Didn’t Get The Sale? 3 Easy Ways To Find Out Why

Unfortunately, you don’t always close the deal. It’s a sad truth of life, but one that everyone working in the home improvement industry must accept. That being said, you shouldn’t just let a missed sale go. Finding out the reasons behind WHY your company didn’t get the project can help you make adjustments in the future. Was it pricing? Quality? Timing? Poor follow-up? Whatever the concern may have been, it’s crucial that you find out and address the issue. Uncovering these issues should become a regular part of your sales process. Here are a few great ways to find out why a home improvement project never closed.

1. Text or email. Seems simple and even stupid, but to uncover objections, you’ve got to start by asking! The best way to do this is to use technology to automate the process. After a specified amount of time has gone by after sending a quote, set up an automated text or email to your prospect to find out what happened. You can continue to send a full campaign around a lost sale. Prospects are likely to respond at some point and you cna learn a lot. If you’re already a Hatch customer, be sure to use our sales follow-up tools to get this running. 
2. Send a survey. Another great option is to send a survey to prospects about their experience. Keep the survey short - it should take no more than five minutes to fill out (or it’s unlikely they will do it!). This typically means 3-5 questions. There are lots of free survey tools available. 
3. Put a “secret shopper” on the case. Sometimes we need an objective view on our sales process. Without telling your sales team, ask friends or family to send out a request for a quote. You might be surprised by what you hear back. Perhaps your sales person was really pushy. On the other hand, maybe they waited several days before responding. It is a great idea to regularly check in on what the sales process looks like to an outsider. I recommend doing this at least quarterly. 

While missing out on projects is a common challenge for every home improvement business, it is important that you don’t just shrug it off. By continually reviewing what is happening in these unsold deals, you’ll be able to offset those objections before they occur. It’s not that complicated to do, but is often overlooked. Your close rate will improve and your bottom line will thank you.

Did you know that the vast majority of sales take an average of FIVE follow-ups by sales before they will close? Learn how to institute a slick, effective sales follow-up process in our free ebook "The Sales Follow-Up Playbook."

Learn other helpful tips at usehatchapp.com!