Sales

[Bodean]

Any cool stories, insights, methods or equations to your sales?

Do you mention hourly or just a price?

Sales is so much more challenging than climbing.......I have so much more to learn....like a whole new world.

It's a head game. Like the game of poker.

Deva.

 

[Levi]

Personally I am not a fan of hourly, too much scrutiny.

 

[Bodean]

Me neither....

That's my current lesson.

Never mention Hourly.

 

[Levi]

I've been getting a bit more curt and confident in my approach. At first I was pretty passive, just a bit nervous. Selling with a full calendar is easier I think.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Never mention hourly, but always use that to determine the bid.

 

[Levi]

I definitely have an hourly goal in mind but have be looking at it in fractions of the day. Nothing less than 1/3 of a day. We do a lot of small jobs, a full day job is a big one for us. Sometimes after I add up the items the number is higher than how long it will take, usually I just roll with the high total, unless it's WAY high (like me)

 

[Mick!]

I think a lot of useful time can be spent reading and listening to the client.
Are they looking for the cheapest price above all? If so suggest ways to save them money, blowing chip on the floor, leaving wood all over the place.
Is the garden perfect? Sell the grinding and evacuation of all the stuff.
Are they hippy/green sorts? Tell them that the reduction will "mimic as close as possible the beautiful natural form of the tree"
Are they the sort of people who don't care how the tree looks and want it cut in half? Then sell them a removal at nearly the same price.

Find out what presses their buttons, then press them.

 

[Bodean]

Find out what presses their buttons, then press theirs.....

Good one, Mick.

 

[vharrison]

Eh, no poker game. They need to have their trees done and NOBODY does it better than you, no matter the price. Of course price matters but charge what you need to keep your business going and going!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I recommend you carry a planner calender book, besides your electronic calender on a pad. Make sure they can see your bookings when they ask when you are available to do the work. Bookings sell more bookings. You become a commodity. Desirable. You are obviously a value at your price if you are booked pretty solid.
I also turn pages in front of them from previous months to get to my closest availability. Let them see no time off. Pages filled.
Paper pages are more tangible in human thought. Use the pad later when you show up to work.
People need to keep up with the joneses. Every one in your bookings is a Jones to them.

 

[Levi]

I like your style Stephen! I'm going to do that.

 

[Fiddler]

I never showed a calendar, but...even if your starving " find a way to somehow fit them into your busy schedule"

I also like Mick's...listening lets you learn about the customer...it's easier to sell to someone who you know something about, even if it is only the pace they speak and understand what's spoken.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Listen and look. Compliment them on how their property and how it looks. They may have had a big hand in it. Maybe sweat equity. You'll know the crusty a lot just by how they keep things and what they tell you. You see a tree properly pruned? Compliment it and point it out, even if you had no hand in it. Appreciating someone else's work stands out to people. Makes your credentials stand out as well.

 

[pantheraba]

Gawd, you are a crafty devil, Stephen!!! Excellent tips there...I like the paper calendar especially.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Complimenting people on their property makes me think of a client of mine, little interest if at all in what goes on outside on their large piece of land. They only want their trees cut to avoid the hassle of hurting someone. They often forget what I told them that I was going to do, conversations often end with my saying, "Ok then, just leave it up to me". I work on it like it's my own place.

 

[Levi]

That's the dream client.

 

[cory]

Gawd, you are a crafty devil, Stephen!!! Excellent tips there...

+1!

 

[Bodean]

Gigi, You're right, they need to have them done by me!

Stephen.....they're all Joneses. Good 1.

I show my day planner to the client so we can choose a date together.....I use the phone to track my bids with its alarms and notifications.

I complimented the garden tonight to the Gardner... saying how refreshing it was to see trees not hacked up. The appt was for 5pm. She called at 5:10 saying the appt was 5:30 and she'd be 15 minutes late. I left at 5:50.....places to be.

Blah blah.

 

[Levi]

Fug dat, her loss.

 

[rskybiz]

That full calendar is so true!.


Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Chris E]

I try to be friendly and jovial but I'm usually not in the mood - heaps of my other tree buddies rate doing bids as the biggest pita part of this business.