The Close, Part 1

The salesman has now taken up about two and a half hours of the homeowner’s time. It is time for him to “pitch price". He will not call it that. Instead, he will now discuss the “investment in your own home."

First, he will review everything he has concocted that is wrong with your home. There will be fear on his face and a tremor in his voice. Then he will review how wonderful his company is. Then he will review the product. Then comes the...investment.

The first thing he will do is make certain that you have been “price conditioned” This means that he has ground you down into believing that whatever he is offering you is all quite wonderful and that you can’t live without it.

He now shows you the quote….Ahhh….the “investment summary” and it will be astronomical. Now he starts the real work.

He will pause for a while after showing you the quote just to see if you are crazy enough to accept it at face “value." He will actually sit there and say nothing for several seconds. He will then tell you that this price is wonderful and that the products will greatly increase the value of your home far beyond what they cost. That was possibly true - in last year’s price-bubbled housing market.

If you do not leap at the chance to “invest” then he will mention the “senior citizen savings" (not discount). Then he will mention the “initial visit savings" (not discount).

If you are still reticent to invest in your own home then he may try the “promotional savings" (not discount) where your home can be used in the company’s advertising and where they will put a sign on your front lawn during construction.

He also might tell you about the referral savings and the testimonial savings. It does not matter what the names. They mean nothing.

Most of these discounts will be hard numbers not percentages. A $750 discount here and a $500 discount there. In some unusual cases they might be a 5% discount to a 15% discount.

Remember, the real professional salesmen will not use the term “discount."

Professional salesmen use the term “savings.

Please note that he will try to never go near or below 40% off that initial price he showed you.