How to sell you prospective customers.

[anaheimlawn]

Most any business revolves around sales, and in most cases you will sell something at least once in your life. A simple sale can be broken down into steps. There are many different forms of the steps to the sale but here are the ones i use: 1. Meet and Greet The meet and greet is the first and most important part of a sale. A customer is going to decide if they are going to buy someting from you within the first 15 seconsds of meeting you. Durring the meet and greet you should shake your prospective customers hand, look at them in the eyes and state your name and why you are on there door step(or where ever). Remember this customer could lead you to more sales so take them as they are your monthly salary, your childs next meal, the new zero turn mower, etc. 2. Fact find When you fact find all you are basicly doing is finding out the needs of you customer. ask your questions and when they answer just sit back and listen. The best way to loose your credibility is to interupt the customer when they are talking. and the best way to build confidence is to listen and give an educated response to what ever they said. 3. Diagnose I was always told in the car sales industry what if a doctor gave medicine without finding out what is wrong with the paitient. That would be bad right? yes it would be awful. Giving a proper diagnosis with each customer can boost profit enourmously. This step is the most commonly misconstrued part of the sales process. "Medicine with out prognosis is MALPRACTICE!" John Walters 4. Present This step is where you have to use those superior vocal tools, those sly words, basicaly you sell. you need to get the customer excited about the product now. Wth "diagnose"you have selected the product or service with the customer, now concentrate on selling it. When the customer says that the service is over priced you need to overcome the objection, DO NOT SWICH THE SERVICE OR PROUDCT!!! Switching is not forbiden but should be done only if you are about to loose the sale. Most people feel that they picked the product you are trying to sell them so when you try to swich it they feel that the swindler salesman you are is trying to screw them and rip them off. do not swich unless necessary. 5. Ask for the sale Dont be afraid to ask for the sale. this can be intimidating to bulntly say "So ya gona buy tis er what" so you do it with the three yes rule. You: So do you like the work that I have shown you Customer: Yes, it looks very nice You: Do you like me? What I mean is could you stand seeing me every friday at 11:00. (Chuckle when asking this) Customer: haha yeah you are ok. The last guy who did my yard only spoke to me when he wanted to sell someting haha. You: Is the price acceptable to you? (if not find out why and overcome the objection dont Do not change your price) Customer: your price is a bit high but your work is better quality, So yeah the money is right Now that you have three yes's, it is time to strike ask for the sale be bold, stern and serious. No laughing. You: The work is good, You like me, The money is right? So Do we have a deal. Can ______ Lawn care service you with all of you lawn care needs. Customer: ummm........Well.....Yes but I need to talk to my wife I will call you tonight and let you know what she said. This is a good thing, If you did your job and sold him he will sell his wife. Him needing to talk to his wife is better than him calling you later taht night and saying my wife came home and said no. If he does not need to talk to his wife someting is wrong. or he is single. Sometimes they will simply say no, sometimes the will say yes. but most of the time they will have an excuse why they can not do it now. But they will call. 6. Close At some point in the sale you will need to close the deal. This is eay because you have built rapport with the customer and they have alredy said yes to the deal. closing is just a reassurance of your quality and their value for their dollar. At the end after all terms are finished and all papers are signed, shake hands with every one (even the kids). Say thank you and assure them that you are here to help them with anything they will need. So there it is How to sale form an Ex-auto sales person. Dont forget, you worked hard to get this customer and you are going to work hard for this customer. They will appreciate your work, and the will thank you. Be sure to ask for a refferal, If they like you and they know someone they will pass your name along. Thanks for reading, If you need more advice just ask me I would be happy to help, But I also need advice so if you have a company and you need help with sales i would be more than happy to coach you in return for some help getting my company off the ground. Thanks Nick Vrabel Anaheim Lawn

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Nick that is fantastic! What a great post! Quite often when we talk about marketing, we talk about using your marketing to bring the customer closer and not try to make the sale with your first add. For instance, create an ad where you offer a free guide on how to get a better lawn in 7 steps. Then to get this guide the potential customer fills in their contact info. Then you can use that contact info to bring the customer one step closer to a sale with your next move say offering a free soil analysis. So in marketing it seems to be all about steps that happen over time. Do you feel sales is a similar process or should this all happen at one meeting?

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[anaheimlawn]

Well i certianly believe that a sale can happen at one meeting. But I also believe that the more contact you have the more the customer will trust you and that would have to happen over time. So take you time with them and let them get to know you and trust you before you try to close them.

[Steve]

When you were in sales, how involved did you get with your marketing? Would you keep track of your contacts birthdays or their family members birthdays and send them cards?

Would you send holiday cards?

What kinds of marketing concepts did you utilize?

Also, I was wondering, if you can't make the sale on that same day, what advice do you have on following up?