Greetings,
My clairvoyance is not fueled by Chris, but that would be great, and fortuity is caused by accident or chance, and attributed by some to reasons of faith or superstition, which happens beyond a person's control, and I don’t believe in superstition. So that being said, I certainly see where you could assume that during teaching you step out of your normal sales technique and see the issues more clearly with less mental obstruction, and you are correct. Not only that but I really took a special interest in Chris, due to his statements that his market is small and only one of everything is in his town and that he would need to travel hours just to get more restaurant work, he made this clear to me on many occasions, so I knew that I really needed to show him how to close the deal the first time every time, cause with his type of market he may only get one chance every few years, he is certainly on a no fail mission. I worked with Chris to help him understand the importance of CORE services, and why not to jump into too many different things. I tried to help him understand that having too many divisions of a company are a sure fire way to dived a company into disaster.
With the restaurant market, I have seen it all; I have had hundreds of monthly restaurants cleaning acres of concrete in the past, and sold off chunks as I got bigger to focus on bigger and more interesting work like govt, large commercial, warehouse, hotels and what not. BUT learned a painful lesson a few years ago, that the little restaurants are sometimes what make your bottom line solid. And it is just now that I am coming back to the restaurant market and try to make lighting strike twice, I hope. Previous to this week we had about 80 monthly restaurants but they are spread so the margin is lower than grouping facilities in clusters. So with the addition of these clients that we got in the past week or so, it will most definitely put me in the position to get another rig on the road.
My sales technique is solid and well defined, I just don’t stare at the GM until he feels so awkward that he feels the need to speak to me and tell me what I need to hear. I instead evaluate each situation and compare it to previous situations to better understand the customers point of view and tailor my services to his needs, that is where have a multitude of services to offer to the customer is a great advantage, I can find a way in most cases to get “my foot in the door” we really do so many different things for the restaurant market that the GM’s feel confident and comfortable with us, thus making my company a preferred vendor over others. Exteriors and interiors are only part of our core services, there is more $$$$$ to made with restaurants that people just don’t know it is right in front of them begging for attention. And remember we don’t do hoods or windows, at least not normally.
During a sales call I try to create a sense of continuity while at the same time jumping from point to point, sounds like a dichotomous statement and it is, but master the technique and sell you will. Understanding more than the answers is a superior tool for selling, it is not just about yes , no or maybe, what is the customer telling you during a sales call, that he is not saying, what does his body language say? What do his eyes say? His hands? Is he leaning or swaying? Lips dry? What is the particular dilation of his pupils? Does he have on a wedding ring? In his office, any pictures of kids or family? What part of his face is he touching, and there’s more, you just need to master the human condition and sell you will.
I am surprised with all the calls I have received since the Tampa RT, lots of folks interested in the class, and that’s awesome. I am even more surprised by the response I have received from various suppliers and distributors wanting to partner with me to promote equipment and package my class with the selling of their equipment, wanting to offer discounts on equipment purchase if they take my class and vice versa, that sparked some curiosity in me for sure, and I think I’ll call around and see if I can broaden these offers. Seems to be a win for everyone.
To anyone that wants a sales or procedure class, I will offer you this, I will do the class in groups if you want, so if you can gather a group of contractors to your area, you can just get the class for free for hosting it in your area, and the rest of the contractors can get a much discounted price due to the spreading out of expenses. But if you want a private class no problem, call me and we will definitely work out a hugely discounted rate if we can do it in the next month. The good thing about this is that when I come to your area I already have done the research about your market, I will have put together a database of restaurants and facilities that we can call on and we will do sales calls not only for training, but hopefully to help you land a few facilities at the same time, so it will hopefully pay for itself, while I am in your area.
My class is not just sales and cleaning methodology it includes predesigned advertising with your logo and info in it, marketing material with your logo and info in it, how to generate solid leads, I teach the value of target marketing over broadcast marketing. Discounts on equipment purchases. How to increase your overall image with just a $30.00 per month purchase, how to make a customer your salesman without him ever knowing it. Understanding the difference between an uninformed customer and a baboon, and what to do about it. How to use GIS technology to sell big profit jobs. How to steal your competitions customers with the GIS secret weapon. The importance of covering your donkey, and who wants to whip your donkey whenever they can get a chance. How to create a buzz about you and your services. While I have not read a book to completion on sales, I have developed my way of doing things, and it works, maybe just for me, but I doubt it. Ever wonder why some salesman know just exactly who to talk to and others do not, that is an easy problem to fix, I learned it from Mr. Meogi himself. In some cases if it is a group from one company that has particular needs like contract fullfillment I will bring in industrial hygienist, biologist, chemists and other experts to help them understand the bigger picture of cleaning give me a call and we can see what you need. I also teach a basic carpet cleaning lesson, and that is where the real money is, I wish that I could JUST clean carpets.
I can’t & don’t teach you how to make millions, I don’t teach you how to have a hundred employees, but if you want to learn how to have a comfortable life, make some $$ and get out of the game with some time left in your life to enjoy it, we can chat for hours.
I plan on taking Tony’s class soon, not cause I want to do that type of work, but when I am in a meeting where they are discussing many aspects of building maintenance and operational improvements, I want to be able have a well versed vocabulary and at least some insight and knowledge about what is being said, and who knows maybe even make a few $$ in the process. Rounding my overall knowledge base will probably never hurt me.
