Episode 91 PART 3 - Sales and Financing

If you're a roofing contractor out there and you haven't checked out Atlas, one of the biggest things that we need to do as contractors is position ourselves with value. By them having a Scotchgard brand backing their product, we create a value proposition that people are willing to pay for. And we've been talking about that with Mike today. He actually gave an example of, hey, for $15 more you get all this cool stuff. People buy based on value, they don't buy based on price. We all think they do. Like we think that we're in this price competitive market, we gotta, I think you said sharpen the pencil on H1A's but what that tells me is it tells me you don't think you're worth anymore if you're doing the same thing as somebody else. You are just a commodity. It's the exact same thing. So we've got to position ourselves a little bit differently. One of the ways we can do that is with financing and creating a value proposition there as well. So how do we go from, I just gave this amazing value proposition demo, right? Like how amazing we're going to be at our communication and follow up, how clean the job is going to be, how awesome we protect the home, the cool installation process that we use, how we keep things safe, how the whole process works, our final inspection and all the other cool things that we do. And it's only like, how do we transfer from there to here? What are some of those transition statements that can maybe help a sales rep out in the field to get comfortable with going to the price part? Yeah.

Jim, thank you. And I really love that background you shared. To be honest, I've just been so jealous as I met the exterior worlds. Once I started working with a lender and, and like how awesome that job is, I was literally, literally replacing that gray box with a new gray box. And then you guys have the opportunity to sell. Like this is going to look and feel and your house is going to be completely changed after this experience. You're going to have the opportunity to do this ridge vent to increase ventilation, reduce your utility savings. That was my go to was energy saves. But these, all these upsell opportunities, but it was mostly tied towards aesthetics. And look. If price was the only thing that people cared about, we'd all be driving Kia Rios today. Kia Rios. But we don't, you know, so clearly there's features and benefits. I love my Dodge Ram and I'll never get out of a pickup truck because I love a truck.

So we need to, I Bet you on your Dodge Ram you don't have like roll up windows and stuff like that, right?

I don't, I don't buy one like that.

They still sell them, but nobody buys them. They make like five, five of those a year for that one price conscious buyer. I think Atlas actually did a study on this. Only 11 of buyers truthfully consider price. Like they make the decision based on price alone. So that means that 89% of other buyers don't care about that. They want the most for their money. They're looking for value. But coming back to that statement, didn't mean to interrupt you. Like we created all this cool, amazing value, right? How do we take it from there to. All right, here's what your options are.

Because once again, it's not about the price, it's about affordability these days. So we've already beaten the dead horse that consumers are offered payment options from virtually every other marketplace that's out there. Why are we uniquely different that we feel like we need to negotiate on price alone? And the top contractors in markets that I, that I work with and that I go into are leading with, they're not the, the price leader, you know, or the lowest price leader. They are just the best at what they do and they're able to meet the homeowner in the way that they want to buy. And homeowners want affordability. So it goes back to kind of on the affordability side. Even your cash buyers don't want to write that check today unless there's a value that's tied to it. So that 12 month 0% offer or whatever term you outlay may be more meaningful to them than that 3 to 5% cash discount to write the check today. Never assume that the way that you buy is the way that your customers buy.

Right. So I have determined who my buyer is there. This one, this one, or this one of those three that you mentioned. And I'm going to go from presentation to the offer. Do you have any like transition statements that you use? Like, you know this person is going to buy on percentage rate. Like you, you know that already. You've already figured that out. Is there something that you say that moves it to there?

Yeah. So I definitely am talking to the master himself on how you move from that to where it just becomes a price. So other than price or payment, is there anything from keeping us to move forward? So once you get to that point of the sale and they opt in, it's like, great. Then I move into an assumptive mode of let's go ahead and get you pre qualified. Now once again, that's a word that you can only use depending on the lender type that you work with. So a pre qualification tool means that the homeowner is going to have their credit checked but it's not going to show up as a hit on their credit or a soft credit check is how it's known in the industry. Pre qualification Gym is the easiest bridge. It's certainly an offering that we have over here at Artis and what that is is let's go ahead and get you pre qualified, no risk to look and then that way we have all the payment options available for you to make the best decision.

Do any of your contractors have it on their website like a button they can click to pre qualify?

Absolutely, absolutely. So what we're seeing in the, in the fintech space is that technology, because of the banking part, the banking industry having such a huge appetite for getting access to new customers, your customers, is that these technologies are really have taken great advancements. We want to be able to be at the point of need whenever you're at the kitchen table, you're in home sales. We want to be able to be used in more, less as a legion or an afterthought with a button on side your website. I say we in a universal term because many lenders offer the three ways that we see applications come in are point of need on a website button or used in a rehash campaign embedded inside of an email or a text message.

Ah, rehash campaign. We'll talk about that a little bit maybe before we get done today too. So I've positioned this thing, I've got it to where it needs to be and I've approached this homeowner with is there any other reason other than price or affordability that we couldn't get you on the production schedule today? And they say because I've done all my stuff before that, right. I've got built all the value, it's amazing. Defeated all the objections, got all those out of the way and so now it comes to hey, no, that's not, none of that's a problem. That's just price or affordability. Then what, what does it sound like?

Right, well there's a beautiful blueprint that's at the top rep of it. So I highly encourage everyone to, to go see. What I would encourage is get the application submitted by the homeowner so that we can qualify them for the other options. You can always write the check and if they just don't want to fill out an application, pull that lever, move them into a cash buyer. You've certainly been in that space and familiar with those customers. But when you do have a customer that fills out an application and you see that approval, then you get to shift the focus into more ways that they can purchase with you today. Then it's really, you know, okay, great. Jim, we Talked about our 12 month same as cash. And, and that means we can go ahead, get you on the production schedule today. And now you have 365 days for you to go ahead and enjoy this new build. You're going to love it. And in that time you pay off the roof under your own terms and there's absolutely no interest that's going to be accrued to you. You know, that is kind of an explanation to the promotional buyer if you. And then if you talked about lower interest rates on. No, no, no, just give me the best price. Let me, you know, give me the best price. Sharpen your pencil. I'm going to go down to the local bank. Great. Have that lower interest rate on there. It's Jim, you know, here we have a 5.99 interest rate or whatever it is that, that your company is leading with. That's the lowest interest rate. Say here we have this. Now the benefit of this is that it's approved today. There's no need for you to take your time or tie up any of the equity that you have in your investment. This is our lending partner who has faith in you and has taken this just on your signature alone. Now we can go ahead and move forward and get you on the production schedule at just 599, which I think you'll see is going to be very competitive than if you decide to go ahead and move that to your local bank.

Yeah. One of the ways I will sometimes approach this, should I put you on the production schedule for this week or next week? That way it's a choice still that homeowner of him. But the either choice is yes. It's like this one or that one. Right. And when you leave them with a choice instead of just a one situation, like can we put you on a production schedule today? No. Right. Like you can get a no right there. We don't want to get that. And so we give them a choice that doesn't include no. We can be real successful with that close as well. You said something that was really something I wanted to point out to people listening. You said, well, let's go ahead and see if we can get you pre qualified. You didn't say. Words to me are powerful things. Right. Like pre qualifying. Like am I up to snuff is what that feels like, right?

Yeah.

Kind of almost excited, like maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Right. And there's always this feeling, I don't know what's on my credit report. All that stuff's running through their head. Oh, don't worry about it. Doesn't even go on your credit report. Just. It's just a, it's just a pre approval. A pre qualification. I wouldn't even say approval. Pre qualification. Let's see if we can get you approved. That has a whole different connotation to it. That's a good negative. Right. Like it has a bit of a negative vibe to it. Pre qualifying. Hey, I can qualify. That's great. Are you going to get approved? Maybe not. So there's that part that goes with it. I thought that was really key by the way that you approached it. Is there anything that you think like golden nugget wise, maybe one or two or three you'd like to share with somebody today to help them be successful with selling financing?

Yeah, you know, Jim, it's feel comfortable with the tool. Just practice to. The worst thing you can do is learn how to use that technology in front of your customer. I always say, you know, practice, it makes perfection. And so you want to be a seasoned pro, you don't need to be a banker or. We've kind of talked around the different lenders and the technology that's in the space that just feel comfortable with the tool that your owners have put in front of you, the one that you actually know how to use it because it is such a strong tool. Just practice, practice. Because trust me, those who are going in and using that at time of close are winning more customers.

Yeah, the more you do something, the better you get at it. You're always scared of it at first. Practice a whole bunch on your own. Say it out loud. Don't just say it in your head because that ain't real. Record yourself. Even like just do a video recording of you doing a practice presentation and you'll realize how terrible you really are. But you can keep practicing and become really good at it. We got to do things several times before we become comfortable. So the last thing you mentioned that these finance companies, they're hot and heavy on the home trades aspect of things. Why is that? What's going on?

Yeah, well, look, homeowners typically are the ideal customer for a bank. So what we know is that home improvement really grew inside the last year and a half and that that is where people wanted to spend their money. And so banks obviously have a lot on their balance sheet they want to get rid of. And, and the customers they wanted to get to were doing business with contractors. And. And so I did want to spend a little time on, on different financing options that you see today. We've talked about kind of the different lenders and how there are different types that are in place. So really, do your background on who's the lender you're working with, what type of approvals do they make? You know, there's terminology as far as, are they a prime lender? A first look. Lender is another word. Are they a subprime lender? Second look, are they full spectrum? Are they an aggregator to where it's just a technology that's taking one application and then sending it out to like 20 banks and then the process is unknown from there and you might not even as a contractor get paid directly. So really research, because there's a lot of interest in the space and a lot of emerging technology that the one that you choose to work and do business with is actually aligned with, with how you go to market.

So you're the finance professional, the guru of selling it, also the guru of representing and teaching people with it. This move is fairly recent for you to move to artists. Can you share with us why you chose, like, wait, why are they positioned in a way that the guy that believes 100% in finance says, I gotta go with these guys?

Jim. Because it's all about ease and speed in our industry. And remember, my love and my passion is to help my sales reps, my tribe, be more successful. And so to do that, I have to be with the best lender that has the most advanced technology to make it so easy and just lays up that approval so that we actually win whenever we're in front of our customers. And that's what Artis does. And I do want to touch on a special offer that we have for you and all those listening. Ah, sorry.

No, no, tell us more.

Okay, so what makes artists different than the lenders that you may be working with today or why they're a good fit for you as a, as a finance partner is because financing can be difficult. I just talked about a lot of different rates and terms. You're like, ah, man, I can't too much. Right, so let's have the technology do that. It's there. We know this, we're seeing it elsewhere. So what if, Jim, I could tell you that no. Regardless of the size of your company, but especially those who want to grow their sales team. I had a finance platform that was so easy that the owner and the artist rep are going to get together, they're going to get it set up, they're going to get the right plans in place, aligned for you so that all your sales team has to do is push a button. And then the finance conversation is going to be taken over by the technology. That's what we, that's exactly what we do. So how we do that is we remove all the friction that goes with financing, all the what ifs, all the pendings, all the ask for more information, let's eliminate all those and have the customer go ahead and get a text message or an email that comes from your company and it says, jim's home improvement company is requesting essentially this link. You open that up, you fill it out. It's three easy pages. Name, address, income, social, right. It's. That's the minimum information that's required. And when that customer hits, hits, submit on there it goes through a deep embedded underwriting experience to where we say more than other lenders because we have multiple banks on the back end that have different buying behaviors as well. And so we're able to get our products to multiple banks so that we say yes for you to win more. So approval ratings are huge. As a sales rep, we say yes more and then when we say yes to that homeowner, their experience is, wow, not only am I approved, but here's three different offers so I'm not being pigeoned into that no fee, higher interest rate program that my owner wanted me into. You know, that great work rate for your business, but isn't the way I do business. I'm seeing the three behavioral types. I'm seeing my, my special financing promotion, motivated buyer. I'm seeing an interest rate, reduced interest rate offer. I'm seeing an affordable budget offer. If you really have that full spectrum of offerings, 97% of our customers that get approved go forward and choose to do business with us. That means your contractors win with approvals.

I like the sound that. Because that's, that tends to be the thing that holds us up a little bit.

You know what else?

Everything's amazing. They want to buy it, they want the affordable payment. We go to get them approved and it doesn't work out because I have one option, that one option doesn't like it. Their credit score is just a hair off or whatever the reason is. But it Sounds like you guys have multiple options that make the opportunity to get more people approved than would maybe be approved in another situation. It sounds like you're like also almost have a good, better, best type end of it. It's like give you three options. Just pick the one that works for you. Right?

Exactly, exactly. We know that that wins. And you know what you didn't hear me say is you didn't hear me say all the what ifs, unlike you're approved, but it's pending this. You need to actually own the home. Can we add a co applicant to the deal so we can increase the income? Are you going to be able to submit your work order that reflects the same dollar amount you're requesting? There's a whole lot of friction points that it's been difficult to work with lenders. We've removed all of that. It's just as easy as us.

Sounds like you might have had a few of those objections along the way. Once.

Once or twice. And that was those implied steps that made. That made it hard to work with a lender. They're gone now. We are truly that easy to work with that. Look, it's. I don't know why a, an audience member, someone listening today wouldn't want to go ahead and try that link in the show notes and receive that.

I think if you sell anything that's more than three or $5,000 or so somewhere in there, what we call high ticket home service, you should be offering financing. It just should be. Even if you're an insurance restoration contractor. We're actually working to change this industry to stop being these guys that just rely so much on the insurance company to determine what we're going to get paid. Go sell the project for what you're worth, finance the thing and tell a homeowner to do whatever they want with their insurance money. Great down payment. If you want it to be, or if you want to go to Aruba, go to Aruba. It's good with me. That's the buyer's decision. That's not our decision to make and we should allow them to do so. So it's why I'm so excited about what you're doing at Artists. You kind of alluded to it there for a second, but I talked over you and I don't want anybody to miss it. We got a discount for anybody that's listening to this podcast or if you're a contractor, coach, pro client, we've got a discount. There's going to be a link in the description down below. You Click that. You'll get on with one of the artist guys, they'll talk with you. And if you decide to go to artists, it's going to save you some money on your financing, which. Who doesn't want that, right?

That's right.

Awesome, Mike. Now, for folks that are just looking into this and kind of figuring, can they talk to you directly?

Absolutely. We do have a team. We have both an outside and an inside sales team. So for those of you that would like someone to come in person and train the sales team, I cannot make the schedule for our outside sales team, but I'm happy to put you in touch with the correct representative for your state. I can always be reached at any top rep event. For those of you that come, love participating in those. And my best email is moconnellheyartist.com I'll include that in the show notes. Happy to take those inquiries and pass them along to the best sales rep for the state that you reside.

Sweet. Really appreciate it, Mike. Awesome job today. Like I said, you know more about selling financing than I will ever know. And so that's super cool to have you on. Thank you. I wanted to have somebody that really knew it inside and out, backwards and forwards, because in all honesty, I mean, we did the same thing. We're like, hey, here's our three options. And so right. There wasn't anything much harder than that. But you gave us some of the background, the insight into it, how we can make it simple today with technology. I think that is key. And so thanks. Do a great job. Appreciate it.

Thanks, Jim. Appreciate the opportunity. And I love the people who listen to you and your following. That's exactly the kind of contractors who are going to grow and win and look forward to working with them.

There are some good people. They are. They're good people we love to hear back from. And with that, I'll let you go. We're right at an hour. I will put you off to the side there. I'm going to go ahead and finish it up and we'll get you on your way. I know you're a busy guy.

Thanks, Jim. Thank you again.

All right, guys, that was Michael Connell from Artists Finance. There is a link in our show notes down below to get a hold of those guys. It'll save you some money. Use that discount. And just for being a listener of contractor radio, part of the Contractor Coach Pro community, there's not a better guy on the planet to talk about financing with than Michael Connell. He will help you out. He will make sure that you get the right salespeople out there to teach your salespeople how to use the tool, which sounds like it can't be all that hard. Seems pretty easy. I suggest you add it to your business. We talk here about strategy and how we approach our business and how we gain an advantage over the competition in our market. And there's no better way from a sales perspective than adding financing to what you do. It could be the right thing for your client. Now, keep in mind, we're all about morals and ethics and so we want to stay good there. That's one of the reasons why we've actually gotten behind artists because they believe the same thing and we want to see you do it right out there in the field. Thanks for listening to us today, hanging out with us on this episode of Contractor Radio on how to sell free financing to high ticket home trade buyers. And we really appreciate time, hope to see you in the future. And as always, subscribe. Don't miss an episode. We share valuable information all about this contractor's blueprint and how to help your company get control so it can grow and you find personal and financial freedom. Thanks a lot and we'll see you on the next episode.