Go Back to Selling the Way We Used To

Since the tax credit has gone for this year, we must step up and start selling the old-fashioned way, with benefits. We used that idea a decade ago, then started relying on a $1,500 credit to help sell. Our industry must move back to the concept of sharing the benefits with the customers, what the system can do for them. It takes more time and effort on our part, and the good news is that many contractors will not do that.

So, if you are a contractor who will spend some time with the customer, finding out what is important, establishing priorities, and sharing solutions that solve the issues they have, you will separate yourself from the masses who won’t. Even more important, the customer will be thrilled that someone actually took time to learn what is important to them, and put together a custom package for their specific needs.

Will it work every time? No. Will it work enough times to make it worth your while? Only you can answer that. But from the 30,000-foot view, the contractors who are doing that are seeing increased sales and profits, selling systems that are multiples of what the street price is.

Jim Hinshaw
Owner
Sales Improvement Professionals Inc.
Fort Collins, Colo., area

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Publication date: 01/16/2012