Thursday, March 31, 2011, pt.2

I have to confess up front, a couple of drinks magically appeared in front of me this evening and for whatever reason, my hand reached out and picked them up.  Not my fault, OK?

That out of the way, the afternoon's first session was either a) not as captivating as previous sessions or b) I can't take much more in without other important stuff falling out the back.  To continue the business development flagellation I seem to hunger for, I went to "Business Building Blocks" with Stephen Self.  Stephen, if you're listening, it's nothing personal but I couldn't focus and didn't write a thing down so after 20 minutes, I slipped out the back and went to my little cave at the Mosser Hotel which, if all you want is a clean little cave in downtown San Francisco, is the best deal around.  A room in downtown SF for $89?  Almost miraculous.  An hour alone for an hour for a recharge.  Ahhh.

The Happy Alone Hour was enough that I chose "Selling Home Performance: Where the Mastic Meets the Metal.", which wasn't about either mastic or metal. Or even ducts.

There were 3 speakers. Jason Bowers from Recurve talked about how to present myself when across from a client at a table.  Be patient.  Summarize frequently.  Spend the first 30 minutes mostly listening and asking questions.  Tell a personal story about myself and my Company.  Present with confidence.  Talk about money early and be firm about costs: 'This is what it takes to get the job done right'.

Casey Murphy of ICF International was next and talked about how to sell using Indoor Air Quality as a sales point.  As part of his talk, he threw out a number of statistics that were captivating: 1.8 million ER visits per year because of Asthma.  19% of households have someone with Asthma.  Indoor Air Quality is important enough to discuss in almost all sales meetings.

Eric Howarth of EGIA was last, talking about how he uses an in-home display as part of his sales pitch, showing his company in a personal way with pictures of families and previous happy clients.  Sell a Good/Better/Best because most people will choose the Better.  Forget about myself; it's the client's story that is most important.  Talk about how well we will take care of their home, using details.  Have financing options at the tip of my tongue.  Make it easy for the client to say yes.

As if 4 sessions today weren't enough and with a quick bite on the run, I managed to spend time with Peter Troast from EnergyCircle.com.  Peter's business model is superb and if you're in the Home Performance field, I highly recommend that you look at Energy Circle.  This is my personal, completely subjective feeling: they feel about me like I feel about my clients: that they really want the best for my company and are continually looking for new ways to make my business more successful.  They're good folks. Peter, Lisa, Greg.