Home Improvement Sales: How To Use Payments In A One Call Close

Prefer To Watch: Here’s The Video

Why Payments Are Critical in the One-Call Close

Explaining how much the monthly payment is when financing home improvement sales is no big deal.  You look at the amount financed then use your chart or formula and voila here is the payment to tell your customer. Using payments to close especially a one-call close is a different story.  Do you just say the payment is 500 a month what do you think? NO... Here is how  I use payments to help in the one-call close. 

What Is “Whittling” in Sales?

Most home improvements are a one-call close and for you to do that you have to learn how to use payments to whittle. Not like with wood but it’s how you gradually close someone. Understand that for most things you sell especially if it is a one-call close the customer rarely just comes out and says yes let’s do it. More common is that they say no first then gradually you shift them over to a yes. That’s what I mean by whittling. An example of this is when you say do you want to do this? No…how about if we do this? No …what about if we do this and this and this?....maybe…how about if we do that then do this and this?...ok. The concept is that every time they say no they are closer to saying yes. Working payment is one part of that whittling process that happens when you one-call close someone …. For you to effectively work payments in a close here are the four steps I use to make it work. 

Step 1: Sell the Product and Its Value

The first step you have to do is to sell the product and its value. The close won’t work and you shouldn’t even be asking them to buy unless they want the product and think it’s worth it. That is done during your sales presentation. Once they are sold then closing is really just helping them get what they want.  All companies have different ways of delivering the price but eventually, the most common way the price delivery leads into the close is when you say so the next step in the process would be for you to fill out the credit app and we can get the paperwork started….then the closing starts….”Well, we’re going to have to think about it, I not doing anything right now, I have to get three estimates, etc. Then you’re in the close. So make sure they are sold before you even get to the close and the closing will be much easier.

Step 2: Isolate the Objection to Affordability

The second step necessary in working payments in the close is to make sure that you have isolated the objection to the money. I’m sure you’ve heard people tell you that you have to bring it to the money in the close. Really what you are doing is narrowing down what they tell you to the fact that they can’t afford it and there is no other reason they are not buying. Once you do that and isolate the objection you should be able to say “So other than the affordability is this definitely the __________ that you want to put in your home? Yes. …and now you have isolated the objection to affordability. 

Step 3: Identify the Payment Gap

So first you’ve made sure you sold the product. Second, you isolated the objection to that they just can’t afford it. The third thing you do is to get the gap or what it is they can’t afford. 

When the issue is affordability you are always working the payment. It is no longer the total price but what payment they can afford. It’s a payment close.

What you are doing here is trying to solve the problem to help the customer get what they want. Look at the objection like a question. Ron you know I really want this bathroom but I just don’t think I can afford it can you help me, please? So to solve the problem you need to know specifically what it is. You know they can’t afford it but you need to get more specific. I call it getting the gap between where you are and where you need to be to be able to afford it. The easiest way to do that is to ask them “How much too much is that payment of 700.00 a month? If they say about 200 a month too much or they say they can afford 500 a month then you know your gap is 200 a month. You don’t have to close the 700/month now just the 200/month gap.

Ways to Close the Gap

So once you get the gap you have to close it. You are making the payment lower. The first and easiest way is to increase the downpayment. That doesn’t cost you anything. Then next you can lower the payment by using different financing terms if you have them available to you. If you still have to go lower you can either switch the product if your company offers a good better best product or as a last resort phase the job down. In other words instead of the whole house of windows just start by doing the bedrooms and living room or whichever was the most important. For bathrooms, you can just do the wet area first or if you are selling refacing do the countertop only or cabinets only. HVAC furnace only or air first etc. Another way that you can lower the payment is with the energy savings your product has like HVAC, windows, or siding. For example… Don’t forget the money the new windows will save you on energy. You told me earlier that you thought they would save you 100/month. If so the gap isn’t actually 200/month but 100/month if you include the money you save on your energy. Another thing to understand about payments. A lot of times the amount they tell you they can afford is lower than what they can actually afford. I have had customers tell me they want to be at $500 a month and then when I could only get them to 550/month they still bought. Sometimes the amount they give you is the throwaway amount they can afford easily but if push comes to shove they can actually go higher. I have friends in the car business tell me that if a customer comes in and says they want their payment to be 400/month they know they can easily sell them at 500/month.

Step 4: Deliver and Work the Payments in Stages

The fourth step is how you actually deliver and work the payments. So you have sold them. Isolated the objection to affordability and then gotten the gap of the monthly payment. You know the difference between where your payment is and where they want to be.  Even if you can get right to the payment they want  I like to do it in stages bit by bit.  This is the whittling we were talking about. Also, each time I close the gap more I reisolate the objection to the smaller gap. So it’s 200 a month keeping you from the new windows. Yes….so now we’re only 150/month from you getting the new windows. Yes..  …

Here’s how it would sound when you work the payments. For example, you are at 700/month and they said they can’t afford to do more than 500/month. Start with the downpayment.  “So we are about 200 month apart then? Yes… well one way we could lower the payment is if you could put a bigger downpayment down. This is with $1000 down can you afford more. Well I could probably put another 2000 down for a total of 3000 down payment. Well if you could put another 2k down then it would lower your payment from 700 month to about 640 a month. How does that sound? “

Even though I know it is not where they want to be I do it in stages. The likely response would be well it’s better but I still want to be at $500/month. Okay so right now we are only about $140 a month apart then? Yes, Another thing we could do is I could change the financing to another company that has a revolving charge instead of fixed payments, and if so now your payment would be 25/month lower so it would be $615/month how does that sound….. So when I lower the payment in stages I finish with well how does that sound? They will either do it or say it’s still too much. Then I go to the next way of lowering the payment we discussed like talking about the energy savings or changing the product etc. That’s why if I have different finance options I start with the higher payment option so I have room to go down using this whittling effect.

The Power of Whittling and Hang Time

Don’t be afraid to have them so it’s too much before you lower the payment. Remember every time they say no they are actually closer to saying yes.  The other reason I do it like this is that even if I am not where they want to be like in this example I went from 700/month to 640/month they say no by committing again to the $500/month payment. Like I said I need to be a 500/month. So by doing it this way each time they say no they recommit to that 500/month so when I finally do get there they will have committed to that amount over and over. It locks them in. The key to doing this is that every time I drop the payment I finish by saying so how does that sound? They will either say that’s fine…then you ask for the order or still too much a month. Either way each time you lower the payment and say how does that sound it’s like closing...Here you want to be quiet just like in a close until they respond. Don’t say anything until they do. The first person who talks loses. Eventually, you will solve the problem and they do it or you will solve the problem with no urgency. That’s affordable now just give me a day. That is the best time for you to use something to create urgency. It could be a today discount you have or some other way you use to get them to do it now. The urgency discount will work a lot better if you have already solved the problem before you introduce it. Much better than I can’t afford it well if you buy today we can save you this much money. Doing it in stages like this will have the most impact. 

Wrapping Up and Next Steps

The other thing that learning to work payments like this will do will give you a longer hang time in the close. Great salespeople have what I call good hang time. That’s the time from when you first deliver the price to what they buy. It can be  15-20 minutes plus. One side benefit of a longer hang time is that if you did a poor job price conditioning them that the length of time helps get them used to the price. They go from the sticker shock of $30,000 OMG to 15 minutes later they’ve gotten used to the price and working the payments on that amount doesn’t sound that bad. 

If you want more on this topic please check out the post on “I want to think about it” or the playlist listed above on closing for more free home improvement sales training go to the link in the description below. Happy Selling!