Since
1992,
NSPG has been providing the tools that allow contractors to
increase profits and minimize business hassles. With our
simple-to-use-tools, you can make being a business owner
what you always wanted to it be -
successful, profitable and rewarding.
Making the Sell
Tough economic times make
effective selling by your techs more important.
Giving your customers the information they need to make
an intelligent choice about your services - also known
as selling - makes sense in a down market. The
benefits begin with selling your techs on the value of
selling.
One of the big problems
that many service companies have is convincing their
techs to sell your services to your customers.
Some techs feel that their job should deal solely with
fixing the problem, and that "selling" alternative
solutions is unfair to the customer. In reality,
the companies with the highest customer satisfaction
tend to be the ones that offer their customers multiple
choices for how to solve their problems.
The non-seller technicians
tend to hold to the idea that the lowest cost solution
is always the one the customer is looking for.
They think that offering higher value / higher priced
solutions through an established sales process is not
what the customer needs.
In a few cases, this is
true. Some people are always going to look for the
lowest price regardless of the long term cost. And
when you run into this type of customer, you should
always give them what they want if it makes sense from a
quality standpoint.
Making an inexpensive
repair on a system that is bound to fail again shortly
may not make sense for your company. In a case
like that you have two options. You can point out
that the customer risks further problems, and then do
the inexpensive repair if that is their decision.
Or you can explain the risk in the low cost solution,
and walk away from the job.
Most customers will choose
a solution that they feel offers the highest value.
Cost is a factor,
 but
they want to balance the dollar cost against the long
term value of the solutions you can offer. And
that is just what selling is in the service industry.
You give information about the alternative solutions
that may offer more value to the customer, so they can
make their own informed decision.
If your non-selling tech
needs any convincing about this, just send him to any
mall in America. They will find many stores
selling clothing for prices that range from the
reasonable to the ridiculous. Then take a ride to the
nearest Wal-Mart or Target. If everyone wanted to
pay just the lowest price, the mall would be closed and
replaced by the Wal-Mart.
People buy what they want
for their own reasons. If you don't present them
with the available options by "selling", they won't know
their options. They will be forced into buying
whatever solution the non-selling tech offers, or they
will buy from a competitor who offers them higher
perceived value.
During economic slowdowns
like we are experiencing now, this non-selling sentiment
grows. Techs want to offer the lowest cost
solution to save the customer money because of the
constant bad economic news. In many cases, this is
just the opposite of the correct solution. With
all the bad mortgage news these days, many people will
decide to stay
 where
they are rather than move. They may be more
willing to spend a little bit more for higher quality
products and services for their home or business.
They view it as an investment in comfort in uncertain
times.
If the tech does not let
the customer know all of the options available, the
customer cannot make the decision that is right for
 his
particular situation. Normal selling for your
technicians in most cases should be a no pressure
presentation of the options that your company can offer
to solve the customer's problem. Then the customer
is free to decide how to proceed.
If you can get your
non-selling techs to understand
 this,
you may be able to get them to follow your company's
sales procedures on a regular basis. They will see
an improvement in their dollar sales amounts, and will
probably see an improvement in customer satisfaction.
Everyone wins. The customers get to choose the
value options that make sense to them. The tech
improves his sales numbers. And the company
improves its bottom line.
The
choice is yours. You can hunker down and hope you
make it through any slow down in your area by competing
on price, or you can
compete on the idea that your customers will be happier
making their own decisions.
You can give Mike Conroy a call to discuss your
business and sales strategy, your
numbers, or your flat rate books.
He always enjoys talking to business owners who are
willing to work their way to success.
Measure Monthly, Adjust Quarterly
& Achieve Annual Profit Goals
NSPG News
Over the last
few weeks we've released new free updates to our
National Standard Price Guide software. These
updates included new reports in response to customer
requests.
One of
these new reports is the
Apprentice Certification report. This
report allows you to print out a listing of Tasks to be
completed and reviewed by a supervisor. This
report is designed to allow you to track the performance
of an apprentice or new hire. This will allow you
to be sure that they are performing up to the quality
standards you have set for your company.
We have
also added a new print option for select Parts reports
that allow you to choose just Parts used in active
Tasks. This can reduce the size of your lists and
allows you to focus only on the Parts that are used the
most.
Another new
report is the
Parts Price Updater. This reports
allows you to print a list of your active Parts with
spaces to write current pricing and other locally
supplied information. This report will allow you
to keep your prices up to date without the cost of a
paid pricing service. Some supply houses will even
fill in your numbers for you on this report, so you can
easily use your own office staff to keep your prices
current with your suppliers.
Next time
you download a free update, take a look at these new
reports to see if they are something that will work for
your business.
 On-Line
News
Lucky Plumber
This is not how to close the sale.
Innovative recruitment program
He did not want the incident to interfere with the sale.
And you're proud of your new truck.
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