Remodeling - February 2009 - (Page 26)

YourBusinessSales+Marketing Section Editor: Leah Thayer lthayer@hanleywood.com Home Show Home Runs s the spring home show season approaches, many remodelers feel too pinched to market heavily at them in 2009. But not all. Rather than scaling back, “[we have] increased the number of shows we will go to this year,” says Glen Miracle, president of NVS Kitchen & Bath, in Manassas, Va., which grosses an average of $500,000 each year from the events. “We will have to work harder this year to maintain our share of the pie, which is getting smaller because of all the competition.” Similar thinking prevails in Londonderry, N.H., where Crossroads Contracting will exhibit at six shows in 2009. Three shows yielded $750,000 in work last year, says owner Jan Jacome. She spent $750 to $900 on each, excluding the one-time expense ($7,500) of building a booth and weekends Left to right: Scott Ewing, Glen spent working the shows. Miracle, and Nick Bonadies. Why do home shows pay off for these remodelers, where others fail? In sum: goal-setting, booth staff, and quick follow-up with leads. Before a show, for instance, Jacome and her two salespeople review the show’s historical data and set goals for appointments and contacts to make. Follow-up is within 10 days. Miracle shoots for quantity, aiming “to tell our story to as many people as possible,” as well as quality, in screening prospects carefully before setting appointments. The top five rules for selling at home shows are: “send the right people, tell them why they’re there, give them a goal, teach them to qualify, and teach them to behave,” says David Zimmerman, president of Southern Shows. To see more of his “rules,” along with additional tips from Miracle and Jacome, visit Remodeling Online. —L.T. A S A L E S S C H O O L1 01 REMODELER: How do I sell if I can’t give potential customers references? My company is new, but I have 13 years of experience in residential and commercial construction. I’ve had my state contractor’s license for half that time. —Chris Alley, Lazer of SW FL, Naples, Fla. MICHAEL LEE’S ANSWER: This is not a unique problem for any new business but it is particularly tricky for remodelers, whose customers tend to want personal references. You can certainly advertise your 13 years of experience; this may be sufficiently reassuring to some prospects. You can also guarantee your work to demonstrate your commitment to quality and honesty. Many remodelers are afraid to offer a guarantee because they fear that customers will use it unfairly. In fact, this rarely happens. Until you develop professional references, you can also offer personal references of your character and reliability from friends and relatives. And, if you are asked to make a price concession, you can make it contingent upon the client writing a testimonial for you after the work is complete. Note: The most effective references are not in writing but on video. Put a digital camera on a tripod and have clients talk about their new kitchen while standing in it. Hire a student to edit it to a two-minute clip that you can play on your laptop for future clients. Video testimonials will blow your competition away! —Michael Lee is the author of CrossCultural Selling for Dummies. www.ethnoconnect.com. Send your sales challenge to lthayer@hanleywood.com. Up With Downsells P 26 Remodeling February 2009 remodelingmag.com Photo: Chuck Thomas rice-sensitive homeowners may tempt you to cut profit margins, but Case Handyman and Remodeling of Charlotte, in N.C., has another strategy for making sales: proposing specific ways to trim the bottom line, says Brad Little, president. For instance, by painting backsplash areas instead of tiling, clients can save $1,000 to $3,000. “This is a logical compromise, as it is always easy to add a tile backsplash later,” Little says. Little also keeps tabs on nearby appliance vendors that offer package discounts, and identifies cabinet lines whose basic box construction makes them cost as much as $3,500 less than cabinets with comparable design and finish of doors and face frames. “Clients trust us to suggest where the value is,” Little says. He won’t hesitate, for example, to discourage the purchase of a pot-filler “for someone who only cooks big meals around the holidays,” especially given the $2,000 to $3,000 cost. About half of Case Charlotte clients opt for a money-saving option, Little says. Each is “a sale we would not have had if we had come across as trying to maximize the ticket price.” —L.T. http://www.ethnoconnect.com http://www.remodelingmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Remodeling - February 2009

Remodeling - February 2009 Contents First Word Market Watch Linda Case Mark Richardson Shawn McCadden Ways + Means Bottom Line Sales + Marketing Field Notes By Design Tech@ Work Good Form Close Up Second Look Going Green Clinic Specbook Upscale Remodeling Start Right People, Process, Profits Interview: Sara Ryan Duffy, President of SRD International New + Notable Products Final Touch Green Speak Green Spec In Focus First Look Benchmark

Remodeling - February 2009

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