HOW
NOT TO MAKE A SALE
By
Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, August 21, 2016
We
decided that we wanted to make some improvements to our 3 bathrooms in our
home. Specifically two of them are in
what could best be described as master bedrooms, one up and one down. Plus a third bathroom in the downstairs hall
that serves two bedrooms and visitors to the house. I placed a call to one of the many
advertisements we had seen regarding converting one-piece fiberglass bathtubs
into beautiful showers with no tubs.
Just made sense. We were also
considering converting the third bath tub into a hydro-tub type bath tub.
The
problems first began with the very first call.
I asked the person on the other end of the line if she could give me a
“ballpark” price range. She said she
couldn’t. I told her that we live in an
older home and it made no sense to spend a lot of money in a home where the
cost of improvements would never be realized in a future sales price whenever
that might happen. She refused to give
me a price; I reluctantly set the appointment.
Almost from the moment I hung up the phone I knew it was a mistake and
my initial reaction was to cancel the appointment but I didn’t.
When
the salesman arrived one of the first things I told him was that I had been in
real estate sales for over 33 years and taught training classes for most of
those years. As he began his sales
pitch, my initial comments to him had obviously fallen upon deaf ears. He went into his routine using a small, and I
mean small, stand up tablet for the optics he wanted to created.
This
is where my critique begins from the viewpoint of a sales trainer AND
homeowner:
Dress for Success: He wore a green golf type polo shirt. That in itself is not all that bad but if my
initial thought was that it seemed inappropriate others might as well. I actually do believe in wearing casual
clothing in sales but something like a polo shirt should include an embroidered
company logo on it if you are going that casual. Had that been the case, this particular
critique would not be included in this Nugget.
Point made.
We
offered him a cup of coffee, soft drink or water (it was 95 degrees outside) and
he chose water. I had always taught my
sales people not to eat or drink when they were making a presentation. Once you develop rapport with the customer
and you are pretty much finished, that is when you might want to consider
accepting a drink (non alcoholic) but only after. One of the worst things that could happen is
to spill the drink. It would be a total disaster
if you spill it on yourself or the customer or the customer’s furniture. That is not what happened in this case,
instead he chose to chew on the ice in the glass while he was making his
presentation. You listened to the sound
of teeth crunching ice rather than on what he was trying to say. Not good.
Another disaster just waiting to happen occurs when you the agent put a
glass or cup down directly onto a wooden piece of furniture only to leave the
dreaded white ring on the furniture. Not
quite the optic or lasting impression you want to leave; that you have no
respect for the customer’s property.
The Tablet 1: Tablets are good but when you are sitting
across the table from the presenter, tablets are impossible to read unless the
font used is extremely large. In this
case the font was a standard font that everyone uses for their OWN use. As a customer, it was impossible to read from
several feet away. Not good, in fact,
totally useless. He did include two
short videos and we were able to see and hear them but as for reading the fonts
and words on the screen – no way.
The Tablet 2: Initially when notebooks hit the markets,
most real estate agents took an immediate liking for them to use in their
presentations. They would use programs
like PowerPoint which is what I think this person used. I quickly realized that when you use a
PowerPoint presentation, you are pretty much required to stick to the script
and sequence. When a customer asks a
question, the answer may or may not be included within the PowerPoint
presentation. Either way the agent is
caught off guard because it is very difficult to stop where you are in the
presentation to move forward or backward to find the exact point within the
scripted presentation to answer the customer’s question at that moment in
time. Again, this happened at least
twice and it was not pleasant.
The Tablet 3: As a sales person you want eye-to-eye contact
with the customer(s). When you use a
tablet or notebook the customer is looking at the tablet or notebook instead of
making eye contact with the agent. That
is never a good thing. You can read a
great deal into a person’s knowledge of what you are saying when you can look
into their eyes. As a customer you can
assess an agent’s truthfulness by looking into his or her eyes. Again, this happened and it was not good.
The
product he was attempting to sell us was very good, at least as described in
his presentation. Without seeing the
actual product, it was only on his tablet.
We as customers could not touch it or feel it so he was selling us a
perceived promise of what he was selling and he assumed we were automatically
going to like it. With that said, the
following is in regard to the actual sale he was attempting to close on.
Price 1: He had obviously been taught NOT to give the
customer the price range of the product he was trying to sell because he would
refuse to answer the question when asked and I asked him several times. I knew my wife and I had discussed a price we
were willing to pay to replace items in our home that were now working fine;
they just looked old and they were old and difficult to clean but they worked
fine. Therefore we had no mandate to
replace them. My question to anyone in
sales is this. Why would you want to
waste 60 minutes or more of your time to try to make a sale when the price
would preclude that from occurring no matter how good you or your product is? This goes back to my initial comment to him
that I taught sales (real estate sales) for over 33 years.
Price 2: I had seen this practice in the past and it
made me very angry the first time someone tried it on me so when he did it, he
automatically lost the sale. He went
through the construction and installation process and he was obviously trying
to set in our minds just how expensive the entire process was to be. He then went through the various stages of
construction and installation with the idea that if we decided to “attempt” to
do it ourselves even if we hired contractors to the perform the various stages
the cost would be outrageous and then he came up with a horrendous price. The ONLY reason for this was to then show us
that his product was both better and less expensive than trying to do it
ourselves. He calculated the price for
converting just one bathroom. If we did
it, the cost would be approximately $15,000 to as much as $20,000. Think about that for a moment. We had 3 bathrooms we told him we wanted to
upgrade. So according to him, we were
looking at between $45,000 to as much as $60,000 to upgrade. So when he quoted us his FIRST offer it was
almost $10,000, much less than it would supposedly cost us to do it ourselves –
according to him.
Price 3: He paused very briefly once he quoted us
$10,000 per bathroom. I don’t know if
the pause was for effect or to see what we would say or do. I believe it was the later. I am 71 years old and could not help but
wonder if the “pause” was to see if since I would be considered a “senior
citizen”, would I/we immediately buy into his comparisons and accept the
obviously lower price as being a good and more than fair price – according to
him. I think it was 5 little words that
caused the “pause” to stop. “I do not
think so!” I said to him. Of course he put on his “shocked face” to let
us know we were being unreasonable.
Price – the negotiation
4. I knew what was
coming next – the “discounts.” He first
took a couple hundred dollars off because we were “senior citizens” as if that
was going to do the job for him. When I
balked, he then said he had a “certificate” for a price IF we accepted
it during the presentation. Who hasn’t
heard that BS before? When we balked at
that, he came up with another discount and started removing items that we had
said we wanted in the installation like grab bars, seat, etc. That also failed to make the sale. Then came his final pitch. Remember his initial price was $10,000 per
bathroom. He said and I quote, “If I can
get my manger to agree, would you do the installation for $5,000 per bathroom
or even better, $10,000 for two of them?”
WHAT? He obviously thought we
could not add $5,000 and $5,000 together to get the $10,000 he was offering as
if it was a real deal. He had already
lost the sale within about 10 minutes of the start of his presentation when
neither one of us could read anything on his tiny tablet screen. But in reality, since he was prepared to drop
the price by 50%, how much more would I be leaving on the table if I accepted
his $5,000 offer? Tell me the price of
your product or service and I’ll make the decision to buy or not. It really is that simple. Why waste everyone’s time? This entire process might have gone
completely differently had he said the upgrade would cost $5,000 per bathroom
and this is why it costs that much and why it would be in your best interest to
have the upgrade done. Even better, it
would have been received differently had he said the upgrade would cost $4,994
as if an actual thought had gone into establishing a price. When I hear numbers that end in zeroes, I
know with certainty that no thought or calculation was involved, very few
things actually end in zeroes. Besides,
ever since I was a kid, when I saw a price of .98 cents, it was less than a
dollar and that was a good thing. It is
no different now. Had he said $4,994,
even though it is like $5,000, in my mind and the minds of most customers the
price is in the $4,000’s not the $5,000’s; a much better thought to have. Think about that for a moment, he may have
lost a sale over $6.00. More importantly
he took no measurements of the bathroom, and he took only a few seconds to
supposedly calculate the cost of upgrading just the one bathroom he wanted to
see; a few seconds. I can’t even
calculate a tip at a restaurant in a few seconds. Then to come up with rounded
off numbers like $10,000 or $5,000, no calculation ends in zeroes – none! If it
ever did, I would change it to the $4,994.67 or even $5,009.49 (including tax)
to at least give the impression that a true calculation was even made.
Wrist Watch: I would teach my real estate agents to never
wear a wrist watch into a meeting with a customer. Why?
This salesman provided the answer.
Part way through his presentation he made it obvious that he was looking
at his watch. He may of had an
appointment following ours; the reason he looked, made no difference. The moment he looked at his watch he was
signaling to me/us that he either (1) had another appointment to attend or (2)
asking himself how much longer is this going to take? Either way it is a signal that you ABSOLUTELY
do not want to send to a potential customer.
Clearly his body language said that something else was more important to
him than the two people he now sat facing.
Cell Phone: My advice to all people in sales would be to
leave their cell phones in their office or in their car when meeting a
customer. Much like his wrist watch,
this person interrupted his presentation to check something that came in on his
phone. It could have been something
important, or a weather alert, a breaking news story, alerting him he just
received and email, or whatever. The
point is that he took his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. The signal that one action sent was so
obvious to me – something far more important than the two of us held his
attention. He was to be with us for
about 60 minutes. How many phone calls
or emails have you received that could not wait for 60 minutes to look at
and/or respond to? How many? What on Earth did people do before the cell
phone? Unless you are doctor or first
responder on call, the most important people in the world are the people
sitting in front of you let alone the people you are trying to buy something
you are selling.
Reality 1: Remember I had told him I was in real estate
sales for over 33 years and taught sales courses. I told him I really did not like the games he
was playing and compared it to buying a car when it would appear the buyer
would not buy and the sales person says let me see if my manager could do any
better. I know for a fact that car
salesmen/women do NOT check with their manager for a different price but only
go through the motions of doing so to impress you the customer. They ONLY check with their managers when it
becomes obvious you are about to walk out the door. This is exactly what he was proposing
now. But think about it. It was quite possible we would have accepted
his first offer of $10,000 especially since he obviously considered us “senior
citizens” and therefore it was his perception that we were not “too bright” if
you know what I mean. I explained to him
that there is a point of no return when making repairs or upgrades to older
homes. That point is the price it may eventually sell for. Would it be possible for the homeowner to
realize a return on investment of this magnitude when it sold? It would take years and years to recoup an
investment of $30,000 or more and I was not prepared to make that investment
for pure superficial appearance purposes because all bathrooms were in working
order. Had he told us $5,000 per bath
when I first made the call I would not have made the appointment; it just
wasn’t worth it to us and we both knew it.
Therefore he wasted not only our time but his time as well.
Reality 2: I asked him how much he would be prepared to
pay for a Dodge Charger if he walked into a Dodge showroom. I didn’t give him a chance to answer. I told him he already had a fair idea of what
a new Dodge Charger would cost or he would not have walked into the showroom in
the first place. I then repeated my
concern that no price range was given on my initial call otherwise I would
never have made the appointment (walked into the showroom). I told him don’t be upset with us because we
didn’t buy his product, something he obviously was. I was trying to get him to understand that
people (1) like to know beforehand if the sales price is in their ballpark
price range and (2) does the price justify purchasing the product or service. If the product is actually a “service”, the
customer also wants to know what he or she is getting for their money or better
said, “what are you going to do for the price you are asking me to pay?”
Commission Sales: Usually in commission sales, the sales person
cannot rely only on the customers desire for a product or service in spite of
the commission charged. When I sold real
estate I made a list of the very specific tasks I would perform for the
customer should they decide to hire me.
I also made a list of the various types of advertising available and how
much it costs to run advertisements in each media because I would be the one
paying those costs, not the customer.
Almost any real estate agent could come up with a short list of 5 to
maybe 10 tasks they would perform. I had
a list of more than a hundred tasks. If
a homeowner asked me to “cut my commission”, I would ask them which of those
tasks does he/she/they not want me to do?
They never asked me. I listed
every task and I mean EVERY task I did for ALL my customers without
exception. When you make a promise to do
certain tasks if a customer hires you and you promise to perform each and every
task, the customer has a better understanding of what you actually do as a real
estate agent and even more important, how much you the agent intends to spend
to get their property sold. You are
asking the homeowner to pay a considerable price for your services and if you
can’t clearly define what you will do for that price and/or how that price is
divided up between the applicable parties, you would lose out to another agent
who does provide the customer with that kind of detailed information every
time.
Conclusion: Never go into a sales presentation knowing
you intend to lie or mislead the customer.
NEVER! Be upfront and honest beginning with your
first contact. Always assume that the
customer knows nothing about you or the product/service you are selling. Never assume that the customer knows
everything about you as well or what you are selling or a service you want them
to hire you to perform. Ask questions
FIRST. Determine their level of
understanding. Determine what they want
to accomplish by buying your product or hiring your service. Make the decision as to whether or not you
can provide what they expect or demand of you.
If you cannot provide the level of service tell them as much and then
proceed from that point by either terminating the contact and possibly
referring them to someone that could or if the customer is agreeable, negotiate
what you can provide as compared to what they had previously expected or demanded;
that usually works, at least it has worked for me. One of the best scripts for this purpose
starts at the very beginning. “Mr. & Mrs. Customer, one of several
things is going to happen today. You may
decide to work with me and that would be outstanding. You may also decided NOT to work with me and
frankly that would be horrible. Or, it is
quite possible that I may decide not to work with you. Is that a fair understanding of what could
happen today?” I found this to be a
powerful conversation to have very early in your first appointment to meet a
customer. Customers almost always ask, “Why would you decide not to work with us?” “Fair
question. Please understand, I have a
list of things I promise to do for you if you decide to hire me. You may feel the list is incomplete or you
may want me to do things that I am unable to do. If that should happen, I would very much
prefer to part as friends now than to have you later become angry or upset with
me because I cannot provide you with what you expect. Would that be a fair understanding?” I would always ask one more question of the
customer, “I need to know one very
important thing, do you want me to tell you the truth (about your home or your
purchase) or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?” If later in the process I discover that
they would prefer to hear what they want to hear or they expect me to do
something that I cannot do, I would say to the customer, “Do you remember our initial conversation when I said there may come a
time when either you decide or I decide not to work with each other? I think we may have reached that point.” You need to be prepared to terminate the
process but you also need to set the proper understanding before you start the
process. When you start with the truth,
the process seems to turn out the way everyone wants it to.
Question: Did any of these things happen with the
bathroom sales person? Answer NO!
He and his company had lost a sale before he ever began his
presentation; they just didn’t know it.
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