07 - What Separates Average Sales Reps From Top Performers with Corey Cousins

SPEAKER_04 0:23

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the podcast for the in-home selling world, selling in the dwelling. I am your host, Alan Langer, and today we've got another great guest lined up coming from the sales world, but I'll get to Corey in a second. But before we do that, just two quick housekeeping points. One, you gotta visit my title sponsor, Paradigm Vendo. It's paradigmbendo.com forward slash dwelling. They are the all-in-one solution to have everything in one spot in the house in front of the customer for your sales reps to give the customer great experience. So check them out. More on them later in the show. And also, don't forget to visit the podcast website, sellinginthedwelling.com. Click on the Ask Allen segment. Send your question in. If your question is picked, you get a free Selling in the Dwelling t-shirt. So without further ado, I am going to introduce to everyone in the audience a gentleman by the name of Corey Cousins. There's probably quite a few people who know Corey. He's been in the in-home world for quite a while, but Corey comes from Destination Motivation. He's the vice president of sales and training at Destination Motivation, which is a very unique company, and I'll have him explain what they do. But Corey has a vast background in sales, and he has taken this company, Destination Motivation, from $4 million a year when he started to over 14 million at its current pace, and that's 192% growth. So I think this gentleman knows a little bit about sales. Corey, welcome to the podcast. How are you, my friend? I'm wonderful. Thank you for having me, Al. Yeah, this is great. So I found Corey uh through, I don't know, some of my contacts in the in-home selling world. And I saw what Destination Motivation does, and it's basically you guys get well, you know what? I'm gonna let you explain. Tell tell everyone in the audience how destination motivation helps contractors and in-home sellers sell more and reduce cancellations.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Absolutely. So it's such a unique tool. And what we do, we're a sales and league conversion tool, right? And the engine behind it is vacations. Right. So we tap into an emotional connection into why people buy, you know, and what causes delays. So think about it this way: if the customers having to choose, feel like they need to choose between their vacation plans and making the home renovation purchase, that doesn't feel good. We want our customers to feel good after they buy. So we provide our clients with solutions to where they don't need their customers, don't need to choose between the project and their vacations. They get to do both. It's a massive differentiator, massive pattern interrupt that taps into the psychology behind why we buy in such a unique way, in such a fun way. You know, it adds so much fun to the sale.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

And what's cool is like, I think on the surface, the veneer, it could sound a little gimmicky if it's presented the wrong way. Because it's like, okay, if you buy this, you get a vacation voucher. That's basically what it is, right? And we've all seen timeshare presentations and all that bullshit that's been out there for decades. But this is different because not only if you present it right, it's actually a really good, like, what are you, 40 to 80% off of vacations? It's like a legit thing. And if I'm buying a $30,000 home improvement project, but then I can take my kids to Disney for 50% off the next year. Well, crap, that sounds good to me. It's just got to be presented the right way. But it's it's all it's very legitimate. And it's just, I think it's just a brilliant way to help companies not only sell more, but now your big thing is they don't cancel as much either because they've got this vacation sitting there, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:55

100%. You know, think about it. We've all been there before where we're meeting with someone to give us a price with something in the home, and we've got these budgets in mind, right? We have an idea of what we're going to spend for the project, and then all of a sudden that price hits the table, and we're all, oh gosh. So yeah, that 50 to 80% savings is real, and you hit the nail on the head. There's no timeshare, there's no pitch or upselling. Like I said, I wish I came up with it, honestly. The way Caleb, our CEO and owner, built this program. You know, like I, by the way, going from 4 million to 14 million, I can't take credit for it. I've helped, right? And I've been a major uh part of that growth. But man, the team and what we've built is really, you know, that's the engine behind it. But the why it works, you hit the nail on the head with it. It's tapping into a unique perspective and a unique point as to why people are buying. And if they're deciding, if they're meeting with four or three, two different other companies, and one company is able to come in there and show them that, man, you over the next two years, you don't need to change your vacation plans, delay, or cancel them. You do both. Most customers of ours end up upgrading their trip. When you're saving 50 to 80 percent on the lodging, yeah, you could do a whole lot more. That budget you put aside for that trip, you say yes a whole lot more, is typically what we hear. I always make the joke, you know, I've got three boys and a fourth on the way. And last I heard that. Congratulations by the friend. Thank you. So, yeah, we we went to Disney a while back, and I don't know if you've ever been or if you've been recently.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

Too many times to to to to count.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Oh man, they had these chocolate dipped bananas. Blew them up, right? They were fifteen dollars. It was something still like that for a banana dipped in chocolate, right? Yeah. Boy, we saved up a ton of money and we were prepared. I didn't show up to Disney with a thousand dollar banana budget.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

So I always put myself in the position of the customer there. Man, if I had saved 50 to 80 percent on the lodging booking that trip up front, you better believe I'd have said yes, a whole lot more. You know, that absolutely the little jet skis they wanted to do, or this little event over here that was unjustifiably expensive in my mind. All of a sudden I would have said, get another one. Let's get another banana. Let's get two bananas. Let's get two, might as well. Give me one.

SPEAKER_04 6:11

Oh my goodness. You know, it goes back to selling is emotional. People buy with emotion, they justify with logic. You can't sell with logic and then have people justify it that way. Buying something for your house is emotional, and I just think it's very cool that you have this kind of product that can help them get what they want for their house and not, you know, cancel a vacation. I can't tell you. I mean, I sold in the house, I've been I was in over 11,000 homes, and I can remember quite a few people saying, Yeah, I'd love to do this, but we're going to Paris uh in three months. We can't afford it. We'll think about this next year. We're just getting a price. That eliminates all that.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Not only, yeah, 100%. Not only that, think about the ones who didn't vocalize it. We all have a little pride and ego.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Think about it. If you've been in my house for two hours, three hours, however long you typically took, even if you're the most likable human being in the world, it would hurt my pride to have to come out and say, hey, Alan, I don't know if I could afford to get this project done and take the kids to Gatlinburg like we've been discussing.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Never say that. That would hurt me. We wouldn't say that, right? Yeah, no, let me think it over. No, no, no, you did a great job. Let me talk it. Let me let's talk it over. We got a few things to consider.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

Yeah, we gotta we gotta think about it. You know, but no, no one ever gets that, but that objection, we need to think about it. Never heard that.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah, right. We remove that altogether and flip their travel and their vacation plans to a massive advantage. It's a pattern interrupt. Yeah, we all absolutely all these these scripts in our mind of in the past being sold to. No one wants to be sold. We all want to buy. Right. So if we feel like we're being sold, we create these systems and and scripts in our mind that no, if I stay here and I do this and I go through this, I'll be safe and I won't get sold to. This is a pattern interrupt that puts them in to exactly what you said. We buy based on emotions, we justify the purchase using logic. When we leave the house, all they're left with is the logic and the why and why they're convincing themselves, hey, this is why I bought. If the logic isn't there, then good luck. They're gonna cancel. We help keep the emotion and the logic more impactful and top of mind when you leave the home or when the sales reps leave the home. So I don't need to give some made-up excuse of, well, let us think we're gonna call you back. You were such a good sales rep. Worst, don't you?

SPEAKER_04 8:26

You were awesome. We'll definitely call you back by Tuesday. No, no, no problem. And then it's crickets. And you know, you're saying something. I just had uh actually, it was released at the time of this recording, it was released. So I had Greg Cummings on from Power 100, which I know you know, Greg. And he was talking about the concept of AI findability and how how contractors really need to up their game on not SEO anymore, but people are now searching on AI. When someone leaves your house, you're still going to do some research on that person if you bought or you didn't buy. So let's say I bought from Corey ABC Roofing, and I'm feeling pretty good, but you know, I'm just gonna check AI tonight before I go to bed. Did I miss any roofing companies out there? And AI comes up and says, Yeah, there's three other good roofing companies out there. Now I know I've got, well, I've still got 80% off my trip to, you know, Florida. Screw it. I'm not gonna have the other companies out there. So I think it's gonna help with that as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

100%. The buyer's remorse on the back end. Yeah. Not to mention our website, so user-friendly, we give them a, we give our clients a warm down process that keeps their mind off of the check that's gonna clear tomorrow or the financing that they're gonna have to start paying next month. Right. And instead, and think about it, some of these clients of ours are six, seven, eight, ten weeks out on install. That's a long time to sit and wait where the only thing you have is some papers and a hit on your bank account or your hit on your credit. Yeah. So give them something fun to do, they can start planning their vacations.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Yeah, it's it's tremendous. So you mentioned the word process. I like to say I'm a big process guy, but it's a nuanced process because if you stick to your process and that's all you do and you don't pay attention to the customer, you're dead in the water. So I want to go back to your sales career. You're super successful. Like you, you're a trainer. How do you train your reps? Is there a process you give? Is there a 10-step? Is there a five-step? What is your foundational process in sales, especially in the uh in the home improvement industry?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Great question. So absolutely a little different, I guess, than what your typical old school sales methodology is.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

I believe in genuinely caring about the customer. You know, uh, we joking, I call it commission, Brett. People can sense when your intentions are self-centered. What if I'm in the home for me, if I'm in the if I'm meeting with someone and trying to make a sale based off of what I want, based off of what I gain, people can sense that. Man, we've got like a second nature almost with it. 100%. Yeah. So that's number one is having the right mindset, that servant mentality, that I'm here to serve, I'm here to find. They called me up for a reason, or I'm here meeting with them for a reason. There's some sort of a pain that exists that they're hoping I could solve. Nobody shops around on prices on something they don't intend to buy. Yeah, I've never gone out and researched a price on something that I didn't have a hope or an intention of buying in some way, shape, or form in the future. Maybe maybe curiosity, but that's rare, right? If they're they called you up, gave you time in their home or in their business or whatever, there's a need, there's a want, there's a desire, no matter what wall they put up, right? No matter what they've trained themselves and scripts they've they've taught themselves to protect themselves. So that's the number one mentality is everything, right? Go into it genuinely trying to help. Yep. Second is do not exactly what you said, don't just go in there with a pitch in a script of oh, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna say that, and I'm gonna go through. Nobody wants to deal with that. Well, you can read a script in a and you can feel it that okay, cool. This is this isn't a real conversation, this is a structured pitch. No one wants to be pitched. So, but there needs to be a framework that we stick to, otherwise you can't replicate success. You can't predict success. So I do believe in systems and processes because I can't teach you to be me, but I could teach you a system. I can teach you a process. So number one is is genuinely care. Two, I'd say is is your needs assessment, survey, discovery phase, whatever it is. Find out what's important to them and what's the outcome that would determine success for them. We've all heard of the fab, right? The old school features, advantages, and benefits.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

It's it's old school, but it's still impactful to this day. I would say Fabio, add an E and an O to it, right? Okay. So not uh old school Fabio with the pretty hair and all that, right? So Fabio with an E and O, the missing element to me, it's features, advantages, benefits, and then emotion and outcome. I feel like those are the two biggest pieces that people miss and sales reps miss. What is the emotional reason why they've called you? What is the emotion behind how your pro your product, your solution will help solve that pain? And then what is a desirable outcome that will satisfy them, or even better, delight them? Because to me, delight is such a more powerful word than just satisfied. It's it's above what I expected. It's exceeding expectations. Will the emotional and the outcome delight them? If I can present that aspect whenever I'm meeting with them and going through our value proposition and what we do, then on the back end, as long as we can fit it into a budget and make it affordable, we have a sale. We've got ourselves a customer who's happy and satisfied and become raving fans, essentially, of the brand and what we're doing. So that's long-winded there, but that's a simple way to justify what I do and how I teach with my team and in the past, especially.

SPEAKER_04 13:43

Not long-winded at all, and it's completely relevant. And you that's why I have you on because you and I are so aligned in that. And that's what I did when I when I was selling in the home, even though I still go on ride-alongs with reps and I want to kick them under the table. When they ask a question, the customer gives them a well-thought, well-spoken answer, and then they ask something completely unrelated to what the customer just said because it's the next thing in the script to say. So, you know, emotional intelligence is becoming such a big deal in sales today. You need to have the process, like you said. But if you're not nimble within the process, if you don't, if you don't know how to adjust the script according to the actor across from you, you're you're not gonna sell. You know, I tell people the term script is such a kind of a negative word in sales because reps hate it. They're like, I don't want to be a script, but then they try to follow the script and they and then they get all flustered in the house and everything. Who here, like if I'm doing training, I'm like, who here has ever seen a movie? Everybody raise their hand. Okay, did you know everyone in that movie is actually reading a script, following a script? And they're like, oh yeah. And I'm like, could you tell they were reading a script? And they're like, no, they weren't. They know the script so well, inside and out, upside and down, that they can recite it as if it's a regular conversation, but then they'll add lib when they can. And that's some of the best parts of movies ever made is you have these ad lib lines that happen just naturally. That's what a good sales conversation is. You have the script embedded in you so well, but then you just, it's just natural. And then something happens during the conversation, the customer wants to take you a different way, you're like, no problem, let's go there. I'll go, I'll go there with you. So that's kind of how I look at it.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

No, I 100% agree. I used the stand-up comedian. I'm a big stand-up comedy nerd. When I would do my trainings and all that, I would use that analogy. You know, if you watch a great stand-up comedian and you're watching one of their specials, they're almost so tired and bored that that material to them it's not funny. To them, it's it's I've said this so many times, I could say it in my sleep. I don't even get why people are still laughing.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

At this point, but they've perfected not only what they're saying, the inflection, the timing, the pause is in between the delivery and the drop, you know, and the punchline. All of that is scientifically broken down to them to get the greatest result. Yeah. They start with a premise. Hey, this is kind of funny. All right, this is kind of unique. And yeah, I bet you there's a joke here. I bet you can make people laugh based on this. And then they formulate it. That's what a script is, is cool, I got a product that I know will help customers. It's great. And I need them to understand the value in it and why my company, my product is better than the rest out there, and why it'll solve their pain and their needs and wants and desires now and in the future. Yeah. That's the whole goal. A script and a system will align that out so that you can do that the greatest percentage of time. It's not a foolproof system. And to your point, if you're not listening and responding based on what's there, you might as well just send them a video.

SPEAKER_04 16:39

Yeah, exactly. And here's the thing: everyone's saying the same thing. Everyone. You get five roofing companies to your house. Everyone says they're the best roofing company. No one says they're second best. No one says they're second. I'm like, we're the third best roofing company in Bronze. No one ever says that. This everyone says they're the best. That's not going to sell. Saying you got the best installation, the best warranties, the best shingles, and and the best owners is not going to sell anything. It's you, it's the rep, it's the differentiator and the experience that you're giving the customer. And just walking into that house with that servant mentality that I'm here to help you instead of sell you is a huge step one. Then that's what has to happen.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

It's funny that you've you haven't sat through any of my trainings here with Destination Motivation. I haven't I know it's crazy. Because everything you just said, if if any of my clients or any of our clients are on here listening, they'll pick apart what you just said and be like, man, I've heard Corey say it almost verbatim. I have an entire, entire slide based on customers buy based on emotions. They justify it using logic. Yeah. Right. And I I talk about exactly that. That I've never once heard someone go in there and say, man, we're your third best roofer in the area. You know, half my installers are great.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

No. One just got out of jail, but he's doing really well. He's pretty good. Yeah. No, we're the best. We got the best value. We do it all the best price. Everyone says that. Why what's the differentiator? It's you. It's you. Exactly. And if if you don't have conviction in what you're selling and how you're selling it, and if you're not giving them the comfort and the trust that, man, what they're saying and what they're doing is real. I feel comfortable with this. I feel confident with this decision. It's all based on emotions. We justify it later using logic.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

Yeah, absolutely. We want to make sure we made the right decision. That's where buyer's remorse comes from. Because when you leave there, so many reps they get that signature and they run out of the house and they keep their fingers crossed. That's actually the most important time is to make sure that that sale is solid and you're sitting there and and making them feel good and have a glass of wine with them. Have have have break some bread and and don't run out of that house. Or the other huge thing is please pay attention to body language. Like so many reps ignore body language because they just keep talking and there's a someone will purse their lips when you say something. That's not a good sign. And they'll just keep yammering on about whatever they said. And literally they just lost that sale because whatever that person heard, didn't like it, you didn't address it, you moved on, they're done. They're not they're not listening to you anymore. 100%. Hey dwellers, quick break. Hey, did you know that the closing percentages for in-home sales has been dropping consistently over the last 10 years? It's really crazy, and there's a lot of reasons for it. But one of them is reps have so much to do in the house because there's so many different platforms that just jumping back and forth all the time. Well, my title sponsor, Paradigm Vendo, takes care of that. In one digital platform, you can go from initial appointment right to final sale and signatures by visiting just their platform. It's amazing. You gotta check them out. It's paradigmvendo.com forward slash dwelling, par-a-r-a-d-i-gm vendo.com forward slash dwelling, because your reps need to give the homeowners a great experience in the house, and jumping around doesn't do that. Visit paradigmvendo.com forward slash dwelling and take care of the experience your reps are giving in the house. We're gonna get to the ask Alan question in a little bit. Are you seeing anything in the industry that you know that's worth noting as far as either sales methodologies or things that are happening with consumers that you're seeing in in the uh in the home that you think you know the audience would would uh get some you know some value out of?

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Yeah, 100%. So to go back to I'll joke here, the old Fabio uh example there, customers want to be put into that slice of life, right? If they can't envision how buying from me or buying from you would improve their life, if they can't envision what that experience is going to be like after, they typically aren't feeling good after. And nowadays, between your reviews, your AI, all these different things that are out there, visibility of what to expect customer experience-wise, you can almost predict it. You could look through these companies, do a little bit of research ahead of time, and you could typically tell, cool, when I meet with them, here's what the experience will feel like for the most part. It's almost predictable. In the past, it was not predictable. So having your online presence match what you actually are, the reality of who you are as a company and what you provide is key. Because boy, it comes out. There's no way to hide it nowadays. There's no if you're if you're not delivering exceptional service on the back end, people will ouch you. There's no there's no hiding it. You know, in the past, there were these shady companies out there that got by and lasted for years and years and years. Nowadays, no. You're getting called out. Yeah, it's beautiful. I absolutely love it. That's why, like, for instance, our club our company, we have over 3,900 reviews now, perfect five star rating. You am that's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 21:53

That's unbelievable, actually.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

It literally is. Unbelievable is the exact right word. And the amount of times I've had clients. Or people tell me, y'all should like fluff that a little and make it 4.9 just so that it's more believable. Like, no, you know how hard it is to provide such exceptional service that we're maintaining a perfect five-star rating with that many reviews? If we weren't providing the value we say we are, someone would have outed us. So I think if for clients listening, anyone listening, yep, that's key is knowing what your reputation actually is, what you provide, and making sure that that's visible online is number one. The other piece is what outcome, if we're talking to customers and we're in the home and we're meeting with them, what is the outcome that would satisfy them? And painting that picture and putting them, like one of my mentors, Dustin, he always says, put them in the slice of life. Right? That's to me, when I first heard that, I didn't understand what the heck he meant. I was like, what are you talking about? Slice of life.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

So it's getting them to envision exactly what their life will be like after the purchase. So for instance, if I'm selling a uh a shower, right? Cool, I could talk all day about the shower pan or the walls and you know, all no. I want them to envision, cool, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, when you wake up in the morning and your hips and knees are aching, you don't have to step over that tall rail anymore and you you're walking comfortably into your luxurious, glorious shower. How are you gonna feel? What are you looking forward to the most, the mornings or the nights, ending your day in that luxurious shower? Yeah. Get them to envision how their life is gonna benefit from it, what they're gonna feel like after this project's done and they've made it's all complete. That is putting them into the slice of life to where they need it, they want it, and it's not scary anymore. It's if anything, it gives them peace and comfort that, oh, cool, here it is. Done. And they're excited. Now they're excited.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Did you take any of my training? Because literally that that particular line put people in the position of knowing what it's like to own your product or service is one of my big foundations of training. I'm all about how the brain works and why people buy. And when you say to someone, here's a great example I use. Very simple. I'm a roofer. Hey, Corey, I can put a beautiful new green roof on your house. I can. That's true. Or, hey, Corey, imagine driving home from work and pulling up to your driveway every night, looking up at your beautiful new green roof. What did your brain just do? You imagined yourself pulling up in your driveway. So what you're doing is you're making the brain actually envision it. And when you envision it, you want it. And that's what reps don't do. They're saying, Yeah, we can, oh, we can put great. Our windows are beautiful. We can put them in right here. That's not emotional. Imagine waking up and having a cup of coffee and looking out your brand new awning window over your sink. How would that be, Mrs. Smith? Oh my God, I can see my bird feeders. Absolutely. You're halfway home just by one that one sentence. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Can you imagine first Saturday morning after install, you're sipping your coffee and you realize your wife is still sleeping because the train didn't wake her up? How's that gonna feel? You know? You better believe triple pane windows all of a sudden make sense. Yeah. All of a sudden it's like, well, who cares about triple pane windows? Like, I don't even know what the heck that means. But all of a sudden now it's like, oh, that advantage. Oh, cool. That triple pane window. Now it makes sense to me. Now it's something I need and want. I don't want to buy a window without it.

SPEAKER_04 25:15

Brilliant stuff. So many reps will spend 30 minutes talking about the lowy coding and the Argyne gas and the spacers and all that stuff that nobody cares about, right? Nobody cares. No, nobody cares.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Yeah, there's there's so many studies. I'm a big psychology nerd and you know the data doesn't lie. There's studies that show as high as 82% of consumers, after they've bought, feel some sort of regret or guilt. Right. And almost every time it's because they can't envision the emotional side behind it. They there was they bought something. Right? They just bought something, they made a decision, they didn't actually get what they wanted. Right. So if there's so many studies that also show when there's an experience attached to the sale, in some way, shape, or form, that buyer's remorse and guilt straight up goes out the window. So think about it this way: when there's an experience, exactly what you just said and I just said, if I can get them to envision what their experience is like after they bought from me, that's attaching an experience to it. Absolutely. Some products are easy to do than others. Like I sold showers for a long time. I sold, I was up, you know, I sold bathrooms and all that. That's you can sell the experience. Absolutely. And you just you just did it with roofing. What about like even windows? Some products are harder than others to paint the picture of the experience. Can you imagine when it's windy outside and you can't even tell? Like, yeah. Exactly. So what's the experience? Right? You got to find out what their pain is, where the their frustrations are, why are you there, and then get put them in the slice of life of what their experience would be like after they bought from you. You can't do that unless you talk to them and ask questions and find out why you're there, what's their hot spots, what's their pain points, or what's important to them. You find that out, you can put them in that slice of life.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Yeah, and then that's the why. It's the open-ended questions which so many reps don't ask because the brain defaults to closed-ended questions. But finding out the why that you're there, I always say there's the real problem versus the fake problem. The fake problem is usually my roof is leaking. The real problem is leaking on my daughter's head while she's sleeping. That's the real problem. You know, if it was leaking in the garage on a piece of cement, I wouldn't be there as the roofer. There's the symptom and then there's the real problem. It's your job as the rep to find out the real reason why you're there. And quite often it's not because my windows are old. No, the real reason is the draft is sitting in the back of my neck while I'm watching the prices right at night after dinner.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

You nailed it. And look, what our program does so uniquely is it's attaching an experience every single time, no matter how vocal, no matter how stonewall that customer is. If they're not giving you the info you need, if they're you ask all these questions, they're like, Yeah, I'm looking for a window. You know, that's it. Why are you looking for it? Look, I've got four of the guys that came out. You know, how much is your look, how much is this going to be for you guys? Even those stonewall customers that aren't giving you much, you know, attaching something like a vacation voucher, getting them to envision an experience after whether it's for themselves or for someone else, because you can gift our vouchers out. It's attaching an experience every single time to every sale. That's the unique aspect of what we do and why it's so effective. But the emotional attachment there, the emotional connection, the stronger that emotion is, the easier the sale is and the greater satisfaction they have at the end. Like I'll use the example going back to showers there. If you're not asking questions about why you're there and what they're looking for, like I'll give you a perfect example. I had a client one time that the only reason why I was in the home was he he had three bath three or four bathrooms in the home, I forget, but it was it was a bunch. And he had already remodeled all of them except for one bath. And this one, the only person who ever used that bathroom was his mom once a year when she came in town to visit. And that's it. So if I just went in there pitching and going through it all, no, I got him to think the next time your mom's over, she's able to go up there and comfortably shower without you sitting outside the door, praying you don't hear a boom. How's that gonna feel? Because that's what he was. He straight up told me that every time she comes over and she has to go shower, he's literally standing nearby, making sure she didn't fall, right? Listening in, like terrified. That comfort and peace of mind that no, no, no, we're gonna put grand bars right here, exactly where she walks and where she's coming in. It's gonna be a low threshold. There's a seat comfortably, multiple ones all over. Gave him peace of mind. That next time she's over, she can not only comfortably bathe, she's gonna be impressed by it, but she's safe, and you can go about your day and not freak out the whole time. She's in there showering. Yeah. That emotional connection right there of him envisioning what standing outside the door, that one experience got it for him where he literally was like, That's exactly that's what I'm looking for. How much?

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Before price was ever on the table. Yeah. So the more impactful that emotion is, the more the sales are gonna make, and uh the more satisfied after the sale they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Yeah, and it's funny you bring that up because I was doing some ride-alongs. I've I've done for some reason this year, I've done training for quite a few of bathroom modeling companies are becoming more and more like the you know, the wet areas. I was just doing a ride-along now, I was helping training, and I'm listening to this rep, and he's going on and on and on about the features and the benefits and the thickness of the plastic, all this stuff. Uh, the wife's mother was in the living room. They were doing the bathroom for her. They were afraid, again, she would fall, she had to climb over the tub, blah, blah, blah. And the he never brought it up. He just was talking about all these different features and the colors and everything. So I finally said, May I ask a question? And they said, Sure. I said, I'm getting the sense we're here for your mom, right? For her safety and having a better Yeah, that's what we're here. I said, Walk me through an evening. And she said, Well, I have to help my mom shower at least three or four times a week, and I gotta be in there. I said, Imagine if you do this and with with the walk-in shower. You don't have to do that anymore. Imagine your evening where you can actually cook dinner and your mom could go take a shower and have a bath and enjoy herself, and you don't have that worry. What would that be like? And she started to cry. Wow. And then the husband, I just saw his eyes. He's like, I guess I'm buying the shower. He's just seeing on his face. And that's all I said. And they bought it. But if I didn't say that, they would not have bought that because the rep was just worried about the colors and the features and and the warranties and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Yeah. Now featured um doesn't work. Yeah, okay. What's in it for them? If you can get them to understand the emotional outcome behind it, oh man, that's where you get Raven Feds.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

Yeah, absolutely. You talk about you mentioned the customer experience a million times. People buy because of the experience you give them. But talk about, I think where a lot of not only sales reps, but I think business owners, especially in-home contractors, when I ask them how is your customer experience, many of them answer after the sale is made. Like, oh, our installation process is great, we don't take that long. They don't think about the customer journey starting the second that person picks up the phone or fills out that online form. That's where the journey starts. And you touched on that. You said at the beginning, the online stuff has to be has to line up with what the rep's doing in the house, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:13

That's the entire customer experience. 100%. If you're not thinking about it holistically from start to finish, and then it you need to think about it after the sale. You need to think about it post-sale a year from now, right? Because the entire customer experience is what drives the future. Yeah, because it will come out. Yeah, if that front portion there isn't great, you know, then your lead's gonna slow down. You're not gonna have the lead count that you're hoping for, and the conversions on those leads aren't gonna be great either. And on the back end, if they're not 100% satisfied, they're not leaving reviews, if they're not telling people about what you do, you got a one-shop, one pop. No, I want I want customers for life. We want customers who become Raven fans, who are telling all their friends and family, who are telling the neighbors, who are becoming brand ambassadors because the experience was so joyful and delightful, that's a no-brainer that they're comfortable telling people who did the project.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

That's key. That's key. And you have to realize most companies, not companies, most customers, homeowners, clients, whatever, are expecting a bad experience. They're expecting a bad sales experience, they're expecting a bad experience because you're a contractor. So when you deliver the opposite from a sales performance or a sales time in the house, and then the insulation goes great, and then you have great follow-up, it's like people are blown away because the bar is not that high in home improvement. It's just not.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

No, it's really not. That's why the pattern interrupts are so key. Like all the minds that I appreciate the most and respect the most when it comes to like sales training and psychology, they all understand the concept of being different and interrupting those typical patterns we go through. Yeah. I love, I love a negative takeaway. I love, you know, when a customer is hitting you with something that every sales rep's heard before, and you hit them with something along the oh, you might be right. Hold on, let's make sure I can actually help first before we dive into what we do, all that. I tell y'all, like, man, when you come at them and say, hey, well, we might, we might not have the best solution. We really might not. Let's find out what's important to you, what you're actually looking for, and see if there's even a fit or not. That mentality of going into it, like, hey, I'm not here to sell. I'm here to help. I'm here to find a problem, find a pain, present what I can do and see if it's the best solution for them. If you do it that way and you're honest all throughout, man, you leave that's that home either with a sale or feeling good about yourself. And you can repeat that pattern over and over again and replicate success if you're doing it the right way. It doesn't feel good to go into the home and not actually help someone.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

Hey, sellers and dwellers. So the next segment of selling in the dwelling is sponsored by our friends at Destination Motivation. You know, what would a 33% increase in close rates and a 55% reduction in cancellation rates be worth to you? Well, check out Destination Motivation because that's exactly what they can do for you. You want to visit www.increaseroursales.com for more. Now let's get to the ask Allen segment. This is all tremendous stuff, and the noise you just heard that Angels from Afar is introducing the Ask Allen segment. People go to the website, hit click on Ask Allen, they send me a question, and Corey, if I read the question, you get to answer it, I get to answer it, and then they get a free selling in the dwelling t-shirt. So we have a question this week that's near and dear to my heart because it's about pricing. I do a whole type of training on not only how to prepare a customer for the price, but how to present it as well. And Ralph over in Connecticut writes When you're presenting price, do you present three options at all once or lead with financing? Also, do you prefer digital presentation or old school paper? So, how would you answer that? And then I'll give you my two cents.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

In today's day and age, having a powerful digital presentation is a game changer. Um I agree. Like we use engage in all the presentations I do. I've always used engage personally all throughout my career, and we use it here at Destination Motivation as well. Now I know that's not what the segment's about, but that tool makes presentations impactful. Um, it makes it fun for the customer to go along that journey with you. I do think that's important. I've also closed incredibly well with a flip book. Yeah.

unknown 36:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

You know, the idea is can you does your presentation present the value in a way that they can understand it? Does it make the experience easy to understand? Does it price condition? Does it take them shopping and remove the uh the, well, let me see what else is out there, objections. Does it give them a clear understanding of what you do as a company and and why you stand out, why what choosing you and how that would align with their values and what's important to them? You can do that in presentation, digital doesn't matter as long as you get it out, right? Yeah. I do feel like a digital presentation is if you're trying to scale, I think it's a must personally. It's good luck training someone on a system and tracking success if it's not digital and if you can't track what they're doing and how they're doing it and all of that. So that's one. For a price presentation, and throughout my career, that answer would change. Yeah. Yeah. But when I was a brand new sales rep, I actually, my first year doing in-home sales was here. I live in New Orleans, and there's a local company here that I was working for selling bathrooms and windows, and I got closure of the year, my first year there. Um, we had 50-something sales reps, and first year in, I got closer of the year. I totally did, I just laid out all three at once. It's like, cool, look, here's your prices. I'm gonna give you three prices depending on when you're ready to move forward. One's good for a year, one's good for 30 days. If you decide to buy today, here it is. Yep. I just laid it out. The next year I had someone who's smarter than me come in. You know, I got promoted to a sales manager and then eventually a training director, where I've trained thousands of reps as well. In that role, I started to realize doing it that way worked. But if you lay it out in a sequence, it actually was more effective. My clothes went up a good eight to 10%, depending on the month, by telling them still, like I'm a firm believer in the pre-close, whatever you want to call it, a trial close, letting them know what the closing sequence will look like, and tying it down to affordability being the only thing left to solve. I do believe in that still, no matter what's changed, I still believe in checking boxes throughout, closing doors, making sure that I've answered everything and that it's all down to the affordability aspect. Once I get a commitment that, yeah, man, you're the company I want to work with, you've got a product I would love to see in my home. If you could fit this into my budget, we're moving forward. When I get that commitment, I always lay out that there's a few price points depending on when they're ready to buy. So I'll tell them it's coming. Hey, here's your price that's good for one year, however, their systems are. The second price is our sale price. And then for buyers who are looking to move forward sooner than later and ready to buy while I'm here, we have a special just for them. Destination Motivation, what we do, in my opinion, it's so impactful right there. Right there at that same day. Hey, for those customers who are ready to move forward while we're here, we gift them with something unique like this complimentary vacation voucher from Destination Motivation. That's where I have found our tool works best personally. And I've found more success laying it out like that, letting them know that it's coming. Hey, there's going to be three prices depending on when you're ready to buy. On the one-year price, I'm giving it to them. It's on the second price where I'm always doing an options close. If you're not presenting financing every single time, even the customers who tell me, Corey, we buy on cash. We never we don't finance. Absolutely wonderful. I love to hear that. Sounds like you guys know what you're doing. Sounds like you know how you like to buy and how you typically like to pay for these. Perfect. Let me show you your options. Options A is cash. Options B.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Yeah, I'm showing it is financing.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Exactly. And I'm gonna show it every single time. Yeah, right. Yeah, so because it's what I do, and I want you to know your options always. Cool. Sounds like you're gonna choose A. Wonderful. You do have another option. Okay. Yeah. So I always lay it out. And then usually, if you laid it out right, the customers who are ready to buy, cool, what's that price for today? Right. I you got it. You got a sale. You got a happy customer too, because they won.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

I'm gonna play a little devil's advocate with you here because I I think what you're saying. First of all, I was trained that way. I was at Renewal by Anderson. We did the one year, the 30-day, the the buy today and save, whatever it was called back then. I never liked it because it felt like I, first of all, to be honest, it was fake. It's not real. It's like, you know, here's the price. No one's gonna buy that price in a year. And really, no one's gonna come back in 30 days because what what I normally got was, well, you'd mean to tell me if I call you in three days, you're not gonna give me this price today. You get you get that kind of thing. And yeah, there's a way to handle that. And if you're a really good rep, you can. But most reps didn't know how to handle that. So all that turned into for the majority of sales rep is putting pressure on the customer. Yeah, that's what it did. So the way I did it, and even I, when I'm at when I was off my game, I would do it that way, and I would felt like I was putting pressure on the customer and I didn't sell. So I got rid of one year, 30 day buy today, and I said, here are your three options for your project. Not when you buy, but what you want to buy. So I came here, you wanted these 10 windows done. Great. That's the middle option. There's your 10 windows right there. If I had the patio door to it, it's gonna be this. And oh look, it's only another $63 a month for the patio door. But just in case the 10 is a little more than you want to spend, you can start our starter program, which is just three windows. And I would leave them three prices, three options, and then I would literally almost 100% of the time, Corey, I would porch light them. I would then say, I'm gonna let you guys chat about this. I'm gonna go outside and call a customer who just was installed today. I'll be right back. So now I'm like a good sales rep going out calling a customer. Now what are they doing when I leave? They're talking about which option they want. They usually are not talking about yes or no. Because if I left them the one price to buy today. Yes or no. Yes or no, it's no longer a choice mindset, it's a yes or no mindset. And usually that means uh you know, I'm a little nervous right now. I got buyers and anxiety. I like this, but let's let's hold off. But now it's like, hey, honey, I know we got we need the 10 windows, but look at this. For $63 a month more, we can do the patio door. And then I would walk in, they'd still be talking usually, and I would ask this one question every single time. Hey, Mr. Mrs. Smith, which one did you pick? I didn't say, hey, what do you want to do? How do you feeling? Which one did you pick? And they would tell me, we were we're leaning toward the number three, and then we just talk about it from there. And it just kept the conversation going. And that's what I did, and that's how I train. And I like that option better than adding the what you say works if you have a really high EQ sales rep in the house. If you don't, it creates pressure, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

I love it. And look, full transparency here. It's been three years since I've been in the home regularly selling when I had my own company. Yeah. And even back then, the way we presented the one-day price, like, hey, you're buy today's price was very different than the way anyone else trained it. And I've never had a customer tell me it didn't make sense. Right. But I've had customers tell me, like, listen, the pressure's too much. Yeah. I like the way you're going about it. The way I laid it out was logically, right? Because I do like that way it makes total sense and it's getting them focused off the pressure aspect. Right. I would lay it out there from the beginning and say, look, as a company, there's really only three ways I can cut cost. Number one, I could spend less on the materials. I don't think you'd even be considering moving forward with me if I had any other product besides what you chose today. Is that fair? The other way is cut the labor cost. Sure it doesn't surprise you. That warranty, the only way we're doing that is with the best installers around. Right? So we're not going to sacrifice the quality of the workmanship or the materials. Material, the only other way I can cut costs is marketing. Sure, it doesn't surprise you to know every time we show up, it's costing money. Right? That's not your concern, but it's the reality of it. If you call me next week, I'll be here. I don't care what I got going on, I'll be excited to see you. In that instance, though, marketing cost is doubled because there's two trips, right? Technically, it's already tripled. Because the next time I'm out here, it also removes me from a future time slot. Not your concern, but for the customers who do decide to move forward while we're here, we'll throw that in either way. It's gonna, I'm making the same amount either way, whether you're buying today, next week, doesn't matter to me. Your call, we're happy to take your business whenever you're ready. It comes out to an extra X, Y, Z off the price if you're deciding to buy today. So that was how we we laid it out in the past. Again, this is three years ago. I love the way you go about it. Yeah, yeah, things change, you know, and buyers become wise. You know, buyers are wise, yeah. I love that. I love that aspect, I love that approach. I bet you that's highly successful, like you said, to the greater percentage of sales reps versus the experienced reps who've been doing it for a long time.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

Yeah, yeah. And to finish up Ralph's question, digital versus old school, I actually did a combination. So what I would do is the the computer didn't have a way to show the three prices because the key here is the three prices have to be on one sheet of paper. They can't be flipping through things. So I had no way on my RBA pricing program to show three different prices. So I created my own little PDF, horizontal, landscape, three prices, three boxes. So I would say, okay, here's the price. So I take it off the computer, which was digital, but then I would handwrite it.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

And it was kind of cool because this was now me handwriting a price for them, and you can cross things off and you can point things and draw arrows and stuff, but they knew it came off of the computer because it was right in front of them. So it was legitimate. And so it was a combination of the digital. So, Ralph, for me to answer your question, I would always show three options as far as the three different projects. If you want to go Corey's way, you can do it. It's successful, but you gotta really do it a really good way and have some emotional intelligence and watch how they're absorb absorbing it. Because as soon as they start showing any signs of, oh, here comes the sales pitch, or this sounds like a sales typical sales crap, you're you're gonna be dead in the water. They're gonna, they're not gonna, they're not gonna buy. So you just gotta be careful with it.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

I'll second what you said there, by the way, on the closing sequence there. I've always found so much more success, pen to paper. Yeah. We even had, I mean, I've tried every way imaginable out there to present price doing all that. And there's just something about pen to paper. Like having a structured, you know, I even tried PDFs where I'd make it and lay out the format on here. So I had like could make it look neater. Man, I found flipping the page over, having something like a needs assessment, something where I can neatly write it to yeah, it's justifiable on the screen. I'm not just making these numbers up. The price is that's that's it, that's the key. Yep. Yep. With then doing the negotiating and the breaking down on paper, I don't know. There was something about it that it seemed real. It made the connection real. And there's just magic in pen to paper. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 47:07

Yeah, yeah, you're right. Absolutely. And then sometimes you get the negotiator who can you do a little better than that, and all of a sudden you cross off 35,300 and make it 32,000, whatever. How's that? And you flip the paper over. It's just that's kind of old school, but that I don't think that'll ever go away. It's just like that's the kind of that's the customer you're in front of, and you have to adjust to that type of customer for sure. 100%. So good stuff. So Ralph, I hope we answered your question. You're gonna get a free selling in the dwelling t-shirt. You'll let me know the color when I email you. So, Corey, we're we are running out of time. This has flown by. I really appreciate you being on here. So, before we go, tell everyone how they can get in touch with you and check out destination motivation because again, I've seen it. It's amazing. Uh, if you are a home improvement company, you have to check this out because it will increase your close rate and it will lower your cancellation rate. So, how do they find you?

SPEAKER_01 48:01

Increasearsales.com is the name of the website. Go there or email me at core at increasearsales.com. We have cut cancellations by 55% on average for our clients. If you have a cancer problem, 55%. 55% is the average reduction. I mean, I can show you case study after case study of injecting millions back into clients' revenue overnight by simply picking up revenue that they've already sold using the same leads they've already got and picking that revenue up that's bleeding out otherwise. It's easy to plug the hole with the right tool. So we do that and then close on average, we see about a 33% lift in close rates. So it takes 20 minutes, literally reach out, we'll schedule a time. 20 minutes, I can make it all make sense, show you exactly how it all works, how it would fit into your sales process. At the most, you're talking two to three minutes, add it to the sales process with the greatest ROI out. That's why Power 100, I know Greg was your last guest. We are the number one preferred partner on Power 100 for a reason. Out of 3,600 companies, it's because we've provided the greatest ROI with the least amount of lift and cost up front.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Unbelievable. And it's Corey's C O R E Y at IncreaseYourSales.com.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

Increaseoursales.com.

SPEAKER_04 49:15

Increaseowoursales.com. Corey, C O R UI at IncreaseOursales.com. Well, Corey, this has been awesome. I could talk to you all day about sales and processes and everything, but we are both sales geeks, which uh which is amazing and just perfect for this podcast. So anyway, I want to thank you for coming. We will talk again, my friend. And I want to thank everyone out there for joining me on this episode of Selling in the Dwelling. Don't forget, Destination Motivation, by the way, is the sponsor of the Ask Allen segment. Why didn't I bring that up in the beginning? Totally flipped my mind. But yes, destination motivation does sponsor the Ask Allen segment. So check them out and increase our sales.com and Paradigm Vendo, paradigmvendo.com forward slash dwelling, an amazing software tool for the in-home experience with your sales rep for the customers. That's it, everybody, for selling in the dwelling this time. We'll see you next time. Take care.