How to Close a Sale on the First Visit in Home Improvement

The tea's gone cold, the brochure's open on the kitchen table and he's just said it. "Well, we never decide on the day. We always sleep on it."

Most salespeople hear that at the end of a two-hour appointment and think the close has gone wrong. It hasn't. The close went wrong about an hour and fifty minutes earlier, in the first ten minutes, when nobody agreed how a decision was going to get made.

If you want to close a sale on the first visit, set it up at the start. Get both decision-makers in the room, agree up front that at the end you'll make them an offer and they can give you a yes or a no, and find out what would have to be true for them to go ahead. Then, when you've shown them that, ask one simple question. The skill is doing it without it feeling like pressure.

They've brought their get out of jail cards

Every customer you sit with has a little stack of cards ready. "We need to think about it." "I'll have to talk to my wife." "We've got two more people coming." Think of it like Monopoly. They're holding get out of jail cards, and they'll play one the moment you mention money.

You can't argue those cards away at the end. The only time you can take them off people is at the beginning, before there's a price on the table and before anyone's on the defensive.

Agree how it ends before it starts

Early on, once the kettle's on and we've sat down, I'll say something like: "At the end of today I'll go through what I think will work for you and what it costs. I'm not going to ask you for a decision today, unless you want to give me one. But I'd rather have a yes or a no than a maybe. You're quite okay to tell me no. Is that all right?"

Nearly everyone says yes. That line about a maybe matters more than it sounds. "I'll think about it" is a slow death. For you and for them. They go round in circles for three weeks with the draught still coming under the patio door, and you've got another name on a list that never turns into anything.

Then I give them a bundle of no's. "If you didn't trust me, would you go ahead?" No. "If our reviews were terrible, would you go with us?" No. "If it didn't sort out the problem you've told me about, would you buy it?" No. "That makes total sense. I'd feel exactly the same."

You can feel the room relax. They were expecting a hard sell and they've got someone agreeing with them.

Three reasons people buy

Then you turn it round. "So if I can show you we're the right company, that what we put in sorts out the problem, and that it comes in at a price and a timeframe you're happy with, would it make sense to get it sorted for you today?"

A lot of people will just say yes. Not all, but a lot more than you'd think.

Those are the three things a customer is weighing up. The right company, the right solution, the right price and timing. They aren't interested in how many vans you've got. I tell the reps I coach that there are five reasons people don't buy (no need, no desire, no money, no hurry, no trust) and three reasons they do. Eight things to think about for the rest of your working life. Deal with all eight before the price comes out and the close at the end is just the next step.

Don't sit a one-legged appointment

You can do all of that perfectly and still not close if one of the decision-makers is at work. I call those one-legged appointments. Half the decision is somewhere else, and you won't win a single one on the day.

Don't ask "Are you the decision-maker?" It sounds like you're lining them up. I'll ask, "How important is it to you that you get this right?" Nobody says "not very". "Then would it make sense for us to sit down when your husband's here too, so he can ask his own questions?" Book it there and then. Two people at the table on Thursday beats one today and a phone call next week.

When they're set on more quotes

Some people are dead set on three quotes. Fine. Agree, then ask why, because the answer usually tells you what's really worrying them.

Sometimes I'll be honest with them. "Having someone like me in your house for two hours isn't much fun, is it? You'll have this same conversation with the next two. If I can show you today that we tick all three boxes, would you rather get it done and get your evenings back?"

And if you're quoting into a pile, remember what happens to a costing that gets left on the side. You end up a stat on their spreadsheet. He quoted this, she quoted that, and all anyone looks at is the figure at the bottom.

What changed for one rep

A rep I coach sold 4 of his 6 presentations in one week, £19k, after we worked on finding the emotional reason behind the purchase and getting agreement up front to make a decision on the day. That's one person's result, not a promise. But look where the change happened. In the first ten minutes of the appointment.

Do it the honest way

None of this works if you're trying to trap people. The agreement at the start has to be real. If they say no, you thank them and leave on good terms. And remember that when someone signs in their own home they've got a cooling-off period by law, so a yes you've bullied out of them won't last anyway. In my 7 Steps to Sales Mastery this is the Frame and the Pre-close, and in my experience most reps who struggle to close on the day have skipped the first one.

I've sold home improvements for more than 40 years, and I still sell every job at my own conservatory roof business. The ones I close on the first visit are nearly always the ones I set up properly in the first ten minutes.

If you want to know where your own appointments are leaking, take the free 2-minute Sales Leak Assessment and book a free 30-minute discovery call with me.