Greetings Floor Dealers!
In this series I answer questions that were asked during the two sales and marketing training sessions I presented for dealers at Surfaces in Las Vegas.
What should we say when someone asks the price of a product right at the beginning of the sales process?
You don’t want to get into a price discussion until after the prospect has seen your entire presentation, including testimonials, warranties and guarantees, your unique selling proposition, and been thoroughly wow’d by your service. This makes commanding margins of 45-50% or more much easier. Also keep in mind that when someone asks about price right away it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a price-shopper. Your prospect doesn’t know anything about flooring so she is asking the most obvious question: what’s the price? I’ve found that if you deflect the question most prospects will follow your lead. Say something like, “I’d be happy to give you a price on your project. Let me ask you a few questions that will enable me to give you an exact, guaranteed quote so there are no surprises.” This almost always works, but if they still insist on talking price before you are ready, then beware. She may be a die-hard price-shopper, and thus predisposed to complain, nit-pick, delay payment, and give you ulcers. You’re better off sending bottom-feeders to your competitor. Let them deal with the headache.
Should we post prices on our products in the showroom?
There are very successful dealers who post their prices. However, I’m against it for several reasons:
First, you’re inviting people to comparison shop on the worst criteria possible: a price on a tag. They think they are comparing apples-to-apples, but they’re not. There are many other factors that don’t appear on a price tag: your quality of workmanship, your expertise, your warranties, whether or not you’ll actually honor your warranties, the quality and suitability of the product itself, etc. Your sales process should thoroughly educate your prospects on these factors before price even enters the conversation.
Second, the price you post gives absolutely no meaningful information to the prospect because they have absolutely no idea how to calculate that square-footage price into an overall project cost.
Third, you’ve reduced your entire business to a number on a tag.
Should we reward people for sending us referrals?
I recommend it. It doesn’t have to be anything huge: a pair of movie tickets or a Starbucks card along with a hand-written note is fine. It’s true that people refer you because they know you, like you and trust you, and not for a token reward. But I still recommend it because it endears you to your customers, strengthens loyalty, differentiates you, brightens their day, creates top of mind awareness, etc. Besides, it’s a very polite and gracious thing to do, something missing in today’s world of customer-service mediocrity.
Some of our staff members are resistant to change. How can we get our sales team to use new sales strategies?
First, be sure you’ve empowered your sales team for success by doing these five things:
- Provide the tools they need to succeed. In this case, the new sales strategies you’ve learned.
- Train them on how to use the tools.
- Hold them accountable to use the tools.
- Recognize their successes.
- Reward their successes.
By doing this you’ll likely get a lot more buy-in from your sales staff. However, if a member of your team still refuses to get on board, then it’s a good sign that they are not the right fit for your organization and it may be time to replace them.
I hope you found these questions and answers helpful..
To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”
Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
See what real, live dealers are saying!