Latest / All Can No Can't | Mastering Resilience / 051: Conquering Price Objections: Strategies for Valuing Your Service and Closing the Deal

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051: Conquering Price Objections: Strategies for Valuing Your Service and Closing the Deal · All Can No Can't | Mastering Resilience

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, there it's Jeff Luther and you are diving into the podcast for the Service Business Blueprint.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is where I walk with you and help you unlock the secrets to building a thriving service-based business.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: We talk about everything from starting out to setting milestones in your company you didn't even know would exist.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: We'll cover entrepreneurship, personal growth, mindset everything you need for success in your service-based business.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: You ready to build that blueprint?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome back to the Service Business Blueprint where we share tools, tips, strategies to achieve your personal and business goals and overcome mindset obstacles.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, jeff Luther, and in today's episode we are still talking about price so fun.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: So I have a great episode on deck for you guys.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: By the way, that's just a little hook for the next episode.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: It's already done, it's already recorded.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I was super excited about it, but I've gotten a lot of questions mostly my peers about this pricing issue, where the last episode where I thought was actually a great episode last week about our fees and the price we charge At least I thought it was great I laid out what is an overwhelming argument of why higher fees are better for the client.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: It's really it's undeniable that a higher fee is better for all parties involved, and I don't mean just, you know, ridiculous fees.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: But edging up on the higher end of what the value of the product is is better for everybody.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Of course, that's assuming all things are equal, right.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: The business intends to stay in business.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: The business is not looking to gouge anyone.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: All things being equal, higher prices are better for all parties involved in any transaction, sale or service.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I am convinced of that.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So, lucky you, I had several people pushing back.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: They agree about the higher fee, that it's better for everyone.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: They love the idea and they went along with the logic.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: The challenge that I heard from most of you was getting pushback from your clients, and I think in today's economy or today's climate, we're all seeing a little bit of that.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: So the conversation became more about overcoming price objections than actually increasing fees.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: So people all agreed the fees need to be higher.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: But I think by and large in our industry, so to speak, in the home services industry industry, so to speak, in the home services industry, there's a little bit of a lack in sales ability.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: I don't know how to say that diplomatically, but I think some of us don't really know how to talk about price objection very well.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I think some of us provide such a good service it just sells itself.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Then, when it becomes competitive or we want to raise our prices, we're not equipped to have that discussion.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Competitive or we want to raise our prices we're not equipped to have that discussion.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: So I want to talk about price objection.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: I can't really cover a whole episode on that one topic, so I peppered in a couple of bonuses on sales in general.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: So this is something I'm passionate about.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I'm going to skip around a little bit.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Let me tell a few stories.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: First.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk to you like I'm an expert on this topic and it's very easy for me to talk like an expert, because I don't have a client on the other end that I'm trying to sell.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I just have a.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Well, really don't have anything on the other end.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I'm just recording a podcast.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: All I have is my listening audience.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Don't be fooled.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about this like I'm an expert, like I never cave.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: But don't let me fool you, because I do.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I'm human and I'm just as much of a pushover as the next guy.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: My weakness is that I really do love people.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: We are so fascinating.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: First I want to tell you about Mimi.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Mimi was a customer of ours, client of ours, and maybe I changed her name to protect her identity.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think we're supposed to mention people's name, but if Mimi happens to be out there I'd love to meet you.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: So, mimi, she books an inspection with us and of course everybody knows I own a home inspection company.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: This is all about home service businesses, but I do own a home inspection company.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I've had it for a little over 20 years.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: But there are a lot of parallels.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: I mentor several other folks that own service business companies, so they are very similar businesses.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Mimi had an inspection done by us.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: It was a condo inspection.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Very simple.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: It was an older condo building so all of the systems in the unit were communal.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: What I mean by that is there was a communal boiler, so there was no water heater.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: It was communal condenser, chiller, hvac equipment, so everything is communal.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: In terms of the climate control in the building.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Really, you just turn a knob and that calls for heat, and you turn a knob and it calls for cool.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: So nothing to really inspect the plumbing systems inside the home.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: It was a one bedroom, one bath condo.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Really was not a lot to it.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: We don't know that until we get out there, obviously.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: So Mimi calls a few days later and says hey, you guys did an amazing job.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I loved everything you did professional, from top to bottom, start to finish, left to right.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I have no complaints about the rate way you run your business.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Here's what I've learned, though, is my condo is incredibly simple compared to other condos in the city, and there was a fraction of the work that needed to be done.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: There's a fraction of the work that needed to be done.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: There's a fraction of the liability that you have with other units, and what I would like to know is if you'd be willing to give me some money back on the inspection.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: That is about how she phrased it too.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Not, you didn't do a good job, not, you charged me more than it was worth, and none of us knew until we got out there, including her, but she was so kind and, under normal circumstances, you provide a service, you give a fee for that service before you go out.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Service is done, service is rendered, however you want to call it.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Then you get paid, and you would never or in most instances, in most instances people wouldn't come back and ask if they could have money off of the service.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I love what you did, but can you discount it?
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: And even if they did, it would be well.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: No, we've already given you the service and the price is the price.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: And I did explain to Mimi look, you're not paying for the hours that we spent there, you're paying for that time slot because, of course, you know, this time of year we're turning business as much business away as we're taking.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: So I explained all of that to her.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: But I actually did give her her money, give her some of her money back, gave her a hundred dollars back as a refund because we could have done a better job on the front end of explaining what we were going to do.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: We banked it of research, that building a little bit better.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: We claim to be experts in the city, right, so maybe we should have done a little more due diligence.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: And then also was simply because she was kind and that, mixed with me being a pushover, led to her getting money back.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: So I'd say all that just to say I'm just as human as the next person.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: It's easy for me to hide behind this podcast.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I have no audience in front of me, I just have a microphone and a camera and I suffer the same as everyone else.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: On another note, just yesterday it's funny that we're talking about pricing Just yesterday I had one of our inspectors call and say hey man, I just want to let you know that my client for tomorrow just canceled their inspection and it's a large competitor in our area.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you who they are, but I can tell you that they just tried to purchase my company a few months ago, if that tells you anything.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: But they cut their fee, they cut their price.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So we had a client that had booked an inspection with us, then continued to call around to competitors, called this company, and they were $100 less than we were.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: So the client and this is the client telling us this, if it tells you anything about our reputation the client said well, you know you're only a hundred dollars less than HomePro, but it's not really enough.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: So they went down another hundred dollars.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: So, uh, on an inspection fee of about eight hundred dollars, they ended up cutting their fee to six hundred dollars.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And, uh, that's how they ended up getting that business from that client.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: And the client said, hey, at a hundred bucks it wasn't worth the difference.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: At two hundred dollars I just kind of went ahead and went with it and saved myself the $200.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I will tell you that I don't ever, as a business owner, want to be in that position where the only thing that I can use to compete is something that I have no control over.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I have no control over the budget of a prospective client.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Let that sink in for a minute.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: If you're so bold, you may be in a position where, for us, had that been me dealing with that client and not the inspector.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's the inspector's place.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I think they have far too much to do as it is.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I feel bad for those folks.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: I hope that one day they get where we are, because it's going to be good for the entire industry.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Right now, the only thing that company can use to compete is their price, but they're going to get better.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: They'll be as good as us one day.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: They'll figure it out and then they'll start raising their fees.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: They'll learn that their value is higher in the future than it is now.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: They'll raise their fees, they'll come up to the level that we're playing at, and then that's going to be better for everybody.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: So, instead of discounting their price and taking money away from their inspectors that are going out to do that inspection.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: They're going to have a higher fee and in turn, pay their inspectors a higher rate, and the ultimate result is going to be a better service for the end user, for the client, for you.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: And just a sidebar here, I think it would be so fun for those of you that deal with this on a regular, where your clients are undercutting your fee or undercutting your price, however you want to phrase that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you love to interview them, just talk to them like just regular humans?
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I'd love to ask hey, competitor, why don't you charge the same thing that we charge?
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I wonder what they would say.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Would they say well, we don't charge what you charge because it's not worth it?
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: If my price isn't worth it, then what makes your price worth it?
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, it can't be hourly because, duh, some of us work faster than others.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: It can't be part of town, it can't be the building.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I just wonder what it is.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: What makes them think they're worth less?
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you hate to be in their position where you think you're worth less than everybody?
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I think I'm worth less than that other company, so I'm going to cut my price.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I hope it's hitting on some ears of folks that do have that practice.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I know there are some folks that I compete with.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I know there's some folks that I've worked with before that part of their strategy is to undercut our price.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I wonder what it feels like to set your price.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: We have competitors that call our office and ask for our price.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: They like they're like their secret shoppers.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, their price is this.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I know I'm worth less than they are, so my price is going to be this.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: I wonder if they have a calculation like they're worth 10% less than we are, or 2% or 8% or 12%?
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Just such an interesting question.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Another thing I've learned, too, is that the bigger you get, the more people come after you.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: It's like the bigger your back is, the bigger the bullseye.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: That is a good thing, so keep that in mind as all of you grow out there.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: All right, all right.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: So I'll get off my soapbox now, and if you're ready to hear me blow V8 for the next 20 minutes or so, I'll kind of jump right in.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: I'll jump all over the place too.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I get a little sidetracked.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: This is, like I said, something that I'm super passionate about, because I really do believe in the greater good.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I know for certain and I believe like down in my soul, that we are the best inspection company in our market.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: So the selling piece of it, or the sales piece of it, is more about what's the best for the client than it is for me about selling.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I hope that resonates.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: We have the best people running our show and we have the absolute best inspectors out doing the performance, out doing the inspection.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Here's something I've learned in my 20-something years is people generally and when I say people I mean customers or clients they generally aren't scared to make a decision.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: What they're scared of is making a mistake.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: I'm going to jump right in with you're too high, your price is too high.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: That's what happened to us yesterday.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: People just say, oh well, gosh, that's a really high price.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Now I have been on the phone before where I have said I know what you mean.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I need to get LASIK surgery done, but I'm shopping around for the cheapest doctor and I still haven't found them.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Now I wouldn't advise that, but it does put it into perspective, right, and I'll get some laughs out of it, but it kind of sheds some light on what they're actually doing.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're about to spend X number of dollars on a house.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: It's probably the biggest thing you're going to have in your in your asset column and you're trying to find the cheapest service you can to evaluate what kind of condition it's in.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: It just doesn't make sense.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: So I wouldn't advise that.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: But you might try this One.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Agree, that is another thing I have learned in doing inspections, in selling, in marketing, in teaching classes.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Agree, you know what.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: You're right.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: We know we might be a little bit higher than some of our competitors.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Do you mind if I ask you a question, though?
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: And of course they don't mind, I will always ask is price your only consideration?
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Is price your only consideration in choosing your home inspection company?
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: And people rarely will people tell you.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: So you're going to learn two things.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: If they say yes, then you know you're done with the conversation.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense If price is their only consideration.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I am never going to be the lowest priced company.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: I know that for certain.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So the conversation's over.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I might suggest to them here are some questions to ask when you're looking for the cheapest company, but they'll usually say no.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: All right, thanks for being truthful.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Now do you mind if I kind of do a walkthrough with you of our pricing.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Again, it's always important to ask questions and the reason is because the customer is then in control.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: The client is in control, so I'll just do a walkthrough Now.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: All right, everybody, I'm kind of shooting from the hip here Now.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: If I were on the phone I might be able to do it a little bit better, or on the phone I might be able to do it a little bit better, but I'm shooting from the hip.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Here's kind of our scenario.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I'm like all right, well, do you mind if I do a walkthrough with you and kind of explain our pricing to you?
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: We include thermal and radon up front, so that naturally elevates our price.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: We actually have built a process around this.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: It is not an a la carte item.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: You don't get an inspection and then we say would you like fries with that?
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: It is already built in, so that increases our price.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: We have employees that aren't only accountable for the process, but they're held accountable for the accuracy and for the results.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: What we learned is this is so important in the purchasing process that we decided to include it as opposed to asking if they needed it.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: And remember, folks are buying a house like once every three, four, five years.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: So they're not as up to speed on all these things as we are, and I believe that it's up to us to know what's best for the client.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: So we believe that it's so important in the process of buying a house that we have found a way to build it into every inspection that we do.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: That's the level of service that we offer.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: We have employees that are only that's their only job.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: We have vehicles that is.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Their only purpose is to go out and pick this equipment up, go out and deliver this equipment.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: That's the only reason they're there.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: So we have to have a price that supports all the process built around it.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: We do expect to lose some of our customers to price.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: We could go out and retain more subcontractors I think some of our competitors do that more subcontractors I think some of our competitors do that and then if we're going out and just hiring folks to book business, our standards start to slip.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: The least tenured inspector we have is at three years.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: So for us it doesn't make sense just to hire folks.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I would rather have the higher price and lose business than I would lower my price and then lower the standard and in turn start adding bodies so that we can service that, service that business.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: So those are just a couple of things about price objection and that could be a much deeper talk but acknowledging that your price is high, and remember that we're not competing on price, we're competing on value.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Just like that client didn't go out and find the absolute cheapest house they could, they found something that fit their needs, something that was in their budget, something that was reasonable and something that they could be confident in and happy with for long term.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: And that's what we are.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: We are that value.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Another objection you might get is the schedule.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: The time frame doesn't work.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: If they need sooner like if they have to get their AC system installed tomorrow and you absolutely don't have a truck that can get out there and do it then it's not much of a conversation to have For us.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: If they need sooner, then you might consider asking a few questions.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Remember, we're always asking questions, right?
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: We want to qualify their answer.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: We may ask okay, well, if you need it tomorrow, what's your due diligence period?
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: And they may say three days, five days, seven days.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: That gives me an opportunity to sell, okay.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: So they call on a Tuesday asking about a home inspection and they need it done Thursday.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, we can't do it Thursday, but we can do it Friday.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, that won't work.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: It's not soon enough.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, what's your due diligence period?
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: My due diligence is seven days.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, it's Tuesday.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: You don't need the report until Tuesday of next week.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what we know.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: You're always operating on a short time frame, so this is what we've developed as a system.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: We're going to have your report to you tonight.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, we'll have your report on the same day as the inspection, by 10 o'clock that night, so you'll have the report then You'll be able to work on it first thing in the morning.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: We can also do an early drop with a radon so you can get the radon results actually a day earlier than you thought you could.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: These are all things that we've built into our system.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: We have a system that will take all of the issues out of the inspection report, put them in summary for you so you can pull them out of that summary and go into your amendment to address concerns, and all of this will be built for you up front.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: All of these things to shorten the time frame are the services that we've built into our business to make life easier on you.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: If the time frame doesn't work because they can't be there, for us, for the home inspection company, if they can't be there, that works great for us.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Whether they can or they can't, that's always my answer.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: That's always what I'm going to tell them.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Well, you know we can't be there on Wednesday, or we can't be there on Thursday or whatever day that was they were going to do.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: I'll say we know that works out well.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: And here's why because you really don't need to be there.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: In fact, you're going to get more out of this by being there at the end than you would be by being there the whole time.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: And here's why the inspector is going to be going through doing his thing.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: He's focused on evaluating the property that you're there with and, to be quite frank, some of these guys just aren't conversationalists.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so by the time he's done and ready to do the wrap-up, all you can think is go in and get in that Chick-fil-A sandwich because you're starving.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: But here's what we can do and what might be more important is that works out well for us, because you being there is not the most important part of this process Getting the evaluation and talking to the inspector.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: That's going to be the most important part of this process, so, in fact, you're going to get more out of it by being there at the end for the wrap-up, or the inspector can FaceTime you there at the end and walk you through his big concerns, or, better yet, you can get the report Wednesday night by 10 o'clock and then you can arrange to have a phone conversation with the inspector after you've reviewed the report and come up with a list of questions.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: That's one that I really like to sell.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Either way, we can eliminate that objection with solutions.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Third objection I'm going to think about it.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Or okay, thanks, I'll call you back.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let me think about this and I'll get back to you.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: What they're doing is they're about to call the next person on their list.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: They're about to call your competitor.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: A couple of things that we can do here this is my favorite one and it used to work really well.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, I say it used to work.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I don't really know how people operate once they get off the phone, but this is one of my favorite ones is we created an email quote so we would ask them about the address, ask them a little bit about the house and then they would say you know we'd walk through what we do and give them a price.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: It's okay, well, I'm going to think about it.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: It's like oh, all right, while you're thinking about it, would you like me to send you a quote of everything that we just talked about?
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, okay.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: So let me get your email address.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: I get their email address and I try to get a phone number and I'll explain why.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: So I get their email address and what I want to do is I'll say, all right, well, look, I'm putting a bunch of more information in here, some things that they're going to be important to you that we really don't have time to discuss on the phone.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I'm going to email this to you.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: You'll have it in the next 30 seconds or so.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Open your email and go through that.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: And something else I know really what you're about to do.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: You're probably going to call more competitors, so I included some questions in there for you that you might consider.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Asking competitors or asking other folks as you're going through this process.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Acknowledging that you understand that they're going to continue to call around and gather information is perfectly acceptable, and you may even be so brazen as to say look, when we hang up, I know what you're going to do.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: You're going to be right back where you started with me.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you like to just go ahead and get this booked and be done with it?
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Then you can ask this question, which is one of my favorite questions.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I'll talk about this more at the end.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: In summary, but as you're going through this process, you're asking questions not only to help the client out and to keep them in control.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: You're also asking questions as the business owner or as whatever your capacity may be to get information.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: So then you can ask this hey, listen, if we were the perfect company and you knew we would provide the perfect inspection and we would do everything you thought and then some solve every problem that you thought you were going to have, would you go ahead and book this inspection?
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Now, they're going to say, yes, they're going to feel trapped, but they will say yes, okay.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Well, if that's the case, if you're going to keep calling, they're going to feel trapped, but they will say yes, okay.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Well, if that's the case, if you're going to keep calling around, do you really think you're going to find that company that's going to be absolutely perfect, solve all these problems?
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: The total unicorn?
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Probably not.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: So the worst case is you end up more confused and more reluctant to make a decision than you are now.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: So why don't we just go ahead and get this done right now?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I think that might be a better sell or a better way to steer the client when you have a bigger ticket item, like if you're installing HVAC equipment, a new panel or something like that.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Another objection is let me talk to my wife, or let me talk to my spouse or my partner or my, my other or my whatever and I've said this before.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: You know what.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I've been doing this for 22 years.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Buying a home is stressful.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I know that for sure, because one of the questions I ask when I'm on the phone and the folks that answer our phones hate it.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: When I answer the phone, but I do from time to time I love it I always ask oh my gosh, are you so excited?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Because it's exciting, right, it's exciting to buy a house, it's fun, and oftentimes, more often than not, actually part of the answer is I'm nervous.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, are you so excited?
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we are, but gosh, we're so nervous, we want everything to go through.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: So I'll phrase it that way Let me talk to my wife, or let me talk to my partner.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: You know I've been doing this for 22 years and I know that buying a home is stressful.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I know what you're going through.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I know that making a decision to have somebody evaluate it for you is daunting.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Do you think that your partner wants to make another decision or do you think they want to just get this chapter closed so you guys can get back to deciding what kind of bushes you want to put in, and is your sofa going to fit or not?
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Sometimes they say, you know you're right, and sometimes they say, oh, no, no, no, it's not about that, I just need to run it by him or her or them or they or whatever.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: And again, that's another one that might be more suitable in, like the higher ticket items Particularly.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Let's say, your AC goes out in July and someone says, yeah, let me think about it, or let me run it by my husband, or let me talk to my partner about it.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe putting in a pool or something like that might warrant the discussion.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: We're talking about $150,000 instead of $10,000.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: But of course their spouse is going to say, yes, that was the purpose of them calling us in the beginning.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: They want them to get it taken care of.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Asking questions, that's interesting.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: One thing you can say is, particularly on a higher ticket item, if they say let me talk it over with my spouse or let me talk it over with my partner, oh, that's interesting.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: You've learned a lot in this conversation.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Tell me, what do you think they're going to object to if you tell them that you want to hire us and this is fact-finding right.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Tell me what I didn't.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Tell me where I went wrong.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Tell me what I could do better.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Tell me what you think they're gonna object to if you do.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: If you just went ahead and hired us, do you think that they'd be upset with you?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: It kind of throws them for a loop sometimes.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: So be compassionate, but this is important for the transaction, but also as a business owner.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: What can you learn here In all this sales stuff?
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: If you're not learning anything, then I'll challenge you to pay better attention.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Think about it like being the reporter You're out, you're getting information.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: You have to take it back to somebody so they can write a story.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: This is going to help in asking questions and hopefully help in getting your clients to realize that you are the best solution for them.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: So my best advice in all this sales stuff is if you're uncomfortable with it, then maybe you're not the best person for the job.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: All right, if you're uncomfortable doing sales, it usually ends poorly.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: I really am sincere when I tell you from day one in my business, I always, always knew that I had to believe in whatever it was I was selling.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: So ask yourself some questions.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: If you're uncomfortable with it, do you really believe in what you're selling?
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: If not, then why not?
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: What do you need to add or take away in your service or your product to believe in what you're selling?
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Now I'll ask you this too if you're uncomfortable in sales, do you really believe in what you're selling?
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Because I know some folks that own businesses, small operations that provide an amazing service, but they're really uncomfortable in sales.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: If you believe in what you're selling and you know that you are doing it for the greater good for the client, if you don't at least make an attempt to convince them to work with you, as opposed to companies you don't know what kind of, what kind of product or service they deliver, then you really are doing that client a disservice.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: If you're going to willingly do a disservice to someone, do you really need to be in business?
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: That's a little bit aggressive, but think about that.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: You know you're the best, you know your product is amazing, but you're refusing to allow people to purchase it.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: What are you there for?
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give advice, contrary to exactly what I just said.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: If you're uncomfortable doing this, you're never gonna get uncomfortable until you start.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: The first time you do it is gonna be super, super hard and that will be the hardest one you do, and then you'll learn more.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: You'll get more comfortable.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: You'll learn the dialogue.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: As you go through this sales process, you will learn people's buying decisions.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Remember what I said when I started this People are not scared to make a decision.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: They're scared to make a mistake, and that puts them in a situation where they keep asking questions, they keep digging for information, they keep looking so that they don't have to decide.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: They don't have to make that mistake.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: It's funny.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: I can relate this to so many things.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: I had a dog.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: My dog died.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: This has been years ago and I obviously had to bury her.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: So I took her.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: This is, I don't know, 15, 20 years ago.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: I took her out to my parents' house.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: They had a bunch of land.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: We already had one dog that we had buried out there a few years prior.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: So it's pouring rain, I'm digging this hole, I'm digging for this dog, and my dad comes out there.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: And so I'm out digging this hole in the rain, he sets up one of those pop-up tents for me, puts it over me, digging this hole, digging this hole, digging this hole, and he comes back out, probably I don't know an hour later, I guess.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: And now I'm shoulder deep in this hole.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: It's probably four feet wide, probably five feet long.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Five feet long ridiculous for a dog.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Now, this is only like a 50-pound dog.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: And my dad says, hey, I think that hole is big enough.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: And I stopped and looked at him and I said, yeah, it is, but if I stop digging I have to bury her, right?
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: So if we keep asking these questions, then we don't have to make a decision.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: There is no finality.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: So I think that it's incumbent upon us to help our clients get to a decision, particularly when we know that them working with us is a great decision.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: That is part of our job is to help guide them to a great decision and bring this thing to a close.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Clients are scared.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: They don't call our office because they want a price.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: They call our office because they want a home inspection.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: They're scared to tilt their hand and show that they're in a place of need.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: So we have to be empathetic, but also it's our job to lead them to what it is that they need.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: All right, so that is all I have.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: I could go on and on and on about this.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: This is a topic I am genuinely passionate about.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I love it, and time is suggesting I wind down Now.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Remember we've got.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: If you're liking what you hear, pass it along to a friend, follow that link below to follow this podcast, and then also you can click the email down there and submit your email address.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: We do have four questions that I ask before I implement anything in my business.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I send that out for free.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Four questions that I ask before I implement anything into my business.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: It's a great read, quick white paper and definitely has some value to it.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: So keep following along.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: I love seeing you guys here.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Any questions that you have about any of this stuff, keep sending the comments.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: I love it, and if there's anything that I can do for you, please let me know.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: I am Jeff Luther.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: This is the Service Business Blueprint.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: I want to help you guys get to that million dollar mark.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Thanks for hanging out on the Service Business Blueprint with me, jeff Luther.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Stay in the loop as we keep delivering these strategies to supercharge your service business.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Hit, subscribe, leave a review, be part of our growing community.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Now you have someone to walk with you as we create your service business blueprint.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Until next time, remember where you focus is where your energy goes.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: Beliefs turn to things, so choose the good ones.