I used to be a tradesman and I know how hard it is to try and sell your services to your prospects when you are used to “doing the do” rather than actively promoting your services.
However, one thing I learned back then is to have genuine care for your customers.
Provide them with the solution to their problems. Give them the benefit that they will receive from your business – regardless if they are high or low paying clients.
But… how do you know what their problems are? How do you promote your service in a way that they’ll see it as the solution to their problem? And most of all, how do you turn your customers into your own marketing machines?
Here are some tips on how you can improve your marketing (and sales) by connecting and creating a relationship with your customer:
1. Stand For Something Great
What do you believe in? What is the mission of your business? Find out what it is and share that mission with your customer.
It may not be curing cancer, but, “if you believe in nothing, you’ll fall for everything.” If you don’t stand for something, how can your customers believe in you?
2. Involve Your Customer
There are some contractors who make little to no effort at all in involving their customers in building a project.
Imagine if you were the customer and your contractor explained things to you using terms that you would never understand. Explaining it as trusses rafters, rather than walls and roofs.
You as the customer wouldn’t understand, and unless the builder or contractor took the time to explain it to you, it would be frustrating and confusing… and confused customers do not buy!
3. Provide Accurate Bids and Quotes
So you have this wonderfully created bid that you present to your customer.
They agree and choose you and the project started.
In the middle of the project, you start adding things that were not in the quote because of miscalculations and your customer has to pay for the outstandings.
How do you think your customer would feel about that?
Answer: Ripped Off.
Accurate bids and quotes are actually one of the things that impress a customer the most. If you quote accurately, so don’t go over budget, they are going to be happier than if you charge them more for “miscalculations”
If you mess up and you bid isn’t accurate, don’t expect the customer to refer you to their friends or say anything nice about you.
4. Ask for Your Customer’s Budget
Don’t give your customer a price that you yourself know they can’t afford.
Ask them how much their budget is and work on that (still providing them with the best service you can offer.)
As I have mentioned above, regardless if the pay is high or low for you, it is your duty to give your customer the benefit and value they deserve.
5. ‘Wow’ Them
These are the little things that you can give your customer for choosing to work with you.
Things like a basket of goodies that you give them when the project is finished, or cleaning up the construction site afterwards.
Yes, they are small things, but usually it’s these small things that your customer’s remember the most when your name is mentioned.
Another tip that I could give you is to study effective salesmen and how they do their job.
Or even study how you react to the different salespeople that are trying to sell you something.
You will notice that the ones who make the most impact on you are the ones who went out of their way to help you with you.
Learn from these people and apply what you have learned with your own customers.
Happy sales!
