Free Sellutions
This page contains an archive of all topics, features & content posted to HVAC Sellutions in the Free Sellutions category. Content is listed from oldest to newest.
- "A Respective Collective Perspective" »
- Finally a voice of reason (even if it did have to come from a short guy in Alabama)!
Adams Hudson, president of Hudson Ink - Creative Marketing That Works, gets on his soap box and says what all good business professionals and smart common folk alike think and feel, especially me...Read More »
- The Six Most Common Sales Objections »
- The first thing you must understand is that almost all prospects’ objections during the course of a sale begin because of a failure to identify objections up-front during the qualifying stages of the sales call. Tune in to learn how to deal with them...Read More »
- Are Objections All That Bad? »
- Many salespeople tend to see prospects’ objections in a purely negative light. When these salespeople hear objections, they simply see them as obstacles in the way of their finalizing a sale. However, you can view objections in several ways that are more positive...Read More »
- Objections: A Natural Part of the Selling Process »
- Objections are a natural part of the selling process. They are simply the manner in which prospect’s communicate their status in the buying process. They come in forms of challenges, opportunities, problems, requests for more information, cries for help to better understand, stalls, value shortcomings, etc. Read More »
- How To Determine Your "Right" Price »
- How do you determine the “right” price for which to sell your products and services? Beyond all the theory and fancy formulas and methodologies for arriving at the correct selling price, the right price is actually the price you are content to sell your wares for and the price which customers are willing to pay.Read More »
- Selling In Challenging Times »
- When times are challenging, half the battle is in dealing with your own personal head trash and negative self-talk as well as listening to the gripes, complaints, tales of woe and negativity of your co-workers, competitors, the media and anybody else worse off or more mess up than you. The other half is...Read More »
- “It’s No Wonder Sales Are Down.” »
- In an effort to provide weak and mediocre salespeople with an adequate supply of poor performance excuses for each month, I submit the following “Reasons I Can’t Sell This Month”. If you find it difficult to lay all the blame on the weather, the economy, the Republicans, the Democrats, the President, and September 11th being too far removed, try these…Read More »
- Who’s To Blame? »
- As I told a group of 600+ HVAC people in Cincinnati, OH the other day: Any economic, marketplace, political landscape or environmental conditions make business challenging. As they say in Florida or California, “if you don’t like the weather, give it a few minutes, it will change.”Read More »
- Using "Proposals" to Close Sales... »
- First things first: There are NO proposals in professional sales. “Proposals” are sales tools used after you close the sale, not to close the sale. The document to which you refer is a sales agreement. I call it a Home Environmental Solution Agreement and the salespeople I work with use a check off the box fill-in-the-blank form that is ONLY written up when...Read More »
- Qualify or Die... »
- Okay, maybe the title is a little dramatic. However, I stand by my firm conviction that failure to properly and adequately qualify a prospect and the opportunity during the sales process will more often than not kill your chances for making a sale prematurely or lead to the eventual and untimely death of the opportunity in the end, or even worse... not knowing what happened and why.Read More »
- Presenting The Hybrid Comfort System Option »
- Recommending a Hybrid Comfort System as a viable option for a customer to consider when replacing their old inefficient comfort system should come across as though you are selling the greatest thing since the invention of Cotton Gin by Eli Whitney. This will only result in skepticism on the part of your customer.
Instead, approach sharing the information from an “it’s not for everybody” perspective by saying something like the following:Read More »
- Two Choices »
- The attached Two Choices Microsoft PowerPoint slide show in a zipped/compressed format is a great attitude adjuster and perceptive mindset changer for making sure we all keep things in perspective.Read More »
- The Most Crucial Elements in the Planned Sales Process »
- Beginning our exciting, and hopefully rewarding, journey through the sales process, we will commence our interaction with the prospect seeking the truth rather than a sale. With this in mind, our focus will be on the most crucial elements first: Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying.
Most salesperson mistakenly think their product knowledge, presentation, or their closing and handling objections skills are the most critical elements of success. It's no wonder, the majority of salespeople struggle and only deliver mediocre results.Read More »
- Compensating Salespeople »
- Over the years of working for different companies and managing salespeople, I’ve been exposed to many different philosophies on how to compensate individuals who sell for a living from a draw to a guaranteed base to 100% commission to various combinations of all of the above.
Is there one particular best way?Read More »
- How To Differentiate Your Solutions »
- I am often asked if there is a single best way to differentiate one's company and products and/or services when making a sales presentation.
Let me start by stating that there is no single best way to do most things in life. However, let me provide my perspective as to how to best offer a differentiate solution when making a sales presentation.
Read More »
- Yet Another Inconvenient Truth »
- Just got back from speaking at the PHCC Convention in Anaheim. I was un-hit by semi-rotted fruits tossed in my direction, so I've either gotten more coordinated or they're terrible shots. Had a great time regardless.
My informal poll reveals that:
Read More »
- Resources for Improving Your Closing Skills »
- How can you hone your closing skills for selling HVAC change outs or new installations to homeowners? Techs are continually being offered training, but seminars on closing skills are not a routine topic. I am often asked: "Are there any books or tapes (audio or video), or any seminar offerings that you might recommend?"Read More »
- Confronted With Online HVAC Retailers? »
- The evolution of the internet and web-based HVAC retailers has recently raised the following question in my travels: “Have you ever encountered a retail customer talking about buying a piece of equipment via an on-line company (as opposed to purchasing the product that you & your company are selling); and if so, how do recommend handling the situation?”Read More »
- "How much of my time should I devote to cold calling?" »
- As a Territory Manager for a wholesale distributor or manufacturer I am sure you sometimes feel like your hands are full with servicing your existing dealer accounts. However, sales managers, sales quotas, new business incentives, and corporate goals keep you concerned about developing new customers. How much time should you devote to cold calling and new account development?Read More »
- Fall and Winter Marketing Ideas »
- Fall is here, or Autumn if you prefer.
Leaves are changing colors and beginning to drop, you and your kids (or your landscaper) are raking them up, and children are dressing up to gather some tricks or treats.
However, now is not the time to be tricked into thinking that cold weather is just around the corner and the broken heating systems and pipes will keep you busy all winter. Treat your company to a steady flow of service and sales calls through both seasons with a few of our not all-inclusive list of fall and winter marketing ideas.Read More »
- How Many Salespeople Should You Have Before You Hire a Sales Manager? »
- How Many Salespeople Should You Have Before You Hire a Sales Manager?
That was the question posed is posed to me quite frequently in my travels.
The answer is: “It depends.”
To properly answer that question you must first ask: What is the maximum number of salespeople the owner, General Manager or Operations Manager can lead, coach, train, motivate and manage effectively?Read More »
- Creating Sales Opportunities In Slow Times »
- If Your Phone Isn’t Ringing With Customers, Ring Your Customer's Phone.The quickest and most effective method of generating work is to start calling your existing customers. If you start calling today, you’ll generate work for tomorrow! Here’s what I suggest: Go...Read More »
- More Cool Summer Strategies »
- As discussed in the previous article "Bringing a Cool Summer to a Close" we discussed some ideas for capitalizing on the mild weather that much of the country experienced this summer. Here are several more ideas:
Read More »
- Bringing a Cool Summer to a Close »
- Many areas of the country are seeing record temperatures this summer. Unfortunately, they're record lows. This is a phenomenon I call “Eskimo Summer”, which should not be confused with “Indian Summer”: guaranteed to kill any plans you have for capitalizing on an early heating season. And mild summer temperatures can dramatically affect air conditioning service, maintenance and replacement workloads. In fact, erratic weather patterns have been the norm rather than the exception the last several years, and especially since Hurricane Katrina hit.
So what should a contractor do to pump up revenues when the weather does not cooperate to drive business as summer comes to a close?
Read More »
- How To Measure Customer Lifetime Value »
- In my travels I often get asked if there is any specific criteria or formula assessed or utilized when trying to measure sales potential of a target customer? It is good to see contractors looking to understand the marketing and sales side of the business versus just the technical aspects. This is more important than turning wrenches. Now matter how good you are at what you do, at the end of the day if you do not learn to market and sell effectively you will go out of business.Read More »
- “We Can Get The Same Thing For Less.” »
- When a prospect tells you as a salesperson that they saw something similar for a lot less money, how do you handle it? Most salespeople approach it from a traditional perspective and try to justify or defend their price or randomly take shots at trying to, what they believe in their mind, build value by rattling off a laundry list of features and/or benefits.
This is completely WRONG!
Read More »
- Elite Software Order Form »
- The Elite Software Order Form is a Microsoft Word document that you can print to order some of the best software-based sales process enhancement tools to help streamline and speed up the sales process while increasing sales professionalism and closing ratios and your average sale.Read More »
- Never Ask For The Order!!! »
- Success in sales is not about pressure, it’s about performance and top performance comes from executing a structured, effective, efficient, engaging and endearing sales process. If you are feeling pressure on a sales call, you are working too hard and working on the wrong end of the problem.Read More »
- Are Salespeople Responsible Delinquent Customers? »
- You run the lead, perform the load calculation, sell the job, procure the financing approval, complete the job file paperwork, and figure your job is done and that administration and operations will take care of everything from this point forward.
The only left is for you to get paid, right?Read More »
- The Most Important Sales Objection »
- The single most important objection is when a customer says that we, our products and services, and our company stink and are not worth a dime and that companies like ours should be out of business or exposed in a televised sting operation on 60 minutes.
At that point, I’d say we’ve got some serious issues that need to be addressed.Read More »
- Should A Salesperson's Earnings Be Limited? »
- You are a salesperson on straight commission working your little heart out. You miss lunch, miss dinner, get home late and miss the kids before they go to bed. However, the sacrifices you are making are paying off since you are in the midst of achieving a new personal and company sales record for the month.
You and your spouse take solace in the fact that your paycheck and bonus should be worth it. Your paycheck arrives, and you realize that the company pay structure actually penalized your for your high performance.
Just before you go postal, you figure you’ll consultant The Master Sellutionist’s blog for advice.Read More »
- Territory Managers: Deal With Contractor Complaints »
- Most salespeople for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers are never surprised by the different customer complaints or gripes that they have to deal with on a daily basis. However, many will ask me if there is one complaint that I deem more important than any other that could spell “death” to retaining a customer if not dealt with properly.Read More »
- Time Is On Your Side »
- While the title of this article may be the same title for a great Rolling Stones tune, it also is an interesting topic of sales discussion.
As an outside salesperson (on straight commission) for a residential contracting company, I know you feel like your work hours should be flexible to accommodate in-home sales presentations and your erratic and sometimes hectic schedule.
So, is it reasonable to have specific working hours actually imposed by your boss?Read More »
- How To Avoid Stalls and Put-offs - Close The Sale »
- It is closing time in the sales process and you are at what seems to be an impasse with your prospect. Not with the prospects that will make a buying decision one way or another (i.e. those prospects that say yes or no), but rather the prospects that arrive at a non-buying decision and do nothing (i.e. those who can't or won’t give you a firm buying decision one way or the other – positively or negatively).
What can you do?Read More »
- Should You Hire A Female Salesperson? »
- I often get asked my opinion or recommendation on a female being an in-home sales consultant, with regard to evening sales calls, customer comfort, receptiveness, etc.
This most definitely is a compelling question and one that can provide many solutions to some challenging sales issues...Read More »
- Salespeople vs. Selling Techs – What Makes Sense? »
- It seems that many contractors have differing opinions on the issue of promoting an in-house service tech to a sales position, versus hiring a professional salesperson from outside the company? This debate is one that has raged on in the HVAC industry for years, and you can rest assured that this article will only serve to add fuel to someone’s fire, but let’s just consider some of the following:Read More »
- "Why Should I Stay Focused As A Salesperson?" »
- I get asked this question by long time sales veterans quite frequently. Other than the obvious reasons of maintaining your job and making as much money as possible, what other rationale or objectives could there be to keep a seasoned pro focused and motivated as a salesperson?Read More »
- Selling With The New Efficiency Standard - Part 2 »
- When the new minimum efficiency mandate takes effect on top-performing contractors will need to enter an entire new realm of professional selling if they want to differentiate themselves and win more sales. Learn new market positioning and sales strategies here...Read More »
- Selling With The New Efficiency Standard - Part 1 »
- It seems the looming government enacted energy efficiency mandate has contractors and their salespeople concerned. Many salespeople that have always been able to sell systems and make a decent profit without much training or being concerned with technological advances are beginning to wonder if the can be as successful in the future.Read More »
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