Grow Consulting's Guy Gruenberg writes in detail in the January issue of Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction about what contractors can take to retain customers and generate more work from existing customers. Here's a sneak peak - but keep an eye out for the issue which mails next week.
- Keep a file on customers and prospects
- Qualify customers to make sure there's a good fit between what your company offers and what the customer wants to buy
- Continued follow-up is necessary
- Adapt to the customers preferred form of communication
- Be persistent! Remember it can take more than 10 interactions before a salesperson gets an order (most sales people give up after four or five attempts)
- Trust is the main reason clients keep coming back; that means we must always deliver at least the minimum of what we promise
- Clients today expect us to Over Promise and Over Deliver! The bar has been raised!
- Buying patterns do change and you have to recognize this
- Most clients have heightened their price sensitivity
- Try putting yourself in your clients' shoes…It's a different view!
In addition Gruenberg will be presenting 4 solo programs (as well as one workshop jointly with Jeff Stokes, Next Level Contactor System) at National Pavement Expo, Feb. 2-5 in Nashville. Here are the details for his sessions; for more information, to read the description for his workshop (W-8 Feb. 3) with Stokes, and to register visit www.nationalpavementexpo.com.
Friday, Feb. 4, 8:00 - 9:30 a.m: Increasing Efficiency in the Field
Because your crews and equipment are out on every job, any improvement in field efficiency is multiplied over the number of jobs - and that can make a real impact on your business. In this session - which received a perfect rating in 2010 -- you'll learn tips and techniques that can help you save money every time your crew heads into the field. You'll learn how to do a better job tracking time, how to minimize equipment repairs, when it's better to rent vs. buy, how to develop measurable goals so you can offer incentives for improved field performance, and more!. Improving field efficiency in pavement maintenance, paving, and sweeping is a challenge - and this session is up to the task!
Friday, Feb. 4, 10:00-11:30 a.m.: Profitable Pavement Maintenance Job Costing
What is the most profitable service you perform? You may be surprised at the answer once you start working through real-time pavement maintenance job costing scenarios. In this session you will be exposed to understanding how to better cost the three primary pavement maintenance services: Sealcoating, cracksealing, and pavement marking. Starting with conceptual spreadsheet costs you will then migrate to how you can apply these basic techniques to your accounting package. QuickBooks Pro will be the example program and the session will work through direct cost to selling price. Included will be determining your overhead and sales budget. Job costing doesn't have to be difficult, but it does have to be done properly. This session will show you how.
Friday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.: Repeat Sales: The Secret to Long-term Success
The more repeat business you have, the less money you'll spend on advertising, marketing, and "cold calls," and the greater your profits, long-term success, and business security. In this new session, Brad Humphrey will take you through techniques and approaches that could "re-add" 30%-50% to your annual revenues. You'll cover pre-planning that includes "post-work" opportunities, insuring that you really do quality work…the first time, updating your customers throughout your construction process, how to network each sale into multiple sales opportunities. Plus learn how to leave your customer jealous of having you work for anyone else! This session is for owners and sales professionals who want to build a pavement maintenance "annuity" for future security!
Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011, 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Sales Skill Sets: Become the Sales Pro You Want to Be
Having a successful sales career requires a varied skill set, and this new workshop will help you identify the skills you are already using, outline ways you can fine-tune and improve those skills, and provide easy-to-implement steps that will help you tackle the skills that will take you to the next level of sales professional. Developed specifically for National Pavement Expo, this session will lay out just what you need to do to be successful as a pavement maintenance sales pro. You'll learn why your attitude is so important to your sales success, and you'll work through the essential elements of every successful sales process, including:
- Prospecting
- Qualifying
- Quoting instead of Bidding
- Closing
- Follow-up
- Generating referrals
- Networking
Combining the best and most important aspects of Guy's acclaimed presentations, "Attitude is Everything in Sales" and "Revving Up your Sales Engine," this high-power session will introduce you to many new concepts and communication tactics that will help you become the sales professional every company needs
