Summary:
Ari Greenbaum interviews Anthony D. Potts, President of Replacement Window Center of Middle TN, as they talk about the steps it takes to master your sales presentation, the different methods you can use, and what you should and shouldn’t do.
Stream it here:
Transcript:
Ari: Hey, welcome to The X Factor: A Home Pro Sales Podcast. This podcast is about all things sales to help Home Improvement pros generate high-quality web-driven leads, and most importantly close more deals. I’m your host, Ari Greenbaum, and in this podcast, we’ll talk about different tactics, tips, and resources to help you grow your business while interviewing sales experts in the industry.
But before we get into the topic today, a little housekeeping. Hey, show us some love rate us on Apple on the podcast, that little purple icon; give us that five-star rating and leave a review. Let us know you’re enjoying the podcast means a lot to us.
Today, we’re gonna be focusing on the importance of a masterful presentation. It’s a very strong term in home improvement products and services. Again, I want to introduce my guest. And we’ll get into the topic there because he’s an expert when it comes to this. He also happens to be a client of connects pros. So I am privileged and honored to be joined by Anthony Potts, the owner and president of replacement windows center in Tennessee, multiple locations and growing that from what I understand as well.
Thank you for joining us, Anthony, I am super excited to have you on as a guest. I’ll let you introduce yourself a little bit to tell everyone where you come from and why you’re the man.
Anthony: Oh, first of all, let me say I’m not the man. I’m simply a man in a big world. So alright, thanks for having me on. It’s a pleasure to be here this afternoon. I am Anthony Potts, I am the local owner for all of Tennessee’s replacement windows centers. We offer in-home residential sales. We also do quite a bit of new construction as well. So masterful presentations, you know, they can go in many different ways and never know what you’re going to walk into when you walk in the door. But we’re based out of Nashville, Tennessee, we do cover the Nashville and Knoxville markets. So if you’re in the market, and you’re in the area—look us up, give me a shout.
Ari: Absolutely. And you haven’t only been involved in Windows, from what I understand. I mean, your background is pretty extensive in sales, I mean, many, many years of expertise and know-how to get deals done.
Anthony: All combined. Jesus, I’m giving away my age, I know I look really young without, there’s the gray right there. But no, all together, it’s about 30 plus years of both executive leadership, which is nothing but sales— it’s just on a completely different level. And in-home sales.
So yeah, lots of years of experience, serving others is what I enjoy the most. So that’s why we created this business in Tennessee; just to do things the right way. The servant leadership that we provide and to serve the communities that we’re in. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s very simple. To my client in the grocery store: I got two choices, do I run away from him and hide or do I talk to him and smile?
Ari: And I’m sure that ties directly into how you present and you know, what you do with the clients along the way.
Anthony: Absolutely.
Ari: So take me through like, you know, obviously, you guys are focused on Windows sales, and I’ve had some sales background in Windows, myself, and in-home sales. And it’s a little bit different than maybe the service industry is more, you know, real presentation. It’s a product as well as a service that you’re providing.
So if you had to just get a starting point of like, how do you get a presentation created? Is it, first of all, something you would like to have your team and yourself go in there scripted to a degree where you know what you’re going to say? Or is it more just a consultative type of sale, in your opinion, how you present a product to someone in their home?
Anthony: It’s really both. You hit the nail on the head. It’s scripted— to a degree. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. You’ve got to be prepared. You’ve got to know the process and product before you know the presentation. So knowing the process of sales and what you’re going to do, and making sure that you do those things to pro tip number one if you’re not doing the exact same thing, every single time every single day. You’re not doing yourself any favors, you need to get out of sales and go find another line of work. If you’re listening Ari I love you buddy but they just need to quit watching quit listening right now
Ari: Sales is rinse and repeat. I’m with you 100%. I always preach consistency.
Anthony: Yes, rinse and repeat. So yes, everything we do is scripted to a degree. You got to know what you’re doing and more importantly, why you’re doing it. For me, my background— I also have a master’s degree in psychology. So the psychology behind the sale, I guess gives me a little bit of an edge.
Ari: To be able to operate that into the selling process itself. Just the understanding of human nature homeowner, you know, et cetera, and plug that into that pre-determined process.
So if you if you’re going into a home, are there certain outlines or structure without giving away you know, like big, big secrets. But what is your basic formula? Obviously, there’s work done before you ever get there, but getting to their home? Is there a step-by-step thing that people should do if we’re just putting an outline together?
Anthony: You know… without giving away that secret sauce, every process really is, you know, four or five steps. Every company does it. There are no secrets involved. It’s a process.
This is something that’s been developed; we just tweak it and we just change it. And it’s very simple: You start with the objectives, you know, once you’ve been through everything, you’ve done everything you’ve you’ve had the dual at the door, they’re going to kick you out, you get into the door, the process ends and the presentation really takes over, about midway through.
Step four, in our process, if you will, in the entire process, the presentation will come through at about step four. The first thing that I teach everybody, whether it’s my team or another team, and we do a little bit of outside consulting, as well is objectives. You know, I want to overcome your objectives, which are truly your objections. Right at the front. I don’t wait to the end, when we’re talking dollars and cents, it makes no sense to combat objections.
Ari: So are you trying to flush those out? Right, the beginning, that’s part of your process to flush out what those concerns and what those objections could be?
Anthony: Absolutely. So right up front, you know, “Ari, you told me when we got here, you mentioned you wanted XYZ? Perfect. Okay. You said that you wanted to accomplish XYZ? Is that a fair statement?”
I’m starting to get some of the heat back, I’m starting to feel what you’re looking forward to getting out of the project. So that’s step one. Objectives and objections right there off the bat.
The next part of the process, you know, you’ve got to have features and benefits. Once you find out what somebody is looking for in any product, whether it’s Windows, tile, roof gutters, selling cats, anything.
With features and benefits, what you hear most people do is very simple. My product is going to do this. If I do this, it does this. Okay, screw all that. Come on, let’s get real with each other. The reason you do that is the Ask the one question: “does this fix the problem that we talked about earlier?” “Does this solve the issue that you’re currently having with your product?” Ask the hard question is number two.
Ari: So if I’m understanding correctly, I mean, the key would be doing some discovery, real fact-finding understanding the person’s needs before you get to that stage. And then stage two then is allowing you to process specific addresses. What I’m hearing from you is in your process is much more targeted and pinpointed to what the person’s pain or need is.
Anthony: I want to know what your pain is. Because my biggest competitor is the window that they currently have in their house, or whatever product they currently have at their house.
How many people go buy a new TV because their last one busted? Are they still watching the TV and saw the commercial for another TV and want to go buy a TV?
Ari: Makes sense.
Anthony: I’ve got to offer a product that’s better than what you already have. Right?
Ari: That is for sure. Man, you gotta tie it to them. So that’s what this part of this process is tying it directly to that individual.
Anthony: Absolutely. And that’s all stuff that you find, as part of the sales process, the fact-finding. You know, you’re engaging the customer, you’re making the rapport, that’s the time to get all the facts out of the way, you’re gonna know everything you know, that way when you sit down to do a presentation part of the process.
That’s where it can be as little as five minutes. It can be as long as four hours. You’re not going to talk to a chef the same way you want to talk to an engineer.
You got to know your customer. It should be tailored to who we’re sitting in front of.. having that emotional intelligence to know “alright, I’m walking around in your head maybe you don’t even know it.”
Ari: I’ve made those mistakes myself when I was a rookie and on the other side of the coin and stepped into people’s homes just so focused on a process and just literally ramming it down. That’s you missed the person you could see them disappearing and you know, mid-presentation. That could have been a deal and I’ve killed it.
But again, part of rookie mistakes, so I hear what you’re saying loud and clear. It’s a very easy thing to do. Let me just be consistent with my process. Everything will be good. It’s a numbers game, but it could be much better as a numbers game from what you’re saying when you are aiming for the right target.
Anthony: Know what the target is and know who the target is. The third step that we always do is show examples. I will give you one pro tip today. And we’ll give you one piece of secret sauce. And this will help everybody out there and I don’t even think it’s a secret anymore.
We live in a touch-and-feel world you learn visually, audibly, and hands-on. So give examples, you know, Susie, down the street, XYZ Bob down the street, XYZ. But also carry a binder with you; carry the ammunition for that gun that your carry.
That binder should contain pictures. That binder should contain testimonials. “Susie, hey, look.” Show them the binder. Don’t do it on an iPad.
Ari: So programming without social proof is a huge piece of this before you solve their problem. Show them how you’ve done it for others. Boom.
Anthony: Here are the examples. Here’s the proof of the pudding that you asked for. Number four, here’s where it starts getting really fun. I’m just going to ask one question, and we’ll look you dead in the eyeball. Are you ready for this?
Ari: I’m ready.
Anthony: All right, can you see how XYZ product can solve every problem that we’ve discussed today? At this point, they’ve already told me how great the window is. They’ve already told me how beautiful that new OLED 18,000,000K TV.
Ari: That’s part of your presentation or pre-presentation. Maybe step three, is you said not just a binder, but also have in your case, you’re selling Windows materials, or any product, things that are tangible for people to touch and feel.
Anthony: Yes, that’s part of the features and benefits, you’re going to demonstrate the product.
Ari: Like a roofer, obviously having shingles they can touch and see and you know, up close and personal gutters, the feel of different types of gutter materials. I mean, it’s tangible stuff.
Anthony: Sales is all about widgets. We’re in the service industry, I don’t think we’re in the sales industry. But selling it swapping one widget for another. This is applicable, whether it’s home improvement, I know it’s here what we’re talking about, but maybe somebody stops by and is an electronic salesperson. The same principles apply across the board.
Then you know the features and benefits. Well, you’re going to demonstrate the product, you’re gonna show the window tilts, and it moves up and moves down, you’ve got a screen on the outside, you’ve got whatever type of vinyl, the corners are this that it’s made out of this, we can put grids in it to make it look pretty.
By the time you get to number four in that process; it’s real simple. Can you see how this product will solve all the issues that we’ve discussed here today? You’ve backed them into the corner. You’ve already pre-qualified this customer. So they’ve said yes, every part of the way they love everything about the product. Because that leads you right into number five. It’s time to invest.
Ari: Got to ask for the order. That’s a good Zig Ziglar adage. “Always ask for the order.”
Anthony: Do you know how many people in this industry in every sales industry will go in and show a product, not sell a product and never ask for the business. The client can be sitting at the table with a checkbook out, pen in the hand, ready to write a check, but they never asked for the business. So the client’s confused.
The salesperson regardless of state, you know, they could be brand new, they could be 20 years old. It’s just conditioned to “Okay, let’s go in.” And at the end be quiet. The old adage we’ve heard is “The first person that speaks loses.”
We got to let the last thing at the mouth be all I need you to do is sign here or whatever you need to say to get the business. What can we do to earn your business today? Whatever it is. So that’s kind of the last thing you say before you do the silence. If not, everybody’s confused.
Ari: So while they’re in the ether and enamored with your product and your service and everything you’ve shared about all those features and benefits are going to tie directly to them. That’s the moment we asked for the order.
Anthony: Absolutely. You have to ask for the sale. You know, everybody’s gonna have an excuse as to why they don’t want to purchase. But at the end of the day, if you’re a reputable company, offering an excellent service or product and a quality price gives value. Ask for the business. It’s very simple. That’s really what it comes down to.
Ari: I’ve been coaching sales for close to 15 years and I can tell you that that is the most common issue that I find with people as well, especially newer guys that just don’t ask for the order.
It’s mind-boggling because again, it’s just like driving up to a drive-thru window and not saying anything and expecting to get fed. It doesn’t work.
But, you know, going back to your notes: there’s an analogy I used to refer back to. You mentioned showing things since we’re a tangible society. I mean, people like to touch things. I’ve always use the analogy back when I was in kindergarten, I loved show and tell I mean, I don’t know a kid that didn’t.
The kid that came in and told me about his trip to Europe or wherever the family took him to Disney World. No one cared. But when the kid brought the pet turtle, “Ooh, ah, let me touch that thing. Let me hold that thing.” It’s amazing. Even at that age, we didn’t care about the story, but we cared about what we can handle.
Anthony: Yes, absolutely.
Ari: So I’ve been with you on that for a long time. Paint a picture, make it tangible. And if you have the ability, as you do in your line of work, where you have a tangible physical product, and you can put materials in people’s hands, that’s fantastic, you know, they can really snap to see or think about it, they could feel what they’re getting.
So let me ask a step backwards, I mean, obviously done a lot of training, and you have a lot of guys out the field working for you closing deals, you’re not just doing this all yourself. So when you’re getting a guy prepared, from what it sounds like, and I don’t want to put words in your mouth, it is uber imperative for someone to have like complete knowledge of what you’re doing.
Go in not just saying I’m an expert, but truly have expert knowledge. Because if from what you’re saying if you’re going to be able to present a product in this style, that to me sounds like it’d be a key cause like, you agree with it, you would require a certain level of knowledge and adequacy before you even send someone out in someone’s home.
Anthony: Absolutely, you’re going to know, the process, the eight-step process of what we do, you’re going to know the whole presentation, from start to finish. Here’s your structure, just like you said, structured to a degree, here’s what we do, we do the same thing day in and day out, you’re gonna spend time in the field with someone else, you’re gonna spend time in the office with our training staff.
And when it’s time for your first week, somebody is going to shadow you, instead of you being the shadow, or now you’re the shadowee and let’s go. If something happens during that week, and we see that you can’t do it, well, you just earned another week in the office.
Ari: So that’s imperative is really getting this down and mastering the whole process, not just a presentation, but the process before ever stepping foot in someone’s home so that way they can be consistent, they can give the right information and they’re not so focused on what am I going to say? But on what is this person saying to me, so they can internalize it and understand how to meet their needs.
Anthony: Absolutely. So secret sauce, here we go. I say it a lot.
Ari: You said you wouldn’t do it.
Anthony: We actually make our team record themselves in a mirror video, and bring it to us and show us so I know they know the process. And then, you know, come to me. And now you’ve got to sell me something, you gotta get into my head and crawl around a little bit.
I need to know that you can see the cues that are around you, without going too deep into that, for anybody that’s a pro listening, you know what that is. But there’s always something that tells you if somebody is a buyer or not. You can always spot it, noticing the cues, what to look for what to pick up on. And once I got all this down, again, it’s tailored to a degree. That’s all we do.
Ari: But again it’s coming from a place that’s real, not just purely scripted. It’s structured, not scripted.
Anthony: Absolutely.
Ari: If I were to put like a summary on things, I mean, obviously there is a process that is clear, I mean a very concise process. Starting with qualifying and understanding the person’s needs, again, getting them prepared and tying it to their pain points specifically. So it’s not just features, it’s tying benefits directly to those pain points. Again, sharing the social proof, show Intel, so to speak, as a piece of this process, and then a presentation, and then of course ask for the order.
If we’re putting the nutshell summary on what you would say if you’re rinse repeating this consistently, you will find success providing you’re working on this and you are an expert.
Anthony: Absolutely. And it’s all the presentation, you know, we can call it, we have a complete process when we go to a home. The presentation is a small portion of this, but it’s all presentation. You have to present yourself as an authoritative figure. They used to say in the car business, you’re brand new, whether you’ve been here for one day or 30 years because they will take advantage of the new guy.
In this industry, it’s the complete opposite. You have to be the expert and you don’t have in today’s world, the ability to flip the script like that. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. You got it. We’re dealing with people’s mansions.
Ari: This is their baby, this is their heart.
Anthony: Absolutely. Their home is their castle and we treat it the same way. You know. So from start to finish, yeah, that’s what we do.
Ari: And, like, you can have some fun, fabulous stuff without having to give too much secret sauce away. So I appreciate it. I mean, again, this is to give people a really good idea of what successful guys are doing. It’s not just a script that goes in there and rams it down people’s throats.
It’s relating to the person, standard sales things, identifying their needs, solving their problems, and do it in a way that’s, you know, it’s coming across where it’s unique to them, and creating that relationship. It’s pretty simple stuff to me, but again, got to get out there and people need to apply these things, they do this, they’re gonna have that success.
But I really appreciate you coming on here and sharing, you know, some nuggets with the viewers and with myself, you know, again, without getting too much into the secret sauce. I really do appreciate you taking the time to do so, because I do know this is gold for a lot of folks.
But you know, besides Thank you, I want to thank our listeners obviously for tuning into the X Factor homes pros sales podcast. I do hope that it brings you value and helps you take your sales game to the next level.
Be sure to subscribe and catch the next episode. Your action items as a listener: wherever you’re listening right now hit the subscribe button. Catch the next episode. You can follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn @conxpros. And if you didn’t catch that, just check out the description for all our social media links. And if you have any questions, just shoot us an email. You can email us at learnmore@conxpros.com. Again, thanks for tuning in. Happy hunting out there. And have a great day!