The Systematic Approach to Higher Close Rates
Does your sales team sell what’s inside the box or the full value of what you deliver? When every proposal sounds the same, it’s harder to stand out and even harder to help homeowners understand what they are really buying.
In this episode of Cracking the Code, Drew Cameron shares how contractors can break out of that cycle by selling by design instead of by default. He explains why the real value is in the diagnosis, design and performance of the total solution, and how a more systematic approach helps homeowners make better decisions while helping your team communicate that value more clearly.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
00:00:00:04 – 00:00:18:24
If we orchestrate our process to get a result, which is the performance, we would be teaching people how to buy, where to get value from, how to basically select a contract, which I don’t think most homeowners know.
00:00:18:27 – 00:00:47:05
All right, drew. Let’s, let’s talk about sales and selling by design. We’re going to break this into a series of multiple segments because this is such a strong, robust, discussion that we’re going to have. And we’re going to break it down into three major categories. We’re going to talk about systematic approaches. We’re going to talk about air, because that’s kind of one of the things we sell, a lot of air quality, air temperature, air humidity, yada yada yada.
00:00:47:07 – 00:01:10:20
And then, compelling people to buy through emotional currency. So, welcome to cracking the code, drew. Let’s get started. Thanks for having David. Great to be here with you, as always. You bet. So systematic approaches. Let’s talk about that. Yeah. I mean, when we talk about selling by design, I mean, I mean selling by design and not by default.
00:01:10:20 – 00:01:36:24
But then I also mean selling your design. And I think in the industry, you know, that I’ve grown up in and been in for 50 some odd years, you know, 52 years, to be exact, coming up on 53. You know, what I learned is that the manufacturer kind of drove everything. And whether it be the manufacturer or the distributor and whose equipment you were selling, and I think to this day, that’s still happens quite a bit.
00:01:36:24 – 00:02:02:09
And, you know, basically what what what what that forces the customer to do is commodity in comparison shop and they commodity in comparison shop because contractors commodity in comparison sell. And we’re going to talk about in another session about how to be compelling. Because if you were, if you were compelling, there’d be no comparison. And so part one of this is basically that systematic approach to yield more reliable revenue.
00:02:02:09 – 00:02:28:00
And by that I mean, if you focused on selling your design with a somewhat of a structured, systematic approach to what it is that you do versus just running leaves, spraying and praying and hoping with, you know, with proposals, leaving behind proposals or emailing proposals that are all focused on brand model efficiency and capacity out of the same, you know, customer relationship management software or field service management software like everybody else is using.
00:02:28:02 – 00:02:48:20
You’re all look and sound and feel eerily alike, and you’re all focused on selling the box, which is the biggest part. And the most expensive part. But it’s the least important part of this system because as you and I have talked about 70% of the manufacturing process, it takes place in the home and is the responsibility of the contractor.
00:02:48:22 – 00:03:15:11
And so the parts get assembled into a a complete recipe or solution, if you will, to get a result and an outcome, which is what people buy is the outcome in the results they get, the things they buy, the experience, the impact, the problem resolve, the the better lifestyle, the better, livelihood for themselves, right? And better health, safety, comfort, all that specifically as it relates to them just saying better comfort, better health, better safety is not good.
00:03:15:13 – 00:03:37:24
What does that mean to these people? And so if we orchestrate our process, what we do as we go in the house and connect with people to create a design, and we talk about our people and our processes, and we assemble a series of parts and pieces in our processes to get a result, which is the performance, which is the actual product.
00:03:37:24 – 00:04:09:16
Right. If we focused in on that conversation, we would be teaching people how to buy, where to get value from and how to basically select a contractor, which I don’t think most homeowners know. But the problem is, is most contractors go in and quote brand model efficiency capacity off a proposal they mail, email it behind, leave it behind, or email, after the fact and the customer shopping for this much like they will an appliance, a car or electronics, groceries, clothing, whether that be in a retail store or online.
00:04:09:17 – 00:04:30:14
Right. And so we get commoditized and then we just end up not getting the performance and connecting with the customer at the level that we should. And I think that has to change. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. In fact, you know, you think about this and I and I love the I love the idea of positioning us as contractors, as the actual manufacturer of their indoor comfort system.
00:04:30:21 – 00:04:57:13
I mean, where else where else can they buy a John Cameron and Sun system? You know, where else can they buy a whole set, the whole service company system? I mean, they can’t buy it, but from us, we are the sole proprietor of said product. Right? So we’re the producer, we’re the manufacturer. If if our offer is so understanding and compelling and value rich, why would they go shopping?
00:04:57:16 – 00:05:16:00
And. Yeah, exactly. And everything else they buy, they do buy from a provider. And if they have a problem with it, they’re going to go back to the provider and they’re going to talk to the provider about the thing. I’m not happy with the thing. I got this thing from you. Right. And the things that we basically provide are the things that they’re going to come back to us.
00:05:16:00 – 00:05:42:06
If they’re not happy, they’re going to tell us, I’m not happy with the thing that I bought from you. Okay. But that thing was incorporated into a series of things. Okay. Yeah. So, like, I don’t complain about the apples in the apple pie if I’m not happy with the apple pie. Right. It’s the whole pie was the result and the recipe and the process and the and the kitchen and the cooking utensils and the people that did what they did and the process they executed to get the apple pie.
00:05:42:09 – 00:06:02:10
It wasn’t just the apples. Right. And so that’s that’s where we got in trouble. That’s like saying, hey, I’m going to give you a, a pair, a set of TaylorMade golf clubs, tailors balls and foot Joey apparel. I’m going to send you out to Augusta. Good luck. Right. You know, given me the equipment and the parts and pieces does not make me a golfer.
00:06:02:10 – 00:06:33:21
It’s about my ability to make the golf shot. And as contractors, it’s about your ability to get the result. Okay. To solve the problem is make the life impact enhance their lives, right? Change things, improve things. Whatever it is, eliminate things. Whatever it is you know, you found out from the people in your process. But most contractors, they rush to get out to talk about themselves and the product, to sell the thing, to get the result for themselves, which is revenue and accrue well, accrue field and then the revenue right.
00:06:33:21 – 00:06:53:24
And the profitability that stems from that and personal income that stems from it. Right. They’re all outcome driven for themselves when the reality is, if you were outcome driven about those that you served right through your systematic approach, and differentiated yourself at the time you showed up at the level from the time you marketed to the time you took the phone call, to the time you showed up at the door.
00:06:53:27 – 00:07:17:22
And again, we’re not talking about the service side of things, but we’re talking about the, you know, the in-home sales side of things. If you were different, you’d be treated different. But but you don’t. And so the customer, all they can find online when they go to look for this stuff anyway, by the way, is they can find things from the big box retailers, they can find the information from manufacturers, and it can find things from the online lead aggregators such as Yelp and Angie’s List and and things like that.
00:07:18:00 – 00:07:48:22
Right. So all they get is propaganda. They don’t get any education as to how to buy this. So what do they do? They use the same process, David, that they used to buy the truck, the car, the appliances, the electronics. Right. The commodity comparison shop. I could get multiple quotes. In reality is, is if they pull back and realize it’s the contractor that’s going to assimilate a whole bunch of parts and pieces with processes to get a result, it’s most important to get the right person.
00:07:48:22 – 00:08:12:19
So the most important thing in the life of the machine is the day that the customer picks the designer, then the day that they design it, then the day that they configure the parts and pieces, install it, verify its performance, and then confirm that basically over the next couple of years, the customer’s happy with the experience and results that they’re getting out of the box, because I don’t think the purchase is done for 1 to 2 years.
00:08:12:21 – 00:08:36:17
Absolutely. You have to you have to live. You have to live with the solution. I mean, we we are we are very important industry. And I always tell people, I say, you know, every cubic foot of air that your family breathes, that your guests breathe in this home is going to be processed by our system. Every cubic foot of air that goes into your lungs is going to go through our system.
00:08:36:17 – 00:08:57:21
At some point within the structure, and if we don’t get our part right, you know, we could harm you. We could we could make you unhealthy. We could do all kinds of crazy things if we don’t do it right. So we’re committed as a business, as a manufacturer. And we were manufacturing ultimate indoor comfort systems. That was the that was our brand, if you will.
00:08:57:23 – 00:09:18:01
So when we were manufacturing ultimate indoor comfort systems, it always started off with asking the questions of the customer. Just like a doctor may walk in and say, why are you here? You know, tell me what’s going on? Where does it hurt? You know, it’s like, okay, let’s figure that out, just like a doctor does. Let’s identify what’s important to them.
00:09:18:06 – 00:09:44:17
Why are we having this conversation right now and then doing the proper prescription? Because you and I both know prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. And yet, our brothers and sisters, a good number of them in our industry, they rush right to the prescription without doing any diagnostic work whatsoever. So I think when when we think about a systematic approach, it really does kind of touch all all those bases, right?
00:09:44:20 – 00:10:04:21
Yeah, 100%. The first thing is we know we go in and we are we are people dealing with people, right? A human, a human’s life was happening, then something happened and now they’re in a place of suffering. That’s the way I look at it. Right. And so they’re calling us to help end the suffering. And what they’re really looking for is they’re looking for information so they can make an informed and intelligent decision.
00:10:04:21 – 00:10:30:19
When a customer calls, that’s all they ever want is information to make an informed, intelligent decision. My job is to be that resource that basically, you know, teaches them how to buy, teaches them where value comes from, teaches them what a good contractors do and don’t do right. Don’t bash other people, but let them know. Here’s what a good company does to get you the results that you want, and then goes ahead and does those things and shows them that and gives them good information so they can make a good decision.
00:10:30:21 – 00:10:52:23
And then another place to make a good decision. My job is to show them everything that is possible, everything that I’ve found, every solution that’s available and what they cost and how they can pay for it, along with the warranties and guarantees. And and their job is to make a decision as to, you know, how much of a remedy do they want you know, to the problems and what do they feel comfortable spending right, to get the peace of mind that they want?
00:10:52:23 – 00:11:09:14
And so that begins with I got to survey the people. Then I got to look at the houses subsystems. Right. It’s the living space. It’s the building envelope. It’s the equipment and the duct systems and the electric and the fuel and the exhaust and the condensation removal and things like that. Right. All those integrations and it’s the safety, it’s the code.
00:11:09:14 – 00:11:27:28
It’s the permits, standards, manufacturer specifications. I going to make sure we address all those things so that it’s safe and functions the way that it’s supposed to occur to the manufacturer. And then I get the performance I test it, I test my work after the fact to prove that I, you know, made the changes or I’m getting the results that I said that I would.
00:11:27:28 – 00:12:01:01
Right. And that’s what shows up in the customer’s life, right? The comfort, the health, the safety, the quietness, the lack of odors, lack of noise, the improvement in the energy efficiency, lower utility bills, that peace of mind, that longevity, the certainty and and we address all of that. It’s amazing to this day, David, how many times I ride along with technicians and salespeople and they never walk around the house and look at the location of every supply and every return and interact with the living space in the system right where they live.
00:12:01:04 – 00:12:27:28
They live and interact with the system in a living space. Yet the contractors all go right to the equipment. And and I ask questions all the time, like how many contractors know what stack effect is? Nobody does, right? I ask, how many contractors do load calculations on every house? About less than 10% do. How many of you test the airflow, the system, or at the very least, pull out a tape measure on a later to see if the duct system has the potential to deliver something.
00:12:28:00 – 00:12:47:01
Because if you don’t have the potential right, there’s a high probability you’re not going to get a good result. There’s a low possibility that you get any kind of, you know, thing that solves any problems. Right. And so that’s what I mean by having a systematic approach. And through EGA, that’s what I’ve taught in the sales execution class and sales elevation class.
00:12:47:01 – 00:13:16:25
And the design principles class is taking this systematic approach to basically educate customers to make better buying decisions. So special note for all of you contractor university members, if you have not taken those classes on the platform, they’re there for your consumption to share with others on your team to implement these ideas. It’s not for a lack of good ideas that are available to you that you’re not succeeding.
00:13:17:03 – 00:13:44:06
It’s for lack of implementing those good ideas. It’s it’s for a lack of engaging with the good ideas and actually doing something with them. I mean, we got tons of information and in fact, you know, back when we were both running or operating within our family businesses, you’re up in the northeast. I’m down in the southeast. A mutual friend of ours, Dominic Guarino, wrote an article, and he said he challenged the industry back.
00:13:44:06 – 00:14:00:27
Gosh, this would have been like 91 or 92, something like that, where he said, you know, we need to look at the whole house as a system, right? We need to look at what’s going on within the entire structure. And and I took that to heart. I know you did as well. And we we got focused on doing those diagnostic things.
00:14:00:27 – 00:14:23:14
I mean, we were doing blower door testing. We were doing flow hoods, we were doing carbon monoxide testing. We were doing all those kind of things back in the 90s. A lot of people think that’s some sort of new trend, but it’s not new. It’s these are fundamentals of of proper Hvac work, in my opinion, anyway. And, it revolutionized our business because it forced us to slow down.
00:14:23:16 – 00:14:47:10
It forced us to ask the right questions. And an interesting thing that, yeah, I’ve gone back and read that article many times because it really is what got me fired up about doing more things for our customers. But one of the things that that I realized is if in that article, there wasn’t a real focus on asking the customer, I mean, it was all about the structure, right?
00:14:47:10 – 00:15:06:09
Look at the whole house as a system. Well, I look at it as like there’s three components to an Hvac system. There’s the mechanical component, right? The equipment, that’s what we’re all used to talking about within our industry. There’s the box that we’re trying to condition. But the most important piece is the people that are operating it and living within it.
00:15:06:11 – 00:15:23:24
Right? It’s like you got the consumer that you’re talking to. That’s really the most important piece of the puzzle, because they’re the only one that can say yes or no to your offer. And that’s who we’re really trying to serve. It’s a people business, isn’t it? Yeah, 100%. I mean, we live as humans. We live inside the duct system, right?
00:15:23:24 – 00:15:40:22
I mean, and the doors inside the house act as dampers, right? Because we, you know, we had the supply comes in one side. The return comes out, the air goes into the other side, right. And and we live inside the things and how we move and and interact within the space determines basically how that comfort system is going to, you know, interact and what.
00:15:40:22 – 00:15:57:21
And I always have said, any clown in town, right, can hook up a heating and cooling system. It basically says that that’s what they do. Even handymen can do this to some extent. Right. But any clown in town could hook it up and make it run. Make it, you know, operate. That doesn’t mean that it’s functioning, and that doesn’t mean that it’s performing.
00:15:57:21 – 00:16:22:13
Right. And so but how effectively and how efficiently that machine operates is 100% predicated upon is design, installation, the duct system and the building envelope. And we as contractors have to take that into consideration. The problem is, is it most contractors focus on trying to be the best person selling the box, maybe at the door, even at the cheapest price in many cases.
00:16:22:13 – 00:16:42:11
But, and they’re focused on that and I don’t focus on being the best. Right? I focus on being unique. And I think that’s what you did too. Right? Because if you were unique, you’re the only one. And therefore by, you know, by definition, you are the best in class because you’re the only one. But if I’m the best of everything that’s available, I could be the best.
00:16:42:11 – 00:16:54:16
Some of the time. I just can’t be the best of all the time. But I can’t be the best for all time because that kind of comes and goes. But when you’re unique, you’re always the best. You’re the no. Because you’re the only one, right? And that’s what you did in your market. That’s what I did in my market.
00:16:54:18 – 00:17:13:15
So I do with my clients. And to this day is what I recommend the members do as well. And that’s a great way to end this segment, man. It’s all about being your best guys. It’s all about looking through the eyes of your customer. Provide the products and services they need, which is the essentials they need heat. If it’s cold, they need cool.
00:17:13:15 – 00:17:32:02
If it’s hot outside right? What do they need? What do they want? Well, you won’t know that unless you ask. But most importantly, in my opinion, is what did they deserve? What is it that they deserve and what they deserve as being your best? Just like what drew just said, if you be your best, they’ll be their best for you.
00:17:32:02 – 00:17:54:17
They’ll give you those five star reviews. They’ll provide you with testimonials and referrals. They’ll continue to do business with you as a professional through your maintenance program and your comfort clubs and all the different, ancillary products and services that you can offer will be opportunities to engage with them at even a higher level. And that’s really what we’re all about here.
00:17:54:17 – 00:18:14:02
That’s what we’re trying to do, is help people enjoy the safest, healthiest, most comfortable and energy efficient home possible, delivered by professionals like you. So we look forward to talking to you, drew, on the next segment. Let’s let’s get after it and let’s make this a great day. Have a good to see you, man. You.
