SELL IT LIKE IT IS
Source: REMODELING Magazine
Publication date: April 1, 2008
By Stacey Freed

The sales process is the initial source of anxiety for customers. The process begins with a phone call and moves through budget discussions and the visualization of the project until the hand-off to production. While guiding your prospect, you must establish rapport, trust, credibility, and professionalism.

CUSTOMER CONNECTION

What if you were sick and visited the doctor, and all he did was talk about himself — where he went to school, other treatments he'd performed, and so on? That's what it's like when many remodelers begin the sales process says Bob Gregoire, vice president of global accounts at Sandler Training, a sales training program. “We diagnose and prescribe,” Gregoire says. “In the medical world, prescription without diagnosis is called malpractice. It's the same for remodelers.”

Sandler Training focuses on listening to prospects and asking them about their wants and needs. “It's 70% listening and 30% talking,” says Bhavesh Naik, owner of a Sandler Sales Institute franchise in Rockville, Md., who has a lot of remodeling company clients. “We specialize in ‘you-centered' selling as opposed to ‘me-centered' selling. Customers want two things: to be listened to and [to be] understood. Something has been bugging them for a long time — the living room is too small, the kids need bigger bedrooms, the tiling is coming up. You have to draw them out and get them to talk about their issues.”

Naik suggests asking open-ended questions such as, “What was it that compelled you to call a home remodeler? Why are you thinking of making this addition? Tell me more about it. How long have you been thinking about this project?” and even, “Why would a remodeler do this project better than you yourself could?”

Joe Dellanno, a building designer and president of My Design Build Coach, who has also been through Sandler training, has established a sales process that eases customer anxiety from the start. “The expectation is that [a prospect calls and will immediately] talk to a salesperson, so their anxiety level goes up,” Dellanno says. He developed a gatekeeper system, making sure that the person in that role has a pleasant voice and can nurture someone through the process, making them feel comfortable and raising their trust level. Most often it's a woman in that position.

After that initial phone call, the gatekeeper forwards the prospective client a draft agenda for a meeting. “This ensures that we've heard exactly what they've said,” Dellanno explains. Once the prospect gives his or her approval, a sales meeting agenda is sent out. Only after this does the gatekeeper introduce the salesperson (who may also be a designer or owner) to the prospect.

“A personal close rate is 85% to 90%,” Dellanno says. “A cold call is 1%, a lead 15%, and a referral is 50%. If [prospects] establish a relationship with the gatekeeper and see physical evidence of their requests and wants coming through on e-mail or on paper, they know we're looking out for them. It's a stronger connection.”

Once a connection is established, it's easier to get through what Gregoire calls “mutual mystification”; the point where both parties are confused. “You need to talk about objectives and outcomes and how long things will take,” he says. In other words, you must be honest. Clients will have a better experience if they feel respected.

Gregoire says that you should let prospects know up front that if, by the end of an hour, they don't think you are a good fit, they will feel comfortable telling you so. “It's like a date,” he says. “There are only two outcomes: ‘I don't want to see you again or yes, I do want to see you — and that means we can come up with an agreement on what each of us needs to do.' Unfortunately, in the dating world, we lie and say we had a great time and then never call. You need to help people to feel comfortable saying ‘no' to you.”

DO DILIGENCE

It's important to get to know your prospects before you attend a first meeting. Dellanno uses Google Earth to help familiarize himself with the prospect's neighborhood. “You could ask, ‘Isn't there a lake around here?' Engineer a connection. This makes the homeowner feel comfortable.”

Chris Withers, owner with Cress Carter of Old Greenwich Builders, in Denver, also turns to the Internet to research clients and find possible commonalities. What industry do they work in? Are they involved in the arts or in other areas? “There is a certain amount of a sales call that's not business,” Withers says. “We try to get to more of a personal level.”

Old Greenwich Builders has a system calculated to establish the company's credibility and professionalism with the goal, Withers says, of “going out on a second date.” To show that the company is better organized than other builders, the salesperson takes customers through a detailed job binder that shows how process-oriented Old Greenwich Builders is. “This puts [customers] at ease,” Withers says, “and they realize that they're talking to professionals.”

Depending on what was discovered in the Internet search, salespeople will stress different topics. When the meeting is over, Withers leaves behind brochures and directs prospects to the company's Web site.

“We conclude our initial sales call by inviting [the customer] to join us for a ‘job tour,' and we try to get a time scheduled before we leave the meeting.” The tour starts at the Old Greenwich Builders office, “to show them that we do, in fact, work in a professional office environment,” Withers says.

Then the prospects are taken to see two or three projects similar in scope to their own. “This point shouldn't be underrated,” he says. “We don't want to take a $200,000 potential client through three, million-dollar remodels; it would only scare them away. We conclude the tour by letting them know we are interested in their project and would love to be their builder. We offer to present them with a ‘soft' bid and 90% say ‘yes' at this point. Then we start to build financial rapport.”

SAME IS GOOD

Once you've learned the techniques for drawing people out and making them feel comfortable, train your staff to do the same. “Most successful businesses make sure everyone is on the same page,” Naik says. “It's a crucial step in going from good to great.”

At Synergy Builders, in West Chicago, owner John Habermeier, who uses the Sandler sales system because, he says, “it's a defined process,” has his staff role-play various parts of the remodeling process at what he calls “Synergy University.” “We meet every three weeks — from newbies to managers. We rehearse the customer experience, and we get 360-degree feedback [from the staff participants].” Sales and design people practice answering tough questions without getting defensive. “They try to understand a client's pain by asking more questions about their situation,” he says.

To ease clients' fears, Habermeier relies on systemization and updated technology. One place he looks to for business inspiration is McDonald's. “No matter where you are around the world, [McDonald's] is consistent,” he says. “You can anticipate a product and it will be delivered exactly as you anticipated it.”

Habermeier, whose business focuses on high-end basement remodels, strives for a consistent sales process. “When we set up an appointment with a client, we have the goal of measuring their basement on the first visit. We always set up a second appointment at the same time we're setting up the first appointment,” he says. The first appointment is done at the customer's home and takes about an hour.

“About 15 minutes into the visit a [prospect usually] asks if [we] had a chance to read their wish list,” says Habermeier, who explains to the customer that the first visit is mainly to look around, take measurements, and allow the customers to describe their lifestyle.

Habermeier and his staff visit the basement on their own. Using a [Leica] laser distance meter and Bluetooth technology, they can transfer accurate measurements into Chief Architect on a tablet PC within 15 minutes. Then they give the homeowners a 30-second overview of their basement on the tablet PC. “They usually go, ‘Wow, how'd you do that?' This builds the anticipation level, and they get excited about the second appointment,” Habermeier says.

BELLS AND WHISTLES

For Habermeier's clients, who are often Gen Xers in their 30s and 40s, it's important to see processes they're familiar with. They are comfortable with technology, so the remodeler relies heavily on Chief Architect's 3-D renderings and a large projection screen.

On the second appointment, customers go to Synergy Builders' 4,000-square-foot showroom, which includes two home theaters, three bars, and an arcade. “People can get a sense of what their basement might feel like,” Habermeier says. The theater chairs are separated and comfortable. Clients get cozy, are offered a drink, and take in the show. Habermeier shows a Google Earth map with about 400 “push pins” representing his referral list. “I can zoom into where [a customer] lives and say, ‘These are clients within a 5-mile radius of you.' Or I can connect them with people who have a similar scope of work.' It demonstrates how active we are with word-of-mouth referrals. This puts them at ease a bit,” he says.

Customers are treated to a 25-minute virtual tour of their basement remodel in Chief Architect. During this time, there's a lot of communication between Habermeier, the clients, and a design assistant who acts as a scribe summarizing customer wants and needs.

After the floor-plan show, the group moves on to discuss budget, and Habermeier is reassuring, so customers don't feel pressured.

He explains that it's his responsibility to make sure they have the most accurate price before they leave the showroom. He also guides the customers through some selections, asking them to point out styles, colors, wood species, tiling, and countertop materials just to get a sense of what kinds of things they might like. He puts their selections on a slatted wall and they begin to see a theme emerge. “They know what they like, but if you ask them to make a decision, they freeze,” he says.

	Photo: Bryce Vickmark WpN Joe Dellanno, designer and president of My Design Build Coach, in Arlington, Mass., with client Jeannine Barrett on site. Dellanno sends out meeting agendas to customers and gets their input and signatures before moving forward. Early on, design decisions are made virtually through GoToMeeting software.

By narrowing the selections scope a bit, “We help them make a decision without feeling like they're making a decision.” About 70% of these customers close after this second meeting, Habermeier says. Dellanno, too, uses technology in his sales process with a Web-based conferencing tool called GoToMeeting. Dellanno, who is based in Arlington, Mass.; his draftsperson, who is in Indiana; the remodeler on the project; and the client can meet virtually.

Dellanno holds the first meeting at the client's home, connecting with the draftsperson via GoToMeeting. Subsequent meetings can be done with each person at his or her own site, and spontaneous meetings can happen easily.

During the discussion, Dellanno projects the design onto a large screen and clients can make suggestions and see how changes might actually look.

“I absolutely love the process. It's efficient and effective,” says John Martin, of Winchester, Mass., who hired Dellanno and general contractor Gerry Dunleavy for a whole-house remodel of a 1902 colonial. “It's close to the real-life ability to see every decision. If you want to make a doorway 4 feet, you can see what that would look like and see the view through the doorway. As a client, you get immediate feedback on every decision.”

Though Martin is not a typical customer — he is involved in design and technology — Dellanno says most clients are not put off by the technology. “They embrace it. ‘Where has it been? Why doesn't everyone do this? It makes it much easier. I've actually enjoyed this process.' That's how they react to it, and they thank us.”

Habermeier says that every so often prospects will think that his company is too professional and, therefore, out of their price range. He deflects that by letting prospects know that this professionalism means the job will have fewer mistakes and will be more efficiently run. “This allows us to be less expensive and still be professional,” he says.

Much of what helps you give a customer a good sales experience may have more to do with the values you learned as a child than with anything else. Just making others feel comfortable by being polite, making eye contact, and listening to and focusing on their concerns will take you a long way toward establishing the rapport and trust required to make a sale. Recent studies have shown that doctors who apologize may be inoculating themselves against future litigation, and it has been found that doctors who are nice to their patients are rarely sued, even in the face of egregious error.

Remodeling, while often emotionally draining, is not life-threatening. But, like savvy doctors, remodelers would do well to create an experience in which customers feel as though their best interests are the No. 1 priority.