Episode 18 - Should I Leave The Proposal Behind?

Service MVP Sales Training Podcast with Joe Crisara

In this episode of The Service MVP Podcast Rick Picard joins Uncle Joe to ask the question - "Should I Leave The Proposal Behind?"

Check out this episode of The Service MVP Podcast! Learn how training your team reaps huge benefits.

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Podcast Episode Transcription:

Welcome to the service MVP podcast where you go to learn how to use your motive service to create higher value to grow your results grow your results and here is your host America's service sales coach Joe Crisara. This is Joe Crisara, America’s service sales coach this week's episode will be on should I leave the proposal behind or not please listen learn and enjoy this exciting subject my name is Joe and I am here to join you today and the subject of our meeting today is should I leave the proposal behind or should tonight this is a very important subject because it could be a critical point in HVAC sales as to the information being left behind or not being left behind and truly stuck right you from what I call a level 1 defcon one type of sales professional as opposed to being an also ran with just kind of always wishes that he had sales or wishes that customers that would come back this is the difference between a real pro and somebody who's sitting on the bench and like any kind of thing like in sports for instance if you're not NFL quarterback that could just be enough accomplishment for for you but if you want to be Tom Brady this is the next step higher and that's what we're talking about this one that habit of this one thing whether you've made the decision to go out there find issues in people's homes and then find out what what's going on they called you they invite you in their home and there's an issue and whether or not you leave this information behind if you don't get the job right now is the critical thing can you leave it behind or don't we that is the question that sounds like a Shakespearean quotation but this thing may be again the one of the most one of the most inspirational meetings we've had so far and I hope that you enjoy it and we're expecting our host of Rick Picard to join us very shortly he is on a sales call closing the deal from one of the tech generated leads and so I'm have to carry the show solo so hang in there with me and of course if you want to call in don't forget to call in on our phone line or open line is 419-400-0202 and the code to enter the conference when you go on the phone line is 522910 and that will get you on the phone line and when we open the lines we'll be able to go ahead and get any comments or questions from you so I will open the lines throughout the show and we'll get your comment of course I might do it sooner than later given the fact that Rick is running a little bit late let's little bit talk about the language of selling and I want to I want to begin by commenting on that and how important the language of selling is when anybody language is selling is that word proposal so should we leave our proposal behind is a good question why why do we why we call it a proposal is anybody's guess the word proposal the word bid and the word estimate I believe is a big mistake to even use that language puts the salesperson and disadvantage to start with it's like saying that we're bidding on something as if the customer has something that we want as opposed to the other way around which is really the truth the customer would not call you out there if you did not want a solution from you and so many times with the wrong language we already kind of start off on the wrong foot and yes it is as terrible as it sounds it's like you know buyers come out there making you bid the the lowest bidder gets the job but is that really the way it should work as a bid or an estimate really the way that people buy the finest products that they that they purchase for themselves I don't think that you go out and get bids when you go looking for an iPod what you look for some of the computer equipment you buy or some of the nice sound systems or the OR the wheels for your car you are looking for bids on that you're just looking for the best product and let's face it I think a lot of us fall prey to the fact that our childhood and our memories about the way we purchase influence the way we think that customers might purchase as well well taking this to the next step this language kind of leads us into a situation that will would would bring us right into a thing where we're just part of the pack if you have to make a decision leaving your proposal behind definitely separates you from the pack so when we say should you leave it behind or should you leave behind I wanna qualify a couple things here first I don't think anybody should leave the proposal behind I'm just going to say that flat out but I think that if you don't know what you're doing that you probably should leave the proposal behind if you don't have the strategy and you don't know what to do after you do the proposal that's after you don't leave it behind you have a system that kind of encapsulates those customers you don't want to lose customers due to this process you want us to gain more customers and sell jobs and that's the purpose of this whole thing but I will ask you some I will ask you a question generally speaking if you were going to buy something important for your home like landscaping or a furnace or boiler or a new faucet so that's gonna be in the home for a long time stereo system you know anything would you turn to buy this important thing that you don't know anything about from somebody who is more like a leader or somebody who's more like a follower and that's what you have to kind of ask yourself how do I wanna be viewed by this customer uh if you want to be viewed with high integrity you want to be viewed with low integrity you want to be viewed as somebody who is in charge of this process or somebody who's just kind of following through the process and really has no influence in the way the sales turns out and I will tell you this is the biggest PowerPoint take control of yourselves if you are leaving proposals behind the second that proposal or that presentation is left behind with that buyer that is the second and that is the moment that you lose control of the sale that's that's it right there in a nutshell it might the most important moment that occurs on sale on a sales call and and that's really my belief and my my bottom line now are you wondering how many times the buyer will actually call you back after you left behind the proposal well this is interesting a lot of people don't know this but I did a study back in 2002 of course it's an informal study not part of a university or anything like that but I'm I'm able to do studies what I did in 2002 I worked with a company in southern Wisconsin and they had a lack of belief in the system they weren't really sure that it would work or not and what they what what what happened was at the at this company I mean the challenge there weren't my clients yet I said say what the next hundred calls you go on that you leave information behind let's go ahead and make an he and he took the bull by the horns he made a study of this he made a sheet up and and we tracked every call and we did over 100 calls 106 calls should be exact does this kind of study we studied was if we move the information behind and then get the customer to agree to call us back at a certain day or time how many times did that buyer called back at the exact date and time out of 106 people well in case you're wondering I won't leave you a suspense very much longer the answer to that is nobody called back out of 106 people not one customer called back which again shows you the problem that's the problem we have we we take faith in the buyer that they will follow through and they will go ahead and do what they say they're going to do but rarely do they ever do it matter of fact in that study of 106 customers only three customers ever called back at all maybe they called back afterwards to say they didn't get the job where they did get the job but it wasn't a very high percentage to believe was bothered to call usually it takes a call by us to remind the customer to get it done Rick with that being said we're going take a little pause now Ricky there on the phone yet I thought I heard something start how you doing how you doing buddy well say something alright hello you hear me I can hear you fine alright how you doing I'm doing great I used to listen you you've been listening to me wax philosophical over here yeah just a little bit you know sorry I'm on my cell phone so Rick uh that's OK let me ask you a question Rick do you see a problem with leaving this the proposal behind what's your what's your take on just give me the overall your overall take on this subject you know since dealing with you John you know obviously before I didn't really see a problem with it used to do it all the time but now it just doesn't make any sense to me because I'm doing it are leaving them uh information that can be shared with my competitors and you know that really was the big deal before because before I didn't do anything different than anybody else so I was just like basic proposal yeah so they're making a difference when you were doing the same as everybody else right right there really matter but now that I'm doing something that is so much more to the company where I'm doing all these different packages and programs and and the options that delete that information behind for those to small crew and learn from working today I feel so I really feel the company I can't afford to leave the supplementary information behind well especially from a company like yours regular invested so much money over the past couple of years you know in me yeah teaching all the people at the shop and that thing at the location both management and the employees how to how to use this process you're right it would be malpractice on any employees part and I think that any company who makes it a policy to release proprietary information that the company has paid for it's simply uh not a very bright operator Eric try insert foolish you're crazy they're bad thing to do So what are some of the problems well some of the problems are you know if that if you leave your presentation behind what you're really telling the customer is that you're not needed that there's no value in you as a salesperson and so therefore the customer can pretty much take a blank sheet of paper and just fill out their own presentation if they it's almost like they could go online and buy it like the salesperson is not needed right I mean word you ever get some people who say things like that feel like they have the lack of respect for the salesperson do you ever feel that sometimes with virus Oh yes I mean I think that's on the other day who said to me I don't know why they even had to come over here I don't like you know you're gonna be able to me you could have just mailed it wouldn't come out and look at the situation right right yeah yeah obviously I didn't make the guilt of it they could you know it really made me feel needed it right here right of course we know you got we got you got poor self-esteem right Rick absolutely I was just heartbroken I'm sure if we asked them about your shopping also you you like course you lack self esteem that's my my my my problem I have to work on that Kelly seal alright so so so numbers #2 it shows also I think that if you if you leave your proposal behind or if you go ahead and leave that behind that you taking the time to create the proposal to ask all the questions to do the research to take what's inside that head of yours all the knowledge about plumbing heating electrical and then release it it shows that you have no value on your time did you ever think about the waste of time that must be done by some sales people just given this information what are your comments on that I don't have to think about a joke and I did it for so many years I know exactly I spent tons of time educating the customer and there's you know really still on my calendar that it was as you're saying not only leaving the proposal but just in my whole presentation process educating them so that they could go and buy some cheaper you know so there's a lot of time and effort that we went through that then not to mention that paper and ink print out this proposals and leaving them with other people right well on top of that Rick I always here's what I kind of find I find that you know if you leave the proposal behind and then just wait for a phone call I think that is very poor if you're a struggling salesperson who's going on the bubble and considering that maybe you don't feel like sales is a really good career for you because you've had such lack of success to leave it behind and wait for answers certainly cannot be good for yourself image as a sales professional mechanic now again value that what you do or you are the proposal very much and really yeah it's not a good way to differentiate yourself from everybody else that's for sure yeah how how would you expect the customer to pay for your time and pay for your installation if you're showing that you don't value your time either that there's no value on my time I got it for free and just cough it all up unless you have it I don't know how people think that uh this is this this produces their shows any value about what they do I think the worst thing you do is the moment you leave it behind is that you really lose control of the process right Rick I mean you know if you're going to go back to your boss you know when you know this looks like right when you go back to your boss and they ask you how that sales call you had go and you of course have no idea how it's going because you left the information behind and nobody there's no resolution and you know the story you've been how many hundred calls you got to go on and here are the customers say that he's going to give you a call and you never called you back before you realize you're not going to get a call back right and and that's a good point how many times have I had a customer say to me well I'll give you a call one way or the other never had anybody call me up all the other been doing this uh that didn't call to give me the job yeah matter of fact we got that I just thought I you probably came in during that thing I talked about that study we did in 2002 of 106 sales sequences where nobody called back at the promised time or date and only three people bothered to call it all letting you know what the situation I didn't hear that but that's been my experience I've never had anybody ever called me back and they said that they you know that they would Oh yeah yeah we'll call you back one way or another such a good job yeah I don't think they would have a hard time believing that nobody would call back if you've been doing this for a little while you couldn't even do it for a couple months you wouldn't you would realize that if you leave behind information and wait for a phone call back you're just not you're going to be waiting a long time no matter of fact I hope your life doesn't depend on it because you might as well put another nail in your coffin with that alright alright well yeah it just like with the dating fees so don't call me I'll call you you know what does that mean when you ask a girl for a date and she says yeah don't worry we'll give you a call back is gonna make for Pretty Little bit on it or or of course if the Oscar woman she probably say things how many guys have promised to call her back right as opposed to I'll pick you up tomorrow so I'll give you a call right and how many women have heard that line before it works both ways other than we already found for that right that's the oldest one in the book you know you know when the customer says Rick to me don't call us we'll when the conference say don't worry I'll give you a call back I always go down John and you're telling me the oldest lie in the book don't call us we'll call you come on if I fall for that one what kind of a salesperson would I be I always I always like to have a good fun laugh but that one because you know what if I fall for that one I I'd have to be the worst salesperson in the world to actually believe that somebody would call me back and they say don't call us we'll call you that's like a PT barnum said they're suckers born every minute right right exactly right So what should your presentation let's talk about presentations so we're going to change the language of presentation of proposals we're not going to call it a proposal or an estimate or bid that we're going to call it is a presentation or solution OK so right off the bat I want to change that language let's stop talking about estimates let's stop talking about proposals because this isn't a marriage not a proposal it's not a not an auction this is not a bid like eBay and this is certainly not an estimate I'm not estimating I'm giving you a firm price and I'm going to I'm going to account on that price right So what is an estimate estimate to me create solutions for customers it's different it's got differentiate you from the pack it has to give customers options for the easy way to get this done and the way that we're they do no work and they have the most premium options all the way down to the least expensive option which they do a little bit more work they have to call for their their service and maintenance needs it's got to persuade customers to take action and the the the the options themselves should be used as a negotiating tactic in this in this sense it should eliminate the desire for having to shop around when you make a good presentation there should be no need to shop around you've given them the best options and the worst options and options in the middle and so when you give a good presentation it creates status quality and it makes the company look good because it differentiates you like you said Rick so a good presentation if you made a good presentation you should expect an answer at the end of the presentation and that that law of expectation should be working in your favor because if you've done a good job and you've hit all the right notes why shouldn't he good yes or no right right so let's so in the bottom line I think is this Rick I don't think that your boss deserves to get a yes every time do you absolutely he does he does OK well but he's not gonna but he well he does he does he's a great guy so he does deserve it but I hope I wish he would get them all but you know he he he doesn't he doesn't deserve a yes every time but what does what does he deserve Rick now he deserves any answer he deserves it yes or no either way that's what I owe him yeah so I think I think he deserves to get a conclusion to the call he deserves like you said you get an answer to the call I think that's really why what the what what things are going so but I will tell you one thing guys you know I don't want you I don't wanna just irritate customers because what what would be malpractice would be for me to tell you to not leave your presentation behind but not give you a few guidelines as to how to do it we talked to that gentleman last week and this will kind of inspired this meeting this week was last week the gentleman from Dallas TX he might be on the phone line will see if we can scare them up from over in Texas talking about how he did get a customer kind of upset with him when he when he when he didn't leave it behind right now Rick the customers get anxious and anxiety when you say you're not going to find sometimes well you know if they can there has been occasion where it happened to me but I find that it's best to set it up so that they understand even before you make the presentation that what the conclusion is going to be at the end of the presentation yes or no I mean I I think I've told you in the past that I'm not very good with not leaving it behind so you know the customer said we're gonna leave that with me I haven't been very good at not leaving with me So what I've done is I make sure that before I leave it before I make my presentation we already have An agreement on what the solution is going to be at the end of the presentation so right now before the course before he comes in an agreement Rick one of the things you got to do is kind of clarify the decision factors right because you have to figure out why they're doing this work what's what's the competition's role in this job is if they have any role have they use people before about your company what's their what's their perception of your company and who else is involved with the siding and finally when they're hoping to make a decision to move forward those are all those are all important factors to know isn't it rick?