On the second appointment, customers go to Synergy Builders’ 4,000-square-foot showroom, which includes two home theaters, three bars, and an arcade. “People can get a sense of what their basement might feel like,” Habermeier says. The theater chairs are separated and comfortable. Clients get cozy, are offered a drink, and take in the show. Habermeier shows a Google Earth map with about 400 “push pins” representing his referral list. “I can zoom into where [a customer] lives and say, ‘These are clients within a 5-mile radius of you.’ Or I can connect them with people who have a similar scope of work.’ It demonstrates how active we are with word-of-mouth referrals. This puts them at ease a bit,” he says.
Customers are treated to a 25-minute virtual tour of their basement remodel in Chief Architect. During this time, there’s a lot of communication between Habermeier, the clients, and a design assistant who acts as a scribe summarizing customer wants and needs.
After the floor-plan show, the group moves on to discuss budget, and Habermeier is reassuring, so customers don’t feel pressured.
He explains that it’s his responsibility to make sure they have the most accurate price before they leave the showroom. He also guides the customers through some selections, asking them to point out styles, colors, wood species, tiling, and countertop materials just to get a sense of what kinds of things they might like. He puts their selections on a slatted wall and they begin to see a theme emerge. “They know what they like, but if you ask them to make a decision, they freeze,” he says.
By narrowing the selections scope a bit, “We help them make a decision without feeling like they’re making a decision.” About 70% of these customers close after this second meeting, Habermeier says. Dellanno, too, uses technology in his sales process with a Web-based conferencing tool called GoToMeeting. Dellanno, who is based in Arlington, Mass.; his draftsperson, who is in Indiana; the remodeler on the project; and the client can meet virtually.
Dellanno holds the first meeting at the client’s home, connecting with the draftsperson via GoToMeeting. Subsequent meetings can be done with each person at his or her own site, and spontaneous meetings can happen easily.
During the discussion, Dellanno projects the design onto a large screen and clients can make suggestions and see how changes might actually look.
“I absolutely love the process. It’s efficient and effective,” says John Martin, of Winchester, Mass., who hired Dellanno and general contractor Gerry Dunleavy for a whole-house remodel of a 1902 colonial. “It’s close to the real-life ability to see every decision. If you want to make a doorway 4 feet, you can see what that would look like and see the view through the doorway. As a client, you get immediate feedback on every decision.”
Though Martin is not a typical customer — he is involved in design and technology — Dellanno says most clients are not put off by the technology. “They embrace it. ‘Where has it been? Why doesn’t everyone do this? It makes it much easier. I’ve actually enjoyed this process.’ That’s how they react to it, and they thank us.”
Habermeier says that every so often prospects will think that his company is too professional and, therefore, out of their price range. He deflects that by letting prospects know that this professionalism means the job will have fewer mistakes and will be more efficiently run. “This allows us to be less expensive and still be professional,” he says.
Much of what helps you give a customer a good sales experience may have more to do with the values you learned as a child than with anything else. Just making others feel comfortable by being polite, making eye contact, and listening to and focusing on their concerns will take you a long way toward establishing the rapport and trust required to make a sale. Recent studies have shown that doctors who apologize may be inoculating themselves against future litigation, and it has been found that doctors who are nice to their patients are rarely sued, even in the face of egregious error.
Remodeling, while often emotionally draining, is not life-threatening. But, like savvy doctors, remodelers would do well to create an experience in which customers feel as though their best interests are the No. 1 priority.