Garage door industry magazine for garage door dealers, garage door manufacturers, garage door distributors, garage door installers, loading docks, garage door operators and openers, gates, and tools for the door industry.
Issue link: https://idoi.epubxp.com/i/134362
SaleS&MarkEting; Peddler or Professional? by Dan Apple The Apple Group, LLC When your company markets your products and services, are you just giving quotes or providing presentations? In the last issue of ID&OI; I wrote about embracing and pursuing more retail sales to homeowners and businesses as a way to increase sales and profts. This would move your company more towards becoming a full service door store instead of solely a garage door contractor. As stated in the article several elements of your business would be affected including your product line, showroom, advertising and buy in from the employees. Specifcally, a successful transition into retail sales requires a higher level of selling skills. To be an effective "door store", you can ill afford to just quote products and services. An effective retail sales person knows the benefts of making well planned and executed presentations. When done effectively, the payoff is big bigger ticket sales at higher margins. This elevates the sales person from peddler to sales professional. Quoting vs Selling My wife and I are in the process of remodeling our home in Florida. During the process we've had much interaction with sales representatives from various trades. As you can imagine the experiences have varied, some good some not so good. I'll use a couple of these to illustrate the difference between just quoting versus selling. We need new windows so I contacted two glass companies that were recommended by friends. The frst company visited our home and spent a lot of time carefully inventorying the windows taking care to get good measurements and noting the various types needed. When we discussed replacement he asked many questions. What was our main reason for wanting to replace them? Energy conservation? Security? Aesthetics? He provided samples and color swatches along with an easy to understand brochure. After listening closely to my answers he told me that he would consider the information gathered from our visit and would get back to me in a couple of days with his proposal. We received his email in two days as promised with detailed pricing and specifcations for the replacement windows needed. The second window company's representative also visited the 38 International Door & Operator Industry™ house but we were not there at the time. He assured me that my being there was unnecessary. He called me later that day and rattled off prices and options based on what he thought we needed. The most emphasis was on price and his lead times. He did email me a quote that had the window count and a price. No brochures, no samples. The process was more of him telling me what I didn't want versus asking me what I did want. Clearly the choice for our window contractor was an easy one. Choosing an interior decorator is another example. This is no doubt my wife's department. The two "fnalists" came highly recommended. The frst decorator met my wife at the house and after exchanging pleasantries walked around the house and gave my wife her general observations of each room. She assured my wife that she knew the latest styles and designs and had done this many times before. She asked very few questions about my wife's decorating tastes and design criteria. The meeting ended with a conversation about her fee being based on the decorating items we purchased. The lady she chose to be our decorator spent a lot of time prior to meeting trying to get to know my wife a little so she could better understand her likes and dislikes when it comes to decorating a house. She asked to see photos of our previous house so she could discern the styles and colors we were used to. When it came to her compensation she wanted to be paid hourly so there would be no implied pressure to purchase items at infated prices. Her approach to the decorating process was more collaborative that authoritative. It was easy to give her the job. In both examples the common denominator of the two companies that got our business was listening. Retail selling requires active listening skills. Sales people tend to want to talk when sometimes they need to listen. The door business is like any other service business. We are hired to solve problems, acting as consultants as well as suppliers. As a consultant you cannot make your best recommendations without understanding your customer's needs. You cannot do that without two way communication. Assuming you know what they need without taking the time to understand their motives, desires and opinions can take you right out Continued on page 41