Direct Sales Call Backs?

[Tw Installations]

Hi guys,

I have been posting a bit latelty as I'm working at improving my selling skills and conversions. ( Im selling and installing Kitchens ) so here is another few questions

My usual route to selling is

1) new enquiry
2) Home visit arranged ( No pressure style /I dont try to sell on the night )
3) Plans drawn up and sent to customer ( 4 to 5 days process )
4) Price to customer via phone call or 2nd visit to arranged to give price directly and answer any questions

At point 4 it might go straight to a sale, but if it doesn't it goes 2 ways:

1) they " are still deciding " and they then call to order / go ahead a few days later

2 they " are still deciding and I call them a week later to hear " they haven't had a chance to look at it yet "

My Question is do call backs work?

Im doing them because I know other companies do them, I usually know if I'm going to get the job and when I have to call back its almost always a waste of time, infact i'm not even sure if I have landed any this way since i have trialed it.

Should I be offering something different to make the call worthwhile because the only reason i call is to ask if they are any further forward with their decision, I know some companies call and offer reduced prices but i always price it fairly first time, am I wrong on this? - do people like to feel that they are getting a bargain or do they really see right through it?

Also i'm doing call backs a week later, should I be doing them 2 days after?

And..... one last one, Usually I give the price over the phone, but recently I have been trialling a 2nd visit to speak to the customer directly, its working resonably well and could be the way forward. If a customer is interested does it matter if you tell them the price over the phone or in person? would the opertunity to sell in person outweigh the time involved to do 2nd visits?

Im not sales trained so any help is appreciated

Thanks

Tommy

[OldWelshGuy]

Your price should be delivered in person on a second appointment. If they don't buy then, there is a fair chance they won't.

The 'we haven't had a chance to look yet' is just a papaer objection,they are really saying 'we don't like to tell you no, so we are saying maybe'.

Offer something of value to them but not high value to you, and make it a condition that they order within x days then call them back to let them know that they will lose out if they don't place the order.

The other option would be to slice a chunk off your profit and call them back with a 'here and now' price that is only available for 24 hours or so.

If they don't buy then, forget about it.

[MH1]

The big question is what % of your quotes then become orders based on your present methods, and whether you are happy at your current prices.

If 80% of your inquiries become sales then you will struggle to improve a great deal, and maybe it's just your style. If only 25% are converting then you have huge room for improvement.

If you are 25% cheaper than the big boys that can explain a high success rate, which will help offset poor sales techniques.

Something I used to do was on the night find out "THE" thing the client really wanted, but often felt out of their price range, so as an example if selling a bathroom and the client mentioned they had always dreamed of having a jacussi, I would always say no problem but you do appreciate they are several thousand pounds.

This normally put it from their thoughts, and when I wanted to close the deal I would negotiate the price, and then mention, oh, that includes the jacussi as well, as you wanted.

The trick is to build real value, be it solid granite worktops, gold taps etc, there are hundreds of ways on the night. When a national company mentions a solid granite worktop will come in at £3k it makes it sound expensive, how much they really cost I have no idea, I doubt 95% of the public do. It is these little tricks that allow for price movement at the end of the day.

Only you can decide what "your price" should be, but just because you are a smaller company does not mean you have to be cheap.

[CKG]

[QUOTE]Im doing them because I know other companies do them, I usually know if I'm going to get the job and when I have to call back its almost always a waste of time, infact i'm not even sure if I have landed any this way since i have trialed it./QUOTE]

When I used to sell heating it was the same.

If I felt the job needed a call back to try and seal the deal you knew there was almost certainly some kind of objection waiting for you on the other end of the phone.

There is 2 was to deal with it.

1) Be sorry for bothering them and loose the sale.
2) Try and get to the bottom of the objection and find the real reason they are not sold on you.

Point number 1 is the route that most will take.

Not being good at point 2 is what will make you seem like a pushy salesman.

The objection could be something really simple like a bit of missing detail from the quote that they think they are going to have to pay extra for.

Or it could be that a mate of a mate has offered to do the job for next to nothing.

keep digin' until you find out the reason for the objection.

That is what I used to do. Some objections can't be over come but most can.

[telemax]

[quote]Im doing them because I know other companies do them, I usually know if I'm going to get the job and when I have to call back its almost always a waste of time, infact i'm not even sure if I have landed any this way since i have trialed it./QUOTE]

When I used to sell heating it was the same.

If I felt the job needed a call back to try and seal the deal you knew there was almost certainly some kind of objection waiting for you on the other end of the phone.

There is 2 was to deal with it.

1) Be sorry for bothering them and loose the sale.
2) Try and get to the bottom of the objection and find the real reason they are not sold on you.

Point number 1 is the route that most will take.

Not being good at point 2 is what will make you seem like a pushy salesman.

The objection could be something really simple like a bit of missing detail from the quote that they think they are going to have to pay extra for.

Or it could be that a mate of a mate has offered to do the job for next to nothing.

keep digin' until you find out the reason for the objection.

That is what I used to do. Some objections can't be over come but most can.

This is very true. If they say no

I usually totally take the pressure off them by saying something like "If I gained eveyone I visited as a customer, I'd be driving a Rolls Royce" This usually gets a laugh. or " I can't please every one all the time" or any variation on this theme.

Then say

But I'd love to know why you aren't interested was it something I did wrong?

Then simply let them do the talking. They might say something like it's too expensive. You could then say,

If I could look again at the qoute, how would you feel?

Let them do the talking. If they say yes then that is the real objection and it can be worked on.

They could then say, we have decided to delay it 6 months.

You would say something like,

I'll be very happy to call you back in 6 months if thats ok?

They will say "yes"

You could say " Just so I remember where the conversation was when I do call you back in October, was there any particular reason why you are delaying?

Again let them do the talking, they could say something like "it's too expensive right now"

Then you could say "approximately how far above you budget are we?"

If they give you a figure then that is the true objection. You could then say "If I could go though the qoute and take it down by x number of pounds would you be prepared to give me the go ahead today"?

and so on

Accept each objection, and work your way through it. Test each objection out find out what it would take to get the go ahead.

Remember, never ask for a signature. Call it the "go ahead".

I hope this helps

Jonathan