Sales Techniques In The Replacement Window Market

I come across many customers who have been on the receiving end of a hard sell. Some have already committed and many have given up. Just the other day I was talking to a woman who had contacted a company and she had been told she would not be given a quote unless they met with her and her partner at her home.

So I thought I would give you my insight into the many techniques they use to get you over the line, starting with the one I mentioned where they need both partners to be present.


1 The Husband AND Wife Must Be Present
They will say they need all the decision makers or everyone who is on the deeds. Why?
The answer is obvious, but it might not seem so obvious if you don’t have much experience with in home sales. In short, they want you both to be there so they can try to talk you into buying on the spot without taking any time to think it over.

Remember these companies have been in business for years, they’ve met with thousands of folks who were considering a replacement windows and they know if they meet with the husband alone he’s likely to say “I’ll talk it over with my wife”, and the wife will likely say the same thing about the husband. And that will stall their efforts to close the deal. They like to close the deal in one visit.

The woman I met has joined a class action against one company for discrimination.

I will give you more insights in the coming days...

1. The husband and wife MUST both be present
2. The neighborhood discount
3. The display home discount
4. “Buy 2 get 1 free”
5. Window trade-in
6. 50% off (or free labour)
7. We’ll add your order to another big order to get you a lower price
8. We will be able to fit this into another container to save you freight.
9. Your windows cost more because they’re bigger.
10. All warranties are basically the same
11. My shorter warranty is shorter, but that’s actually better
12. I’ll call my boss and tell him that you need a special discount – he makes a fake call.
13. The "error" in the quote.
14. You can’t afford it.

And any others you want to share to get it out there…

Buy like there's no tomorrow – NO!!

There is never a reason to buy NOW, NEVER. So always take as much time as you need, ignore the timeline that they try to set for you, there is always a tomorrow, so, if you are being pushed into buying anything, take YOUR time it's YOUR money, YOU have control. They are not pushing to help you.

These are some of the excuses given to pressure you...

• The neighborhood discount - we can add your order into the neighbourhood order and give you a discount.
• The display home discount – we will use your home as a display and put up signs.
• “Buy 2 get 1 free” (really 33% discount)
• Window trade-in (Hi Ho, Hi Ho… its off to the tip we go)
• 50% off (or 20%, 30%, 40%)
• We’ll add your order to another big order to get you a lower price (in truth no saving)
• We will be able to fit this into another container to save you freight (they pack every container to the top)
• There's a price increase due right now.

Still to come

• The magical call to the boss
• The error in the quote
• The “You can’t afford it”

Remember

• Their deadline is not your deadline.
• The price doesn't float around, only their profit does.
• What you leave on the table goes into their pocket.

The Magical Call to the Boss
If you have not been easily persuaded by the spin then there will come a time (maybe 2-3 hours into the sale) when the salesman will want to call his boss ostensibly to ask him for an extra discount for "these wonderful people". He will then make a call in your presence on his phone. There is usually someone on the other end of the phone but you know that this is a well rehearsed script.

“Hi George, you know we have that new price going through (or have excess stock in your chosen colour, or, giving a higher discount for corner houses as displays), but can we use the old price this time?” [PAUSE] “Oh, you have some unused stock at the old price,….” Etc.

You can see the pattern and because this is someone using his personal influence, he is hoping that it’s enough to get you over the line.

Now a true story…
This is a true story about the magical call to the boss…

The scene is husband and wife present, the salesman wants to make the call to his boss to help out these lovely people, but the husband tells him the mobile coverage is weak in that area and it is likely that the phone will cut out, so he offers the salesman to use the landline and hands him the phone.

The salesman starts his call with the couple listening to the case he presents to his boss. After a couple of minutes the husband leaves the room to use the bathroom and the salesman continues with the wife listening.

It’s late Friday afternoon and the salesman has genuinely called the sales manager, but the sales manager is well into his end-of-week drinks with his team and he has the phone on loudspeaker. The salesman goes into his spiel and the inebriated boss and friends start to tease the salesman about the woman he is with. They begin to make personal remarks about her features and ask questions about one feature in particular while the salesman tries to keep on track by answering “yes” or “no”. The call ends after 5 minutes and the salesman has managed to keep his composure, when the husband returns. The husband enters the room and says to his wife, “John (the salesman) says you’ve got a great ******”

The husband had been listening in on the extension and the red faced salesman made a quick exit.Now if he had recorded the conversation i would guess that a substantial discount would be available...

The Error on the Quotation


This actually happened, I will tell you the same way it was recounted to me.

A customer and his partner are in the house with the salesman who has produced a detailed quotation itemising every requirement for the replacement windows, but he hasn't got it over the line as far as the customer is concerned. The salesman says he needs to get something from his car and leaves the room.

The customer picks up the detailed quotation and reads all of the unit prices and decides to add up all the prices on a calculator. He discovers an error in the final price of $5,000 so he checks the calculation again and discovers that the price on the quotation is $5,000 lower than his calculated price.

The salesman returns from his car and finds that the quotation has been signed... the customer is happy, he thinks he has snatched a $5,000 bonus. The salesman is happy, his little trick worked.