Cold sweat across the brow, and a pit in the stomach. That’s what your sales call might be dealing with as you knock at the door. But what if I told you that’s the perfect moment to bring up financing?
Financing can be your inroads with the customer, your chance to serve before you sell.
As CEO of Rocket X brands, Victor Rancour once said, “You have to earn the right to quote before giving customers options.”
One way to earn that right is to address monetary concerns by prequalifying the customer for contractor financing at the beginning of the sales call. Here’s how to do it.
When considering how to offer customer financing, the best time to bring it up during a sales call is early and often. But that doesn’t mean it’s a foolproof sales tool. Here are a few wrong ways to sell with financing:
A better approach is something like: “How are you thinking about budgeting for this? Have you considered financing? We have a lot of different options. All we need is basic information to get started. We can do it right here on my tablet and show you what you are approved for.”
Again, that can happen right at the beginning of your sales call.
From there, you can point out that you have multiple options for the entire credit spectrum. At Finturf, we route applications through a multi-lender, full-spectrum network, which can increase the likelihood of approval.
You don’t want to imply that they have bad credit, but you want to make your options seem inclusive.
It’s best not to pitch a specific financing offer. Instead, focus on getting them approved, and then show them what you can offer. The logic being that if you suggest 0% interest, and the customer isn’t approved for that rate, that can leave a sour taste.
The priority should be getting them approved, not on pitching (and definitely not on promising) a specific type of offer.
There are a few ways to start the process:
I’m sure you already know which option has the highest likelihood of the customer completing the application.
If you use an SMS link or QR code and the customer has to cut the call short, you lose the opportunity to help them complete the application.
As our expert sales team said, “When I start the process on my tablet, I can walk them through to the finish line.”
That can mean answering a customer’s questions. If they fill out the application on their own, they might stop when they hit a part they didn’t understand.
For instance, your everyday customer might not know the difference between secured and unsecured loans. If you use an assisted application, you can address those concerns upfront.
We’ve covered how to introduce financing and start the application, but how do you keep up the momentum and get them across the finish line?
It’s all about maintaining that connection with the customer. Don’t forget that what’s routine for you can be anxiety-inducing and out of the ordinary for them.
As industry consultant Drew Cameron once said, “It may be your thousandth call, but it’s their first.”
Adapting to and being responsive to the customer’s needs can keep the momentum going.
As business coach Tom Reber once said, “Trust is when somebody feels like they’re understood, [and] you’re not interrupting them every five seconds in the sales.”
As you keep up the momentum and work toward that eventual sale, staying compliant will keep you out of trouble and build lasting trust with the homeowner.
Start by only promising what’s actually available. It’s a best practice to keep language general until the lender shows the actual terms. You could break Reg Z advertisement rules if you reference any specific terms that the customer can’t receive.
If you promise that the customer’s credit won’t be affected by the prequal, ensure that they know what that means. You can say something like, “Prequalification usually only involves a soft inquiry, which doesn’t impact your score. However, the actual application will probably involve a hard inquiry.”
Finally, if the customer is unable to receive a loan after applying, the creditor must be able to explain why. You likely are not the creditor, but you may need to help the customer understand where they can access this information.
You’ll know your efforts are working when your KPIs go up.
While you shouldn’t expect an overnight boost in sales, a recent ServiceTitan report found that contractors who sell with financing see “12% higher close rates and 13% higher average ticket sizes.” It’s not unreasonable to think you could see those numbers.
Monitoring these KPIs can help you see how you are progressing:
Finally, you can compare your average project size with and without financing to see if you are also getting a boost there.
We are big proponents of selling with financing. That messaging should be everywhere you interact with the customer — your website, emails, print ads, and in between. It should definitely be part of your sales call, and, in our opinion, you should include it from the very start.
