Some contractors seem to have an innate flair when it comes to selling upgrades to homeowners.
Sometimes, a contractor will submit a high quality proposal only to be outdone by a low balling contractor. This blog post is the first in series that explains how to overcome homeowner resistance and make yourself more memorable so you can get more customers and keep them happy. It involves a very simple strategy...
Listening.
My name is Ben, I'm a user experience (UX) designer, an entrepreneur and a former freelancer. I'm also a co-founder of Snugg.
As a freelancer of many years, a lot of my work revolved around understanding customers' needs and selling my services effectively. I had to make a sale in the same way that contractors do. Failing to close the deal meant lost business, and wasted time running after prospects that never became customers. In that sense our work is not that different.
As a designer and entrepreneur, I'm always looking for ways to become a better listener. And these days, I relate everything I do to the contracting world. Today, I want to share some useful insight I got from a book I recently read. It's called Just Listen by Mark Goulston.
Contractors making a sale are essentially moving homeowners through the persuasion cycle and it looks like this....
- From resisting to listening
- From listening to considering
- From considering to willing to do
- From willing to do to doing
- From doing to glad they did and continuing to do.
Depending on the homeowner, the interaction may start at one point or another in the persuasion cycle.
One of the key things to remember is that everyone, including the most dislikable homeowner, has an innate need to feel felt. Often times, those who point out flaws or pick holes through your proposals simply want to be heard.... and this leads us to the first rule of being a good listener which is the subject of this blog post ...
Make the person 'feel felt'.
This listening technique can enhance your relationship with all the people in your life, but for now we’ll focus on enhancing your relationship with Eric, your apprehensive prospective customer.
In the following scenario, your job is to take Eric from resisting to listening to willing to do
Scenario: Eric is a homeowner who’s been burned by another contractor in the past, and his distrust is palpable.
Persuation cycle stage: Resisting
Eric wants highly detailed terms in the contract and has a thousand questions about everything. You’re concerned that he’s going to be paralyzed by fear when it comes to signing on the dotted line.
You (to Eric):
Are you feeling kind of gunshy right now because you've had some unpleasant dealings with a contractor before?
Eric:
What?
You:
Have you dealt with a contractor or a supplier who's failed to deliver on their promises? I’m trying to get a sense of what you’re feeling and I think it’s 'betrayed' (replace ‘betrayed’ with the emotion that fits your situation: frustrated/angry/offended, etc...)
You want Eric to put a name on the emotion so wait for it. Typically it will go something like this:
Eric (beginning to exhale):
I feel really wary of trusting another contractor with my home.
You:
How wary are you exactly?
Again, wait for Eric to let her rip. This isn't aimed at you so there is no need to counter-argue. Eric isn’t ready to listen yet, he just want to be heard.
Eric:
Very wary. We hired a guy just like you last year to replace our windows.
You: (if the person isn’t ranting by now):
And the reason you’re so wary (angry, upset, etc.) is because. . . ?
You're not done yet, let him vent.
Eric:
The guy promised us huge savings and tax credits. It turns out we weren’t eligible for those tax credits. We paid the installer a hefty down payment and there were huge delays in finishing the work! The guy didn’t come back for 3 weeks, I had to show up at his office and make a scene.
Persuasion cycle: LISTENING
Ok, now that you’ve allowed Eric to exhale, he's ready to listen
You:
What needs to happen for this wary/angry/furstrated/betrayed feeling to get better?
Persuasion cycle: CONSIDERING
Eric (pausing to think) and now:
I need to know that whoever is going to be upgrading my house is dependable, and that a promise made is a promise kept.
You:
How can we make sure this happens? What can I do? And what can you do?
Persuasion cycle: WILLING TO DO
Eric:
I suppose if we defined clear milestones for each phase of the work, and if you made it a point to always get back to me within one business day of me calling you, I would feel better about going ahead.
Congratulations, you hit the nail on the head.
Provide some solid customer references, and you’re well on your way to earning this homeowner’s business.
The bottomline
The need to feel felt exists in everyone we interact with from our family members to our customers. A key aspect of this approach is asking the following question: “how would I feel if I were them?” You can read more about feeling felt in Mark Goulston's book titled Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone
SnuggPro helps contractors showcase their listening skills with a prominent 'Homeowner concerns' feature in the homeowner report. If you haven't already done so, you can download a sample of our homeowner report here. You should also sign up for our 14-day risk free trial or participate in one of our free live webinars to see what SnuggPro can do for your business.
Suggest our next blog post
How useful was this post? What kind of articles would you like to see more of on our blog?
I have other scenarios and listening techniques lined up. Which of these scenarios would you like to read next?
Scenario #1 - The customer calls and tells you they found someone else
Scenario #2 - You’re a good contractor but the customer doubts ability to get the job done
About Benjamin Mailian
Ben is Head of Product and a co-founder of Snugg Home. He looks after product management, design and engineering management. Ben helps energy efficiency programs get the most out of Snugg Pro by aligning their business requirements with Snugg Pro's configuration and integration capabilities.