Mike Damora is sales manager and co-owner of Morris Window & Siding, in Ledgewood, N.J. During the past year, the company has reevaluated its approach to selling in the home.
REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR: You've changed your company's pricing structure?
MIKE DAMORA: Yes, about a year ago. We began slowly reducing our opening price. I've always had a problem with the big drop and teaching the big drop, but we justified it by saying that this is what you have to do in a retail business. Well, really you just have to have a better system.
RC: How does your new pricing system work?
MD: We give a discount of 10%, not to exceed $1,000, for buying [on the night of the sales visit]. And everybody pays the same price. We tell the homeowner that up front. And I don't care if it's a $50,000 job or a $500 job.
RC: Did you get pushback from your sales reps?
MD: Our veterans were reluctant because [large price drops] were what they were used to doing. Then when they saw our new system implemented and working and they could see more deals coming in, they liked it.
RC: Why did you decide to move away from price drops as an incentive to buy?
MD: First off, when you go to the supermarket, do you negotiate for a can of peaches? Of course not. And that's the way consumers are used to buying. Another thing is that homeowners are way more savvy than we give them credit for. They're more informed. I could sum it up in one word: Internet.
