Profitable Sales: A Contractor's Guide by Michael C. Stone (2007-05-03)

Michael Stone's 30+ years of experience in residential remodeling sales and specialty sales is shared in his book, Profitable Sales, A Contractor's Guide. Focused on the construction industry, the information provided is valuable for both the business owner and their sales staff.

His experience working with home and building owners has provided him with valuable insights. He spells out how to:

• determine if a lead is worth your time before you set the appointment
• establish ground rules during the initial phone call
• address every customer's three fears
• successfully ask the four questions that need to be answered
• navigate through design agreements, letters of intent, and other documents
• lay the groundwork for a detailed contract
• help clients make selections
• turn a cancellation into a positive event
• find, train, motivate and compensate sales staff

A significant portion of the book is devoted to "What if?" scenarios. While a few scenarios are mildly humorous (arriving at a home to find homeowners inappropriately dressed) and some are more concerning (homeowners handling firearms on a sales call), a majority of the scenarios will happen to almost every salesperson in residential construction sales at least once in their career.

What if they:

• Ask you to fix something in their home during the appointment?
• Are distracted by the TV, by unruly kids, by neighbors who stop by?
• Want you to finish the job another contractor started?
• Ask you to look at another company's quotes, paperwork, or plans?
• Tell you they want to furnish their own materials?

Michael discusses insurance calls, dealing with other professionals (attorneys, architects and designers, realtors, engineers, lenders) and issues that can arise after the contract is signed.

In construction, if your sales depend on being the lowest price, your business won't have the funds it needs to survive. Michael's first book Markup & Profit: A Contractor's Guide Revisited helped thousands of contractors know how to properly price their jobs to cover their costs and make a reasonable profit. This book shows how to sell your value and service, not your price.

Sample forms are included, along with access to downloads allowing you to save many of these forms on your computer for easy use.

Michael Stone, author of "Markup & Profit: A Contractor's Guide Revisited" and the online class Profitable Estimating has more than five decades of experience in the building and remodeling industry. Michael offers business management and sales training assistance to construction-related companies with books and training programs available on his website. He can be found on the web at www.markupandprofit.com or by email at info@markupandprofit.com.