Do you have clients tell you “your price is too high”? I have a lot of builders tell me they are getting this feedback even though they know they have cut the quote to the bone.
Do your clients really know one way or the other if your price is too high? “Your price is too high” is a tired old line that your customers have been trained to use to get you, the builder, to pull back on your margins. They have been told by the media, their neighbours, someone at work, their family, whoever, that if they tell you “your price is too high”, you will, in all likelihood, change the quote to some lower number.
I have a friend who does this regularly and says he’s surprised how often people do it, even the major chain stores. I decided to try it recently at a rebel sport store at our local Westfield and they asked me if a $30 discount would be ok? So I know it works and I’d recommend it IF you are the customer.
Lowering the price to win the job is exactly what most “order takers” will do. An educated builder knows better and does not lower their price, unless the client changes the job.
Now you might be saying to yourself, ‘but I know my price was too high because the client told me I came in above the other two quotes!’
“Your price is too high” (and that statement can come in a number of different forms) simply means that you have not done your job as a ‘salesperson’. Plain and simple, you have been lazy and have missed some very important steps in the ‘sales process’.
The number one rule for sales is to ‘qualify’ your prospect. You need to pin down the budget to the point that you know exactly what they want and are willing to spend.
Here are the four essential questions that need to be answered;
1. What do you want to do?
2. When do you want to do it?
3. Who will make the buying decision?
4. What does that person(s) want to spend?
If you get the answer to (at least) those four questions, you will get to a “yes” much quicker. Sticking to and getting the answers to those four questions will help you qualify your prospect and save you a world of pain in wasted time and energy down the track.
Over the years I’ve compiled a list of the most affective qualifying questions a builder can ask. Click here to download them now. Knowing the answer to these questions will take your sales conversion rate from 1 in 6 to 1 in 3 very quickly, without lowering your margins. Learn the technique, ask the questions, get the answers and watch not only your sales increase, but your profits increase as well.
To your ongoing success.
Kurt
MASTER BUSINESS COACH
E: kurt@builderscoach.com
www.builderscoach.com
