For home improvement pros, business as usual isn’t only about generating leads and doing the work for your clients. It’s also about building a repeatable sales process that ensures profitability throughout the year.
Here are some questions you should be asking yourself:
- How many deals do you close each month?
- What’s your average revenue?
- What do you spend on acquiring clients
- What do you make on average when you sign on someone new?
If these questions are tough to answer, this could mean it’s time for you to invent a sales process that you and your team can depend on. Here are the key steps every home improvement pro needs to take to build a robust sales process:
Step 1: Figure out your current sales process
Though your current sales process may not be already mapped out, your sales team may already have a list of informal processes it follows to get the job done.
These processes need to be listed out and defined so that each step of the sales journey can be monitored.
If you’re a home improvement pro (let’s say you own a roofing business), you’ll probably need to define certain steps and factors like:
- Acquiring leads
- Sending quotes
- Negotiating cost of services
- Confirming date(s) of services
- Executing services
- Payment
Once you have these steps laid out with as much detail as possible, you can uncover the key performance indicators your team needs to mind.
Step 2: Identify your key metrics
With your sales process meticulously laid out, you can begin to uncover the metrics that matter.
With these key metrics in mind, you can grasp each step of the sales journey from start to finish and figure out customer retention throughout your sales process. Also, if you’re doing it right, you’ll be able to identify how long it takes to complete a sale.
At this step, you should be asking yourself and your sales team:
- How many emails are sent?
- How many phone calls are made?
- What makes for a qualified lead?
Common performance metrics to look out for are:
- Sales made in a month
- Sales made in a year
- Average sales cycle length
- Average closing rate
- Money spent getting leads
- Average amount of money a client pays
- Lifetime client value
- Client acquisition rate
This way, you know how many leads out of 100 might ask for a quote, and how many leads that ask for a quote will hire you for your services. These metrics will allow you to track profitability, gauge performance, figure out where to cut costs and maximize growth opportunities, and more.
Step 3: Review your metrics and measure performance with the team
With your baseline metrics identified, you’ll have the insights to determine who on your sales team is underperforming or overperforming. This will show you who on the team needs extra sales guidance, and who the team can learn from. Then, you can look qualitatively at what his or her process includes to not only celebrate success and/or growth but improve the sales process for everyone on the team.
If your sales process doesn’t already include it, holding sales meetings is a vital way to ensure your sales team understands where they need to improve. It can also promote a little bit of competition within the team and drive the internal and external facets of motivation for your employees.
Step 4: Store all of your sales info in one place
It’s 2021! There’s no need to store files in cabinets any longer.
As your business grows, you will probably want to store your client contact information in a customer relationship management (CRM) software like Hubspot or ClientTether!
There are many CRM systems available today, but a good CRM will:
- Store all contact information in an organized way
- Make all business-related information easily accessible
- Enable easier communication within your team
- Manage daily tasks and steps of the sales process
- Automate the tracking of your key metrics so that you can gauge success on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis
Step 5: Use your numbers to predict
Once your sales process is defined, measured, and optimized online and in-person—you can then start to put your numbers to work.
For example, if you know that for every 100 leads you call, about 50 will ask for a quote, and 10 will close— then simple math will demonstrate that your sales team needs to make at least 1,000 calls to close 100 deals. Think of your process as a pyramid! See the below visual for reference:
Step 6: Find opportunities to improve!
With your sales process properly mapped out and monitored, you can begin to make decisions from a business growth perspective. You can brainstorm ways to improve your closing rates OR figure out where in your sales process you need to spend more to get more quality leads.
For instance, if your existing processes work and you have a high call-to-close rate, maybe you need to figure out a way to get clients to spend more money. Consider add-on features, additional services, etc.
Or, if your call-to-close rate is on the lower end, you can brainstorm ways to incentivize closing like special offers or deals to prospective or existing clients. For example, you can increase customer retention rates by giving them exclusive discounts, rewarding them for referrals, or even just sending them holiday cards! Sales is a human business. If you’re a home improvement professional that appreciates his or her customers, you should consider investing in ways to express thankfulness for the partnership.
All in all, sales success can be attributed not only to talent and discipline, but also repeatable, measurable processes that ensure your business’s survival and growth.
If you’re interested in more sales tips, visit our free Sales Tip Center for helpful guides, webinars, and videos.
Looking to generate leads for your home improvement business? We can help! Schedule a meeting and speak to a conXpros representative and learn how our services will help you find genuine opportunities and acquire clients without wasting money on bad leads.