On March 11, 2014 at 12:14, Hasbeen said...
Paul, you've gotta understand that not everyone works in Santa Barbara. We've seen the houses you work on, that's not the case for many of us. Sure, your clients can do what they want with their money because they've got a lot of it, it simply doesn't matter how they pay you.
however, if you give the average middle class or upper middle class customer the ability to pay by card, its just another avenue for us to open the door for more work. Yep, I paid $4000 for 150k, and I was happy to do it. Even if I was able to get half of those customers without credit cards it still a good investment.
As far as sales tactics and clients seeing through them....when done properly its simply viewed as conversation. They have no idea they're being sold, too many people think of sales as something unscrupulous, its not. It's what keeps the world spinning. Being good at your craft doesn't mean you're doing something underhanded.
One thing that you also need to understand is that your bread and butter is in the smaller Jobs where there are 5-6 guys doing the exact same thing and sales are absolutely crucial. Dont get me wrong sales is needed especially for the jobs that are in between the much larger projects.
Another thing is that most jobs that some of us are focusing on cannot be designed and finalized on the clients kitchen table on the first meeting. There is generally a few days from the initial meeting to when the proposal is completed and a reschedule is required to come back and propose the system, only then is when you can edit things in front of clients and possibly close the sale, this of course requires a program such as D-Tools and your laptop.
The clientele that I now mostly service usually have come from WOM and ive been given such high regards that im not bidding against someone else.
You guys that have your heads in those salesbooks DAILY need to also be very careful of "becoming a sales puke" I have won numerous jobs because clients have said i actually listened to them and understood their requirements and made them feel comfortable rather then just another "client number in a companies database"
to 98% of the general population AV and the stuff we do is a total mystery and is is "vudu". I have also seen clients completely turned away from doing larger systems because someone from the area that is much bigger and has admittedly said behind closed doors "hes an epic salesmen" scared the shit out of them by over selling.
You guys also have to remember MOST of our clients are business owners themselves or in sales and are quite often put off by the usual "by the book" salespuke shit these books preach that everyone else and their brother has read. Its the same stuff written 200 million different ways.
Everyone's clientele is different, the last 3 years of re branding my business has brought me into the group of clients that are extremely wealthy and dont have time to deal with "by the book sales" and are quite often put off by high pressure sales..one of the best pieces of advice that i have ever been given was by a customer of mine that is in the painting business, he does very high end work but to clients a painter is just a painter. It is not uncommon for him to be against Certapro, trunk slammers etc. all those guys are sales guys, he introduces himself and says I am not here to give you a salespitch on what type of paint we use and how our guys are background checked etc. He then says i am here to provide the best possible service and outcome for your project...so before you by the book sales guys jump on him and his ways He is a millionaire and is one of TWO high end painters in the area.
I have been blessed that i can read people very well and know when its time to put the sales cap on or back off a bit. Im not saying i don't have room for improvement but like pauls comment and to put it bluntly my type of clientele will and are most definitely put off by these types of sales tactics.
one thing that does sell very much and is the best sales thing you can do is CONFIDENCE. If you dont have confidence in yourself or the products your selling you chances of a sale are slim to none. Confidence comes first, then listening to your client and then the sales IMHO.
