Many contractors tell me they don’t know why they weren’t selected for a particular building quote. But, when the going got tough, it seemed their client had picked another builder even though they were the preferred builder.
Losing building estimates or bids is irritating. At most, it will result in a building contractor’s demise. But if you know the trick to getting more building quotes, it need not be the case. Instead, find the most significant need of your client and address it.
The truth is that your consumers purchase what they perceive to be the most significant building quotation, not the best construction quote itself.
And it makes no difference what you think or say. If it contradicts what your client says or thinks, it is not true—at least not for them.
From the standpoint of your client, you have a stake in selling your service; therefore, at best, your word is prejudiced and, at worst, lies. Everyone is aware that “salespeople are not to be trusted.” Whatever you say, you are a salesperson right now, not their constructor. Thus your word cannot be relied upon.
Simply said, the best building quotation is the one that addresses your client’s most significant demand, even if it is not the most affordable.
Therefore, your quote will never be accepted if your sales process does not center on identifying your client’s greatest need!
But can a “simple” builder, who is not a psychologist, identify a client’s greatest need?
For Reasons of Privacy
For Reasons of Privacy, I’ve altered Tony’s name. Tony specializes in creating exceptional, custom-designed residences for wealthy peoples. For example, a professional in another city recently asked him to submit a bid to construct a vacation home. Some distinctive aspects were independently designed, but nothing beyond Tony’s scope of knowledge and experience.
The tendering process, however, took many months since the client insisted on many, in-depth explanations of how it would operate and how Tony would guarantee he would do a specific task, which no other client had ever requested. Tony was on the verge of withdrawing his tender at one point because he was so angry.
However, Tony found that his client, a lawyer knowledgeable about how contracts could be interpreted, was afraid that his distance from the other party would give him an unfair advantage. So he demanded something that no other client had ever asked for: detailed, explicit, and unmistakable explanations and strategies for the most easy matter. And he required them to satiate his most fundamental need, protection from exploitation.
When I put “team building” into Google earlier today to see where my company’s website currently ranked, I was surprised to discover build house cost as one of Google’s suggested searches after I had finished typing “team.” It made me consider my favorite self-quote about teamwork, and I wondered how it compared to the available ones. So, it’s time to do some research, but first, let me submit mine for review:
The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts in a Team
So, there you have mine. It implies the possibility that the sum of the parts might not equal the whole. In my opinion, a team’s effectiveness is a function of how well its members collaborate. Good quotes are like onions in that they have layers, paraphrasing something Shrek said to Donkey in the first Shrek movie. So my test passed mine—Shrek’s attempt to give credit where credit is due.
To the study. The most frequently cited quote that I could locate also causes most listeners to roll their eyes when they hear it. “Team means we, not I.” This quote is so despised that almost everyone at least considers, if not responds, “but there is a’me’ in it.” Hmmm. It does, then, have layers, but they are not helpful. This led me to modify the Shrek exam. The layers of the quote must enhance the mood rather than just exist or work against it; it is not enough for them to be there.
Ken Blanchard, co-author of the outstanding book “The One Minute Manager,” once said, “None of us is as brilliant as all of us.” However, how does it do on the updated Shrek test? Sorry Ken, but it doesn’t for me. What you see is what you get in a WYSIWYG quote. Easy, concise, and immediately evocative of the argument being made. It is an excellent quote for team building. And layers? No. I don’t have to think about it anymore to understand it better.
We need to learn to work in the system, which means that everyone, Despite failing the Shrek test, the Blanchard quote is my favorite since it is brief and perfectly conveys the concept. Even while I admire Dening and his work equally as much, if not more, this quote just doesn’t cut it for me.
Tony adopted a different strategy and made a special effort to provide detail and evidence regarding how and why he would tackle particular elements of the construction project, the precise results at each stage, and how he would supervise each subcontractor arriving on the job site. Finally, he won the lottery. His most crucial client requirement had been satisfied. His set of need-discovering queries had revealed the solution. Naturally speaking…
Conclusion
In conclusion, your customers will constantly desire to make purchases from you since you fulfill their fundamental demands. Therefore, focus your sales approach on identifying their most significant wants and concerns, then tailor your quotation to address those issues.
