Time Management – How to do 20 Bids a Week

Recently, Summit Sales Trainer, Jim Falk, hosted an awesome teleconference entitled, “How To Do 20 Bids a Week.” On the call, Jim covered time management for sales reps and tactics for dealing with the busy estimating season. Long time Summit Member, Josh Abramson, owner of A.Allbright Painting, Inc, attended the teleconference and later emailed us the top 10 things he learned on the call. His list is a great reminder of how to get the most out of your sales calls. Here they are:

1. We are in the business of closing (not estimating).
2. Ask for the sale! Most of the time we don’t. Salespeople are usually good at the bond & rapport, but typically stop asking for the sale.
3. Be present at the estimate – don’t bring a cell phone into the meeting – leave it in a car. Take 2 minutes beforehand to review notes and sales process.
4. Ask direct questions. When asking, use soft skills (understanding, stroke) but ask the tough ones. Most salespeople won’t ask the hard ones because they are afraid the customer won’t like them.
5. Use humor – have fun. If you’re not having fun you’re not selling. Say things like “are you sitting down? You might want to.”
6. Use temperature close – Where would you say fall, (1) being the worst company you met with and there is no way we are doing business together or (10) being the best company you met with and you want to get the ball rolling – where would you say we are right now? If a customer says (7) say, “aw shucks (laugh), that means I blew it somewhere. What did I not do right to earn your trust?”
7. Questions to always ask. (1) Have you hired a contractor before? What was that experience like? (2) Can you tell me how you will be making your decision, other than the price?
8. Don’t forget to ask when appropriate “If I came back with a proposal that addressed all your concerns and the cost was exactly what you expected, would you still feel the need to collect more estimates?
9. Negotiating: Jim says to the client, “Oh boy, I’m the world’s worst negotiator. I typically pay the full price for a new car. I just expect everyone to be like me and put their best price forward. I wish there was a lot of profit built into painting but there isn’t. What is it really going to take to earn your business?”
10. Get – Don’t Give. Means don’t give away money without getting – ask to leave a sign in the front yard for a month, ask for a positive review on Yelp, Angie’s List, and Google. Look for ways to de-scope the work.

Have an Albright Day!
– Josh Abramson

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