84 years ago a member of the British parliament stated, “A friend recently told me that there is a Chinese curse… ‘May you live in interesting times.’ There is no doubt that the curse has fallen on us.”
Can any of us deny that (thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic) we are living in “interesting times”?
And yet… our cleaning and restoration industry must adapt!* In fact, many of our SFS Training graduates have tweaked their ‘first time caller’ procedures with my 3-step COVID-19 strategy! Curious? Then click on the below links…
Step #1- Use my COVID-19 Phone Format- Click HERE for my ‘phone script’ to convince a ‘price shopping’ caller to let you do a ‘video pre-inspection’ (actually a ‘sales presentation’) of their home. Then…
Step #2- Do a ‘contact-free’ video pre-inspection during COVID-19- Click HERE for the step-by-step of a ‘video walk-through’. And finally…
Step #3- Book the job after your video pre-inspection- Click HERE for my two ‘video chat’ questions to close the sale! Do these two questions ALWAYS book the job for you? NO, because…
Even after using your time-tested SFS Pre-inspection Format some prospects will reply: “Let me check with my husband/ boss/ claims manager, etc.” UH-OH! Your sale will be DOA with this ‘Smoke Screen’ Hidden Objection UNLESS you use Killer Question below!!
‘Smoke screen’, Steve? Absolutely! You see, this “Let me check with…” response is almost always a ‘detour tactic’ to hide their more accurate (but extremely adversarial) customer reply, “You are waaaaaay more expensive than the other guys!” What can you do?
You must tactfully ‘smoke out’ the true reason they are putting you off so you can then ‘NEGOTIATE’. (Isn’t this better than losing the job entirely?) Gently nudge your Reluctant Customer into the open by replying…
“I understand. But before I sign off let me ask you… does the way I have my recommendations written meet your projected budget?”
This ‘objection busting’ reply has so many advantages…
1. “I understand.” (These two key words will ‘disarm’ your prospect. They were expecting you to ‘huff and puff’ but instead you’ve empathized with the home owner. And empathy is VERY important!)
2. “But before I go…” (As in you saying, “Don’t worry. This won’t take long.”)
3. “… does the way I have my recommendations written…” (YES! I absolutely am willing to ‘re-write’ this proposal! And isn’t trying this approach better than letting her call someone else?)
4. “… meet your projected budget?” (This phrase“projected budget” depersonalizes the question into a simple and non-confrontational ‘business transaction’. Because what does every business have? A BUDGET!)
The wonderful reply you hope to hear from your client? “Well, your price IS a bit more than I was expecting…” GREAT! You have ‘smoked out’ their Hidden Objection!
Your task now? A simple matter of lowering the total job amount but at the same time reducing the scope of the work! (Many times I made more profit per hour on the new reduced amount than I would have made on the original proposal!)
HINT: This QuickTIPS focuses mostly on the residential market. But Click HERE for some great commercial negotiating ideas.
* Click HERE for my ongoing series on adapting your company to the COVID-19 crisis.
IMPORTANT: Join 1,000’s of other cleaning and restoration contractors (and me too!) in our Strategies for Success: Growing Your Business Facebook Group today! (You don’t have to be a SFS Training graduate to jump in today so CLICK HERE!
So HOW can you “negotiate down” while still keeping your profit margins up? Hmmm… sounds like I better come up with another QuickTIP real soon!
Steve