I spent a majority of my career doing direct, person to person sales. Most of the time I was either at a booth or in someones kitchen or living room. If you are a home service company, you probably are in their home as well. This is a breakdown of what you should be doing and saying to have the highest probability of closing the sale.

This is a simple format that can be duplicated in creating a sales demo. If any of these parts are missing the approach will fall short. Of course before number 1, you must get a lead and an appointment. Assuming you have that, start here.

1. Build Rapport

• I think this is so crucial. When I sold Cutco, I would often set the goal to build rapport, and just visit with the client until they would actually ask me what I brought to show them. Sometimes people wanted me to move faster, so I would, but more often than not, they loved visiting with an interested party.

• Build on common ground and listen to their interests and needs. They will tell you things as you get to know them that you can utilize to demonstrate how your product will fulfill their needs. For example when I was selling knives, if someone mentioned a large family gathering, food was undoubtedly part of that plan and Cutco could help them pull off a great event.

2. Identify a need a goal or a pain point

• This could also be called the "Cost of the Alternative." If you are selling a service like remodeling kitchens, the cost would be the most common complaints you hear about your competitors. You want to find out what their worries, concerns, or pain points are.

• If you are selling a product, the pain point could be a competitors or it could be the cost of life without the product.

3. Product – Provide a solution (Focus on Emotion and Benefits)

• We used to talk about how sharp Cutco is and how they have an ergonomic handle. Those are features. The benefits would be that sharp knives are so much easier to use and have actually been shown to be much safer. Ergonomic handles help so you don't experience hand fatigue. If you are selling a nail, don't sell the hammer or the nail, Sell the benefit of being able to hang your picture on the wall.

• People buy on emotion and defend with logic

• Using the information acquired from the questions, personalize and explain how the product solves the problem.

• The best way to show a product solves a problem is through true 3rd person stories of others who have had the same need and used the product to solve it.

The 4 P’s (Price, Plan, Package and Paperwork)

This next section is crucial and most businesses don't have a good plan for how to present price and packages. I was surprised in my marketing business when I put together package of commonly purchased packages how many people just pointed to the paper and said. "I'll do that one!" They didn't actually care what was in it, they just knew it would fit in their budget. Make this simple and clear!

4. Price

• Confidence and personal belief in the price is important. You have to believe it is a good buy and worth the price you are charging. If you don't your client won't believe you.

• Enthusi.a.s.m. (I am sold myself)

• Use a Price comparison if applicable (Others like this cost this much, but ours is only...)

5. Payment Plan

• How people pay for the product, if paid in full you don't have to address this, but if you have a premium offering, you may need to have options. Payment options, financing, 1/2 down, 1/2 when completed. Whatever it is, know their options so you can help them decide.

• Make sure customers understand the easiness of how they do business with you.

• Describe the process and how long it will take. Set reasonable expectations. Always throw in a story of someone similar and how good it turned out. Remember emotions are still the best closing tool.

6. Package

• Give an incentive to say Yes! Today. You could offer a special add-on or expedited shipping, or discount for someone to say yes today. These should always be a limited time offer. This creates motivation and is called an impending event. Think "Today Only!" or "Wait, There's More!" but with much less cheesiness.

• Be firm and honest, if it is something you always offer then it is not an impending event (Example: As an incentive for you to get it today, I will throw in this item…)

7. Paperwork (Close)

1. Ask for the order without asking you will never know.

2. With a smile

3. Silence is a powerful closing tool. Ask then don’t talk until an answer is given.

4. Jerry Jones – Owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was asked his secret to business success, he said; “I believe there are 5 keys to business success, 1st is Ask for the money.  The second…..Uh, I don’t  remember the rest of them.”

5. An example would be, "I can put the details in a work order, and get you on the schedule. Would you like me to get going on that?" or "I can get this done today if you would like, I have the parts in my truck. Would you like me to get started?

   
   

   These 7 steps should be ultra clear especially if you have sales people who are interacting with customers. If you get to the end of your sales pitch and say something like "What do you think?" That means you aren't actually closing the sale. It also means your closing percentage will be terrible. Get good at this cycle and you should close well above 50%.