Heating Help

Selling has to be a part of what you do. Youknow why? Because someone else can do what you do for less, the same,or more money than you can. You may think you're pretty special, but ifyou don't know how to sell (or have someone on your team who knows howto sell), you're going to lose the game. And if you're one of thoseguys who puffs up his chest and says, "I'm a heating technician, not astinkin' salesperson," you're basically a misguided knucklehead.

John didn't say those exact words; I did. But I'm pretty sure John was thinking them.

Your customers are not all that different from you.And when you or your spouse or your kids shops it's not all aboutprice, is it? If you thought that it was, you'd only own the cheapeststuff you could find and everyone would be laughing at you.

Johnasked the guys at the class if they would choose the low-bid doctorwhen shopping for a vasectomy. All the faces in the room scrunched up.Even the women's faces. Especially the women's.

John's got a way of cutting to the net with a few well-chosen words when you least expect it. Sort of like Bobby Orr.

Good salespeople ask questions.And then they listen for the answers. "You have two ears and onemouth," says John. He didn't make up that saying, but he used it at theperfect time.

A good salesperson listens twice as much as he or she talks.And listening means you're not formulating the next question in yourmind while the prospect is telling you something you should be hearing.Focus. Listen. Don't jump ahead in the sales process. Take your time.Listen.

Nothing sells itself. Even though most goodmechanics believes this to be true, it's not. He thinks that hisproducts and services are so glorious that they sit there and speak forthemselves ("Our Quality Speaks For Itself!" – Found in a millionYellow Pages). Wrong. There is not a thing in this world that speaksfor itself or sells itself. It takes a human being to speak for it.

Your selling price should be based on your ability to sell.Your competitor doesn't force you to cut your prices. You force you tocut your prices. I thought that that was profound because we have allthese folks running around our industry explaining how to do the mathto arrive at your selling price. And while that's certainly somethingyou had better know (your costs of doing business), ultimately yourselling price will come from your ability to sell your goods andservices. So says John.

Think he's wrong? Then why does Evian water cost more than gasoline? And how about that $5,000 faucet.

If you get every job you bid, you're doing something wrong.And what's probably wrong is that you're not charging enough. John saysthat when people call to say that so-and-so recommended you (mostcontractors call this word-of-mouth advertising), what it means is thatthe word is out that you’re willing to do okay work, and for a cheapprice.

If you’re working 24/7, John suggests you doubleyour prices. You're going to lose half of your customers when you dothis. You'll be working half as many hours and making the same amountof money.

Now go introduce yourself to your kids.

"I'm not sure that's cost effective."Remove these words from your vocabulary. It's not your money. Why areyou deciding what’s cost effective for them. It's their stinking money,for Pete's sake. Shut up and give them a chance to let go of it. Costeffective for us is different than it is for Donald Trump.

If you lower your price from what you first quoted the customer will think you're a thief.You tried to get away with it, John says, and you got busted. Now thecustomer is going to be all over you for the entire time it takes toget the job done. How come? Because he can’t trust you anymore. Youtried to cheat him.

All things being equal, people buy on price.Which would be true if all things were equal. They're never equal,though, because no two people, no two companies, no two customers, notwo circumstances are ever the same. "All things being equal," is acliché that will cloud your mind and keep you from getting the pricethat allows you to live.

You have to look for the business.Don't wait for it to arrive. John told us about a guy who had gone toone of his radiant heat classes. Afterwards, the guy told John that hewas happy he had taken the class because if someone asked him aboutradiant heat in the future he would now be able to talk about it.

Johnasked the guy, "If you wanted some milk, would you get a pail and astool and go sit in a field? You know, wait for the cow to come along?"The man has a way with words, doesn't he?

Sell benefits.John showed us three baseballs. One sold for a couple of bucks (a teeball), another for three times as much (a MLB game ball), and a thirdfor $600 (a collector's item). All three were baseballs. All three camewith the same features, but the benefits to the different buyers werequite different.

A solid lesson, told with three ordinary baseballs. A baseball is not a commodity.

Recommend your competitors.The folks aren't sure. They want to get some more prices before makinga decision. John says you should carry a list of what you consider tobe worthy competitors. Give the folks the list and suggest they calleach of these contractors for a price. Chances are the folks will be soimpressed they'll sign with you on the spot. I would.

Shut Thehell Up!Three simple words to keep in mind after the close. Keep talking andyou'll talk yourself right out of the sale. Don’t do it. Give them theprice. Stick with it and then just Shut . . . Thehell ….Up! Don't handthem the quote and say, "Well, folks, I want you to think of this as astarting point. so what do you think?" I wish you could have seenJohn's body language when he got to this part. It went on for quite awhile and I thought I was going to wet my pants.

Offer three options.Good, better, and best. "Or put another way," as John explains, "Great,mediocre, and sucky." It all depends on how you define it. You're thesalesperson. Give a choice of three options, and sell the difference inprice between the options. The folks have already decided that theyneed a heating system. It's your job to sell them something that'sgoing to make them even happier.

You can't sell things for more than what the market will bear. Who says that? And who sets the price that everyone talks about as being the price that the market will bear?

Johnsays that it's the second stupidest guy in town. He sets the price.Everyone else involved with this folly ties for First Place in TheStupidest Guy In Town contest.

So true.

If you ever get the chance to see John Barba, take it.