Profitable Sales: A Contractor's Guide

by Michael C Stone

Overview

Michael Stone's 30+ years of experience in residential remodeling sales and specialty sales is shared in his book, Profitable Sales, A Contractor's Guide. Focused on the construction industry, the information provided is valuable for both the business owner and their sales staff.

His experience working with home and building owners has provided him with valuable insights. He spells out how to:

• determine if a lead is worth your time before you set the appointment
• establish ground rules during the initial phone call
• address every customer's three fears
• successfully ask the four questions that need to be answered
• navigate through design agreements, letters of intent, and other documents
• lay the groundwork for a detailed contract
• help clients make selections
• turn a cancellation into a positive event
• find, train, motivate and compensate sales staff

A significant portion of the book is devoted to "What if?" scenarios. While a few scenarios are mildly humorous (arriving at a home to find homeowners inappropriately dressed) and some are more concerning (homeowners handling firearms on a sales call), a majority of the scenarios will happen to almost every salesperson in residential construction sales at least once in their career.

What if they:

• Ask you to fix something in their home during the appointment?
• Are distracted by the TV, by unruly kids, by neighbors who stop by?
• Want you to finish the job another contractor started?
• Ask you to look at another company's quotes, paperwork, or plans?
• Tell you they want to furnish their own materials?

Michael discusses insurance calls, dealing with other professionals (attorneys, architects and designers, realtors, engineers, lenders) and issues that can arise after the contract is signed.

In construction, if your sales depend on being the lowest price, your business won't have the funds it needs to survive. Michael's first book Markup & Profit: A Contractor's Guide Revisited helped thousands of contractors know how to properly price their jobs to cover their costs and make a reasonable profit. This book shows how to sell your value and service, not your price.

Sample forms are included, along with access to downloads allowing you to save many of these forms on your computer for easy use.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780979508301
Publisher:	Construction Programs & Results Inc
Publication date:	06/07/2007
Pages:	332
Sales rank:	857,081
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Michael Stone, author of Markup & Profit: A Contractor's Guide Revisited and the online class Profitable Estimating has more than five decades of experience in the building and remodeling industry. Michael offers business management and sales training assistance to construction-related companies with books and training programs available on his website. He can be found on the web at www.markupandprofit.com or by email at [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Attitude as Your Sales Foundation

Chapter 2: Old Ghosts and New Concepts

Chapter 3: The Salesperson

Chapter 4: The All-Important Sales Lead

Chapter 5: The Sales Call

Chapter 6: Your Customer's Three Fears

Chapter 7: The Four Basic Questions

Chapter 8: Objections

Chapter 9: Design Agreement and Letter of Intent

Chapter 10: Callbacks and Rehashes

Chapter 11: Estimating

Chapter 12: Contracts

Chapter 13: Missing the Sale and Cancellations

Chapter 14: Employing a Salesperson

Chapter 15: Make Every Possession Count

Chapter 16: Sales "Opportunities"

Appendix I: Index of "Opportunities"

Appendix II: Forms

Appendix III: Resources

Editorial Reviews

"This is a powerful, practical book - loaded with great ideas to increase your sales and your profits!"

- Brian Tracy - Author - The Art of Closing the Sale

"I have purchased hundreds of different books and this is the primary one we use religiously as guidance in our training process and weekly sales meetings . . . This book is a rare repository of knowledge all in one place. I recommend it to all that are committed to betterment in the construction industry."

- John Liptak, Oakwood

"Another winner from Michael. He cuts through the gobbledygook and delivers straight, important information in easily understandable language. Michael knows his stuff and also knows how to teach it and write about it. In my opinion, it's a must-have reference book for any contractor."

- Jeff Farley

"This is the 2nd book I have purchased from Michael. They are well written and super easy to understand! He has been Immensely helpful to me and my business. Please keep writing!!"

- Len Marcu

"This book is a great tool in my office. I constantly review sections prior to going on sales calls. It contains a huge compilation of objections that Michael has experienced throughout his career accompanied by his commentary on how to overcome them. Every home improvement salesperson should have this book!"

- Jon Cadorin

From the Publisher