May 27, 2025 • 30 mins
Closing more deals isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter. Discover the best strategies for turning leads into paying customers without spending a dime on advertising. Home service business owners will learn how to handle objections, follow up effectively, and structure a sales process that maximizes conversions. Join host Adam Sylvester, with Jackson Blackburn of Mt. Baker Window Cleaning Co. and Kristian Protic of 365 Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing.
New to Jobber? Masters of Home Service listeners can claim an exclusive discount for Jobber at https://bit.ly/4d0KAEh
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The client said, oh, I need tospeak to my wife about this.
And my service manager, hunter responded,and he said, well, what if you don't?
And you just surprised her with thelights as a gift and he closed a
$1,500 holiday light job justlike that on the phone. Welcome.
To Jobber Masters of Home Service,a podcast for home service Pros,
(00:20):
buy Home service pros.
We're in Las Vegas and today we'retalking about closing more sales,
converting more leads to boost yourprofits. I'm your host, Adam Sylvester.
Today's guest are Christian Protiand Jackson Blackburn. Guys,
welcome to the studio. Thank you, Adam.
Thank you for having us.
Absolutely. Christian, go first.Tell us who you are and what you do.
So I'm Christian. I am the presidentand owner of 3 6 5 heating,
(00:44):
cooling and plumbing,
residential and commercialbusiness in Kitchener, Ontario,
Canada. I've been doing this now foralmost two years with this company.
Welcome. Glad you're here.
Thank you for having me.
Jackson. Yeah, my name is Jackson.
I own Mount Baker Window Cleaningcompany in Bellingham, Washington.
And I'm also a coach forhome service business coach.
(01:06):
Cool. Alright. I'm glad you guysare both here. I love sales.
You guys both love sales.I love talking about sales.
Sales is the light of thebusiness. Let's set the stage here.
Let's pretend that our listenersjust got a lead. What do you, oh,
let's pretend you guys gota lead. What's your goal?
What's your first step with how tohandle that lead in the sales process?
Jackson, you go first.
(01:26):
I want to get in contact withthat lead as quickly as I can.
If you can get to thatlead in the first minute,
you've got a huge chance of being ableto close that job within two minutes.
It falls a little bit. Once youget to five minutes, 10 minutes,
like 30 minutes,
you've really shot your chance at beingable to close that lead in a lot of
situations. So the speed to lead isgoing to be hugely important for us.
(01:48):
Via text, via email, by phone.Whatcha talking about there?
Yeah,
we'd like to give a phone call becausewe know we're going to have a really
good, if they just filled out a form,
we're going to have a really good shotof contacting them on their phone If
we're able to call inthe first couple minutes,
if we can't get them on theirphone, it goes to voicemail,
we're going to shoot thema text message. Got it.
(02:09):
So we do the same thing, phone callright away as soon as the lead comes in,
text message. If they don't answerthe phone, ringless voicemail.
So we do all that. Very important Ithink for the whole speed to lead thing.
A lot of leads, they can come in reallyquick and be gone even faster. So yeah,
I think it's importantthat you stay on top of it.
One of my biggest things is makingsure that as soon as it comes in,
(02:32):
it's booked and then it'sassigned to the right person.
Once it's assigned to the right person,we sell, we install and we collect.
So I have a little acronymwritten in my office called Basic,
and that's what that stands for. Sobook, assign, sell, install and collect.
That's awesome. Explain that more.Let's drill down a little bit there.
Explain that more.
Yeah, so it's an acronymI have on the board.
(02:54):
So my CSR is in the office.
It's kind of their bible thatthey got to follow, right?
It's like be for book. Soas soon as a lead comes in,
whether it's through Facebook or Google,
the phone is ringing the job of the CSR,
the customer service rep is tobook that lead and then assign it.
(03:17):
So the letter A is to assign.
So our biggest thing is findingthe right person for that
lead, whether it's a service call,
whether it's an in-home appointmentfor somebody looking at a replacement
furnace, air conditioner, stuff like that.
Biggest thing is right person tothe right lead. So that's a sign.
And then obviously sellingit, install and collect.
(03:40):
One thing I've been hammering down on thelast few months heavily is collecting,
we've had a lot of outstandingjobs in the past where
technicians leave the house.We don't collect payment.
So that's been something that we've been
fine tuning more so to make surethat doesn't slip through the crack
(04:01):
and money isn't left on the table there.
So Christian has much higher ticket.
So your version of booking is just gettinga sales technician out there as fast
as they can, and then they sell the job.
You're not trying to do any salesover the phone, at least a hard quote.
Sometimes we do.
So my customer service reps are trained to
(04:21):
sell smaller ticket items.So water treatment products,
air purification products,stuff like that over the phone,
anything that requires a furnace,an air conditioner, water heater,
heat pump, anything of that nature.
Either myself or somebody on the salesteam will go into the home to discuss
that with the homeowner.
(04:42):
And then Jackson, you do book alot of services over the phone,
you get payment right away. So what'syour approach to that first phone call?
So our system is if we think that thejob is going to be over a thousand
dollars, and mind you, we are inthe exterior cleaning business.
So that is a good ticket for us.
If we think the job is goingto be over a thousand dollars,
they're going to want tobook multiple services,
(05:03):
or if that home is valuedover a million dollars,
we're always going to send someone inperson so that we can start building a
really great relationshipwith that client,
upsell more services and reallygive them a good taste of the
professionalism that we provideat Mount Baker Window cleaning.
If it's a smaller job,
what I don't want to do issend out a sales rep to six,
(05:28):
$400 window cleaning jobs because A,
they're not going to makeenough commission on that. That's not fair to them.
And then B,
I'm losing efficiency in the businessby not having them go and quote larger
jobs.
So I really believe that there's areally big play and just providing a
quote, making it be very convenient forthat client on that first phone call.
(05:50):
If we can get that client a price andget that deposit and get them on the
schedule within five minutesof them calling us, right?
That's a huge win for them becauseat that point their work is done.
They don't need to pick up the phoneand call another contractor off.
Multiple quotes.
They've checked that task off theirto-do list and we're rolling in.
(06:10):
So that's our sort of system for
quoting.
What are the most importantcharacteristics that A CSR has to make
sure that you do book theperson? Because it's not assumed,
they might not like the CSR,you might say something wrong.
What are some things that clients reallycare about in those first five minutes
(06:30):
of that phone call that makes orbreak it? What do you guys think?
You need to have a conversation with them.
You need to ask them questionsabout why they need that service.
You need to start buildingthat relationship from the beginning of the phone
call. You can't just get on the phoneand start describing everything,
why your business is so great andwhy they should book with you.
You need to talk with them and once youcan open them up into a conversation,
(06:52):
you're going to have a much betterchance of booking that client.
Yeah. So the girls thatI have in my office,
they're trained to be really empatheticand really listen and hear out the
client when they're on the phone.
We got a lot of homeowners that callus with issues, emergency repairs,
there's a flood or there'sno heat, no air conditioning.
(07:14):
So we have to reallyunderstand their situation.
So they're just trained toreally hear the client out,
reassure them that we willfix whatever their problem is,
we'll send out the righttechnician to the job.
And ultimately just providingthat higher level of care.
And our goal at the end ofit obviously is to book it,
(07:34):
but we want to make sure that thecustomer feels comfortable going with us
because a lot of times, evenfrom my experience before,
it's like you call a handymanor you call somebody on Google,
A lot of people aren't answering.So the fact that we do answer,
we do want to make sure that we'reproviding a very high level of service and
care for them.
(07:56):
I like empathy a lot andI think it matters a lot because someone calls you and
their house is just totally nasty onthe outside and it's all dirty and
everything, and you just, what'syour name? What's your phone number?
Yeah.
What's your email? What's youraddress? Okay, we'll call you back.
It's very going to call thenext guy, right? Say, oh man,
how long has it been so nasty?It's been nasty for years.
(08:16):
My husband and is cheap and he won'tlet me. He's never wanted to pay for it.
But now he said, yeah,
so I'm calling you guys now we're on thesame team and we want to get our house
washed. Now that's a totally differentexperience as the CS R to listen and say,
well, okay, let's get a wash for you then.
So it looks nice foryour weekend coming up.
And I just think empathy matters a lotas opposed to just the very robotic.
(08:39):
A hundred percent.
Data-driven phone call and that'sjust doesn't really convert very well.
Yeah, you really need to listen to whypeople are asking for your service.
So in my industry, let's say you couldget a phone call for a roof cleaning.
One person might want that because theirinsurance is breathing down their neck
and they need to get theirroof clean for their insurance.
And someone else might becalling just because, well,
(09:00):
they used to do it themselves and they'vegotten too old now they don't want to
get up on a ladder andtheir roof looks bad,
but we need to figure out why that is,
that they need their service so we canstart to specifically meet their needs.
Just like if you'd walkinto a suit store to
get a custom tailored suit,it's going to be more expensive,
but people are willing to pay forthat because it fits them really well.
(09:22):
So we need to figure out howwe can best serve our clients,
what to prescribe them in a way, whatto sell them so that it fits for them.
And people are willing to pay a reallygood price if they think that your
service is really goingto solve their issues.
I think my two favorite questionsin the phone call is what else?
They call you for X, but then anythingelse? As a matter of fact, yeah,
(09:45):
I want you to check this out while you'rehere too. Great. Anything else? Well,
yeah, actually, and you keep askinguntil you finally say, no, that's it.
That's all I got. Okay, great.If we could solve blank, blank,
blank for you and the price is right,would you want to move forward?
Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Yeah.Great. And that gets you a soft Yes.
(10:06):
So then great. Okay, well let's sendsomeone out and get someone out there.
I just love getting a soft Yes on thephone because then you're just one step
closer to the Yes. Once the technicianactually arrives at the house.
And I also love the question,why did you call us?
Why do you say that's important toyou? Why do we have to come back today?
Why can't we come out tomorrow? Why?
(10:26):
I just love peeling back the onion andfind out the real reason the client's
calling.
Yeah, I agree.
Absolutely. Yeah. And whenyou are asking questions,
at least in the beginningof the sales process,
you really want to be open orasking those open-ended questions.
You don't want to be asking questionswhere you get the client saying no towards
the end.
Then you want to start asking questionswhere you know that the response is
(10:48):
going to be a yes. Yeah. Right,
because then you're one step closerto that final Yes. To close the deal.
In terms of follow-up,
let's say you booked the appointment orsent a quote and they haven't approved
yet.
What are some of the bestforms of follow-up that you guys have found to be most
effective?
So we just started using CHIRP recentlyand we integrated it with Jobber.
(11:10):
And yeah,
we found that it's great just becauseyou're not letting really anything slip
through the cracks.
I sat down with one of theCSRs a couple months before
I ended up using chirp,
and I realized how much money we wereleaving out on the table because our
follow-up process wasn't there.It was nonexistent, right?
(11:31):
We'd send out a lead orwe'd send out an estimate,
sorry if we didn't close somethingin the home and weeks go by,
months go by and there were maybeone or two touch points after that.
And then we call some of these clientsback and see if they're still interested
and they're like, oh, wewent with somebody else.
And so I recently introducedchirp and now I'm finding
(11:55):
that communication is a lot more stable.
You're not letting clients kind ofdictate when they're going to reach
out, wait for them. We allknow, and being in home service,
there's clients that you send outan estimate, they're like, okay,
we'll talk to my husband, we'll talkto my wife and we'll get back to you.
And they never do.
(12:16):
So having those safeguards in place with
something like an automation toollike CHIRP where there is a follow-up,
you can get them engagedvia text, via email,
stuff like that. I thinkit's really important.
Yeah, CHIRP is incredible.
We just started using CHIRPearlier this year as well,
(12:36):
and it's definitely boostedour conversion ratio.
I'm still getting the hang of it. Wejust started four or five weeks ago,
but I can definitely see the value.
Yeah, it's amazing what atext seven days later does.
Oh yeah. I've been meaning.
To approve that quote.I'm ready to approve.
Yeah.
Just amazing.
Just a little bit of follow up canreally boost your conversion rate.
(12:57):
Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah. Text follow up is fantastic.If you're not utilizing text follow up,
it's time to jump on. Youdon't want to miss that train.
And then as far as the best forms offollow-up, you got to hit every channel.
Some clients are going toprefer that you email them.
Maybe some of the grandmas out therestill like to appreciate that email.
The occasional still like some snailmail, which I've done recently,
(13:20):
not my favorite thing to have to goto the post office to send a quote,
but it still happens. Some people likephone calls, some people like texting.
So you need to hit all those channels tomake sure that you're not leaving money
out on the table and then be persistent.
You got to realize that you're not beinga nuisance until you get a hard no from
somebody.
We got bills to pay, you gotto go after it. You got to be.
(13:41):
Hungry. You called.
Me.
I ain't called us.
Right? We're just following up.Okay, now we're at the house,
we're meeting with a client and
they're ready to hear what we haveto say, and we drive up to the house.
What does your sales processlook like for your companies?
(14:02):
So we always try and make a friend.
If we have one goal duringthat meeting with a client,
it is to walk away with a new friend.
So that's going to be thefirst step in that process.
I like that. Our biggest thing,
so I have all of ourtrucks are fully wrapped.
One of our biggest things isalways pulling up to the house,
(14:24):
truck is parked right outside.Client can see the van,
we're presentable in our uniforms and allthat clean cut and just like you said,
making a friend,
because the biggest thing for thesehomeowners is that they want to purchase
from somebody that they trust,somebody that they like.
So at the end of the day,
that's really all you got to do isjust got to go there, be personable,
make a friend smile, be happy,provide the solution that they need.
(14:49):
And more often than not, you're goingto be the choice that they go with.
Yeah, park on the street, not on thedriveway. Right? You don't want to run in.
I totally disagree.
Totally. Really? You justpark right in the driveway.
Friends park in the driveway.
Wow. Okay. That's funny. Okay. Well,
I bet that you knock on the doorinstead of ringing the doorbell, right?
Oh yeah.
Well, at least we're on even ground there.
(15:09):
We both not both agree there? Yeah. Youbang or do you actually do the front?
No, no. I give one knuckle.One knuckle. One knuckle.
Okay.
That's.
Good. See,
we park in the driveway once we've gottenthe deal and we're there to install
something. Okay. That's when we'll parkin the driveway. We'll back the van up,
open the garage or side door, basement,whatever. That's when we'll do that.
But prior to that, we'realways parked on the side. Why?
(15:35):
For me, it's like I've spentso much money on my branding,
I want them to see the truckor the trucks front and center.
They opened the door.
I just recently ordered doormats withour company's logo and everything.
So now what we're going to do is lay adoormat down and then when the client
opens the door, that'sthe first thing they see.
They see that technician or a salesperson,
(15:56):
whatever in front of a doormathas booties on ready to
put on over the shoes, and you justsee a nice branded truck outside.
It's an instant feeling oftrust. And we're not cheap.
We're one of the more higherpriced companies in our area.
So I want the client to feel likethey're getting their money's worth.
(16:19):
I want them to see, hey,
this is the value that this companyis providing me when I'm paying
double or triple than the next guy. So.
What are some common mistakes you'veseen other business owners make or that
you've made in the pastin the sales process,
you get to the house and what are somemistakes that people can easily avoid
when they're talking to clientsand trying to pitch their deal?
(16:42):
Bashing other companies.
Would be one.
Yeah, that's a big one.
Yeah.
You always want to hold a highlevel of respect for the competition
out there.
You will lower your status andthat client's mind if you start
bashing other companies, oh,you got a quote from them.
I would be cautious about that.You don't need to say that.
(17:02):
No.
So what do you say? Thereis a difference? So balance.
That. What I like to do and whatI teach my guys is I like to
have us talk about what we'regreat at and what we're going to do
for the client. Because a lot ofcompetition in my area, for instance,
their whole thing is just sellingyou the lowest priced option.
(17:25):
I don't want to do that. I wantto come in there higher priced,
but build a lot of value andhave the client see that, right?
Yeah. And for us, we have what we calla service packet. It's a nice folder.
It's branded,
and it's not something that a lot ofwindow cleaning or exterior cleaning
companies are going to have, whichgives us a leg up on the competition.
(17:46):
It's got our certificateof liability insurance.
It has a contractor hiring checklistso that when that client is actually
looking at other quotes, they canread through our checklist, Hey,
how many Google reviews do they have?
Are they actually licensedand bonded and insured?
Do they have background checked employees?
And it gives us a really bigleg up on the competition.
So we don't need to go in badmouthany of the other competitors in our
(18:08):
area because the value that we bringto the table is pretty evident.
Yeah, you're showing them withthat package while you're the best.
Exactly.
For what you do. Right?
Right.
Anything else that's unique to your salesprocess that you could share with the
listeners? One of my favorites is,
so I like to be proactive withobjections. If someone says,
(18:29):
I had so-and-so out here lastyear to clean my gutters,
and I don't even know ifthey did a good job or not,
because I can't see inside my guttersbecause they're not going to put a ladder
up, say, would you like to have somephotos afterwards when we're done?
I don't tell them we're going to sendthem photos as soon as you tell them,
I don't even want photos. But ifyou said, do you want some? Yeah,
I'll love photos. Great. I can send you,now we're going to do it either way.
(18:52):
But when you ask them,do you want some photos?
You're proactively overcoming thatobjection that they don't even trust that
you're going to do the workin the first place. Well,
how do I know you guys aren't actuallydoing, I can't see up there. Well,
we'll send you photos. It'stoo late. They're like, yeah,
you're just trying tobeg for the business.
If.
You proactively say whatever the objectionis and then overcome it beforehand,
then they're like, well, that'swhat I was going to say next,
but now you took it out of my mouth,so now I can't say it. I guess.
(19:15):
Guess I'll just sign up, fellas.
I want to take a minute to pause andtalk about why we love jobber so much.
How does Jobber help youwith your sales process?
How does it help you really wowyour clients in that sales methods?
I love one of the new featureswhere you can see a sales rep
report and you could see what yourconversion rate is as an individual sales
(19:37):
person, the amount of jobsor quotes that you've sent,
the price attached to that as well.
So it kind of creates this friendlycompetition between sales reps where they
want to one up each other and increasetheir conversion rate or maybe sell some
higher ticket jobs. So that'sreally neat. I love that feature.
It's also great for yourCSR too. Oh, fantastic.
(19:59):
I'm a big fan of the quotingfeature inside of Jobber.
I love that you can add edfs andphotos of the different line items,
add optional line items. So we dothat a lot for extended warranties.
Clients see that, and most of the timethey just click yes and they accept it.
So yeah.
I like jobbers integration withWise Stack for consumer financing,
(20:22):
it goes right into at the bottom, theycan click that finance their quotes.
It's awesome. So I'm a huge fan of.
That, man. I love gu. I lovejobbers integration with Gusto.
I just found out about that the other day.
Oh, interesting. Yeah.
Payroll's done in five minutes.
Bingo, bingo. It's amazing. If youwant all those sweet features too,
you need to start using jobbertoday. Go to jobber.com/podcast deal.
(20:44):
New users can get exclusivediscount and get all those features.
Now I want to talk about price becauseprice is one of the biggest factors
in the sales process. What do youguys think about price transparency?
How much do you tell the client aboutthe price and what it gets them?
And maybe do you even putpricing on your website?
Let's talk about pricing and how youapproach it with your client so that they
(21:05):
trust you, but you alsodon't give away too much.
So in our market,
we like to lead with a monthlypayment or a biweekly payment for our
products and services.I've found over the years,
a lot of the bigger, larger companies,
that's kind of how they get their footin the door with their marketing is they
hook clients with Get awater heater for $30 a month,
(21:28):
and then they include fullwarranty, maintenance,
stuff like that in that price.
So we've definitely shifted ourfocus to doing that as well.
Found pretty good results from doingthat, especially in today's economy.
After Covid,
a lot of people are strapped for cashand pulling from lines of credit and
(21:50):
this and that or paying with credit cards.
So if you can give them a monthlyoption with a good interest rate,
that might make more sense for them.
We don't put any prices on our website,
and that's just for the reason that Idon't want someone selecting our service
because of the price.
I want them to choose us astheir service provider because of
(22:12):
the reviews that we have, because ofthe brand reputation that we've built,
because of the value thatwe're going to bring them.
Those are the things that I wantpeople to choose our service.
So it's not going to be price. Ifyou do put price on your website,
what could end up happening isthat you get price shoppers,
and those aren't my avatar clientele.
And obviously we're goingto be transparent with the price once we go to give a
(22:33):
quote, the price is never going to change.
Our price book is standardizedby square footage.
Really easy for us togive clients those prices,
but it's not listed anywhere.
I don't want people to also seea high price and not have had the
chance to chat with anyone on our team.
I want to have that opportunityto provide value and show
(22:56):
them what kind of company we are beforewe're giving them a price that might be
three times as much asBucket Bob down the road.
They don't know the differenceyet because they haven't met us.
Yeah, that's true. But I think the otherside would say, you're exactly right.
It does get rid of price shoppers.
If you put your prices on yourwebsite and it's too high for people,
they won't even bothercalling you. So there's that.
(23:18):
And I also think that there's a certainamount of trust that people gain from
you if you are willingto put pricing up there.
Everyone knows that you're not goingto hold you to it to the dollar.
Everybody knows it's arange, but I see both sides.
And I think it depends on your industrytoo and what kind of leads you're trying
to get and what kind ofcalls you're trying to get.
(23:38):
But I do think there's value in at leastexperimenting with putting pricing on
your website So that you can sayhomes are 2,500 square feet to 4,000,
are usually about 600 bucksand do that. So like a tier.
That way people whenthey call and you say,
have you been on our websiteand seen the pricing? Yeah,
I think my house about 600 bucks. Andyou look at the pricing sheet and it is,
she's going to be easy to close. Sheknew what to expect when she called.
(24:02):
So I'm a fan,
but I can also see how you can lose somecalls because they won't even call you.
But I think both ways. Yeah, that's great.
Yeah,
we've got a big company in Toronto andtheir whole business model is just having
an online shop.
Oh, wow.
And their SEO is crazy.
They're always coming up at the top ofGoogle and a lot of people go there,
and we get a lot ofclients that are like, oh,
(24:23):
but we've seen this sameexact model that's on
this website and this is the price.
Why are you offering thesame thing but higher?
And it's like trying todifferentiate. It's like, well,
all of our installers are in-house.They sub out all their work.
They don't really have anoffice, they don't have overhead.
(24:44):
They just got a websiteand they're basically drop shipping equipment to people.
So it's a different business model.
So that's why their pricingis set at where it's at,
and it's a more volume-based business,
whereas we're offeringa more personal touch.
Jackson,
what do you think is the biggestmisconception with your clients about
(25:05):
pressure washing a home?
Well,
a lot of our clients think that we'reactually going to use pressure right on
the house. Don't want to get tootechnical here, pressure washing,
how they think that. Yeah.
But that's probably the biggestmisconception that we have.
Is that part of your sales process,
educating them on how you'reactually going to do the work?
(25:27):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean,
we like to be clear that we're goingto be soft washing their house and not
using pressure because itis safer for their home.
There's less chance that we'regoing to damage anything there.
You get a better end resultwith our process. And so yeah,
it's going to be something thatwe're going to talk about. But again,
selling for us isn't as muchas us propping ourselves up and talking about how
(25:51):
great we are at doing theservice, it's more of like, Hey,
we're going to fit your needs.Just like we were talking earlier,
if someone calls and they say, Hey,
my insurance company'sbreathing down my neck.
I don't need to explain what soft washingis. All I need to do is say, awesome.
No worries. We've done this for plentyof clients before in the same situation.
What we're going to do is we're goingto kill all the moss on your roof.
(26:11):
We're going to write up a detailedreport with photos in A PDF.
We're going to send it to you,
and we can even forward itto that insurance company if you would like with your
name and address on it so that they havethat boom, their solution is solved.
They're not call anybody.
Else. They're going to go with you. Ilove that. What happens if a client call,
they have your quote,they haven't approved yet,
(26:32):
and they call back and theywant to ask more questions,
but their questions more likeobjections. How do you handle those?
So we have sales scripts that outlinehow to deal with specific types
of objections. And just the otherday, so proud of my service manager.
He told me that he was able to closethis deal in the most incredible way.
And what happened was he was followingup on a quote that was still awaiting
(26:56):
response for installing holidaylights on someone's home.
And the client said, oh, I needto speak to my wife about this.
And my service manager, hunter responded,and he said, well, what if you don't?
And you just surprised herwith the lights as a gift,
and he closed a $1,500 holiday light jobjust like that on the phone. I'm like,
(27:16):
man, yeah. How about you? No, it's justan incredible objection. So let's one,
yeah, if you're not trainedyourself on handling objections,
definitely seek some training inthat. Get some scripts together.
And same thing goes for yourstaff, right? If you've got a CSR,
they got to be trained tohandle objections, whether that be price, service,
et cetera. If you got salesrepresentatives, absolutely,
(27:39):
they need to be trained in that as well.
So it's really good to just have anarsenal of responses to be able to handle
these different types of objectionsthat you might come across.
Yeah, my dad's one of the bestsalespeople I know, and he always says,
you should never besurprised by the objection.
You do this all day long foryears. Nothing. The client says,
(28:00):
should ever surprise you. You shouldbe ready for everything. They say,
you should be prepared for 20objections. The poor thing,
they only have two or three beforethey're done. They give two or three,
and then they don't haveanything else to say.
We should be trained for 20 objections,and they'll just hit 'em just.
Quick like that. And Ithink if you are getting,
especially in the exteriorcleaning industry,
you're going to see if you'rea premium price business,
(28:20):
you're going to get aton of price objections.
It's just going to happenas you grow your business.
But if you're getting them just so often,
then I think that you need tofigure out a better way for you to
address your client's specific needs.
Because if you really areaddressing their specific needs,
then they should be able to seethe value in your service is
(28:45):
better than or equal to the pricethat you've quoted them for.
If you're constantly getting objections,
you're doing something wrongbefore that you need address. Yeah,
this is a great conversation.
I'm going to try to boil it downto the actionable items here.
Number one is speed to lead.The faster you get to the lead,
the better chance you have of closingit. Number two is ask questions.
(29:06):
Find out what the real reason they'recalling it may not just be what they want
their house washed. They might wanttheir house washed for a specific event,
or it's been driving them crazy for yearsand they finally were able to pull the
trigger. You want to know thosekinds of reasons, not just, yeah,
we can wash your house for you. And numberthree is don't bash the competition.
You can compare your services toother companies without bashing them,
(29:28):
and that's what you really wantto do. Guys, this is great.
How did people find outmore about you, Christian.
Go on any of the socialchannels. Instagram, Facebook,
LinkedIn, YouTube, Google, 3, 6,5, heating, cooling, and plumbing.
And if you want to look up MountBaker, window cleaning company,
you can find us on Google. And thenalso home service business coach.com.
(29:51):
Sweet. Well, you guys are really.
Having a huge impact on youremployees, the staff that you hire,
the klines that you serve. Sokeep making the big impact.
It's making a big difference.
Thank you.
Thanks for being here. Thankyou. And thank you for listening.
I hope that you heard something todaythat will make your sales process better
and boost your conversion rates.I'm your host, Adam Sylvester.
(30:12):
You can find me@adamsylvester.com.
Your team and your clients deserveyour very best. So go give it to him.
The client said, oh, I need tospeak to my wife about this.
And my service manager, hunter responded,and he said, well, what if you don't?
And you just surprised her with thelights as a gift and he closed a
$1,500 holiday light job justlike that on the phone. Welcome.
To Jobber Masters of Home Service,a podcast for home service Pros,
(00:20):
buy Home service pros.
We're in Las Vegas and today we'retalking about closing more sales,
converting more leads to boost yourprofits. I'm your host, Adam Sylvester.
Today's guest are Christian Protiand Jackson Blackburn. Guys,
welcome to the studio. Thank you, Adam.
Thank you for having us.
Absolutely. Christian, go first.Tell us who you are and what you do.
So I'm Christian. I am the presidentand owner of 3 6 5 heating,
(00:44):
cooling and plumbing,
residential and commercialbusiness in Kitchener, Ontario,
Canada. I've been doing this now foralmost two years with this company.
Welcome. Glad you're here.
Thank you for having me.
Jackson. Yeah, my name is Jackson.
I own Mount Baker Window Cleaningcompany in Bellingham, Washington.
And I'm also a coach forhome service business coach.
(01:06):
Cool. Alright. I'm glad you guysare both here. I love sales.
You guys both love sales.I love talking about sales.
Sales is the light of thebusiness. Let's set the stage here.
Let's pretend that our listenersjust got a lead. What do you, oh,
let's pretend you guys gota lead. What's your goal?
What's your first step with how tohandle that lead in the sales process?
Jackson, you go first.
(01:26):
I want to get in contact withthat lead as quickly as I can.
If you can get to thatlead in the first minute,
you've got a huge chance of being ableto close that job within two minutes.
It falls a little bit. Once youget to five minutes, 10 minutes,
like 30 minutes,
you've really shot your chance at beingable to close that lead in a lot of
situations. So the speed to lead isgoing to be hugely important for us.
(01:48):
Via text, via email, by phone.Whatcha talking about there?
Yeah,
we'd like to give a phone call becausewe know we're going to have a really
good, if they just filled out a form,
we're going to have a really good shotof contacting them on their phone If
we're able to call inthe first couple minutes,
if we can't get them on theirphone, it goes to voicemail,
we're going to shoot thema text message. Got it.
(02:09):
So we do the same thing, phone callright away as soon as the lead comes in,
text message. If they don't answerthe phone, ringless voicemail.
So we do all that. Very important Ithink for the whole speed to lead thing.
A lot of leads, they can come in reallyquick and be gone even faster. So yeah,
I think it's importantthat you stay on top of it.
One of my biggest things is makingsure that as soon as it comes in,
(02:32):
it's booked and then it'sassigned to the right person.
Once it's assigned to the right person,we sell, we install and we collect.
So I have a little acronymwritten in my office called Basic,
and that's what that stands for. Sobook, assign, sell, install and collect.
That's awesome. Explain that more.Let's drill down a little bit there.
Explain that more.
Yeah, so it's an acronymI have on the board.
(02:54):
So my CSR is in the office.
It's kind of their bible thatthey got to follow, right?
It's like be for book. Soas soon as a lead comes in,
whether it's through Facebook or Google,
the phone is ringing the job of the CSR,
the customer service rep is tobook that lead and then assign it.
(03:17):
So the letter A is to assign.
So our biggest thing is findingthe right person for that
lead, whether it's a service call,
whether it's an in-home appointmentfor somebody looking at a replacement
furnace, air conditioner, stuff like that.
Biggest thing is right person tothe right lead. So that's a sign.
And then obviously sellingit, install and collect.
(03:40):
One thing I've been hammering down on thelast few months heavily is collecting,
we've had a lot of outstandingjobs in the past where
technicians leave the house.We don't collect payment.
So that's been something that we've been
fine tuning more so to make surethat doesn't slip through the crack
(04:01):
and money isn't left on the table there.
So Christian has much higher ticket.
So your version of booking is just gettinga sales technician out there as fast
as they can, and then they sell the job.
You're not trying to do any salesover the phone, at least a hard quote.
Sometimes we do.
So my customer service reps are trained to
(04:21):
sell smaller ticket items.So water treatment products,
air purification products,stuff like that over the phone,
anything that requires a furnace,an air conditioner, water heater,
heat pump, anything of that nature.
Either myself or somebody on the salesteam will go into the home to discuss
that with the homeowner.
(04:42):
And then Jackson, you do book alot of services over the phone,
you get payment right away. So what'syour approach to that first phone call?
So our system is if we think that thejob is going to be over a thousand
dollars, and mind you, we are inthe exterior cleaning business.
So that is a good ticket for us.
If we think the job is goingto be over a thousand dollars,
they're going to want tobook multiple services,
(05:03):
or if that home is valuedover a million dollars,
we're always going to send someone inperson so that we can start building a
really great relationshipwith that client,
upsell more services and reallygive them a good taste of the
professionalism that we provideat Mount Baker Window cleaning.
If it's a smaller job,
what I don't want to do issend out a sales rep to six,
(05:28):
$400 window cleaning jobs because A,
they're not going to makeenough commission on that. That's not fair to them.
And then B,
I'm losing efficiency in the businessby not having them go and quote larger
jobs.
So I really believe that there's areally big play and just providing a
quote, making it be very convenient forthat client on that first phone call.
(05:50):
If we can get that client a price andget that deposit and get them on the
schedule within five minutesof them calling us, right?
That's a huge win for them becauseat that point their work is done.
They don't need to pick up the phoneand call another contractor off.
Multiple quotes.
They've checked that task off theirto-do list and we're rolling in.
(06:10):
So that's our sort of system for
quoting.
What are the most importantcharacteristics that A CSR has to make
sure that you do book theperson? Because it's not assumed,
they might not like the CSR,you might say something wrong.
What are some things that clients reallycare about in those first five minutes
(06:30):
of that phone call that makes orbreak it? What do you guys think?
You need to have a conversation with them.
You need to ask them questionsabout why they need that service.
You need to start buildingthat relationship from the beginning of the phone
call. You can't just get on the phoneand start describing everything,
why your business is so great andwhy they should book with you.
You need to talk with them and once youcan open them up into a conversation,
(06:52):
you're going to have a much betterchance of booking that client.
Yeah. So the girls thatI have in my office,
they're trained to be really empatheticand really listen and hear out the
client when they're on the phone.
We got a lot of homeowners that callus with issues, emergency repairs,
there's a flood or there'sno heat, no air conditioning.
(07:14):
So we have to reallyunderstand their situation.
So they're just trained toreally hear the client out,
reassure them that we willfix whatever their problem is,
we'll send out the righttechnician to the job.
And ultimately just providingthat higher level of care.
And our goal at the end ofit obviously is to book it,
(07:34):
but we want to make sure that thecustomer feels comfortable going with us
because a lot of times, evenfrom my experience before,
it's like you call a handymanor you call somebody on Google,
A lot of people aren't answering.So the fact that we do answer,
we do want to make sure that we'reproviding a very high level of service and
care for them.
(07:56):
I like empathy a lot andI think it matters a lot because someone calls you and
their house is just totally nasty onthe outside and it's all dirty and
everything, and you just, what'syour name? What's your phone number?
Yeah.
What's your email? What's youraddress? Okay, we'll call you back.
It's very going to call thenext guy, right? Say, oh man,
how long has it been so nasty?It's been nasty for years.
(08:16):
My husband and is cheap and he won'tlet me. He's never wanted to pay for it.
But now he said, yeah,
so I'm calling you guys now we're on thesame team and we want to get our house
washed. Now that's a totally differentexperience as the CS R to listen and say,
well, okay, let's get a wash for you then.
So it looks nice foryour weekend coming up.
And I just think empathy matters a lotas opposed to just the very robotic.
(08:39):
A hundred percent.
Data-driven phone call and that'sjust doesn't really convert very well.
Yeah, you really need to listen to whypeople are asking for your service.
So in my industry, let's say you couldget a phone call for a roof cleaning.
One person might want that because theirinsurance is breathing down their neck
and they need to get theirroof clean for their insurance.
And someone else might becalling just because, well,
(09:00):
they used to do it themselves and they'vegotten too old now they don't want to
get up on a ladder andtheir roof looks bad,
but we need to figure out why that is,
that they need their service so we canstart to specifically meet their needs.
Just like if you'd walkinto a suit store to
get a custom tailored suit,it's going to be more expensive,
but people are willing to pay forthat because it fits them really well.
(09:22):
So we need to figure out howwe can best serve our clients,
what to prescribe them in a way, whatto sell them so that it fits for them.
And people are willing to pay a reallygood price if they think that your
service is really goingto solve their issues.
I think my two favorite questionsin the phone call is what else?
They call you for X, but then anythingelse? As a matter of fact, yeah,
(09:45):
I want you to check this out while you'rehere too. Great. Anything else? Well,
yeah, actually, and you keep askinguntil you finally say, no, that's it.
That's all I got. Okay, great.If we could solve blank, blank,
blank for you and the price is right,would you want to move forward?
Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Yeah.Great. And that gets you a soft Yes.
(10:06):
So then great. Okay, well let's sendsomeone out and get someone out there.
I just love getting a soft Yes on thephone because then you're just one step
closer to the Yes. Once the technicianactually arrives at the house.
And I also love the question,why did you call us?
Why do you say that's important toyou? Why do we have to come back today?
Why can't we come out tomorrow? Why?
(10:26):
I just love peeling back the onion andfind out the real reason the client's
calling.
Yeah, I agree.
Absolutely. Yeah. And whenyou are asking questions,
at least in the beginningof the sales process,
you really want to be open orasking those open-ended questions.
You don't want to be asking questionswhere you get the client saying no towards
the end.
Then you want to start asking questionswhere you know that the response is
(10:48):
going to be a yes. Yeah. Right,
because then you're one step closerto that final Yes. To close the deal.
In terms of follow-up,
let's say you booked the appointment orsent a quote and they haven't approved
yet.
What are some of the bestforms of follow-up that you guys have found to be most
effective?
So we just started using CHIRP recentlyand we integrated it with Jobber.
(11:10):
And yeah,
we found that it's great just becauseyou're not letting really anything slip
through the cracks.
I sat down with one of theCSRs a couple months before
I ended up using chirp,
and I realized how much money we wereleaving out on the table because our
follow-up process wasn't there.It was nonexistent, right?
(11:31):
We'd send out a lead orwe'd send out an estimate,
sorry if we didn't close somethingin the home and weeks go by,
months go by and there were maybeone or two touch points after that.
And then we call some of these clientsback and see if they're still interested
and they're like, oh, wewent with somebody else.
And so I recently introducedchirp and now I'm finding
(11:55):
that communication is a lot more stable.
You're not letting clients kind ofdictate when they're going to reach
out, wait for them. We allknow, and being in home service,
there's clients that you send outan estimate, they're like, okay,
we'll talk to my husband, we'll talkto my wife and we'll get back to you.
And they never do.
(12:16):
So having those safeguards in place with
something like an automation toollike CHIRP where there is a follow-up,
you can get them engagedvia text, via email,
stuff like that. I thinkit's really important.
Yeah, CHIRP is incredible.
We just started using CHIRPearlier this year as well,
(12:36):
and it's definitely boostedour conversion ratio.
I'm still getting the hang of it. Wejust started four or five weeks ago,
but I can definitely see the value.
Yeah, it's amazing what atext seven days later does.
Oh yeah. I've been meaning.
To approve that quote.I'm ready to approve.
Yeah.
Just amazing.
Just a little bit of follow up canreally boost your conversion rate.
(12:57):
Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah. Text follow up is fantastic.If you're not utilizing text follow up,
it's time to jump on. Youdon't want to miss that train.
And then as far as the best forms offollow-up, you got to hit every channel.
Some clients are going toprefer that you email them.
Maybe some of the grandmas out therestill like to appreciate that email.
The occasional still like some snailmail, which I've done recently,
(13:20):
not my favorite thing to have to goto the post office to send a quote,
but it still happens. Some people likephone calls, some people like texting.
So you need to hit all those channels tomake sure that you're not leaving money
out on the table and then be persistent.
You got to realize that you're not beinga nuisance until you get a hard no from
somebody.
We got bills to pay, you gotto go after it. You got to be.
(13:41):
Hungry. You called.
Me.
I ain't called us.
Right? We're just following up.Okay, now we're at the house,
we're meeting with a client and
they're ready to hear what we haveto say, and we drive up to the house.
What does your sales processlook like for your companies?
(14:02):
So we always try and make a friend.
If we have one goal duringthat meeting with a client,
it is to walk away with a new friend.
So that's going to be thefirst step in that process.
I like that. Our biggest thing,
so I have all of ourtrucks are fully wrapped.
One of our biggest things isalways pulling up to the house,
(14:24):
truck is parked right outside.Client can see the van,
we're presentable in our uniforms and allthat clean cut and just like you said,
making a friend,
because the biggest thing for thesehomeowners is that they want to purchase
from somebody that they trust,somebody that they like.
So at the end of the day,
that's really all you got to do isjust got to go there, be personable,
make a friend smile, be happy,provide the solution that they need.
(14:49):
And more often than not, you're goingto be the choice that they go with.
Yeah, park on the street, not on thedriveway. Right? You don't want to run in.
I totally disagree.
Totally. Really? You justpark right in the driveway.
Friends park in the driveway.
Wow. Okay. That's funny. Okay. Well,
I bet that you knock on the doorinstead of ringing the doorbell, right?
Oh yeah.
Well, at least we're on even ground there.
(15:09):
We both not both agree there? Yeah. Youbang or do you actually do the front?
No, no. I give one knuckle.One knuckle. One knuckle.
Okay.
That's.
Good. See,
we park in the driveway once we've gottenthe deal and we're there to install
something. Okay. That's when we'll parkin the driveway. We'll back the van up,
open the garage or side door, basement,whatever. That's when we'll do that.
But prior to that, we'realways parked on the side. Why?
(15:35):
For me, it's like I've spentso much money on my branding,
I want them to see the truckor the trucks front and center.
They opened the door.
I just recently ordered doormats withour company's logo and everything.
So now what we're going to do is lay adoormat down and then when the client
opens the door, that'sthe first thing they see.
They see that technician or a salesperson,
(15:56):
whatever in front of a doormathas booties on ready to
put on over the shoes, and you justsee a nice branded truck outside.
It's an instant feeling oftrust. And we're not cheap.
We're one of the more higherpriced companies in our area.
So I want the client to feel likethey're getting their money's worth.
(16:19):
I want them to see, hey,
this is the value that this companyis providing me when I'm paying
double or triple than the next guy. So.
What are some common mistakes you'veseen other business owners make or that
you've made in the pastin the sales process,
you get to the house and what are somemistakes that people can easily avoid
when they're talking to clientsand trying to pitch their deal?
(16:42):
Bashing other companies.
Would be one.
Yeah, that's a big one.
Yeah.
You always want to hold a highlevel of respect for the competition
out there.
You will lower your status andthat client's mind if you start
bashing other companies, oh,you got a quote from them.
I would be cautious about that.You don't need to say that.
(17:02):
No.
So what do you say? Thereis a difference? So balance.
That. What I like to do and whatI teach my guys is I like to
have us talk about what we'regreat at and what we're going to do
for the client. Because a lot ofcompetition in my area, for instance,
their whole thing is just sellingyou the lowest priced option.
(17:25):
I don't want to do that. I wantto come in there higher priced,
but build a lot of value andhave the client see that, right?
Yeah. And for us, we have what we calla service packet. It's a nice folder.
It's branded,
and it's not something that a lot ofwindow cleaning or exterior cleaning
companies are going to have, whichgives us a leg up on the competition.
(17:46):
It's got our certificateof liability insurance.
It has a contractor hiring checklistso that when that client is actually
looking at other quotes, they canread through our checklist, Hey,
how many Google reviews do they have?
Are they actually licensedand bonded and insured?
Do they have background checked employees?
And it gives us a really bigleg up on the competition.
So we don't need to go in badmouthany of the other competitors in our
(18:08):
area because the value that we bringto the table is pretty evident.
Yeah, you're showing them withthat package while you're the best.
Exactly.
For what you do. Right?
Right.
Anything else that's unique to your salesprocess that you could share with the
listeners? One of my favorites is,
so I like to be proactive withobjections. If someone says,
(18:29):
I had so-and-so out here lastyear to clean my gutters,
and I don't even know ifthey did a good job or not,
because I can't see inside my guttersbecause they're not going to put a ladder
up, say, would you like to have somephotos afterwards when we're done?
I don't tell them we're going to sendthem photos as soon as you tell them,
I don't even want photos. But ifyou said, do you want some? Yeah,
I'll love photos. Great. I can send you,now we're going to do it either way.
(18:52):
But when you ask them,do you want some photos?
You're proactively overcoming thatobjection that they don't even trust that
you're going to do the workin the first place. Well,
how do I know you guys aren't actuallydoing, I can't see up there. Well,
we'll send you photos. It'stoo late. They're like, yeah,
you're just trying tobeg for the business.
If.
You proactively say whatever the objectionis and then overcome it beforehand,
then they're like, well, that'swhat I was going to say next,
but now you took it out of my mouth,so now I can't say it. I guess.
(19:15):
Guess I'll just sign up, fellas.
I want to take a minute to pause andtalk about why we love jobber so much.
How does Jobber help youwith your sales process?
How does it help you really wowyour clients in that sales methods?
I love one of the new featureswhere you can see a sales rep
report and you could see what yourconversion rate is as an individual sales
(19:37):
person, the amount of jobsor quotes that you've sent,
the price attached to that as well.
So it kind of creates this friendlycompetition between sales reps where they
want to one up each other and increasetheir conversion rate or maybe sell some
higher ticket jobs. So that'sreally neat. I love that feature.
It's also great for yourCSR too. Oh, fantastic.
(19:59):
I'm a big fan of the quotingfeature inside of Jobber.
I love that you can add edfs andphotos of the different line items,
add optional line items. So we dothat a lot for extended warranties.
Clients see that, and most of the timethey just click yes and they accept it.
So yeah.
I like jobbers integration withWise Stack for consumer financing,
(20:22):
it goes right into at the bottom, theycan click that finance their quotes.
It's awesome. So I'm a huge fan of.
That, man. I love gu. I lovejobbers integration with Gusto.
I just found out about that the other day.
Oh, interesting. Yeah.
Payroll's done in five minutes.
Bingo, bingo. It's amazing. If youwant all those sweet features too,
you need to start using jobbertoday. Go to jobber.com/podcast deal.
(20:44):
New users can get exclusivediscount and get all those features.
Now I want to talk about price becauseprice is one of the biggest factors
in the sales process. What do youguys think about price transparency?
How much do you tell the client aboutthe price and what it gets them?
And maybe do you even putpricing on your website?
Let's talk about pricing and how youapproach it with your client so that they
(21:05):
trust you, but you alsodon't give away too much.
So in our market,
we like to lead with a monthlypayment or a biweekly payment for our
products and services.I've found over the years,
a lot of the bigger, larger companies,
that's kind of how they get their footin the door with their marketing is they
hook clients with Get awater heater for $30 a month,
(21:28):
and then they include fullwarranty, maintenance,
stuff like that in that price.
So we've definitely shifted ourfocus to doing that as well.
Found pretty good results from doingthat, especially in today's economy.
After Covid,
a lot of people are strapped for cashand pulling from lines of credit and
(21:50):
this and that or paying with credit cards.
So if you can give them a monthlyoption with a good interest rate,
that might make more sense for them.
We don't put any prices on our website,
and that's just for the reason that Idon't want someone selecting our service
because of the price.
I want them to choose us astheir service provider because of
(22:12):
the reviews that we have, because ofthe brand reputation that we've built,
because of the value thatwe're going to bring them.
Those are the things that I wantpeople to choose our service.
So it's not going to be price. Ifyou do put price on your website,
what could end up happening isthat you get price shoppers,
and those aren't my avatar clientele.
And obviously we're goingto be transparent with the price once we go to give a
(22:33):
quote, the price is never going to change.
Our price book is standardizedby square footage.
Really easy for us togive clients those prices,
but it's not listed anywhere.
I don't want people to also seea high price and not have had the
chance to chat with anyone on our team.
I want to have that opportunityto provide value and show
(22:56):
them what kind of company we are beforewe're giving them a price that might be
three times as much asBucket Bob down the road.
They don't know the differenceyet because they haven't met us.
Yeah, that's true. But I think the otherside would say, you're exactly right.
It does get rid of price shoppers.
If you put your prices on yourwebsite and it's too high for people,
they won't even bothercalling you. So there's that.
(23:18):
And I also think that there's a certainamount of trust that people gain from
you if you are willingto put pricing up there.
Everyone knows that you're not goingto hold you to it to the dollar.
Everybody knows it's arange, but I see both sides.
And I think it depends on your industrytoo and what kind of leads you're trying
to get and what kind ofcalls you're trying to get.
(23:38):
But I do think there's value in at leastexperimenting with putting pricing on
your website So that you can sayhomes are 2,500 square feet to 4,000,
are usually about 600 bucksand do that. So like a tier.
That way people whenthey call and you say,
have you been on our websiteand seen the pricing? Yeah,
I think my house about 600 bucks. Andyou look at the pricing sheet and it is,
she's going to be easy to close. Sheknew what to expect when she called.
(24:02):
So I'm a fan,
but I can also see how you can lose somecalls because they won't even call you.
But I think both ways. Yeah, that's great.
Yeah,
we've got a big company in Toronto andtheir whole business model is just having
an online shop.
Oh, wow.
And their SEO is crazy.
They're always coming up at the top ofGoogle and a lot of people go there,
and we get a lot ofclients that are like, oh,
(24:23):
but we've seen this sameexact model that's on
this website and this is the price.
Why are you offering thesame thing but higher?
And it's like trying todifferentiate. It's like, well,
all of our installers are in-house.They sub out all their work.
They don't really have anoffice, they don't have overhead.
(24:44):
They just got a websiteand they're basically drop shipping equipment to people.
So it's a different business model.
So that's why their pricingis set at where it's at,
and it's a more volume-based business,
whereas we're offeringa more personal touch.
Jackson,
what do you think is the biggestmisconception with your clients about
(25:05):
pressure washing a home?
Well,
a lot of our clients think that we'reactually going to use pressure right on
the house. Don't want to get tootechnical here, pressure washing,
how they think that. Yeah.
But that's probably the biggestmisconception that we have.
Is that part of your sales process,
educating them on how you'reactually going to do the work?
(25:27):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean,
we like to be clear that we're goingto be soft washing their house and not
using pressure because itis safer for their home.
There's less chance that we'regoing to damage anything there.
You get a better end resultwith our process. And so yeah,
it's going to be something thatwe're going to talk about. But again,
selling for us isn't as muchas us propping ourselves up and talking about how
(25:51):
great we are at doing theservice, it's more of like, Hey,
we're going to fit your needs.Just like we were talking earlier,
if someone calls and they say, Hey,
my insurance company'sbreathing down my neck.
I don't need to explain what soft washingis. All I need to do is say, awesome.
No worries. We've done this for plentyof clients before in the same situation.
What we're going to do is we're goingto kill all the moss on your roof.
(26:11):
We're going to write up a detailedreport with photos in A PDF.
We're going to send it to you,
and we can even forward itto that insurance company if you would like with your
name and address on it so that they havethat boom, their solution is solved.
They're not call anybody.
Else. They're going to go with you. Ilove that. What happens if a client call,
they have your quote,they haven't approved yet,
(26:32):
and they call back and theywant to ask more questions,
but their questions more likeobjections. How do you handle those?
So we have sales scripts that outlinehow to deal with specific types
of objections. And just the otherday, so proud of my service manager.
He told me that he was able to closethis deal in the most incredible way.
And what happened was he was followingup on a quote that was still awaiting
(26:56):
response for installing holidaylights on someone's home.
And the client said, oh, I needto speak to my wife about this.
And my service manager, hunter responded,and he said, well, what if you don't?
And you just surprised herwith the lights as a gift,
and he closed a $1,500 holiday light jobjust like that on the phone. I'm like,
(27:16):
man, yeah. How about you? No, it's justan incredible objection. So let's one,
yeah, if you're not trainedyourself on handling objections,
definitely seek some training inthat. Get some scripts together.
And same thing goes for yourstaff, right? If you've got a CSR,
they got to be trained tohandle objections, whether that be price, service,
et cetera. If you got salesrepresentatives, absolutely,
(27:39):
they need to be trained in that as well.
So it's really good to just have anarsenal of responses to be able to handle
these different types of objectionsthat you might come across.
Yeah, my dad's one of the bestsalespeople I know, and he always says,
you should never besurprised by the objection.
You do this all day long foryears. Nothing. The client says,
(28:00):
should ever surprise you. You shouldbe ready for everything. They say,
you should be prepared for 20objections. The poor thing,
they only have two or three beforethey're done. They give two or three,
and then they don't haveanything else to say.
We should be trained for 20 objections,and they'll just hit 'em just.
Quick like that. And Ithink if you are getting,
especially in the exteriorcleaning industry,
you're going to see if you'rea premium price business,
(28:20):
you're going to get aton of price objections.
It's just going to happenas you grow your business.
But if you're getting them just so often,
then I think that you need tofigure out a better way for you to
address your client's specific needs.
Because if you really areaddressing their specific needs,
then they should be able to seethe value in your service is
(28:45):
better than or equal to the pricethat you've quoted them for.
If you're constantly getting objections,
you're doing something wrongbefore that you need address. Yeah,
this is a great conversation.
I'm going to try to boil it downto the actionable items here.
Number one is speed to lead.The faster you get to the lead,
the better chance you have of closingit. Number two is ask questions.
(29:06):
Find out what the real reason they'recalling it may not just be what they want
their house washed. They might wanttheir house washed for a specific event,
or it's been driving them crazy for yearsand they finally were able to pull the
trigger. You want to know thosekinds of reasons, not just, yeah,
we can wash your house for you. And numberthree is don't bash the competition.
You can compare your services toother companies without bashing them,
(29:28):
and that's what you really wantto do. Guys, this is great.
How did people find outmore about you, Christian.
Go on any of the socialchannels. Instagram, Facebook,
LinkedIn, YouTube, Google, 3, 6,5, heating, cooling, and plumbing.
And if you want to look up MountBaker, window cleaning company,
you can find us on Google. And thenalso home service business coach.com.
(29:51):
Sweet. Well, you guys are really.
Having a huge impact on youremployees, the staff that you hire,
the klines that you serve. Sokeep making the big impact.
It's making a big difference.
Thank you.
Thanks for being here. Thankyou. And thank you for listening.
I hope that you heard something todaythat will make your sales process better
and boost your conversion rates.I'm your host, Adam Sylvester.
(30:12):
You can find me@adamsylvester.com.
Your team and your clients deserveyour very best. So go give it to him.
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