The Best Selling Technique Ever Devised! - Oldie But Goodie

This was from a long time ago. TOPIC:CHOP GUY - The Best Selling Technique Ever Devised! There have been a few threads on this topic recently and I think all of us have an interest in it; after all, if someone doesn't sell, the business fails. Looking back through the posts I failed to notice the one technique in selling that is irreplaceable, IMO: Excitement!

Every time I talk to RoofDude on the phone I hang up and feel like running around the block, then painting the house. There is no substitute for that energy, that enthusiasm for what you do. And I think that customer picks up on that. It's fun to do business with people who are just flat having a blast doing what they do. Have you ever been presenting a proposal to Mr. Prospect and you're so pumped up because you've prepared a killer proposal or report, your proposal is competitive and you know it, you have great references that Mr. Prospect also knows, etc? The job is yours and you know it long before Mr. Prospect figures that out.

REPLIES:

TOM H- Excitement sells without question, how many movies have been panned by critics and been Blockbusters simply because a movie goer went, saw it, got excited and told all the friend "Ya GOTTA SEE THIS MOVIE". Everything we do or don't do is based on one emotion or another, Ya always want to make the customer feel good about two things, you, and the customer themselves and it has to be real!

ROOF DUDE- It isn't even about the money! An old SPF guy once told me "It's not the financial part of the money, it's the chase and victory of getting to it and the satisfaction you did the best work you could getting to it, it is The Game". I can so relate to him and you Chopguy as well as sooo many others. I mean obviously I'm trying to provide for my family but, I have so much more success in sales when I forget about the monetary gain for a moment & focus on winning the game. I too love the excitement of selling. I try to not go on sales if my mood isn't right. I believe just like sports or anything else so much of it is Mental. A high percentage of sales is the salesperson's attitude. You know what they say attitude determines altitude.

ROOFSCAPE- Excitement is a positive trait but I believe confidence is the primary trait the customer picks up on. If you are excited about your product and service and display the confidence in both to your customer, price won't matter. There's a certain amount of tact that every salesman must learn in this industry specifically. Our customers HAVE to buy our product. Weather it's you or the next guy that give it to them; they HAVE to get their roof done. That's our advantage. 90% of all those customers are going to 3 contractors to furnish them with estimates. Of those 3 which do you think gets the contract 75% of the time? The confident professional! Perhaps the first two wore jeans and t-shirts and the last wore a polo and khaki's. Either way the customer got the warm fuzzies knowing they are investing in confidence. To reach that comfort level in the ion process the customer needs to evaluate each contractor. What they recommend and how they did it will be key. Make the customer feel like you are the most professional roofing company on the market and your sales numbers will climb substantially. Even if you don't know the answer to their question, answer with confidence. I didn't say lie I said answer. No "um's" in your speech helps too. So what about the other 25%? You know them all too well. Me. Jackleg and his mudpuppies! Price is a contributing factor BUT don't adjust your price and not your sales tactics. Vice-Versa! Change how you sell and when your percentage of sales per leads climbs, so should your price. But anyways, confidence is key! That's what separates the men from the boys.

CHOP GUY- Roofscape, I think the salesman's dress code affect the salesman's confidence more that it matters the customer. I began my roof selling career 25 years ago wearing slack, white long sleeve shirt (even in summer), tie, etc. I needed to do that because, as a young salesman, I wanted to be taken seriously in an industry where people value long years of experience, which I did not have. It worked very well for me. Later though, after I DID have those long years of experience, I found my dress style to be less important. Be neat; be clean, but at least in my market, blue jeans, tennis shoes and a polo shirt with company logo is fine. Oh, and sometimes a company ball cap, depending on the wind and my mood, both of which are variable these days. There is no substitute for knowing what you're talking about when you're talking to the prospect, and he can tell if you so or you don't usually.

Wow! That thread is what, 8 or 9 years old?

My advice still works for me. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING I have tried in sales is as effective as being able to say to Mr. Prospect: The old ####### Baptist Church at XYZ Street, my brothers and I installed that emulsion roof in 1986. It's still there, we can go look at it if you'd like.

I don't have to "sell" much of anything anymore. Once potential clients visit my website and learn my history its just a matter of me following through with prompt professional service. Most of the time the selling has already been done before I ever get there. Keep in mind that the clients I serve have already experienced the "competition" and it wasn't a good experience. ;)

I hate to sound cockey but without excitement and having one bullet in your gun you will be highly disappointed on some jobs.

How much more excited is the buyer going to be when I tell him I have roofs out there that had babys older than 1986.

If your web site is all you need to cover everything you just need them to mail the check to your contact page..

Rocky 1 came out and at the end I just wanted to go out and Air Box from the excitement. Rocky 5 came out and I left before the end. The excitement was gone.

Chuck Said: I dont have to sell much of anything anymore. Once potential clients visit my website and learn my history its just a matter of me following through with prompt professional service. Most of the time the selling has already been done before I ever get there. Keep in mind that the clients I serve have already experienced the competition and it wasnt a good experience. ;)

Chuck,

You are not selling a $15K roof. You are fixing what the roofer screwed up. Of course your web site works for you but selling a $15K job is a bit different. Like your web site, though.

Chuck, www.masterswa.com

mastersroofing "you are not selling a $15K roof. You are fixing what the roofer screwed up. Of course your web site works for you but selling a $15K job is a bit different. Like your web site, though."

Thanks for the compliment on the web site. Your link didn't work so I couldn't check it out whatever it was. I've been a roofer since 1985 and a roofing contractor for half of that time. At the highest point I had 8 crews ( about 40 men ) working daily and I personally sold all the jobs they did myself. In years past, I've signed many jobs over $50,000. Churches, Shopping Centers, Apartment and town home complexes, Etc. Believe me, I know plenty about selling.

I got tired of selling because it seemed that everyone that breathes air woke up one morning and became a roofing contractor or roofing salesman. What I'm saying is that in the residential field just about anyone can sell roofs. Probably because of home owner ignorance.

When anyone can do it where is your competitive edge? Being a GAF Master Blaster or the like? These same people who can sell roofing can not diagnose the source of a semi-complicated leak, come up with the proper solution that will last the remainder of the roof that is on the home and perform the needed repairs. Nearly all of them wouldn't get up on the roof and perform the repairs even if they knew how.

A wise old man once told me "Chuck, you'll make it when everyone else is starving to death". I said what do you mean? He said "because you'll actually work".

My competitive edge is the fact that I'm an actual real live roofer with an extensive skill set and knowledge about roofing. I'm not just looking to "sell" you. What you see is what you get here. You would be amazed at how big of a market there is out there for an actual real live roofer.

Best Regards, Chuck.

Masters brings up a good point.

We don't do residential. Our jobs are rarely less than $20,000, and often over $500,000. The guy that owns a strip shopping center didn't get there by being a fool. Regardless of my pitch, he is going to make sure I have a history of doing what I say I'll do.

And that reminds me of a fun situation I had with an adjuster on a shopping center roof in Fort Worth. He found it hard to believe that I would know such minute detail about the roof, what was up there before, when the hail did or didn't happen, the history of HVAC replacement, etc. He thought I was making it all up. He asked: How if the world would a roofer know all that info about this property? He got a lot easier to deal with when I told him: My dad and I are part owners in this shopping center.

What's so difficult about selling anyways? All people want is for you to say what you do and then do what you said. If you do that, they will tell everyone else that this is how you roll and there you go! ;)

Well said, Chuck.

I try to be 1 step ahead in terms of technology but there is no substitute for previous customers telling potential customers that you've been doing what you say you'll do for a long time.

We compete against some relative newbies around here. I suggest that customers ask them to show them roofs they installed which are as old as the guarantee they're offering.

Technology has allowed shady contractors to appear as though they're very established and successful, when in reality they have bounced around from place to place and industry to industry. They dress that pig up in a pretty pink dress and sell themselves as innovative and industrious, but the customer is more interested in stability.

Roofguy: "I try to be 1 step ahead in terms of technology but there is no substitute for previous customers telling potential customers that you've been doing what you say you'll do for a long time."

That's the point I was trying to make about the web site. It basically has the same effect as a strong referral and an even greater effect at times in certain cases. Some potential clients that I don't know from Adam, talk to me like I'm a long lost friend after visiting my web site. This makes "selling" pretty easy. Sometimes to the point that even calling it selling is kind of silly. Good marketing is a much more accurate description.

After having a new roof installed, water pouring into your home from leakage and being unable to get the original installer to fix it, your not looking for a silver tounge devil. You want a good roofer asap. Because of the above and the price range being from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand instead of many thousands, the competitive part is eliminated except with a small percentage of folks that still haven't learned their lesson in spite of all the problems they are having with the roof.

Ego's abound with us men. This is evident in many things. If you don't believe that just sit down at a poker table for a little while or simply ask a female. Selling is no different. Everyone wants to be the best there is and if you listen to most of us, that's probably what you'll hear in a nut shell but this is not mathematically possible. There could only be one who is the best.

Several years ago, I had to make a decision to fire one of my salesmen. I didn't like it but knew that's what I had to do. I planned on telling him the next morning when he came in to the office. He came in talking about what a great salesman he is, how wonderful he is and how it's basically just all about him even going so far as to say " they want me, they want me ". When I told him I had to let him go, he was utterly shocked. He had been warned several times about under bids yet continued to bring in contracts that were short in spite of extensive training. The reason he was "selling" jobs is because his prices were the cheapest due to the under bids. It had nothing to do with salesmanship. :dry:

Chuck, I think everyone has had a bad employee but you can not define them all to being in sales.

I used to sell 9 jobs a year average. Lowest price 500K, highest in Millions. I recieved a 7% commision.

I can never remember not being the highest price.

I was not the best I have ever seen, not by a longshot.

To lump some all salesman as bad is like trying to lump some all roofs as bad.

The older you get the more you have seen but you will never live old enough to have seen it all. :)

Whatever you use to make a sale is sales. You can try and tell yourself you are not a salesman, but why lie to yourself.

Marketing is sales.

Washing your trucks is sales.

My last 3 people I hired to sell roofs barely knew the roof was on the top of the house. One is a woman and she is still selling roofs for me. One left because his wife got relocated and he went to work selling roofs in that city. That company is copying things we do. I have the third starting on the 15th and he does not know roofing. I want my salespeople to build a relationship of trust in our company.

They ask me, "what do I say if they ask me a question I do not have the answer for. I tell them to say "I do not know. I will find out for you. We have a well trained and knowlegable team."

Tom, I don't see anywhere that I said all sales people were bad or that all roofers were bad or anything else of the sort. As long as your delivering what your selling its all good.

Lefty, why do they call it Sales and Marketing? I guess it needs to be changed to Sales and Sales.

Chuck,

I don't know Leftys answer but I offer one of my own.

It's all a part of sales and your always selling.

I never saw any success in asking a pretty lady "You don't want to go out with me, do you?"

a freind tells you he wants to introduce you to what you have described as the woman of your dreams tonight. You don't go home and put on ripped Jeans and a T Shirt you haven't washed.

I wouldn't want to try but I wonder if the Domain MyBiz Sux.com is taken?

Chuck Said: Tom, I dont see anywhere that I said all sales people were bad or that all roofers were bad or anything else of the sort. As long as your delivering what your selling its all good.

Lefty, why do they call it Sales and Marketing? I guess it needs to be changed to Sales and Sales.

Lefty: Does your business sell roofs mostly to insurance backed claims? Just curious because I've toyed with the idea of hiring a salesman in the past, but don't really think it will work well in my rural market.

clover83 Said: Lefty: Does your business sell roofs mostly to insurance backed claims? Just curious because Ive toyed with the idea of hiring a salesman in the past, but dont really think it will work well in my rural market.

We do very little insurance work. We do almost no new work. You have to decide if selling is where you are doing the most good for your business. Figure out where you do your business the most good. Then do more of it.