After a comment from Thomas Kral of ReliableAmerican in Chicago regarding providing some training on sales presentations, I panicked. Well, maybe “panicked” is too strong a term. But, he called on me to get some content on this blog in an area where I certainly don’t profess to be an expert.
Still, this is a reasonable training topic for this blog. The economy is in the pits. Construction is slowed down in most areas of the USA. Small business owners are struggling to keep their employees busy enough so that everyone can put a potato on the table now and then.
What to do? How do I find something useful for you, the commercial roofer?
I did what anyone else in my position would do – I called on some friends. Some of these friends are large and small commercial roofers. Other “friends” are trusted sources from the Internet.
My first group of friends, the roofers, all told me the same thing, “The lowest price gets the sale no matter how you present it.” To me, that’s pretty depressing.
How can a small business compete against a big business? How does a company with well-trained, safety-conscious employees compete with fly-by-night companies with, shall we say, questionable employees? How low can you go on pricing before it costs more to work than not work?
I do know a little something about marketing and sales training and I’m pretty certain that there are some ways to attract business and close sales even in a depressed market. So, without further ado, I’ll give you my ABCs of marketing and sales.
A is for acquiring and building a list of potential clients
I hope you have already been doing this. However, I would challenge you to expand your horizons. If you have been looking only at current clients in the public sector, expand to the private sector – shopping malls, office condos, etc.
Whatever you do, don’t sit on your list. Business is tight. Keep adding to your list. The more prospective clients you have, the better your percentage for getting a job becomes.
B is for building relationships with those on the list.
What? How do you build relationships with people and companies you may have never met?
The answer is to provide them something of value for free, no charge, nada.
The best thing to give them is information and training:
- Teach the school district or mall owner, how to know when it is better to upgrade a roof than it is to repair it. Show them how to compute the cost.
- Tell the large construction companies how to compare the costs of various roofing options.
- Send your list information about the latest technologies in roofing. Show them your featured products and tell them how these will be better than other products or methods.
Provide this information on a regular basis. Use email to disseminate the info to the entire list. Pretty soon, the people on the list will regard you as someone who is useful to them and they look forward to receiving your emails.
C is for cultivating and closing sales.
Bid on projects from companies on your list as often as possible. You may soon find that those on the list are soliciting your bid instead of you having to search for these jobs.
The relationship you have created with these people will give you an edge in the process and may get you a second opportunity where you were not initially the lowest bidder.
Remember a fair price and quality performance are the keys to repeat business.
If you would like to get copies of a few articles I’ve collected on sales training techniques, send me your name and email address and I’ll get them to you right away.
