I’m sure we’ve all been in one of those high-pressure sales situations, only we were on the receiving end. And, I’m sure we can all agree that it wasn’t a great feeling place to be.

In a service business, the question is how to merge the two opinions and feelings, those of both the salesperson and the client, into a win-win situation. This is the million dollar question, right?
After reviewing my conversation with my business partner, we realized that the word ‘upsell’ doesn’t have a great connotation for today’s client. No-one wants to have their arm twisted into buying more project.

My wife and I just recently watched a comedian give a great example of this very thing. He was talking about how a contractor will lure a client in with ads like “From the 120s!” but when they’re in the model, the beautiful greeter will start asking questions such as: “Did you want doors on your house?” or “Where is indoor plumbing on your list of priorities?” We laugh, but how often does that happen in today’s sales call?

Does this sound familiar? “You want a 16×24 master suite? Ok, I’ve done plenty of those – that’s going to be right around $75,000.” But someone forgot to do the real investigative work to find out exactly how much the project will entail.

So, I submit to everyone reading, both homeowner and contractor alike, to combat “the great upsell” – to truly give the homeowner the freedom to purchase the project they want, the service provider must be professional and effectively, efficiently open the lines of communication between potential client and the service company.

This does not mean that the most expensive contractor is the right one for the job, but I will say that experience has often proven that the least expensive contractor is definitely NOT the one you want either.

More to come on how to be professional and effective in communication.