[springfever]

This spring was slow for us as many of you commented on in this forum. My closing rate was around 20% and I was really worried about this season. Early spring I went on several estimates that I did not recieve the work. I flat out asked them why and both responses were, "we found someone cheaper. We could tell your overhead is a lot higher." What the hell does that mean? My truck isn't falling apart and I dressed up for the appointment? My response was "I do not know the difference in our overhead, but I DO have the proper licensing, liability insurance and worker's comp insurance to insure you are protected."

About three weeks ago, I had some client meetings after spending some time with the crew. I normally wear dress slacks and a logoed shirt to meetings. That day, I wore nice carpenter's jeans with the shirt because I was going to get a little dirty. Those jeans changed the whole mood of the meeting. I landed two jobs in a row that day. After relecxting on it, that was the only change I had made in my standard meeting protocol. I decided to continue and see if it was fluke. My closing rate has been 85% for the last three weeks and I have sold 125% of what we did last year total.

Just goes to show, small changes can make a dynamic inpact.