What does it take to be a good listener? Why should you charge based on flat rates? How do you handle customer objections? What are some good ways to close a sale? They’re questions drain cleaning contractors ask themselves often.
The answers aren’t necessarily new, but they always bear repeating. In their book, Top Dollar Plumber, Ti and Sid Sutherland answer them – and do a lot more. They promise tips guaranteed to increase sales.
While the Sutherlands are in the service plumbing business, their advice applies just as well to drain cleaning and pipe service businesses. After all, many fundamentals of service business success apply pretty much across the spectrum of specialties.
Based on experience
The authors – father and son – know their business. Sid Sutherland has worked in sales for Trane and other major companies and as a general contractor. A master plumber and master electrician, he also ran a plumbing company and an electrical contracting business. His son Ti was in his own plumbing truck at age 18. He is still active as a service plumber while also teaching others how to sell plumbing. He has written articles for national publications on plumbing sales.
“We guarantee that even if you are already a top producer, you can glean some technique that will increase your sales and profits,” they say in the book’s introduction. “The only catch is that you must want it badly enough to invest the effort.”
At 140 pages and 19 chapters in paperback, the book is a quick read – but a once-through doesn’t really do justice. Like any good book of advice, it’s worth reading through, and then revisiting, chapter by chapter. In fact, the authors recommend making the book a long-term resource, reviewing the skills it teaches, mastering one or two at a time, then moving on to the next.
Stages of selling
The authors see selling as a progression that starts at the first encounter with a customer and ends with the signing of a work order. The progression has six steps:
• Image: How you look, how your trucks look, and how your company is perceived.
• Relationship: You make the customer a friend.
• Facts: Desirable features about your product or service.
• Benefits: What your product can do for the customer.
• Agreement: When the customer agrees with what you say and gives you some kind of signal that affirms this.
• Close: Getting your customer to commit to the sales presentation.
“Plumbers need to master when to close the sale,” the book says in Chapter 9. Many sales are won and then lost because the sale was not closed when the customer was ready to buy...When in doubt, if you are hearing a buying signal, ask a closing question and start writing the work order.
Customer buying signal: Would I need to be home when the home is repiped?
Plumber’s trail close: No, you don’t. You can give me a key or arrange for someone else to be here. Will Thursday at 9 a.m. work as a time for us to get started? (This question will confirm the sale).
“My daughter will be here.” (Sale is confirmed.)
When things go wrong
The book also addresses the delicate problem of handling unhappy customers. “Every firm has its favorite plumbers for solving customer complaints. Some customers even want this man to meet their daughter. They write letters to the boss about how well the problem was handled. They create dedicated customers.” So, what’s their secret?
• They listen and they listen and they listen.
• They let the customer finish before they speak.
• They empathize with the customer (Mary, that would upset me, too.)
• They do not justify bad service or bad luck. They don’t say, “The supplier let me down.” Instead they say, “I blame myself for not following up with the supplier and assuming that this was ordered.”
• They tell the customer, “I will do everything in my power to rectify this problem to your satisfaction.” They are prepared to compromise somewhat.
• They build a relationship with the customer.
• They ask the customer, “What will make you happy with ABC Plumbing?” or “What kind of outcome would you like to see?”
Rules for selling
The book’s next-to-last chapter lists two dozen rules for Top Dollar Plumbers. “Take a rule and post it on the dash of your service van,” the authors say. “Before you enter the house, read the rule and dedicate yourself to using it. It may take a week or even a month to make this second nature. When you do, move on to the next rule. You will find this a life-changing experience.” The rules include:
When the customer asks the price, I will never blurt it out without prefacing it with facts and benefits. Ninety percent of the time, the price is more than the customer is expecting to pay, so you need to soften the impact. I won’t say, “This toilet costs $695.” I will say, “This is a premium toilet with a 24-month warranty. Our VIP discount price is $695. The toilet is on the truck and within two hours it can be installed. Mary, why don’t you let me put this toilet in for you?”
Never argue with a customer. When two people argue with one another, it’s a verbal form of fighting with their fists. When a customer wants to argue, remember that it takes two people, so don’t get started...If you win the argument, you lose the customer.
Never say, “I don’t know.” There is no such thing as a question you cannot answer. “I don’t know” translates to “I don’t care.” It has a sound of finality, and it irritates the customer. If you don’t know, say, “That’s a good question. Let me find out for you.”
I will not prejudge my customer. I will not assume my customer cannot afford it, is too cheap to buy it, would not want another one, does not like my sales presentation, will not buy quality. n
Top Dollar Plumber is available on the Sutherlands’ Web site at www.topdollarplumber.com. The site also contains information about the authors’ forthcoming book, Perfect Phone Answering.
