It was a cold winter Saturday night in New England. After coming in after the latest round of shoveling snow, my wife and I heard someone knocking loudly at our front door. We were thinking who can it be? One of our annoying neighbors looking for some scotch, or Jehovah Witnesses? It was really weird. My wife's first though was to call the cops thinking someone was trying to break into our house and was waiting for us to open the door.
So we yelled out "Who is it!" and some dude named Martin started some sales pitch at the top of his lungs stating that he can install solar panels on my roof free of charge and save us tons of money on utility costs. He went on and on while our door was still shut, stating all sorts of testimonials about solar straight out of his sales manual.
Ok, there is about 5 or 6 inches of snow on my roof and it is dark in the middle of winter, and this guy was trying to sell me solar panels? Now I know we are in desperate times and those solar sales personnel are pretty aggressive, but it winter! and it is dark, and there is snow on my roof. Is he going to clear the snow off my roof too?
Needless to say, we mentioned about 8 or 9 times and said we were not interested until he finally went away. We warned our neighbors about the solar night owl and a few responded back saying yup he was there and they proceeded to show him the door.
Martin's Saturday night sales promo of solar on a cold dark winter's night struck a big fat 0. The poor guy probably felt dejected and wonder how can it be. Doesn't anyone want to save money on their utilities?
I am not a sales professional, but wanted to provide some insight to Martin regarding some tips he can considered as he ventures out there in the coming months and hit that sales quota.
TIMING: You always hear it is all about timing in sales. Maybe if Martin stopped by on a warm sunny May afternoon, and complimented me on my nice green lawn and great roof on my house, I may have listened to what he had to say. After all, I am a networker, so I am always looking to strike up a conversation especially with a budding entrepreneur. Honestly, I am not interested in putting solar panels on my house, but I may give Martin some great referrals. He may strike a few sales since I referred him!
LISTENING: In the world of sales, the hardest part is converting a lead to a prospect and a prospect to cash. Before banging on someone's door and going on the offensive trying to convince someone to go solar. Without saying what you do, ask some questions, first, do they want to save money on their utilities. Who wouldn't? Then ask, so how would you do that? Sometimes, they would say maybe they will insulate their house, or change a few lightbulbs. But what if they said that Joey down the street put some of these panels on the sunny side of his house and now he is getting free electricity. Wow! Martin has a great prospect! Next question, is if they would consider solar for their home. There is a good chance that Martin can convert this prospect to a sale. I would put the odds at 3 out of 10.
RESEARCH: Before you go dialing for dollars or knocking on door randomly in a nice neighborhood, do your research. Would you go and try to sell solar in neighborhood that resembles a forest where sunlight is a premium? You should go through the process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a neighborhood and the demographics of the home owner and then determine if is it a fit before you start approaching potential prospects. You can also research what your competitors are doing and if it is successful. I bet your competitor is not going around a quiet neighborhood on a Saturday night in the middle of a snowy winter.
I am sure there are more tips and approaches out there. My bonus tip is to be a regular person and think from the perspective of the other person, and finally, know your product/service. I like to hear from you so please leave a comment and share my blog. I have the utmost respect for sales professionals. After all we are all in sales to some degree so the above tips may apply to you!
