LiteningFast Estimating For Construction

What to Avoid on Your Sales Call

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Some previous articles gave contractors tips on what to do to make a successful sales call. In this piece, we will tell you some things NOT to do. Did you ever hear about the New York Times rule? It goes something like this: Don’t do anything you’d be embarrassed about if it was printed on the front page of the New York Times. Imaging the captions that go along
with these photos:

• A construction worker pulls up to a home with perfectly manicured lawn and flicks a cigarette butt, which lands between some brand new mulch and a flowerbed.

• A painter finishes a can of MGD and places it in the cup holder, throws a stick of Winterfresh in his mouth, and grabs his clipboard to enter a home.

• A man with fresh concrete on his boots, a sweaty dew rag on his head and dirt on his face rings a doorbell to give an estimate on his lunch break.

Sounds silly? But these things do happen. People trust you with their homes and their money, so you should do your best to appear reinforce that by appearing trustworthy.

Dress To Impress- The way you dress on a sales call and they way you dress for work should not be the same. No matter what line of work you are in as a contractor, save the work garb for the job site. If you are also the one making sales calls, be sure to look professional when you show up.

Leave the alcohol and cigarettes at home- these items may or may not be allowed on a job site, but they most certainly should not accompany you on a sales call. Tossing a cigarette butt on the yard is disrespectful. You are possibly going to be getting hired to fix things up around their house, and the first thing you do is put a butt out on their sidewalk?

Think again! And alcohol, that’s a no-brainer! Save it for happy hour after work, to celebrate landing the job!

Don’t bad mouth the competition- Regardless of how unprofessional or careless your competition may be, act civil toward them. Sell what you have and the benefits of working with your company, rather then spend your energy talking bad about someone else’s work. An example would be to walk into a room, and say, “Wow- who did this work??”

True story- I know a guy who went on an estimate and saw some poor quality work in some spots - he went on talking about what other companies do. Come to find out, his company was the one who did the work, years before he came on board. He was embarrassed, and to the people, he looked unprofessional.

They still got the job, but you can see how talking negatively about other
can backfire.

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