Toolbox July 2020

TOOLBOX

THE #1 COMMUNITY OF SUCCESSFUL CONTRACTORS

CCN

JULY 2020 FROM THE PRESIDENT

IN THE TOOLBOX

Implementing CCN 3.0 SCOTT SIEGAL

Scott Siegal, President CCN

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his month is all about moving forward. CCN is debuting many new programs and new training models to support contractors through this crisis and help them succeed in the new normal.

4 How to Cross-Train Your Team 5 The New 5Ps Retooling the CCN Sales Process 6 Effective Skills Development for Adults in the New Normal 7 Master Change Management 8

Returning to Work After COVID-19

9 An Interview with Dave McLean from Brother's Services

The main new program is the Sales Mastery Program which will replace Sales Boot Camp.

This is a change in both format and content. The new content, including a fifth P in the sales presentation, has been in the works for a while, but the new format came about after the crisis. At first, we were going to hold a live in-person boot camp and record it, but now we have to take our own medicine. If we’re teaching people how to sell virtually, we have to learn how to train via live-stream.

This was more complicated than taking the Sales Boot Camp manual and loading it into Zoom. When you do anything live in-person, you can’t do it the same way via live-stream. There used to be a lot of live in-person role-playing when people are in the room and you have their attention. When you do it on the computer, it’s much harder to keep people engaged. They could be looking at the camera and watching movie in another window or emailing on their phone and not hear a word you say.

We realized we have to condense the material, and we have to deliver it fast and easy for members to consume.

We went through and cut out what we think we can cut out and what is no longer relevant. But that was only a small piece of the puzzle. What it came down to is this question, how do people learn? We found that most adults learn with spaced repetition as opposed to a giant dump.

A lot of contractors go to a conference, learn something crucial to their continued on page 2

CO N T R AC T O R S . N E T

FROM THE PRESIDENT

continued from page 1

TOOLBOX THE #1 COMMUNIT Y OF SUCCESSFUL CONTRACTORS

MISSION STATEMENT To enhance the professionalism, performance and perception of the construction industry. We promote ethics, education, leadership and innovation, so that the construction industry and the community achieve mutual benefit.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS 6476 Sligo Mill Road Takoma Park, MD 20912 301.891.0999 800.396.1510 866.250.3270 fax www.contractors.net STAFF Scott Siegal, President scott@contractors.net John Martindale, Principal johnm@contractors.net Catherine Honigsberg, GM catherine@contractors.net Matthew Winslow, Director of Operations matthew@contractors.net Anthoy Brooks, Director of Sales anthony@contractors.net Sindy Wohl, Director of VIP sindy@contractors.net Denise Metheny, Accounting denise@contractors.net Troy Timmer, CCN Business Consultant troy@contractors.net Dave Harrison, CCN Business Consultant dharrison@contractors.net Daniel Murgo, Events Manager danny@contractors.net Brian Wohl, Membership Consultant brian@contractors.net Carla Sarabia, Help Desk Administrator carla@contractors.net Toolbox is a publication of the Certified Contractors Network.

Toolbox is a member benefit.

Non-members may subscribe for $75 annually. design: Stacy Claywell www.thatdesigngirl.net editor: Jessica Vaughan jessica@contractors.net

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business, go home, and forget what it was. It never sticks. But if we can get people to learn it over time and repeat the information, they can master it.

We brought the program down into three days, and we really believe we can deliver a whole new sales training program, now called the Sales Mastery Program because it’s not really a boot camp anymore. It’s a full-blown program that will happen over time. In addition to three initial days of training, we’ll have four Live-Stream trainings with further follow-up small group sessions to role-play and work through individual questions. We’ll also have additional long-term coaching available after the formal program.

We didn’t look at this as another training seminar.

We’re looking at it as comprehensive total immersion with specific follow-up to ensure that they’ve learned these skills and mastered them.

Not only is it delivered via live-stream, it teaches people to sell virtually. It takes the new CCN Sales Process and teaches salespeople how to deliver that process in today's virtual space. That’s going to be the key to sales success going forward.

The whole world is moving to virtual sales. And just like our training, when we sell virtually, it has to be faster. When salespeople go into a prospect’s house and make the presentation at the kitchen table, they have a captive audience. You’ve got their attention, and it’s not a big deal to take an hour or even two.

What we’re finding now in the world of virtual sales is people’s attention spans just aren’t there. You’ve got to learn how to get this material across in a more efficient way. We’re going to be teaching that. This new format will increase skills retention, get people back on the road sooner, create higher sales for companies, and provide ongoing coaching so salespeople continue to improve. They can do this kind of followup on their own in the CCN Knowledge Center, but in order to keep their skills at a high level, we’ve heard from multiple members, and know from our own employees, that more hands-on coaching will really be appreciated.

In terms of the content, this has been a change long in the making. We revisited the entire sales process from top to bottom.

We sat down with experts from SalesBrain, a marketing agency with expertise in scientific persuasion techniques with a unique methodology utilizing neuroscience to improve how marketing and sales messages perform.

They specialize in appealing to the primal brain. We showed them our sales process and together we dissected the entire thing, which led to a whole retooling.

The main change was the addition of a fifth P, Processes. We did discuss processes within the original 4Ps, but we weren’t highlighting them. Prospects had to read between the lines. But it’s one of a CCN contractor’s biggest differentiators. It’s the main difference between all successful and unsuccessful contractors. The most profitable, successful contractors are those that have systems and processes in place.

member news When you have systems and processes in place, you get higher satisfact-ion ratings, happier customers, and more jobs.

Good things happen. CCN has been training processes for twenty years, but we never talked about it explicitly with our prospects. We never told our members this is something you should tell your customer.

Some other refinements to the material include more help overcoming objections and more persuasion skills. Salespeople can influence buying decisions by changing their behavior depending on the prospect in front of them. This includes learning how to build trust and rapport with the customer and how to identify their respective communication style. Salespeople can make the presentation more effective and close the sale by adapting their style to best meet the prospect’s style. With things like the SalesBrain persuasion techniques and DISC personality profile, they can get inside a prospect’s head and start speaking their language.

This new Sales Mastery Program is just one of several new offerings from CCN. We identified another opportunity to provide more support to owners and General Managers. We’re trying to develop different coaching programs for the whole organization because it’s so important right now. The more everyone works virtually, the more people need coaching. Everybody is at home and isolated. It’s really easy to slip and not get your work done if you don’t have somebody there holding you accountable or just somebody to talk to. We all need that connection and support, especially with smaller contractors who have even less of it. Our plan in the next month between July and August is to launch all of our programs virtually and immediately launch them with this coaching aspect so people come out of this crisis better than they were before.

Even if COVID goes away, many customers and companies will stay in the virtual world. Customers will buy virtually. Our employees will work virtually.

This is a wholesale change to the way everyone will be doing business.

JOIN US FOR OUR

BI WEEKLY WEBINAR SERIES Tuesdays at noon

BUSINESS PLANNING 201 BOOT CAMP

NOV 5-6 HANOVER, MD

You won’t need to have a lot of office space. You won’t need to have people coming in all the time. It’s less expensive to do it this way. But the downside is missing the human connection and that’s where CCN coaching is really going to help.

Toolbox Wants To Hear From You

Have something different, unique or particularly successful that you’re doing with your marketing? Is there a method or process you or your staff has developed that solved a problem? Is there a sales or production superstar on your staff? Toolbox aims to bring news, views and above all the best practices of CCN members and member companies to the attention of the overall membership of CCN. If you have a story to tell, we are eager to share that news to all CCN members!

BUSINESS PLANNING BOOT CAMP

NOV 9-11 HANOVER, MD

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How to Cross-Train Your Team JESSICA VAUGHAN

With so much uncertainty in business and in the world, one thing you can do to prepare is to make sure your teams are trained to do as many tasks as possible. In addition to better risk management, you’ll also have stronger individual employees and stronger teams as they work together more.

How do you do this right?

A well-trained team will save you, but first, it will cost you.

Training takes time. If you’re training on the job, you’re doubling roles. If you’re not, you’re paying people to erect fake windows or siding. Materials are another thing to pay for, either practice materials back in the lot or inevitable mistakes made on the job. "Learning" is just another way of saying "mistakes."

It’s worth it, but it is an outlay in the beginning.

What skills need to be replaced?

It’s especially important now to evaluate your key roles. What are the hardest to replace? They may not be obvious. At a grocery store, a key role right now is the cake decorator because it’s a specialized skill you can’t pick up in an afternoon and people are buying a lot of cakes.

What are those roles in your company that don’t have obvious backups? How about the person who runs credit card payments or signs checks? Or the only one who knows how to replace a certain saw blade? Getting dedicated backups for these people is going to take some time, so start there.

You’ll also need to double up on more mundane skills. If you serve more than one kind of market, are your teams siloed and only do one type of installation or do they know the process for two or more? If you do specialized jobs, do you have specialized roles to go along with them? Who can do what?

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Who can train, are they interested, and how will you compensate them?

Once you have a good idea of the roles and skills you need to back up, who is going to train those people? Who is really good at it and also really good at explaining it? Doing something well and training somebody else to do it well are two different skill sets. Skilled practitioners can do both, but it may be worth it to have someone who is not your absolute best performer, but is passionate and interested in training, take on the role. How do you know they’re any good at it? Have them train you or a trusted leader first.

Where and how will they train?

Will you have teams shadow each other on real jobs? Just make sure they don’t turn into gophers who spend the shift on trash duty or equipment fetching. At the end of the agreed-upon time, they need to be able to switch places and do it themselves, which should be the last step of training. People learn best by doing it themselves.

Another option is to set up a fake wall or roof on your lot where people can practice installing shingles or windows or siding. The benefit is social distancing can be maintained, and you won’t destroy the actual product. But it does take additional room and investment.

Create a system for bringing in your pinch hitters.

You’ve done it! You’ve cross-trained your team. What happens if someone doesn’t

come to work? Who makes the call whether to put in a replacement, and who will it be? It pays to think of these things now when you have a chance to consider options, and it’s not 6 am in the cold lot with customers and employees waiting to deploy.

The last thing that may need to change is your culture.

Maybe you have a bottleneck in your business because your superstar doesn’t want to share his/her secrets of success.

If you have a lone wolf culture, one unintended side effect of cross training maybe be the death of that culture.

You need to emphasize the importance of collective success and the value in preventing future problems.

Your firefighting culture may also have to change. If everyone is too busy fighting the fire in front of them to prepare for the next fire, you’re exposing your business to huge risks. Spending time now to build resilience in your business and prepare for future risks is really hard when your business is already on fire. But it makes it much less likely your business burns down tomorrow.

If there is a silver lining to these multiple crises, it is that massive change is possible now in a way that people would have resisted last year. People’s appetite for change has gone way up, so you may be able to make a bigger impact than you think.

Don’t let business grind to a halt because one guy didn’t show anybody else how to work the garage door before he called in sick.

THE NEW 5PS - Retooling the CCN’s Sales Process SCOTT SIEGAL

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he 4Ps have always been the heart of the CCN Sales Process taught in Sales Boot Camps from the very beginning. They are a mnemonic device for the main points your customers should be worrying about when they make a home improvement investment. You’re teaching them to make a decision based on these “P’s” instead of the normal worries they bring to the presentation: how much it will cost and when the work will start.

The 5Ps are important to share with customers as a way to differentiate your company from your competition so your customers can truly do an “apples to apples” comparison between your company and the other guys and see there’s no real comparison for a well-executed, insured, professional job.

Here are the original 4Ps. P1 is Problems.

Your Answer Book will change.

This is about your prospect’s needs and scope of work as well as the risks and liabilities of an uninsured contractor.

Your Answer Book for the new P3 will have proof of your processes from handoff to closeout. This will call out what may be the most serious differentiator between a CCN company and the other guy. Prospects don’t call a roofing contractor thinking about how the foreman is going to keep in contact with them; they’re thinking about their leaking roof. When they decide between proposals, knowing one company has a standard system for keeping homeowners updated on the status of their job and pretty much everything else, and the other guy wrote a price on the back of a business card, the difference between proposals will be really easy to see.

The 4P presentation has worked great for years and continues to work. The additional P just adds more proof of how different your company is from your competition and how you will perfectly answer their worries – especially the worries they didn’t even know they should have.

P2 is Products.

P2 has always consisted of proper specifications, materials, and expert installation. We added a fourth element – a verified inspection. Ideally every job should be inspected by someone who did not install the work. Even though this says product, it’s not focused on a commodity. We’re not selling roofs or windows, we’re selling a clean, dry, beautiful home. Just like Disney doesn’t sell movies and theme parks; they sell happily ever after.

P4 is People.

People has been renumbered as P4. People don’t buy roofs; they buy contractors. They don’t just buy the contractor, they also buy their licenses, manufacturer certifications, trade organizations, years in business, and references from previous satisfied customers on jobs just like theirs.

P5 is Price.

Is this an expense or an investment? P5 teaches people how to know if the price is right. Humans are normally very good at estimating value, but that comes from experience. We buy bread every week and know instinctively how much it’s worth, from a few bucks for a grocery store loaf to $10 for an artisan farmer’s market homemade loaf.

Prospects can’t do that with contracting for two main reasons.

One, it’s an infrequent expense, and prospects don’t have time to build up instinctive value calculations. Second, you’re selling a product that doesn’t exist yet! You’re selling them the idea of a new roof or a new bathroom. Sure, they can touch a tile or a shingle and try to picture it all over their house, but it’s still an exercise in fantasy. This P is about teaching them how to make an accurate value judgement and think of doing business with or choosing your company as an investment.

P3 is now Processes.

Processes highlights the difference between written procedures and winging it. It includes customer education, job reviews, job site management, communication, and dispute resolution.

If the customer ends up with a beautiful roof, but getting it installed was a nightmare, they aren’t going to be satisfied or recommending any of their friends repeat the experience. It’s unlikely they’re going to get a beautiful roof out of a nightmare experience. When a company is bad at processes, they usually produce inferior work.

All of the Ps lead to the last unofficial P Peace of mind - which comes from accurately diagnosing their problem, creating the right specifications for solving it, installing it competently and safely, with professional, effective processes.

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Effective Skills Development for Adults in the New Normal MATT WINSLOW

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’ve been doing adult education classes for blue-collar workers since 1987. Here’s what I’ve noticed over the years.

Many learners don’t remember most of the content at the end of the class, and many probably wouldn’t even remember attending within just a few weeks. Why? Because most training classes are designed to dump a huge amount of information, much of which isn’t important, nor actionable, upon students to create the illusion of “Value” for the class.

Early in my teaching career, I came across a study about how adults actually learn and retain information. Here are the study’s results:

happens if I spend a lot of money training an employee and then they leave?” Fair question. Of course I might also point out, “what happens if you DON’T train them and they stay?!”

Before the current crisis with COVID-19, the single biggest concern for all trades was finding quality younger employees.

We’ll be back to that situation soon.

Millennials and members of Generation Z get bored easily.

Their minds are constantly experiencing information overload because of today’s mobile communication technology.

To cut through all that “noise” competing for their attention, we need to create an optimum learning environment.

Information retention after just 24 hours:

Since 1993, my passion is to create an optimized environment for blue collar workers to absorb critical information quickly, retain it long term, and master key skills.

Here are the three keys I’ve discovered that turn a boring class into a highly effective learning experience, especially for blue collar workers: 1. Define: Determine what learners actually need to retain from a learning experience.

2. Simplify: Eliminate all unnecessary information. The confused mind simply shuts down.

3. Practice: People retain information and actually learn skills when they use the information immediately.

7% of what adult learners hear during a lecture 15% of what adult learners see when reading a book 25% of what adult learners see when watching a video 30% of what adult learners see in an in-person demonstration 50% when adult learners discuss the content 70% when adult learners practice skills 90% when adult learners have to teach someone else The first thing I noticed from this study is most of the adult classes available to blue collar workers were designed to make it easy for a single instructor to “teach” students. These classes were never designed to make the actual mastery of skills easy nor ideal for the learners.

Here’s the main reason most adults don’t retain information from training classes long term: Simply put, academics who design these classes take simple concepts and make them seem incredibly complex. They fill their classes with unnecessary verbiage, analogies, and way too much “talking head.” The instructor does all the talking and the learner just sits there and does all the listening.

I’ve met many students who can quote the latest fancy sales or productivity theory, but don’t show any evidence they understand what these theories mean. Worse, I can’t see any evidence these theories are making a difference in their job performance and in their personal lives.

Let’s face it – investing capital in employee training is a risky proposition. I’ve heard many business owners say, “what 6

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Fast. Relevant. Actionable.

CCN’s New Vision CCN leadership has given me one mission. Turn all CCN training classes into effective skills development opportunities for CCN members.

CCN is transforming from a training company, where all the follow-up and success was our member’s responsibility, to a comprehensive coaching and mentoring company. We are taking responsibility to make sure you get highly motivated employees, with well developed skills, to help your business grow and reach your goals.

I’m grateful to be able to work with the CCN leadership and especially CCN members to create the best skills development training available anywhere, for our contracting industry.

Please reach out to me and share your ideas and training needs.

I can’t wait to hear from you!

“Change Management” JESSICA VAUGHAN

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ou announce a new policy, and everyone instantly cheers and does it perfectly the first time – said no owner or manager in their entire lives. “Change Management” is the science of speeding up the acceptance, adoption, and mastery of change. People study “Change Management” their entire career; some get PhDs in “Change Management”. That is how important and difficult it is.

You don’t have to study for long to learn a few key skills that may make the difference between success, failure, and employee satisfaction when you ask something new of them.

What is “Change Management”?

It is a “people management” skill to prepare them and support them through change, whether that change is in process, role, structure, technology, software, tools, or something else. Always remember: it’s never actually the new project or initiative that changes, it’s your people.

While everyone is unique, lots of research and anecdotes show we all take similar routes to adapt to change. If you can speed up how quickly people adapt, you can increase their satisfaction and the profitability of the change.

How do you do it well? Sell leadership on it first.

This needs to be both formal leadership from your official management team and informal leadership from the crews whom others look to for advice or help. Get on the same page with them about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it so you can present a united front.

Also, discuss change management itself; what it is, and why you need it. Set expectations with leaders that there will be a drop in productivity and team satisfaction at the beginning of this process, and discuss why that is a good thing.

Appoint your “Czar” and prepare for the cost.

For a bit, you’re going to have to pay for the old software and the new software, for back up office space and your newly renovated space, or whatever the change is. You’ll also have to pay for training time and lost productivity as people get up to speed on the new system.

Best practice is to appoint someone to run this change, which will take them away from other duties. A dedicated person who becomes an expert first, whom everyone knows they can approach, and who continues to drive the change can be a huge factor in success or failure.

Chop up the elephant before you start.

You probably know the old joke, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” You might think to save yourself some time and headaches by pushing out the new process all at once and letting people figure it out. That is a mistake! Have one person do the hard work upfront to learn the program and break up their learning into bite-sized pieces for them.

For instance, for a new safety procedure, make the announcement and describe the procedure. Then, next week, make sure people have the right PPE and get fitted. Then, next week, experiment on the new system and phase out the old system. Finally, the last week, require it on the jobs and sunset the old process.

With software, spend a week making sure everyone downloads it and takes the training. Then do one test job. Then do one real job, etc. If you don’t do this work, people will do it for you.

You may not agree with what they prioritize.

Ask for feedback and don’t oversell it.

A friend who worked in IT his whole life survived many rollouts of many different computer systems and had a saying he used every time, “It ain’t better, it’s just different.” From your perspective, there are definitely better things about the change, or it may be necessary regardless of improvement if the old system goes out of business. For the guy on the ground using it, there will always be positives and negatives. Make sure you’re honest about why you’re making the change and what’s good about it, but also share there will be some challenges too.

Listen to their feedback and ideas from day one. Some of the most successful companies in the world like Southwest Airlines simply comb their employees for great operations and then shoot those out as new best practices to the rest of the company.

Employees feel more valuable when consulted, and they probably have a pretty good idea of how to make their job easier.

Communicate more than you think you need to.

Commit to pushing out information on a regular schedule.

As the change moves along, you won’t be tempted to stop talking about it. This is because there is a gap between listening and comprehension, and you can’t be sure where your people are in that process. Employees may think they can’t rely on much anymore, but at least they’ll get an update from the boss every Monday when they get back to the office. Regular communication can be a source of stability, even when it’s about the change.

Downloading a piece of software or purchasing a new tool takes less than an hour. Making sure a new project or policy is integrated into your company, and you’re getting all the benefits it promised takes significantly longer. It’s mostly about managing your people. In this time of massive, rapid change, make sure you’re honing your skills in “Change Management”.

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ON HR

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t’s almost over! The days of seeing the United States map with locked-down states is almost a memory. Many states are starting to permit companies to get back to work and get our economy moving again. If your company was considered “essential” or “life sustaining,” your doors never closed and work continued on as normal.

But, for many more companies, work came to a halt and companies were forced to lay off their workers. Happily, the end is in sight and we can start talking about returning to work.

A little planning is needed before you open

BY ANITA DOMBROWSKI, MBA, SPHR, your doors to employees.

SHRM-SCP, PRESIDENT & SR. HR CONSULTANT, What is your company FOURTH DIMENSION ENTERPRISES LLC. going to look like now the pandemic is over?

Do you feel your business is going to pick up where it left off or will you need to make some adjustments?

Developing a “Return to Work Plan” will help you figure things out in an organized manner.

Will you have work for all the employees you laid off?

If you are not sure all employees need to return, which employees are critical to starting up your business again?

You will need to notify those employees you want to bring back. An offer letter is important. The letter should outline anticipated "return to work" date, compensation, benefits reinstatement, and proration of vacation, sick and other “paid leave time” benefits.

Have the employee sign a copy of the letter confirming rehire information or acknowledging any changes you might be making in the “new normal.” If you don’t feel you will need all employees return to work, a letter of termination will be needed for those employees not returning. Important consideration: do not send out your termination letters until you have your returning staffing in place. If any of your employees decide they do not wish to return, you will still have some experienced staff available to cover your key positions.

If your employees were lucky enough to work remotely, a communication should be developed outlining an anticipated return to the office date.

It’s important to remember social distancing. You may want to consider staggering the days they return to the office.

COVID-19 Returning to Work After COVID-19

An A & B plan could be used. Half of your returning employees are assigned to the A Team and the other half to the B Team. A Team comes back on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. B Team comes back on Tuesday and Thursday.

The following week they switch. Staggering arrival and departure time would be helpful to avoid a crowd at the time clock.

In working in the “new normal” environment, you may need to make adjustments to current leave of absence policies to incorporate FFCRA paid sick leave and emergency family leave to assist with childcare issues. These new FFCRA requirements are good through the end of the year.

Be ready with a procedure to inform employees what they need to do to access these leave benefits. Don’t forget to post the FFCRA information in a prominent area in your workplace.

Develop a procedure on how you will handle an employee who feels they have symptoms of COVID-19 or receives a positive diagnosis for the virus. What are your rules if an employee’s spouse or other person in their household has been diagnosed as positive? Sending employees home as quickly as possible helps prevent the spread throughout the remainder of your workforce. Make sure employees know they will need a doctor’s note and negative COVID-19 test results to return to work. Add COVID-19 specific updates to your current EEO, anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and ADA (reasonable accommodation) policies.

If employees are in an open environment. Think about rearranging desks to keep everyone six feet apart. Lunch room tables should have seats on only one side if they are less than six feet wide or alternate seating from one side to the other. Shared equipment such as copy machines need to be wiped with disinfectant wipes after each use.

Do you have enough disinfectant wipes available? If your company is a manufacturing or construction environment, think about disinfecting hammers, saws, ladders, and other tools if they are shared resources and employees don’t wear gloves.

We’re all aware of the benefits of washing hands, wearing a mask and/or gloves. Educate employees on your policy for personal hygiene and protective equipment (PPE) and the importance of these requirements for your company to keep co-workers safe. Share your updated procedures for sanitizing and disinfecting the workplace.Reopening your business may be a little stressful until you get in a familiar routine. It can be much smoother if you are organized, well prepared and have thought through your policies and procedures to be able to respond to employees returning to the workplace.

This article should not be considered legal advice. Should you have any questions about this article or any of the HR articles presented in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact me at AnitadombrowskiHR@gmail.com.

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An Interview with Dave McLean from Brother's Services Part 2

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ast month we covered some of the challenges to selling virtually. Are there any advantages?

I think there are definitely silver linings. We will learn more quickly through this process that a succinct and powerful presentation is required. Long-winded presentations hardly ever work in-person; they definitely don’t work virtually. You’ve got somewhere between forty and fifty minutes to get it done, and that’s the outer limit. You have to be a master of your craft. This shines a light on that.

Another silver lining “going virtual” can overcome is a really common objection to getting the complete buying parties in a room. Let’s say my appointment is with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Mr. Smith is a high-powered guy working all the time. Mrs. Smith says, “My husband is too busy to listen to you. Just give me the price. I can figure it out and talk to him.” Now, it doesn’t matter if I can get them in the same place or not. I can sell to two people wherever they are.

Finally, I think this sudden downturn in the economy, as a result of the pandemic and the limited ability to sell and produce work, will quickly eliminate low-cost providers who sell for wages and for the wrong price.

How do we lead people down a path where they answer their own objections? This is the basic script we use and it seems to be working pretty well.

Do you notice any difference in customer behaviors or objections?

What you wish you had done differently?

The biggest change in customer objections is around uncertainty. Nearly one in five people don’t have a job right now, which is an almost 20% unemployment rate. There’s a fair chance one in five prospects don’t have a job. We had to adapt pretty quickly, so we didn’t let that uncertainty become an objection when we asked for their business and asked them to sign a contract.

We trained them on a conversation that went: “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, thanks for letting me come out. A curious time we find ourselves in, but we’re going to get through this. Do you agree that at some point we’re going to get back to the status quo?”

No one is going to say “no” to that, so when they agree, we say, “What do you think is more likely to happen when we do get back there? Do you think products and services will be cheaper or more expensive?” People are pragmatic. They know they’re not going to be cheaper. We say, “Yeah, they’re probably going to get more expensive. As demand increases again, it’s going to affect prices.”

We try to lead them down that path early on. One of the keys in the CCN sales process is doing a thorough “Measure Call” with your customer. This helps you understand what their objections will be so you can tailor your presentation to overcome these objections. Your goal is, when you ask them to sign a contract, the only thing they can say is, “It costs too much.” We know what to say to that. We had to ask ourselves this very question, “what are they going to object to?” The stock market is down. People are getting laid off left and right.

These are probably going to be their objections.

What hasn’t changed?

For sure, you still have to create value. You still have to be adept at delivering a value proposition. You must help a customer understand there’s more to this than “When can the project start and how much does it cost?”

What is your top tip for other companies embarking on this journey?

Have really good digital assets available for your sales team.

We found ours were disjointed and we needed to fix them early on. We discovered it’s critical to combine all of our various digital assets into one format because when we share a screen with Zoom, we don’t want to jump back and forth between a PowerPoint, a JPEG and a Word document. It might feel like screen bingo and people are going to get sick watching it.

We converted all digital assets into a PDF, so we could have multiple PDFs open in one Adobe screen, and switch between assets as we go through our presentation.

Looking back, I probably wouldn’t use the word “contactless” with our customers. It created some confusion. I think we were trying to be “current” but we should have adopted the verb “Zoom” sooner. What we were doing was, when somebody called up, we said “Would you prefer contactless or a more traditional appointment?” But what we think we mean, and what our customer hears are two different things. We should have said, “Would you prefer a Zoom-style appointment or a social distanced-style appointment. That would have been clearer.

I would have also developed a more process-oriented way for customers to sign contracts via DocuSign and E-sign. We always focused on making sure we sign contracts in person.

Using DocuSign isn’t something we trained on. In CCN, we also said we don’t email or mail contracts because we believe that’s where miscommunication and unrealized expectations start to happen. So, now we have to find that balance between still making it easy to do business with us, still maintaining a virtual or contactless world, but still making sure we’ve done everything we can to set our customers up for success and make sure they have a complete understanding of what they’re signing up for.

I feel we made the best decisions we could with the information we had. It’s been decision-making overload since the beginning of March for everyone. Our CEO John Martindale has a saying, “Tell me the rules and I’ll figure out how to win.”

But now, every day the rules change, so every day we’re just figuring out how to win. I can’t say it enough: you must react quickly. Every time there’s a change, you must figure out what it is, what the rules are, and then go kill it!

I can’t say it enough; you must react quickly. Every time there’s a change, you must figure out what it is, what the rules are, and then go kill it!

C C N T O O L B O X J U LY 2 0 2 0

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CCN LIVE-STREAM EVENT CCN LIVE-STREAM EVENT CCN LIVE-STREAM EVENT

New

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