A
AMtek
Well before i get into the selling circle itself there are certain things you need to know in order to really understand the steps and fully utilise them, these are:
people make decisions emotionally. if i walk past a poster for the newest model of a car i may fall in love with it instantly and want to buy it, but of course i don't head down to the nearest showroom immediately and buy it before knowing anything else about it so i do some research, i find out how big the engine is, how fast it is etc. what im doing at this stage is logically justifying my decision to buy this car. the next fact is that everyone is egocentric so if i end up in the showroom and the salesman is telling me that my neighbour was just in there looking at the same car but he couldn't afford it and anyway i look much better in it than he did what he is really doing is persuading me that it is actually me that is good enough for the car rather than the car being good enough for me. The next step is value. Value is not a fixed number, it is relative. it is relative to how much you are willing to pay for this particular product, what the competition products sell for. therefore you must demonstrate that your product is equal to or of greater value than the price you are asking for it. therefore the salesman will persuade me that this particular car is better value than any of its competitors, it may be the same price or even slightly more expensive but he tells me that it is faster, or more exclusive etc. this convinces you that im spending my money wisely. if at this stage the salesman starts resorting to tactics such as knocking 30% off the list price if i agree to buy the car from him then and there he is no good at his job, if however he is polite, hands me a card and tells me to ring him if i would like another test drive this subconsciously tells me that he does not need to sell this car because people are cueing round the corner to buy it, this will make me want to make my decision quickly because if i don't someone else will buy it. so i agree to buy the car there and then. the next step the salesman should take is make me feel like im in control of the situation "when would you like to pick the car up?" "if you have any more questions please feel free to call me" this is to put my mind at ease that i have made the right decision and that he is only there to help me and he is not gaining from the transaction at all. Another benefit to the salesman is that he knows that if i'm happy with my purchase i will likely tell all of my friends where i bought the car and that salesman x who sold me the car is a lovely guy and make sure you go and see him!
other tips:
always talk to the lady of the house, it more likely that she would like to have the work done than the man of the house who only cares that there is a fridge to put his beer in. make a good impression with her and you are already half way there
if you need to take samples, marketing material etc into the house, don't take it all at once, this can be intimidating for the customer and make them think you are going to set up shop and be there all night
further from the tip above, even though neither you or the customer wants to be there all night the longer you spend in an appointment, the more likely you are to get a sale at the end of it
This is the selling circle:
1. Appearance
there are two schools of thought when it comes to how you should be dressed when going to do a quotation for a potential customer: suited and booted shows that you are very professional and you wan't to make a good impression to a potential client but this can have the drawback that you can give the impression that you are just there to take their money and they may not realise that you are a professional tiler and you spend the vast majority of your day on the tools actually fitting the products that you are trying to sell them. But then turning up to do a quotation in the clothes that you have been working in all day could show that your services are so in demand that you have not even had time to change, but on the other hand they could think that you care so little about gaining their business that you have made no effort at all and so may treat the fitting of their new tiles etc. with the same degree of attention to detail.
2. Mental preparation
The most important step in mentally preparing to sell to a customer is to forget your family or work worries and leave them in the van. if you are stressed or worried this will rub off onto the customer and they will begin to mirror your stress and worry making it almost impossible to sell to them. Sales is also a numbers game. on average you should be selling a minimum of 1 in every 3 pitches that you do so if you leave a house without a sale remember that you may not get a deal from your next appointment either but on average you will sell the 3rd so pick yourself up after a "missed pitch" move on and believe that you will sell the next. a lot of being able to do this comes down to repetition, the more times you have 3 appointments and sell a minimum of 1 of them the more it will become ingrained that you WILL sell 1 in 3 and you will not mind not getting a sale on every appointment. But saying that 1 in 3 is an average, you might have 4 pitches and not have a sale but then on your next 2 appointments you will sell both. sales can be tough and you may struggle to start with but stick with it and you will sucseed!
3. Plan and prepare
as it says on the tin really, make sure you have a tape measure, writing materials, calculator, contracts, samples and marketing literature etc that you will need and make sure you know where exactly the property is so you can be punctual!
4. Break the ice
This is the most important step in the whole process! people don't buy solely based on price or quality, people buy people. What i mean by this is that if the customer likes and trusts you as a person they are 100x more likely to ask you to carry out the work for them, even if you are not the cheapest comparable quote. To do this be polite and courteous, make sure the customer knows your first name, take your shoes off at the front door without being asked, if offered a coffee always accept even if you don't really want one, ask good, "open ended" questions e.g. ask why they were thinking of having the work done (cracket tiles, changing fashion) and listen closely and seem interested in the answer, open ended questions force the customer into a conversation with you and they will begin to relax. make sure you are listening more than talking, find common ground this could be family, pets, favourite football team and spend as long as you can talking about the things you have in common, this develops the bond between you and the customer.
5. Measure and design
Find out exactly what the customer is looking for and write it down so that every aspect is covered in the next step. at this stage you can start to build the desire, try and get the customer to imagine how good the finished product will look and how people visiting the property will be impressed by their new tiles, kitchen, bathroom etc. if the customer has mentioned something that they particularly want (their "hot spot"), refer back to this as mch as possible during the course of the demonstration. involve the customer in the process, ask them to hold the end of the tape measure for you, ask them to show you where they would like the shower tray and get them to stand in the place so they can imagine standing in their newly installed shower, ask them if they will have enough room etc. make sure they know that you want the finished product to be perfect for them. after the details have been finalised recap them and make sure everything is correct. If possible relate what they are looking for to another customer in the area, people are reassured if they know that someone else has had a similar job done by you. especially if you have before and after pictures of the work and a letter of recomendation. and if you can arrange for them to go and see a job you have done for another customer you should get a call very soon after to say they would like to go ahead with the work
6. Company and product demonstration
This is where you set yourself apart from the competition. perform a short introduction to the company, how long you have been trading, where you are based, what experience you have in the industry, what qualifications you have, tell them you are insured and show them proof, tell them about the guarantee you offer, tell them about other services you offer apart from the particular one they are interested in at that time, tell them about how you will perform the work for them and why you do it in this way from preparation to finish but unless they ask don't get too technical as they will quickly get bored and switch off
people make decisions emotionally. if i walk past a poster for the newest model of a car i may fall in love with it instantly and want to buy it, but of course i don't head down to the nearest showroom immediately and buy it before knowing anything else about it so i do some research, i find out how big the engine is, how fast it is etc. what im doing at this stage is logically justifying my decision to buy this car. the next fact is that everyone is egocentric so if i end up in the showroom and the salesman is telling me that my neighbour was just in there looking at the same car but he couldn't afford it and anyway i look much better in it than he did what he is really doing is persuading me that it is actually me that is good enough for the car rather than the car being good enough for me. The next step is value. Value is not a fixed number, it is relative. it is relative to how much you are willing to pay for this particular product, what the competition products sell for. therefore you must demonstrate that your product is equal to or of greater value than the price you are asking for it. therefore the salesman will persuade me that this particular car is better value than any of its competitors, it may be the same price or even slightly more expensive but he tells me that it is faster, or more exclusive etc. this convinces you that im spending my money wisely. if at this stage the salesman starts resorting to tactics such as knocking 30% off the list price if i agree to buy the car from him then and there he is no good at his job, if however he is polite, hands me a card and tells me to ring him if i would like another test drive this subconsciously tells me that he does not need to sell this car because people are cueing round the corner to buy it, this will make me want to make my decision quickly because if i don't someone else will buy it. so i agree to buy the car there and then. the next step the salesman should take is make me feel like im in control of the situation "when would you like to pick the car up?" "if you have any more questions please feel free to call me" this is to put my mind at ease that i have made the right decision and that he is only there to help me and he is not gaining from the transaction at all. Another benefit to the salesman is that he knows that if i'm happy with my purchase i will likely tell all of my friends where i bought the car and that salesman x who sold me the car is a lovely guy and make sure you go and see him!
other tips:
always talk to the lady of the house, it more likely that she would like to have the work done than the man of the house who only cares that there is a fridge to put his beer in. make a good impression with her and you are already half way there
if you need to take samples, marketing material etc into the house, don't take it all at once, this can be intimidating for the customer and make them think you are going to set up shop and be there all night
further from the tip above, even though neither you or the customer wants to be there all night the longer you spend in an appointment, the more likely you are to get a sale at the end of it
This is the selling circle:
1. Appearance
there are two schools of thought when it comes to how you should be dressed when going to do a quotation for a potential customer: suited and booted shows that you are very professional and you wan't to make a good impression to a potential client but this can have the drawback that you can give the impression that you are just there to take their money and they may not realise that you are a professional tiler and you spend the vast majority of your day on the tools actually fitting the products that you are trying to sell them. But then turning up to do a quotation in the clothes that you have been working in all day could show that your services are so in demand that you have not even had time to change, but on the other hand they could think that you care so little about gaining their business that you have made no effort at all and so may treat the fitting of their new tiles etc. with the same degree of attention to detail.
2. Mental preparation
The most important step in mentally preparing to sell to a customer is to forget your family or work worries and leave them in the van. if you are stressed or worried this will rub off onto the customer and they will begin to mirror your stress and worry making it almost impossible to sell to them. Sales is also a numbers game. on average you should be selling a minimum of 1 in every 3 pitches that you do so if you leave a house without a sale remember that you may not get a deal from your next appointment either but on average you will sell the 3rd so pick yourself up after a "missed pitch" move on and believe that you will sell the next. a lot of being able to do this comes down to repetition, the more times you have 3 appointments and sell a minimum of 1 of them the more it will become ingrained that you WILL sell 1 in 3 and you will not mind not getting a sale on every appointment. But saying that 1 in 3 is an average, you might have 4 pitches and not have a sale but then on your next 2 appointments you will sell both. sales can be tough and you may struggle to start with but stick with it and you will sucseed!
3. Plan and prepare
as it says on the tin really, make sure you have a tape measure, writing materials, calculator, contracts, samples and marketing literature etc that you will need and make sure you know where exactly the property is so you can be punctual!
4. Break the ice
This is the most important step in the whole process! people don't buy solely based on price or quality, people buy people. What i mean by this is that if the customer likes and trusts you as a person they are 100x more likely to ask you to carry out the work for them, even if you are not the cheapest comparable quote. To do this be polite and courteous, make sure the customer knows your first name, take your shoes off at the front door without being asked, if offered a coffee always accept even if you don't really want one, ask good, "open ended" questions e.g. ask why they were thinking of having the work done (cracket tiles, changing fashion) and listen closely and seem interested in the answer, open ended questions force the customer into a conversation with you and they will begin to relax. make sure you are listening more than talking, find common ground this could be family, pets, favourite football team and spend as long as you can talking about the things you have in common, this develops the bond between you and the customer.
5. Measure and design
Find out exactly what the customer is looking for and write it down so that every aspect is covered in the next step. at this stage you can start to build the desire, try and get the customer to imagine how good the finished product will look and how people visiting the property will be impressed by their new tiles, kitchen, bathroom etc. if the customer has mentioned something that they particularly want (their "hot spot"), refer back to this as mch as possible during the course of the demonstration. involve the customer in the process, ask them to hold the end of the tape measure for you, ask them to show you where they would like the shower tray and get them to stand in the place so they can imagine standing in their newly installed shower, ask them if they will have enough room etc. make sure they know that you want the finished product to be perfect for them. after the details have been finalised recap them and make sure everything is correct. If possible relate what they are looking for to another customer in the area, people are reassured if they know that someone else has had a similar job done by you. especially if you have before and after pictures of the work and a letter of recomendation. and if you can arrange for them to go and see a job you have done for another customer you should get a call very soon after to say they would like to go ahead with the work
6. Company and product demonstration
This is where you set yourself apart from the competition. perform a short introduction to the company, how long you have been trading, where you are based, what experience you have in the industry, what qualifications you have, tell them you are insured and show them proof, tell them about the guarantee you offer, tell them about other services you offer apart from the particular one they are interested in at that time, tell them about how you will perform the work for them and why you do it in this way from preparation to finish but unless they ask don't get too technical as they will quickly get bored and switch off
