Dare I go down this path again?
Much is always made of hard sell tactics in this industry. It can be credited with much of the tarnished reputation some of us are working hard at to remove.
To add some of my own personal context, and hopefully clarity, these are some of the “sales” tactics that I believe to be hard sell. These aren’t facts, merely my own humble opinions. Please feel free to agree or put me right via the comments section below.
Drop closes with a time limit and phony discounts
I can almost guarantee that every single week I will hear a story from a home owner who will tell me that the rep from a previous company they had in their home started at a ridiculous price for the proposed works, only for them to bring that price down in big steps down, hoping to snag the business at the last attempt. But only if they sign up there and then.
I can also guarantee that every single person who tells me that story knows exactly what is going on, and that all credibility is lost straight away. Drop closes with a laughable time limit of signing up there and then is a definite hard sell tactic for me.
This sort of thing catches the elderly and vulnerable out more than most. Thankfully, it’s 2017 and most home owners are wise to the age-old tactic of starting with a sky high price, only to then witness phony phone calls to managers and novelty discounts that have already been worked into sketchy pricing matrix. However, not everyone is sharp enough to see what is going on, and that is where this sort of selling practice works.
And the idea that a time limit to any price is a joke too. Put yourself in a home owner’s shoes. Why would a price suddenly have to jump up next week by twice as much just because I don’t sign there and then? Garbage.
Insisting on spouse being there
This one makes me laugh. Companies who insist wives, husbands, partners etc be there at the time of the arranged appointment. It’s passed off as as some “safety” precaution by some. It’s also been admitted by others that they believe the home owners are more likely to make a decision on the night if both halves of the relationship are present and correct during the appointment.
Wrong on a couple of fronts. Firstly, the assumption that the sales rep is going to get an immediate decision just because they’re both there. Pure passive hard sell and more likely than not to piss the home owners off than anything else. Secondly, the assumption that a single person would be unable to come to their own informed decision. Talk about patronising!
I have had many home owners ask me if their husbands or wives need to be present during our appointment, simply because the last company they had out insisted on both being there. I tell them it’s not a requirement and it’s completely up to them. Easy.
Hours long sits
Four or five hours is way too long to be in someones home measuring up for new windows and doors. Even if you add a new glazed extension and roofline into the mix. If I were staying five hours I think I’d be expecting dinner and a bed for the night!
Seriously though, I am yet to encounter a home owner who is happy to have me in their home for anything like that length of time. Even if it is for a large project.
More often than note, home owners tell me that previous reps they have had in their home have not only used drop closes, but have been in their homes for much longer than they wanted them in for. The drop close and extended home visits are often used together, and only serve to add more pressure on the home owner.
Plus, as a sales person myself, do I really want to be in someones home for that long? I have work to do, I can’t afford to be away from the office for that long. The reps who like these mega-long visits must not have much of a life to rush home for.
Cold calling
Door knocking, phone calls. Both forms of cold calling and both tried and lambasted methods of initial early pressure to force the hand of home owners into a home sales visit from a rep.
Of course the glazing industry isn’t the only sector that plagues home owners with nuisance phone calls and unwanted knocks at the door. But our industry has used, and continues to use, both tactics in order to gain business. In a world where most people now go online to arrange and buy, the idea of people knocking on doors is rather archaic.
You can be a OMB, a small independent, a regional or a national. You can still run a business without using the above methods. You can sell on the back of product quality, USPs, customer service and all the good reasons people would see to buy. I won’t lax too lyrical on why companies should ditch the above in favour of a more reputable sales method, some simply will not change. What I will say is that if you’re an installer who sells to home owners using the good stuff, keep doing what you’re doing. If you’re competition continues to use the phony sales, discounts and hard sell BS, they’re making you’re life easier. Perhaps not doing the industry any favours, but it at least highlights your more respectable values against others.
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