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Host Scott Lollar is a 35-year veteran of the painting industry and founder of Consulting4Contractors. The 'Success Beyond The Brush' Podcast serves as a touchpoint to painting contractors who have hustled, sacrificed, and worked hard to get their business to where it is today. Now, you need the guidance, expertise, experience, and team to make it into the multi-million-dollar company of your dreams. You'll hear stories and interviews from "Brothers of the Brush" and "Sisters of the Sprayer" who have been where you are and are charting a new course for their company's success. Listen in and go beyond $1,000,000!
Ep. 2 - Selling Experiences, Not Just Paint: A Customer-Centric Approach
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[00:00:00]
Introduction: Selling an Experience, Not Just a Paint Job
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Scott: I think what we're really selling is an experience, not a paint job. And I think you've heard that over and over, you know, we're all in the customer service business. We just happen to be painters. That's how we deliver it. But what's important to the client is it better be part of your proposal or at least your sales process.
So if I say, you know what? I just hate when people here aren't here on time. I have to leave for work at 8:05 and, if you're not here at 8:05 then I'm going to be ticked. Oh, duly noted, yeah, perfect, here, I'm glad you mentioned that. Here's what we do, you know, at, at Scott's painting, right?
Welcome to Success Beyond the Brush
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Welcome back to Success Beyond the Brush, powered by Consulting 4 Contractors, the show for painting business owners who wanna run a real company, not just a crew. In today's episode, Mark Black and Scott Lollar dive into a huge pillar of your business: sales, and why most residential repaint companies aren't actually selling at all.
You'll hear them unpack the difference between an estimator, a [00:01:00] true sales process, why your clients are really buying an experience, not just a paint job, and how to move beyond generic features and benefits into real conversations about client pain, expectations, and budget. They'll also talk about pre-qualifying with tools like online schedulers, warming up the appointment before you arrive, and using upfront agreements so you don't have to get ghosted and delivering proposals on the spot, while the relationship is at its warmest. If you're tired of being an order taker and ready to build a professional customer-centric sales process, then this is the episode for you. Let's get into it.
The Importance of a True Sales Process
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Mark: Hey everybody, welcome to today's podcast here with Scott Lollar and Mark Black, here, bringing quality content to the podcast world as we discuss, big and small, all topics that might pertain to a professional painting business owner such as yourself. If you're listening today, you're, [00:02:00] you're in for a treat because we've got a big topic to discuss today, and I can't wait to get your thoughts, Scott Lollar.
So we're going to talk about this huge pillar that is sales. So sales is an enormous topic and you hear people from all sides. Of course, you've got the salespeople talking about, you know, either, either all these tactics or particular ways that you should sell. We talk about pre-qualifying and all the things you can do before and after the sale.
And then you've got this whole segment of owners who are like, why are you overcomplicating it? Just use your personality. Go in there. Be honest, be trustworthy, be somebody they like, sell the work and do the work and they feel like maybe the subject is overdrawn. So I can't wait to get your opinion on that.
Scott: Yeah. Yes. And we do talk a lot about sales.
Differentiating Sales from Estimating
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Scott: One thing that's interesting, I think in the residential repaint market is, we use a lot in our industry, the word sales interchangeably [00:03:00] with estimator, and I understand that. Because I actually think what most residential repaint people do is go out and give estimates, they actually don't sell.
And then also I think a lot of people think sell is a four letter word, and it is actually, but um,
Mark: In a negative way.
Scott: in a negative way. Yeah, so this idea of helping people versus trying to get them to buy something that they maybe don't need or aren't helping. And I think that's a mindset, but I hope that we get in a little bit today, this difference between selling and getting someone to purchase something that they want and hopefully from us, or estimating where we just pump something out in an estimating program and hope they say yes.
Mark: But what you just said is could be revolutionary to a listener out there to say, I've never really thought about the difference between sales and estimator, you're right, we use those words interchangeably. Talk a little bit more about that. How do you differentiate what would be true sales and what do you consider an [00:04:00] estimator?
How are they different?
Scott: Yeah. So we do need to have an estimate, right? We are measuring something, we're analyzing, you know, substrate and process time and materials codes. You know, these are all important, right? But the process of just coming up with that price is the delivery or the deliverable.
Understanding Client Needs and Pain Points
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Scott: But I think what's more important is what is the client looking for, using an old Sandler term.
And a lot of people that are listening weren't even born probably when he died, but, and he called it "pain". Why would I buy from you? What's important to me? So I think a lot of people are espousing what I call features and benefits. You know, we are insured, we're quality, we use W2 or you know, whatever it is, right?
And we use Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams or PPG or whatever it is, right? And I think those [00:05:00] are just boring. Like I don't really care, like tell me there's someone that comes in and says, well, we're not quality. No, everyone's quality. Everyone does stuff. They sand and they caulk and they apply paint, right?
That's the baseline. I think all of our prospects are assuming that, but what is it that the customer really wants? And I think. Unless you ask those questions and listen actively, you'll never know. And they will listen to you drone on about the values of a scrubbable finish, and in inside they're thinking, I can't wait to get rid of this guy.
Mark: Wow, that's true.
Scott: I'm a little bit of a customer service snob and I buy that way, right? I'm not, I typically don't get two prices for anything. I just go buy whatever it is I want to buy. If I want to buy it from you. If you've done enough to earn my business. And I actually will respond to the sales process Because you're asking me good questions.
But what I want to know is, will I have a good experience with you? And I think what we're really selling is an [00:06:00] experience, not a paint job. And I think you've heard that over and over, you know, we're all in the customer service business. We just happen to be painters. That's how we deliver it. But what's important to the client is it better be part of your proposal or at least your sales process.
So if I say, you know what? I just hate when people here aren't here on time. I have to leave for work at 8:05 and, if you're not here at 8:05, then I'm going to be ticked. Oh, duly noted, yeah, perfect. Here, I'm glad you mentioned that. Here's what we do, at Scott's Painting, right?
Or, the last people were very messy, dusty. We had to pick up after them or whatever, right? So what's important to the customer so that you can go address that, otherwise you're just a number. We do quality painting and we're insured. Oh, that's really great. I just think that's gross.
Mark: I think all of us, as we seek to elevate the trade of painting, have dealt with that time, where you've got a, a price sensitive or just a shopper, a tire kicker. And [00:07:00] most of us who have sought to professionalize our businesses are trying to differentiate ourselves and set ourselves apart from a certain segment of the market.
So as we talk about qualifying leads, I'd love to get your opinion, speak to.
Qualifying Leads Effectively
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Mark: How can we qualify leads better? What processes work in your mind and, and in your experience, what, what doesn't work in that? What, what's difficult about pre-qualifying?
Scott: Yeah, we've talked about this before in other podcasts, but I'm a fan of an online scheduler. I think it's convenient. I think people can do it at their convenience and schedule a time slot that they're available and you're available, period. But it doesn't mean we don't have a vote whether we see them or not.
So we ask some questions. Now, you can ask the same questions if they call your office, but we want to know a little bit about what they're wanting to have done, maybe what they have committed to as far as a budget, their timeframe. A little bit about other things that we want to know, where did the lead come from, and or were you a referral [00:08:00] and who referred you?
Oh, Aunt Betty, well, okay, this was a high probability, I'm going to get this one. So you can ask all of the questions you want, but I think from there we can decide if we're going to fulfill the appointment or not. Now, a lot of people really are fearful of losing control by letting you schedule. I actually do still advocate that the sales team looks at these appointments in advance and looks at stuff like, oh shoot, that's a double wide, in the weirdest part of town, we don't paint double wides.
Sorry. If you own a double wide, I'm not trying to. Be condescending, but especially for people that live in southern Illinois, Mark. We need to identify, oh, this person got through and they want a front door painted. That's not a good fit for us, or we have a solution and that's a painter for a day or whatever.
So we are asking those questions and I think in the form, it's okay to say our minimum job size is X. $2,000, $2,500, and I don't think that's impolite. I think that you don't realize that you make buying decisions [00:09:00] every day. You made those buying decisions based on what you wanted. Like, you can buy a McDonald's hamburger or you can buy a $25 hamburger.
Why did you buy one or the other? McDonald's didn't apologize and neither did the $25 hamburger apologize, right? We have a vote. So ask people what, what's important to you? And then if they get through, make an appointment. You still need to check that and call them and say, Hey, I've, I saw the notes, I see this appointment.
I got a couple questions before I come out there. Is that okay? Because I really don't want to waste your time. One of our values is respect, so I want to respect your time. Is that okay? And that's a yes. It's okay. And so now we're into the process of, of getting more information and possibly saving some time.
I'm not trying to disqualify. My goal isn't to disqualify, my goal is to make sure my time is used on only the high value leads.
The Role of Technology in Sales
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Mark: I've heard a few companies trying to utilize some more technology in terms of video walkthroughs and things even before they [00:10:00] arrive. What are your thoughts on that?
Scott: I'm totally open to that. Chris Soule is a client of ours, and has used that very well through COVID. He, for a long time did primarily cabinets, so it was a easy back and forth on pictures. But he wouldn't even come out to your house until you had a a pre-call with him and pictures. But I also know other, other people that have been very successful with having walkthroughs or some pictures sent as a pre-qualifying of an in-home visit.
So if that works for you and for your size of company, I'm okay with that as long as it fits into the model and gets you what you need.
Mark: We were forced to utilize some of those technologies during COVID as well. I'm surprised because I tend to be an old school person myself. I want the in-person contact. I'm a high [Myers-Briggs]"I" so I like interacting face-to-face, but I was surprised by, even with my older customers or older generation, they were very open to technologies, sending a few [00:11:00] pictures, getting a ballpark estimate before I arrived.
And it, it was actually a lesson for me to say, I might have just kind of been stuck in the way that I thought it needed to be done, but people enjoy convenience.
Scott: Yeah, I agree, and I think it's more than ever, and if you're not comfortable with that, then you're going to, you're going to struggle.
Building a Professional Sales Process
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Mark: So as we talk about this term that's out there in the industry and people hear, your sales process, again, I think there's a segment of our audience that's saying, what do you mean sales process? I just go talk to customers. I'm personable. They like me, we make a deal. What do you mean when you talk about the sales process, what's all included in that process?
Scott: I think that from the moment they schedule an appointment to the moment we knock on their door, there's space there that you should be warming up the appointment. You can do these things very nicely through the technology and through the platforms that we're, you know, using to schedule the estimate.
You can trigger these, you know, emails or texts or [00:12:00] both, spacing them out from the moment they make the appointment to the moment you show up, depending on the gap. I really like the idea of sending some information about supporting your company and supporting what they're about to find out, which is, holy crap, this is a lot of money or whatever.
Right? What are some things that you can do to just help them understand what they're going to, have with you, with your company? What's the experience like? And at PCA last year, I sat in on Brad Ellison's presentation and I thought this was brilliant. And, uh, you can find this on YouTube under Ellison Painting, but he created a video of the whole estimate process, and I thought it was spot on because I think some people have not been, often consumed service professionals like ourselves. And so they might be a little hesitant.
They might have built a little wall, they don't know what's going to happen. What are we going to do? Is this [00:13:00] person going to try to close me?
All this stuff, right? And this idea of I sometimes talk about it like a waltz. I'm not a dancer, but you know, you, we all are familiar with the 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, somebody leads, someone follows. In a sales process, we have to be in charge of the process, but we want the customer to feel comfortable as we lead them through the process.
And I think it's very appropriate to say, here's what's going to happen: We're going to look at the work you want to have done. I'm going to take some measurements, I'm going to produce a proposal based on what you've said, and I'm going to turn around and before I leave your property share, share it with you, make sure I hit all the points.
I don't want to miss anything and make sure you know I've included everything you want. Now, of course, that requires you to have the capability of doing an onsite estimate. That's another thing. Now we have tools, excellent tools that you can do that on site. You have to be proficient, you have to have it loaded so that you can put your measurements.
Delivering Proposals and Closing the Sale
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Scott: But I think that moment that you're at the person's house [00:14:00] is the warmest. The hottest they're going to be. The chances of them being any warmer once you leave is pretty slim. So the advantages of delivering the proposal in the sales call is, well, first of all, you get to see their body language.
You could see their reaction, right? You get to see the gasp or whatever you think it might be, and then you can address it in the moment, right? Oh gosh, you seem shocked. Tell me why you're shocked. Tell me a little bit about that. Have you heard other things from other painters? What, you know, you seem, you know, so you can react to it and then go deeper into the sales process.
But I really like this idea of, giving them some different things prior to you arriving of what's going to happen. And then of course, get there and do it.
Mark: that's good. I love the idea of warming up the client before we arrive, because I don't think a lot of us do that. We're either very busy or, maybe don't see the value in that, but I think there is a lot of value and [00:15:00] clearly communicating expectations. You're beginning to build those expectations and then when you follow through it, it should be seamless.
Scott: Absolutely. And the other thing I think people really miss is that while this is a free estimate, probably, you have some expectations of that client, don't you? Don't you have an expectation? Yeah. That you're
Mark: High expectations.
Scott: Feed? Sure. That they're going to give you some feedback as to yes or no, give you some feedback as to, is there a way that we could modify the pricing to fit our budget by descoping or what have you.
Right? But how do we communicate to the customer that actually they owe us something without saying, Hey, you owe me. And I think, it's something that we call pre-engineered agreements or upfront agreements. Sandler called it where, we're just getting the agreement from the client that they're going to give us feedback and we're, they're going to give it to us when we ask for it, and we're going to arrange for [00:16:00] that to happen.
Hey I'd love to follow up on this bid. Would Tuesday or Wednesday be better?
Mark: Or in your warmup, you've already told them that we are going to talk price while there and I'm expecting to have some sort of inclination. That's true.
Scott: Yeah, because if you say I'll follow up with you next week, did they agree to that or did you make a statement? You made a statement. If I say, would Tuesday or Wednesday be better to follow up with you and you say Tuesday, now you've somewhat made an appointment with me, right? Or if you say, I would like to follow up with you.
If I call you Tuesday or Wednesday, will you promise to take my call? Now you could say that in your vibe or however you're comfortable, you could make a joke about it. Hey, you're not one of those people that won't take my call, are you? Oh, no, no, no. Oh, good. I'm glad to say, because I really hurt, hurts my feelings and, you know, whatever.
You could have a, you could have a playful approach to it, but getting them to agree to the follow up and just the this, freedom in the call to say, [00:17:00] Hey, we're not for everybody, and I hope that you'd feel comfortable telling me if there's any moment during this process that you know, I'm not the right fit for what you're looking to have done.
Would you feel comfortable telling me that? See that? Then they get, you get a yes. You get, you get people at least saying, Hey, I owe the, I promised the person that I would tell them no if it, if I knew it was a no. I know it's a no. There's some things that, can help you deeper in the follow up process because they've agreed to this and they've made a commitment or they've made a promise to you that they're not going to ghost you.
The Follow-Up Process
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Just a quick pause. If today's conversation is resonating with you, selling experiences, not just paint, then this is your nudge to level up your entire sales process. At Consulting 4 Contractors, you're gonna learn how to pre-qualify like a pro, warm the appointment before you arrive, set up front agreements that eliminate ghosting and confidently deliver proposals on the spot so you're not just [00:18:00] estimating, you're actually selling.
Their coaches have built multimillion dollar companies and will help you install the same systems that they use. From the first online scheduler click, to the walkthrough, to a yes on the schedule with real follow up that happens by phone, not just hope. If you're ready to stop being an order taker and start creating a five star client experience that wins the middle third of your bids, head to consulting4contractors.com.
That's consulting4contractors.com. Learn the process, ask for the sale, and build a business that delivers what customers actually buy: the experience. Now, back to the show.
Mark: It goes back to your original point though, in the differentiation between sales and a sales process and really just an estimate, which is an order taker. And a lot of us operate our businesses that way. We send a guy or a salesperson or saleswoman out there, they're really just an order taker.
What do you want [00:19:00] painted? Here's the price. And you're suggesting that maybe that isn't even sales, it's a whole different process and
Scott: Jeffrey Gitomer I'm pretty sure I'm accurate. I think it's the Little Red Book of Sales is the book. But he says that if you show up and give them a estimate and are breathing, you're going to get a third of your bids. A third of these people are never going to say yes to you for whatever reason.
And what his contention is, if I'm quoting him correctly, is that it's the middle third that are in play. So in other words, an estimator's going to get their bottom third. And you see this a lot. People always talk the close ratio, 50%, 40%. People say, what do you think, Scott? I said, I say, if you show up and produce the estimate and you're breathing, you better do one in three.
You better hit one in three. And if you don't, then I think you should lose your job immediately. But you know, back in the, some of the robust eras of, of my life, I'm older than you, Mark and older than a lot of our listeners may be. But you know, I, we were [00:20:00] always on the front edge of documenting an estimate on a computer, right?
We used to have laptops in the truck. Back in the day, we used to put printers in the truck with a cigarette lighter deal. And, and I, I'd say, I'll be right back, Mrs. Smith, I'd go to the truck and I'd print off two copies of a Word document. They'd sign them and we'd be done.
Right. I was closing the sale because I had a printer in my truck. Well, now we don't need that. Right? We have other, other things, but the idea is, if you're ready to move forward and you like me and the number seems right, we can be done right now. Would are you, would you like me to get this on the schedule?
You know, asking for the sale? And we have those tools right now, so if you show up and give that, I think you should be getting one in three. I think it's the middle third that is in play. And the better you are at sales, the more you will close that middle third.
Mark: You know me I have an active imagination. I'm sitting here laughing as I'm hearing you talk about warming up a prospect. It's a lot like dating. It's a lot like going to see somebody and maybe warming up to that date, send some [00:21:00] preemptive texts. I'm looking really forward to tonight.
I've put some thought into this. Here's our itinerary, what we're, what we might go do, and hey, if things go really well.
Scott: Yeah.
Mark: I might lean in for a kiss. Like you just, you're setting the expectation. But if more of us did that, I think we'd see more successful relationships. Because it's really a more honest view than just say well, let's see how the evening goes and we'll each go our own way.
Can I call you in a few days? Would that be okay if, if the evening went well, you're just setting some expectations and really you're respecting them and you're respecting yourself to say, I don't want to waste time. I don't want to be ghosted. If you're looking for a relationship and I'm looking for a relationship here's my honest expectations from it.
Scott: Yeah, you know, we're working with primarily multimillion dollar customers in our practice. So, they all have sales teams, right? They all they're not typically the only salesperson and often not the primary salesperson anymore. But you first of all have to believe in your product [00:22:00] enough to go I feel very confident we can do this and do this well, and, i, I can't think of a better company to do this for you than me, right? Unless that's not a true statement. Unless the customer has, you know, we talk about red flags and if they're a nightmare, Hey, you're the, I fired three painters before you came here, or, you know, whatever. But assuming they're the right, have the right project for you, I, you would have to believe in yourself.
And I recently talked to someone who confided in me that they really struggled to simply just ask for the job. And I just was like, dumbfounded. I said, oh gosh. Why wouldn't you just ask them if they'd like to move forward? Just repeat after me. Would you like to move forward? Should we get this on the schedule?
Because
Mark: Is it that fear of rejection?
Scott: I think it is, and I do think that sometimes people that struggle with money sometimes or with big money, makes perfect sense to them that someone went on and get three bids, I gotta talk to my wife. Oh, that makes sense. No, it doesn't make sense. That's a lie.
They just told you a lie [00:23:00] and you let them. Right. Last episode I talked about, me recently buying a dryer over a text with a with a appliance company and I didn't get a second price. I wasn't price sensitive, particularly, I didn't buy the most expensive dryer, and I didn't buy the least expensive dryer.
I bought the same dryer I had already, who was, which was satisfying to my wife, which is really was the buyer, right? My wife was the buyer, not me, truthfully, right? I don't, sorry, I don't use it a lot. I do a lot of things, but not laundry. Otherwise everything would be red. Or pink and but I wasn't sensitive to whatever they said.
If they had told me 1500, 1800, 2000 or whatever they said, I, I would've been like, okay, I did not get a second price. So if I'm ready to buy, why wouldn't you ask me if I'd like to move forward and get on the schedule straightforward.
Mark: Have you ever walked away from a buying opportunity simply because they didn't ask for the sale? Is that your personality, [00:24:00] or no?
Scott: If I think they can deliver me the product, I, I'm talking about home services typically, if you're going to do my landscaping or whatever, i'll buy from you because I want what you have, but I, it's not necessarily rewarding you for the effort.
And I often will make fun of people, I'll tease them of that, that they're I'll sometimes banter with them and make and harass them a little bit, make them work harder. And then, just say, Hey, just ask me. Just close me. Just tell
Mark: I've been with you at a restaurant where they didn't offer dessert or whatever, and they just bring the check. You're like what if I want a dessert? I've heard you do that. It's fun,
Scott: You're not even going to upsell me dessert. I would I'm offended. That's right. Yeah. I was
Mark: Then they're falling all over themselves like, oh I'm sorry. Do you want some pie?
Do you have key lime pie?
Scott: right. That's key lime pie. Right? I'm going to get it every time you know it. It's, it, is it interesting how you know, I see that also, I do see that in restaurants a lot where I think they, they could gently upsell you into some things.
Just [00:25:00] by being more attentive and understanding what, what your goal is in the in, in the space. So, but I, I think that. Asking for that and just saying, Hey. And if they say, no, I'm not ready now, you, you know, this is really not a sales class right now. This is just a, but there's a lot more we can talk about as far as, you know, what do you say when someone says, I need to talk to my husband, or, or, hey, whatever.
But, you know, getting to the meat of it. But, like I said, you know, listening actively, I think there's a lot of things that are important to people that you just, no one ever asks, and I will tell you, just to give you a little I would always ask someone if I'm not sure how to get it out of them I would just say, tell me about some home improvement people that you've worked with that.
You had a great experience with. And they might say something like, oh, I had my windows around and say, oh, that's great. What did you, what was it about what they did that you thought was just fantastic? Maybe they have something, chances are they're going to be able to relate something that wasn't. And then I will say something like, that's great.
If there was [00:26:00] anything they would, that you could have done better. What would that have been? And now we're into pain. Right? They, they actually didn't communicate that well or they were a little bit messy, truthfully, or they never on time. It was a great product that I'm happy with my windows, but gosh, did it take a long time.
Whatever. Right? So even when there's a, a prospect or a customer that has built a little wall and says, I don't trust you and I'm not going to let you in, there's still ways to get through it. But again, what we're doing is we're saying, what if I could get you this project done in less time, on time, without the mess?
Would that excite you? Would you like that? Would that be interesting? You know, you now we're talking about something different than a paint job, right? We're talking about an experience, which is what we're selling, which I said before. A lot of people struggle how to talk about money, how to talk about budget, because it feels like, no, I know it's a $10,000 job, now I'm going to go find it for seven. That doesn't work, right? So this idea of how do we talk [00:27:00] about money? Now, there's lots of ways you can do it. You can, again, make it cute if you want.
Like my mom said, it's kind of impolite to talk about money, but I gotta talk about money. Is it okay if we talk about money or, hey, what was. What was the budget for this project? Because I, you know, I can see this is getting, it's getting up there. What do you, what are you ready for?
And if, you know, there's lots of sales tools that you can study that can take you through that, but you know, you have to talk about money. I think the worst thing you can do is to. To not talk about money, then go back to your office, put together this gargantuan estimate and send it over, and it goes over like a missile, and then they never talk to you again.
Right? Why? Because they're embarrassed to even tell you that you're outta your freaking mind. Well, you never told them Now, another thing that we have found in the current economy is we've seen a lot of people not buying big ticket projects. [00:28:00] And we actually have, have seen this through tracking of KPIs that looking at your average close, you know, and, and then your average bid.
And these are, have a big disparity. And so what I've been coaching people is when the bid gets north of your average job size, you have to bring it up to the client and say, this is getting a little bit, this is getting, expensive, or, you know, I wouldn't use the word expensive, should I break this up into some smaller jobs?
If you can or just understand, and I tell people this clearly. The minute it goes past your average close your probability of getting that job is dropping like a rock. So you need to say something. Why wouldn't you say something? Because when it gets double. The chances of you getting are very slim.
So you're at no, how bad could it get? It can't get worse than, no. So I think talking about money, talking about budget and, and, you know, addressing the investment to the value that you've already said you're going to [00:29:00] bring by solving their pain. I think there's a direct correlation and I have often paid more than I thought I wanted to or was thinking I was going to because I wanted what the person had. I bought what I wanted and I didn't bought, I bought the solution, and I, I ended up paying more for it, but I got what I wanted and that's our customer.
Mark: It brings up one of the most controversial topics in our industry though, is what do you think about delivering the estimate on the spot? Are we trying to close the deal right there or are we emailing it, within 24 hours, emailing it the next day. What are your thoughts on how to actually close the sale after we've discussed the money and we've discussed the pain points and whatnot.
Scott: Yeah, there's no question. I think the best chance is to deliver it on the spot. I think there's a lot of benefits to that. First of all, like I've already stated, you get the reaction. You can have body language and such. The other thing is [00:30:00] fresh in your mind. I think, not being present or being rushed as a salesperson is problematic.
So we are there, there's no man, were there shutters on that house? I don't even remember. Right. You know, whatever. Right. So I think it's the freshest moment. I think it's, it's the warmest you're going to be as far as your bonding rapport. So I would prefer that you deliver it, like on an iPad, walk them through it, everything about it.
And just ask them if you had captured everything that they wanted. Make sure it fit what you know. Did I, did you, did I capture what you, you expressed to me? Did I miss anything? I want to make sure this is accurate? Then, you know, if they, if the, if it's not the right time, then we can go into our follow-up sequence.
If you go back to your office because timing, because of whatever, then I would also, if it's the if the value of the bid is worth it, I would tell them before I left, I said, I'm going to call you or I would like to call you and walk through this with you [00:31:00] before I send it over. I want to make sure.
I captured everything that you wanted, right? Because again, there's still this, you're still in control and when you lose control of the sales process and you're probably getting close to a no or add a no. So this idea of, I would like to call you now I have, I've also had people that record a Loom video.
And actually go through the project on a video and then send it that way, which I think has a high impact. But I would prefer that you write the bid on the spot in a residential repaint environment. I think that's the best moment. And then you're done. You're not backlogged with bids. And I also think that all of these things we're talking about is demonstrating your competency that's leading you to the project, right? If I've done all these steps flawlessly, and with the customer in mind, the customer can only imagine that's probably how he's going to deliver the paint job, right? Versus the person that is [00:32:00] late or cancels and reschedules. And then you have to chase them for the bid and chase them some more and chase them some more.
That, what do you think's going to happen when they say yes to that person? That, that project's going to be tough. So I think you are, you're courting the client and you're demonstrating. Your process and that we have processes and this is going to be, this is just the start of a fantastic relationship and the job's going to be just as good, because this is the way we roll and I'm demonstrating that.
So, on the end of that, I do like a follow-up sequence and a lot of people love the, to delegate this to technology through text and email. I just don't, I'm not a fan of that because I can say no and ignore your texts and emails very easily. But because I'm advocating for that upfront agreement, I shouldn't ignore your phone call.
Hey, you know I'm calling. It's Scott. We agreed that we talk on Tuesday. It's Tuesday. I'm sorry I missed you. Could you get back to me and I, I would follow up. I actually, embarrassingly enough have said [00:33:00] yes to something in my life. Because the person was so persistent. Okay. So some people think I'm a very high D I'm actually not.
There's some other things about me that make you think that, but I sometimes struggle to tell you no. So it makes me feel bad, really sometimes so, oddly enough. So, persistence can be really important. And there's also times where a person's not ready to buy. And I could tell you that from my point of view, I typically right away know who I want to buy from.
I'm just sometimes not really ready to accept that I'm going to have to pay that much for the, for whatever it is.
Mark: Especially in times of financial crisis or, or high inflation. It, It all factors.
Scott: yeah. but I think the follow up on, on Strong Leads, jobs you want should be by phone. And, a couple phone calls if you want to do phone, email tag. You know, you want to sprinkle some different things in, and if they're low value, low probability, I'm okay with you just going, you know what?
I, I went to that bid. I wish I hadn't, but I [00:34:00] did. So I'm just going to, I'm not going to put any more energy into it. I'm okay with that. But I think the follow up to continue that closing process for the right job is, can be really powerful For the right prospect.
Conclusion: Elevating Your Sales Approach
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Mark: Well, as we discussed at the beginning of the podcast, this is a, an enormous subject and potentially even future podcasts as we talk about, you know, good follow ups and, and, and actually more content of what the sale itself should look like. The purpose of today, of course, was to discuss more of the pre-qualifying aspects finding those pain points, warming up the lead before you arrive, establishing those pre-engineered agreements. And then, hopefully delivering exactly what you've already promised and closing more work. I also love that idea as we've discussed, just I think a lot of owners need to really put some thought into that.
There's a difference between a defined and well orchestrated sales process and simply sending an order taker or an estimator out to answer a call and it's a [00:35:00] good opportunity in a way we can set ourselves apart from our competition and continue to professionalize our pro businesses.
Scott: Yeah, I dead on Mark. Thanks a lot for for being my wing man.
Mark: Of course, looking forward to more conversations. Check us out for a lot more content. All related to the industry that we love, professional painting.
That wraps up this episode of Success Beyond the Brush. If this conversation got you thinking about how you or your team show up on sales calls, then take a few minutes after this episode to review your own process. Are you just measuring and quoting, or are you truly leading your clients through a professional customer-centric experience? For more resources to help you build a scalable, systems-driven painting business, head over to consulting4contractors.com.
That's consulting4contractors.com. And if you enjoyed the show, be sure to follow, rate and share it with another painting business owner who's ready to level up. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you on the [00:36:00] next episode of Success Beyond the Brush.