Selling Systems that Land Great Paying Work

There are six systems that control the fate of your construction business. Those are:

1. Marketing
2. Sales
3. Staffing
4. Planning
5. Tracking
6. Financial Control

There are also ten components that should come together to form your sales system.

Do you remember that the sole purpose of your selling system is to land negotiated work? In other words, to close deals and ring the cash register.

Getting to participate in a lowest-price-wins bid does not require salesmanship nor does it amount to selling.

In the construction industry, selling is defined by being hired, or in other words, landing negotiated work. You need 10 systems for landing enough negotiated work to grow your company profitably.

1. Assigning and Prioritizing Leads
If your marketing system is doing its job, you should be receiving a flood of leads. You need to create criteria for sorting and prioritizing those leads.

The best way to do that is to identify and communicate the profile of you're "A", "B", and "C" level prospects. Know the characteristics that your best customers share.

Your "A" prospects are the ones who are looking for the benefits that you excel at and can prove it with case histories and testimonials.

Your "B" prospects are the ones you often are a good fit for, but not always.

Your "C" prospects are the ones your competition is a better fit for.

Whoever is assigned the responsibility of sorting through the leads must be given clear criteria for assigning "A", "B", and "C" grades.

2. Qualifying Leads.
You don't have time to waste on "C" prospects, "B" prospects who aren't a good fit, nor "A" prospects who are married to your competition.

When you call on your prospect, get right to the heart of the matter. Tell them that as valuable as their time is to them, your time is to you. If they are willing to answer a couple of questions honestly, it may save both of you considerable time. Test their fit to the quality and style of the service you provide.

If they aren't going to value your services sufficiently, politely inform then you are not interested in their work and be on your way.

3. Following Up With Prospects.
Marketing research shows that vast majority of customers buy after the seventh contact. What's that mean to you? You had better plan on following up several times with your prospects.

Here's another piece of relevant selling information:

You will slip from your prospect's awareness after 21 days. If they don't hear from you for 21 days, your chances for a sale diminish greatly. Because buying is an impulsive act, timing is everything.

You need a follow-up system that lets you get back to your prospects quickly and stay in close contact with them until their decision is made.

4. Creating Proposals and Presentations.
You need standard templates for your proposals and presentations. The templates will allow you or someone who works for you to quickly pull together a professional, persuasive proposal and presentation.

If some combination of text, financial figures, and pictures are needed, make sure everyone who is involved understands their role.

Test your proposal design until you find one that consistently moves the client to the decision you seek.

5. Processing Orders.
Your staff needs to understand exactly how orders are to be processed. Information must reach the scheduler, the operations person who arranges for material purchases, and the accounting staff. The paper trail must be well defined and adhered to.

The filing system should be well organized and centralized. Once the sale is closed, the order processing must go smoothly to ensure a successful project and a happy customer.

6. Following Up With Customers After Their Project is Finished.
Follow up with every customer within two days of finishing. Make sure the customer is satisfied with the work and will not hesitate to pay the bill.

If the customer is displeased, address the situation head on and try to rectify the problem quickly.