Letting ad calls go to voice mail is the perfect method for eliminating the best people. Read more
Use language, tone, and motion to get yourself in sync with prospects. Read more
Generational transition seems to work best when it's gradual, consenting, and unambiguous. Read more
Alure Home Improvements throws its Caribbean Party every three months. The party is a key element in a reward system that Alure has set up; a system in which customers receive points for any new business they send to the company and which enables them to track those points on a Web site. The system ensures a steady flow of repeat and referral business to Alure. Read more
Ray and Ron Melani say they're not experts on business. Experience made them experts at knowing who to go to for advice. Read more
An employee dishonesty or fidelity bond is a form of insurance that protects employers from the dishonest acts of employees. Read more
Today, roughly 80% of the people who buy from Dial One have visited the showroom first. Such visits by homeowners remove any doubts they may have about the company's trustworthiness and reliability, he points out, and the experience serves to reinforce the company's brand position. Read more
Making television advertising work in the home improvement business is a challenge. But find the formula that works in your market and it can be a scalable lead source that becomes more efficient the more you use it. Read more
A willingness to try new methods is critical to successfully managing your company's lead generation program. REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR asked a number of companies about their most recent lead source, for better or worse. Read more
The number of leads reps can reasonably expect to run is a function of your product, lead source, logistics, and business philosophy. Read more
One of your salespeople gets the lead and presents your product to the homeowners. No sale. They're "be backs." What happens to the lead? Does the salesperson hang onto it until the mythical day arrives and the homeowners call to inform him that they are, indeed, interested in buying windows? Or does it disappear forever into his briefcase while he's running the two or three other appointments per day your company is giving him? Read more
There are hundreds of books and recordings available on closing the sale. So why doesn't the average salesperson perform to his or her potential? Read more
Home improvement companies have many ways of compensating sales reps. According to Dave Yoho, a REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR contributor and consultant who works with many of the largest firms, pay plans are often based on what salespeople are used to rather than what's most effective for company profitability and growth. Read more
Supplying that homeowner with a formal, written proposal is an opportunity to sell yourself and educate the customer. Read more
The stick-built sunroom has been left behind by manufactured sunrooms of vinyl and glass, according to many contractors. Still, though no one knows exactly how the sunroom market breaks down by product type, stick-built sunrooms remain. Read more
You can save yourself eight to 10 hours worth of wages by using a one-man crew to install windows. But on a typical multi-unit window job, you may well lose more than you save. Read more
A discussion with Michelle Doischen, associate vice president for Case Design Read more
Here's an experiment: Write down everything that makes your company different. Read more