Let's be brutally honest, it takes a brain the size of a peanut to make that big a cock-up of managing a company. Split the peanut in half and that is the size of brain that you need to carry on working flat out seven days a week at that sort of profit margin and not see how stupid it all is.
Is being the cheapest your way of running a business – HAH! Perhaps you ought to be stacking shelves at Tesco, because that's a job that doesn't need brains either. Let's face some home truths. If the customer starts arguing about the price we fall down faster than a house of playing cards in a gale. If you wish your business to grow and prosper and your company get a reputation for quality and reliability – don't sell on price, sell on quality.
And don't even try to start telling me I don't know what I am talking about and I have no idea how hard it is out there – just watch any of these consumer programmes on the telly where tradesmen are charging the customer hundreds of pounds for a five-minute job.
I am not advocating ripping off the customer, but the difference between 'rogue traders' and us is that they do a second rate job but they are brilliant at asking for the money. We, on the other hand, can fit excellent systems and give excellent service. Is it too much to look the customer in the eye and ask a FAIR price ... fair to them and, more importantly, fair to us. We should be able to do that with all confidence that our prices are fair and our service is top class.
Don't forget, there are companies out there that are charging little old ladies thousands for a system that we would turn our collective nose up at.
The proof was there for all to see on the "Rogue Traders" programme on the telly a few weeks ago. It exposed one of these high power sales companies that is touting what I know to be a Class 3 wireless system bought for around £150 and selling it on for sums that were running into thousands ... and yet here we are struggling to sell systems worth £5-600 for a measly £199.
Some of us have not got our act together.
I watched in horror to see the way this company was twisting normal, well-respected sales techniques. But perhaps, if we were to analyse their sales pitch, we could learn a thing or two.
Always find something nice to say about the customers house:
A well-known trick to ingratiate yourself with the customer. Complimenting a person often works but there is a down side to this. If it is not genuine then it can often be seen through and can work against you. My advice is that if you cannot see something that you genuinely like, say nothing. Here's an example.
Some years ago one of my fellow alarm salesmen was visiting a house. it was a copybook start. He arrived on time, he was dressed smart and had a smile on his face. The customer invited him in and he looked round for something to "admire", (always say something nice, etc). There, behind the hall door, was the biggest, ugliest looking piece of furniture he had ever seen in his life. It stood well above head height, it had a multitude of drawers and shelves and it was topped off with what looked like great big wooden eyebrows either side of a carved wooden eagle with spread wings. The very presence of this dark oak monster made him forget his training for a split second but it was enough – He just stared at the object and said, "Where the xxxx did you get that?". As he said later, "I just knew at that point that I had lost the sale".
If they offer you a cup of tea, never refuse: Yes, always a good sign, can't argue with that.
It takes seven "no's" before you make the sale:
Here's where they start to differ with the rest of the trade. They refuse to take no for an answer, whilst we often don't even ask the question. You would be shocked at the number of "salesmen" in our trade that don't even give a price at the time of survey. Let me ask you a simple question – If you don't give them a price, how can they say yes? I will tell you one thing, your opposition is laughing all the way to the bank.
Next, when you have given them a price you wouldn't dream of asking (tactfully) if that price was what they expected and if not why not? Here is another brilliant opportunity to give the job to the opposition.
You have passed up a golden chance to find out what price the customer has in mind and how far away they are from your offering. If you are asking £400 and the customer says, "I have seen them advertised at £199" then you can explain about not cutting corners and using cheap gear. You may find that the last price they had was a door-to-door salesman quoting £2,000. Now you explain about the rip-offs that give the industry a bad name.
It’s a sad fact that whilst we condemn ‘rogue’ traders we can learn from them ... if we adopt a few of their better selling techniques we could wipe the floor with them
Do you think that to be unethical? To my mind selling systems too cheap is just as unethical as overpricing. Being genuine, doing a good job AND charging a fair price is always the best in the long run.
People who tell lies and say anything to get the sale don't last long; they get very disillusioned and move on.
Selling on the job:
They got this one right – well, mostly right. The best salesman is probably the engineer who is out and about talking to customers all day. The customers get to know and respect him, so if he were to suggest further improvements to the system they would probably listen. How many companies give their engineers a commission on extra sales and also give them time to talk to the customer?
This method gives the engineer an incentive to help the customer to increase the protection on their buildings.
The customers are happy, the engineer is happy and the company has more sales and everybody is the winner – provided the engineer is not just selling for the money and genuinely cares about the customer.
This is where the 'rogue' traders spoil it for everybody else; they sell the customer things they don't need.
Following up after a quote:
I am constantly staggered at the number of small companies that refuse to 'pester' or 'badger' the prospective customer with follow-up calls after sending them a quote. But there again, this is why they are still small companies. Follow-ups can be done tactfully and tastefully without offending the customer and the information gleaned is invaluable.
For a start, how do you know that the quote has actually got there? How do you know what the customer thinks about your quote/price/specification if you don't make a follow-up? How do you discover the mistakes you are making that are losing you most of the jobs if you don't ask a few simple and non-offensive questions?
What if the customer would like your system but can't afford it, and you have no work on at the moment? ... Now is the time to cut your price. How daft a situation can you get when each party needs the help of the other but no one wants to make the effort? It is stupid beyond belief.
It is a sad fact of life that whilst we condemn 'rogue' traders we have so much to learn from them, and the irony of the situation is that if we were to adopt a few of their better selling techniques we could wipe the floor with them, increase our business and do the industry a favour all at the same time.
Rip-offs come in many forms ... a short time ago I ordered a cup of tea.
"£2.50 for a cup of tea – you must be joking, take it back!" I said.
There are some who would say that I am tight fisted, and it is a well-known fact that the Yorkshireman will give the Scotsman a good run for his money when it comes to being careful with it. But the reality is that we just don't like being ripped-off, and £2.50 for a cup of tea amounts to rip-off prices in my opinion. The place in question was the bar/restaurant of the Holiday Inn at Peterborough where I was attending a meeting. I decided to have a cup of tea in the bar. They think they have you at a disadvantage because there is no alternative so they bang the price up till you scream, and scream I did.
It is the same on the trains where you pay more than £1 per plastic disposable cup of coffee- flavoured sludge, and if you have a sweet tooth a flapjack will set you back £1.05 ... and that's for a half inch thick, rock hard block of sweetly flavoured grit that is not much bigger that one of those large, decorative stamps the Post Office keeps on trying to get us to collect ... Come to think of it, there's probably more flavour on the stamp! At Kings Cross Station the other day I decided to have a cup of soup from a stall called "Soup Opera", The soup (I have to admit) was delicious but the price – £3.80! I can get a meat and two veg plus a Yorkshire pudding sit down meal for less than that in a roadside café. But I have to say that probably one of the biggest catering rip-offs I have found is at the exhibitions we have to attend. At Excel last autumn I was charged £5 for a hot beef sandwich, which was no more than two slices of tasteless bread with a couple of slices of beef inside that were sliced so thin you could read The Times through it.
Fair enough, they have to pay silly overheads to have a stall at one of these exhibitions but the real fact of the issue is that we just don't have to pay that sort of money – we can vote with our feet and opt out.
Source
Security Installer
Postscript
Mike Lynskey is a former proprietor and independent inspector of alarm systems. He is now a network manager with the NSI. The personal views expressed should not be taken as the opinions of the NSI. E-mail Mike on mike.lynskey@virgin.net
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