June, 2008

Teach Your Contractors How to Sell

If their phone keeps ringing during the slowdown, your business benefits, too.

By Gary Katz

Today there’s a lot more to being a successful contractor than just swinging a hammer. Knowing how to use spreadsheets, track overhead, bid jobs, order materials on time, and manage employees are all critical to running a successful business.

I’ve covered many of those subjects in past issues of this column. But with the housing industry slowing, contractors have
to know even more about sales and marketing, or they’ll run short of work. (Ironically, sales and marketing is one area that most small contractors don’t know much about. Help them and you’ll help yourself.)

Years ago, I installed material for a large door and hardware company. The owner of the company—determined to provide
full-service customer care, as well as maximize sales—developed “cheat sheets” for all his counter people: They included lists of materials a customer might need for a variety of projects, from installing new doors to changing out closet shelving. One day, he told me, “If someone comes into my store to buy a front door, I want them leaving with everything—the door, the hinges, the lockset, the weatherstripping, the threshold, the sill nosing, the door bottom, the sealer for the bottom and top, and a peep, too. And if it’s a pair of doors, I don’t want them buying the flush bolts and astragal somewhere else! Why lose the sale when I’ve got them at my counter!”

That same approach applies to contractors and how they handle their customers. Whether you call it a slowdown, a tightening, or a recession, the fact is, contractors’ phones aren’t ringing like they used to. One way to generate more work is to use the resources we already have— existing customers.

Some people call this upselling, but that’s an overused and misapplied word. Customer care isn’t just about selling; It’s about helping.

Help your contractors learn how to use their passion and enthusiasm for their craft—their understanding of architecture and design and their experience with home construction—to help their customers with home-improvement plans.

For instance, if your contractors don’t have portfolios, suggest they start one.

The truth is, most homeowners don’t have enough familiarity with construction or design to know the broad variety of possible upgrades available for their home. Ironically, most contractors operate their businesses passively in that they depend on projects suggested by homeowners.

Like the last couple on a dance floor, contractors and clients often stare at each other across the room without speaking.

For a contractor without a portfolio, a large percentage of work is left on the table, and never even discussed.

As a retail business, your company has more experience with sales and marketing. Share that experience with your contractors. Help them learn how to encourage their customers and how to suggest additional home improvements. The customers will be happier, and the contractor’s jobs will reflect a sense of craftsmanship and better advertise their services.

There’s no better profit center than finish work. Mouldings and built-ins are the least expensive way to add beauty and
warmth to a home. Many homes today are empty shells, eager for details that create character and charm.

If a customer wants a bid on crown moulding in their dining room, your contractors should suggest wainscoting, too, or a coffered ceiling. Even if a homeowner can’t afford bookshelves, a window seat, or a new mantelpiece right now, contractors should learn to plant the seeds for those ideas so that in six months, their phones will still be ringing.

GARY KATZ, with nearly 40 years experience in the industry, is a contributing editor to Fine Homebuilding magazine, a frequent contributor to the Journal of Light Construction, and produces the Katz Roadshow—Carpentry Clinics at lumberyards all over America. To learn more, visit his web site: www.GaryMKatz.com.