How many quotes do you provide a day? A week? A month? And what is your average dollar sale? How many of them do you win? Have you ever wondered why the rate wasn’t higher? The exact 5 steps to win more quotes as a trade business owner involves The Trust Escalator.
Every person (yes, you are included in this…) follow the same 5 buying decisions when they are looking to make a purchase. The journey for the business helps to build trust and credibility and assists conversion each and every time. The path followed through these 5 buying decisions make up ‘The Trust Escalator’ with the point of the journey to ‘claim ticks’ as you go. The short of it is this; people buy from people they like. What does this mean for you and your business?
The 5 buying decisions are as follows; Business, You, Product/Service, Price and Time. If you and the team understand and implement this well, you could win almost every quote every time.
Buying decision 1#: Business
Think about your target customer and when they decide to arrange ‘insert your trade’ at their property, how do they do that? Do they ask their friends? Go straight to the internet?
So they eventually end up on your website and make a decision if they like you within seconds. If your website loads too slow, is hard to read, is not fresh and professional, you’ve lost them. Forever. The short of this is: your potential customer is ‘stalking you’ and finding out more about you without you even knowing. Make sure you look professional!
At this point all you are trying to do is encourage them to make contact. If you pass, you claim a tick on the first stage of ‘The Trust Escalator’.
Buying decision 2#: You
The first contact with your company is critical, and for trade this is more than likely over the phone. It’s time to officially stop cringing when the phone rings and be excited it did.
If you haven’t already realised, whom ever answers your phone is the most important person in your business. They’ll make or break a potential sale within seconds. It’s for this reason why inclination, tone and speed of your voice becomes important, as does having the right script to continue climbing ‘The Trust Escalator’.
It’s critically important your entire teams understand their responsibility in assisting the customer to continue to climb ‘The Trust Escalator’ through the experience they have with one tradesman. It involves things like showing up on time, putting on their ‘clean boots’, small talk as they enter the property and presentation. There is so much power in the 1% changes to build trust with a customer that help with conversion.
Buying decision 3#: Product/Service
If you managed to pass the test on ‘you’ then you move on to the next buying decision about product/service. Are you the right person to complete the work we are discussing? Your professional suggestions, your knowledge, your confidence, the language you use and the visual aids you share will all have an impact on the customer continuing to climb ‘The Trust Escalator’. They want to know that you are highly capable and hence are asking themselves ‘should I work with them?’.
Buying decision 4#: Price
We have entered the conversation of price after having hopefully claimed a ‘tick’ on the buying decision of product/service. The customer needs to understand value and not end up in a discounting conversation. Your skills in confident communication, without being affected by our pre-conceived ideas of money, need to be strong here.
And where you can, quote onsite. It will only assist with winning more quotes through the simplicity and professionalism of the experience the customer has had with your tradesman. Not to mention ‘strike when the iron is hot’. They are talking about the job now, so why not discuss this now?
Buying decision 5#: Time
Time is the last of the 5 buying decisions. You are in position to ask the customer ‘is this a sooner or later thing?’. Making suggestions of time and day at this point will simply secure the job.
This final stage completes the 5 buying decisions and hopefully has simply increased trust and credibility along the journey.
Nailing this, the 5 buying decisions within ‘The Trust Escalator’, will help win more quotes guaranteed. It’s all about how you and your team of tradesman can build trust and credibility at every stage. Commit to being better.
What’s next?
- Join our Kick-Ass Tradies Facebook Group, for access to trade business specific conversations, tips and resources, plus a like-minded community of tradies.
- Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.
