Yesterday I was the quintessential business owner. I was looking at the future of my small business, not quite sure what the best decisions were, and I took advice from knowledgeable (but at the end of the day, in my eyes) sales people. I had no idea what I needed, I had a rough idea of what my budget was but had a lot of wiggle room if I was explained why and how. I also had a 2–3 year outlook on everything.
I spent all day in an empty office seeing one sales guy after another: handyman, drywall, flooring, alarm system, Internet. Who won you may ask? Well, that depended on the circumstances and the need but I hope some of these give you an idea of what you may be able to improve in your own business. And if for a moment you think you’re not a handyman, to a person that can’t tell the thermal compound from a joint compound, you’re no different. As a matter of fact, roughly 3/4 of Orlando ITPRO dresses worse than the people that came to my office yesterday! On to the knowledge..
Remodeling
Easilly the most complex (read: messy) part of the job. I wanted one of the walls in my office knocked down and removed because I wanted to turn it into a lounge. I called a few people, most of which never returned my call. Construction business must be good!
Anyhow, there were three people that could have gotten the job. One was a very knowledgeable but NewYork-y lady, one was a good ole’ boy and the last one was a guy that likely answered the cell phone on I4. I was inclined to give it to the hard working guy that risked his life and his truck to take a sales call but he was packed until next week and I wanted it done today.
Here is how the NY lady lost:
I explained the situation to her and she had more questions than the answers. Despite my continuous repeating that “Lady, I work with computers, not construction.” she continued to ask questions and explain her terms in more and more detail that had no consequence on my business, my remodeling or anything of the sort.
I asked if she would come down to take a look at it – “No need, this is a really simple job.”
This was such a simple job indeed that every time I gave the “wrong” answer it went up a $100 on the quote. Does the wall have any electricity in it? Is it a load bearing wall? Is it attached to the ceiling? Is it wired to the ceiling? How thick is the wall?
After the tenth time I told her I don’t do construction and hope to die as ignorant of it as possible, I told her I would call her at 9 AM when I got to the office and would go through it. When I got back to the office I realized that it looked far different from my description. It was a full wall, with a door, attached on both ends to the walls and they ran cables through it. I called her back, explained the solution and I think I heard the sound a coin machine echoes when you hit five 7’s.
I told her that due to the complexity I am just going to want to patch up the hole in the wall (this used to be a legal office, they had one of those receptionist holes in the wall where you sign in and sit in the waiting room. This is where it turned pretty:
The Blow
I explained that because of the complexity I was not interested in doing it anymore. I asked her instead for a quote to come and patch up the 3×3 foot hole in the wall.
She first blew up at me about how this was such a small job.
Then she told me that in order for her to do it she had to pay her guy for the whole day plus travel plus gas.
Then she told me that she had to keep her business up and running too..That last line is where she lost the ball game. Oh, you have to keep your business running? Uveee, really a give a s…
Lesson: There is such a thing as a graceful way to turn down a sale. Thank them for the callback, explain that the job may be too small for you because you don’t specialize in anything below remodelling, etc. But don’t try to make the customer feel guilty for not being good enough to buy your services, especially since you’re on the line to sell them stuff!!!
I asked her for a recommendation. She said to call a handyman. She also said that in order for her to do it, it would cost $350.
$350? I’ve lost more than that just listening to your drywall dribble. How soon can you get here? “I don’t know it would take this and that and this and that and <cutting her off> Listen, I am seeing a lot of people today, find out and call me back. Ok? Ok, thanks.”
Not before the phone clicked did I pick up the Orlando Sentinel to find a handyman. I dialed the first damn listing, A-Z Handyman.
During my call, the lady called my phone number no less than 10 times during the 5 minute period. How is that for a sign of desperation?
Here is how the good ol’ boy lost:
I asked for a quote on a drywall removal. He was busy on another job but I could tell he wanted to work with me. Great! Appreciate that.
So we set a date. He blew it. Set another date, he rescheduled it. Today was the final straw and frankly, after talking to the lady, I gave him a call to let him know I had changed my mind about the drywall and that it would be staying.
Lesson: You are never too busy for a lead. Especially if you sell services that are likely to be required again. I can accept a busy McDonalds, I can’t accept a busy contractor when the rest of my business continuity depends on it. If you are too busy, do not make empty promises to meet with the client in person or you will lose the sale before it even becomes viable. And they will tell others too.
Here is who won:
A-Z Handyman.
Vlad: Hey, I have a new office, I have a drywall with the receptionist hole/table and molding on it. I would like that stuff knocked out and the hole filled. Can you do that?
Handyman: Of course, how big is the hole?
Vlad: 3 feet by 3 feet
Handyman: Ok, not a problem. It’s $80 the first hour, $40 each hour after that. Do you have the materials or not?
Vlad: Nope.
Handyman: Would you like us to buy you the materials?*
Vlad: Absolutely. I have no idea what is needed.
Handyman: Ok. You’re looking at $180-$220
Vlad: How soon could you do it? (thinking: please, please say by Tuesday)
Handyman: Downtown Orlando? I can have someone down there in an hour.
Vlad: Awesome. I am on Magnolia..About an hour later, I get a call from the handyman that was actually going to do the work, he came in to do the actual measurement, see whats there, etc. Amazing, isn’t it, this guy was doing an infinitely smaller and less complex job and he still came in to look at it first, unlike the NY lady.
Lesson: Customers tend to lie, or have no clue what they are talking about. So make sure you know what they are asking and that what you are selling them is actually appropriate for them!
He told me he’d be back in an hour, explained what he’ll buy, explained what was going to happen, etc. He didn’t ask me to sign anything, look over anything. He just seemed to know what he was doing and he went about it. No time out of my day.
Hour later, guy comes in, starts working and about two hours into it he is done. The invoice is on the money, I am presented with a complete invoice, a receipt for the materials, an explanation of what was done and how, what I might want to do tomorrow. He leaves me with a can of compound, tells me how to sand it down, etc. He even goes to his truck and gives me a bottle of orange peal so I can make the new drywall match the texture of the rest of the office!
Lesson: People like to be empowered when it comes to taking care of the assets of their business. This is akin to showing someone how to patch their workstation or add a new hard drive. Yes, it might kill an hour of your billing time down the road, but it gives the business owner a concept that this isn’t something to be afraid of and guess who they will call when they need help?
The handyman was out after two hours, fought to refuse a tip (after what I had to go through with that lady there was no way this guy was walking out of the office without at least a $20) and left the place clean. What are the odds I’m going to be a repeat customer?
The Floors
The floor competition was not nearly as intense. As usual, half the people will not call you back, the other half is clueless. Home Depot kept me running in circles – local store told me to call the national number, the national number told me to go to the local store. At the end of it, I was in the local store, with no laminate rep, on the phone being told the same story by the national number they dialed from their Avaya VoIP. They even left it logged in as the admin user. Way to go Home Depot!
The flooring contract was between two guys that came in and really handled the whole thing very professionally.
First, they measured the entire place, looked at the areas, looked at the molding, looked at the quality of the current floor. Then they gave me a quote on the floor installation – with or without.
Second, they proceeded to show me what they would do, how, how many hours it would take, explained that the contract job only took X hours at best, if they had to come back they would but I would not be charged for the second day. (Wait, a blue collar job that doesn’t explode in cost along with complexity and time demands?)
Third, they gave me options on the molding, on the flooring, different vendors. I did find that part funny:
Vendor: Well, its going to cost around XXX for the good quality floor with a 25 year warranty and..
Vlad: How much for one that is rigged to explode in 3 years and a day when my lease expires?
Vendor: Well, the one has a really good warranty!
Vlad: Yeah, but I have a three year lease….
Vendor: Yes, but you don’t want to have holes and tracks in it after a few months either.
Vlad: Oh.
The guys left, offered to come and drop off some samples of the flooring and left their contact information.
Very good experience. They came, gave me options, offered a followup, left a quote. Short of having the laminate in their hands to lay it down right then and there, this was about as good as it got.
The Security
Own Web Now offices tend to be state of the art data centers that require fibs, biometrics, DC personnel and six cage locks with keycodes to get into and everything is committed to tape. And while I’m not dumb enough to put a server or anything of value into a box that anybody form the street could walk into with a crowbar, I would still like to control access to the office and perhaps get a phone call if it burns to the ground.
The Brinks guy was absolutely phenomenal. He came in ON TIME, looked like a million bucks for selling something that cost a few hundred to start and less than $40 a month in service. He explained the process, the contract, the services, the options. He inspected the office. He explained the entire service and how things work.
He then sat down in the middle of the office (I only brought one chair and my laptop since everything inside the place is going to be gutted in one way or another) and wrote up a contract. I was definitely signing it, but he didn’t ask me to sign it, there was no pressure at all. Just – here is your contract, let me know when the remodeling is done, I will schedule an installer to come out and thats all there is to it.
Thirty minutes, no complexity, no issues. I need it, its in my budget, it rolls. Plus the guy did everything he could to let me know what this thing would do for me and my business, addressing both the issues I have and the issues I didn’t think I would have. I haven’t even bought the thing and it already exceeded my expectations.
The Internet
As ignorant as I am of remodeling, and hope to go even more ignorant, the Internet connection was one of the areas that you couldn’t pull a fast one with me. People tried, which I admire, but the service from all the companies I spoke to was just amazing. Perhaps its because us “phone” service folk have to be a lot more hospitable because we don’t have that face-to-face familiarity with the client.
The first thing that surprised me was my laptop. I sat down in my large empty room, powered on my laptop and found an unsecured AP. wtf? Ok, connected, online. SmartCity, eh? Their page gave me three options: Free (256K), $5 (high speed, for a week), $15 (high speed, for a month). Ok, so I had to call these guys right away because they just saved my day. This is advertising that works folks!
I called a number of people and I have to say, I am proud of my industry. Not only do we know how to take care of the customer, we know how not to waste their valuable time.
Vendor: It can take me a couple of minutes to enter all of this information to qualify your address. Instead of putting you on hold, can I call you back in 5 minutes on 407–7… ?
Vlad: Absolutely. Thank you.
Vendor: <after 5 minutes, on the dot> I have the results for you but unfortunately none of the speeds match up your requirements.
The SmartCity guy was actually very cool and we will definitely do business together but I want to make one point of distinction here.
When it came to a local choice of my local service, I was only going to give it to a local shop. Hell South didn’t stand a chance. Why? I want a company with a committment to the local community it serves because thats where my infrastructure is and I want their infrastructure too. Now then it comes to the cloud service, I want that as far away from my neck of the wood as possible. Why? If my office disappears (New Orleans anyone) I want to resume the business with 0 interruption. Never keep your eggs in the same basket. So my servers, my VoIP, my fax and everything of the sort is going to be somewhere safe, far away from hurricanes.
The Sales & Service
This is one of the lessons I got to learn very early in my career: “Sales” doesn’t exist. Sales is just another service you provide and if you try to make it exist without the users input and concern for their needs… well, you aren’t getting the sale. This is where most sales people fail, they never account for what the customer is asking for — they push what they want the customer to buy which is what they want to sell. The goal of a sales service is not to push the customer to buy crap they don’t need, it is to get them to sell themselves on what they want! Your job in sales is obviously to guide them to that point, but when you pressure and push, especially in reoccuring services like what OWN does, they will drop you the moment they something they were not bargaining for. Again, unless you work at McDonalds your job is to tell the customer about their options, evaluate their needs and show them the impact of their decisions.
So, thats my SMB owner buying experience, see any areas where you might want to improve your own b2b sales process?
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