are jack of all trades. ---There are companies in my neck of the woods who have 1 to 5 full time salesmen all on commission. They SELL $5-10K comp jobs for $15-20k day in and day out. I have seen the written bids. I once saw a written bid for a 25 sq 4/12 one layer tear off for $40k. I did the job for $5k (back in the 80's). I have seen the written bids AFTER people have signed the contracts. I have just shaken my head at such rip offs. But the point is, they SELL the job. They have a bevy of gimics, sign today for 5% off, sign today for a free skylight, etc. ---I like the honest approach others have mentioned. I am not a salesman. I am a roofer. But I acknowledge that there are people who could sell sand to the Arabs. One lady told me it took everything she had NOT to sign with this guy who had come after me with 2x my bid. I don't get it but whatever mojo that salesman had was something to admire. ---I have a friend who is such a salesman. He has a roof cleaning biz. I don't cotton to pressure washing roofs but that is his business. He rakes it in. He sells several jobs every day just to keep the crew working. He offered to attend an appointment I had with a customer just to give me advice on selling. The meeting was the usual informational meeting with me answering roofing questions, explaining why I as an owner operator would provide quality work and lasted less than 30 minutes. My usual SOP. By the way I get over 1/2 of all my bids. Later he gave me my report card. He says, "You did everything wrong." His main point was that I was too low key and was too willing to let the fish get away. He says, SEll, sell, sell...make it impossible for them to decline." ---I still don't get it but my personality will never allow me to be that kind of salesman and I know I will be outsold from time to time by competitors bidding 2x my price. I accept that. I just cannot be something I am not. I do admit there are selling principles that are not contrary to my personality and I admit I could learn a lot more about selling. ---I admire those who excel at selling. Lanny

Jed Said: ......so its best to just talk to the wife then :laugh:

"Never pitch the beaaach"..........remember that.

JET

Jed Said: ......so its best to just talk to the wife then :laugh:

:lol: :laugh:

......so it's best to just talk to the wife then :laugh:

Jed Said: .........WTFs a one leg?

Half of a couple... Common method to avoid making a decision by having only one of the decision-makers present. Then "one-leg" has to consult with the "other leg", who isn't there...

When it comes to best selling techniques, I think Darryl said it best - you have to get them to WANT to buy from you.

.........WTF's a "one leg"?

I have no "selling" techniques. I don't even go there....We're typically referred....You get a top-notch job for a fair price; That's it. No "wow"/BS factor....Sure, the shysters out-sell us from time to time, at higher prices at times!....It never ceases to amaze me at how stupid/gullable people can be.... that's just the way it goes.

They buy you first.......then the product. If you look like most people think roofers should "look" they probably will get you out the door to get more estimates. You have to look clean, polished and like you really don't need their business. I like to give details of their job from other jobs we've done in the area. When you tell REAL stories of actual installations they quickly drop their guard because they feel you're sharing "inside" information that customers never hear about. I also use the "take away" close from time to time if I get a hard azz engineer type. I'll let him play his game for a few minutes and then start putting stuff away and telling him it looks like we can't do business. Nothing gets a customer like that because it's so opposite to what they're used to in a sales situation. If they one leg you just walk from the get-go. Tell him/her you'll be back when both can be there to hear the details. Never pitch a one leg call........

JET

It`s not what you say to the customer that gets the job,More that you listen to what they want from their job,and you can explain how you meet all their requirements--Don`t get so caught up in what you are going to say,that you forget to listen--Rarely does the homeowner want to feel like he knows nothing,and that We will handle the stuff that`s too complicated for them to understand,Rather they like to feel that they are a vital part of the process,If you can make them feel that you are working WITHthem,rather than bypassing their opinions,etc.-You can usually get the job