Sales
A repeatable sales process for business owners who don't want to be salespeople.
28 topics
A sales process that fits a business owner
Five stages, written down, that the person answering the phone can follow.
Follow-up is the easiest money in the business
Most owners stop at one attempt. The customers you'd win are on attempts three through five.
Where leads actually come from for small shops
Most owners over-invest in the channels that look impressive and under-invest in the ones that work.
Improving your conversion rate
You don't need more leads. You need to close more of the ones you already get.
Handling pricing objections without discounting
'You're too expensive' is almost never about price. Here's what it usually means.
Writing quotes that close themselves
A quote isn't a price list. It's a sales document the customer reads when you're not there.
Qualifying leads before you waste an estimate
Some leads are gold. Some leads are a four-hour drive to a 'we'll think about it.' Find out which is which in the first call.
Phone scripts for shops that hate scripts
You don't need a script. You need three lines you say the same way every time.
Closing without sounding like a closer
The best close in the trades is a quiet question, not a hard pitch.
Why your estimates are off, and what to do about it
If you're regularly off by 20% or more, the issue isn't bad luck. It's a missing input.
Getting picked for the bigger jobs
Bigger customers don't choose you because you're cheaper. They choose you because the small stuff signals you can handle the big stuff.
Learning from the deals you lost
Lost deals are the most underused data source in the shop. Almost nobody asks why.
Upsells that don't feel slimy
Real upselling is presenting what the customer would want if they knew what you know.
A CRM that actually gets used
The best CRM is the one your team will open every day. For most shops, that's not the famous one.
Why speed of first response is the highest-ROI fix
The shop that calls back in five minutes books the customer the one-hour shop never hears from again.
Running a sales pipeline without overengineering it
You don't need a CRM dashboard. You need to know which deals are alive and what the next step is.
Phone, text, or email: when to use which
Choosing the wrong channel can kill a deal that should have closed.
Selling without feeling like a salesperson
The owners best at sales don't think of themselves as salespeople. They think of themselves as helpful.
The four objections you hear every week
Most objections in trades fall into four buckets. Knowing them in advance turns them from blockers into conversations.
Selling to businesses instead of homeowners
B2B sales in the trades runs differently. The buyer isn't the user, and the cycle is longer.
Proposals that look like you take the work seriously
A messy quote tells the customer what the work will look like. So does a polished one.
Reactivating customers you haven't heard from in a year
Your past customer list is the warmest lead source you have. Most shops ignore it.
Negotiating with professional buyers
Procurement teams are paid to grind you. Knowing that going in changes the conversation.
Running sales when you're a team of one
If sales falls when you're busy on the tools, the system is the problem, not the person.
Discounts as a tool, not a habit
A discount used on purpose moves a deal. A discount used by reflex erodes the business.
When the owner has to keep selling
Some shops never hand off sales. That can work, if you build it on purpose.
Win-loss analysis without a consultant
The pattern in your wins and losses is the cheapest growth strategy you'll ever buy.
How trust closes deals price never could
In the trades, customers pay a premium for shops they trust. Trust is built before the quote.
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