How Can Job Shops Improve Their Close Rates?
Generally, when job shops get an RFP, they gather all the details they need to put a proposal together and then send it off into the ether to await a response.
Sometimes they get the job, but sometimes they never hear from that prospective customer again after having wasted all that time on getting them a quote.
This is how 99% of job shops operate. This method works fine if you’re making a simple part and you have an established relationship with the customer, but not if you’re quoting something complex or new–especially if your solution is unique. For some job shops, it can take hours and hours of time and energy to put a complete RFP together. To spend all this time on an RFP when you don't even know your chances of winning the job is a big gamble.
Imagine what else you could do with all that time! For one, you could use it to build a Radical Job Shop brand that makes big profits and even bigger impact! But if you want to get Radical results, you have to take a Radical approach. What one of my customers has found works better is to request a meeting with all the decision-makers and present the quote to them face-to-face. This not only gives them an opportunity to build a stronger connection with the prospect, but they can also do a better job illustrating the value of what they're proposing.
If you take control of the conversation from the beginning, you show your customer that you are the expert and you know exactly how to get them what they need. You make them feel secure in their decision to choose your shop over others. So, how do you take control of your sales process and close more jobs?
Frame the conversation in terms of your customer’s goals.
Use stories to show how life could be better with your service.
Take the lead by having a clear process and sticking to it.
Use every tiny opportunity to show you are true to your word.
Ok, let's take a closer look at how you can apply these concepts to your sales process.
Frame the conversation in terms of your customer’s situation and their goals.
From the very first touchpoint with a prospect, you need to figure out what problem the prospect is coming to you with, what other problems or misconceptions may be associated with what they’re asking for, and what their ultimate goals are. Then, when you go to present your quote, you can set the scene for them and paint a picture of how your solution will get them to the future they desire. Remember that fears, frustrations, goals, and aspirations exercise we did in a previous video? That will help with this.
Take the robotics integrator, for example. When they ask their prospect questions like, “What do you want this system to accomplish?”, “What does your timeline look like?”, “What are your constraints and parameters?”, “What challenges are you trying to overcome?” they can then use these insights to better position their solution. Simply asking the questions shows that they have the necessary knowledge, expertise, and process to solve the problem.
Maybe quality is your customer's biggest pain point, maybe it's production cycle times, maybe they have to do a lot of changeovers and that slows everything down, maybe it's delivery time. Whatever it is, knowing their motives and preferences will allow you to frame your proposed solution with their own words.
Tell stories that highlight the differences between your solution and your competitor’s.
Next, you want to show them how your solution will get them closer to that ideal future they told you about. But the way you do this is by first explaining why all the other solutions won't work. This shows that you've thought of everything, and it also adds a bit of suspense to make them want your solution even before you tell them what it is. Show them what they stand to lose by not choosing your solution.
Humans are generally not logical decision-makers, as much as we’d like to think otherwise. Recent studies show that 95% of our decisions are based on emotion. 95%!! Sure, we do our research when we’re looking to purchase a product or service, but our final decision is almost always an emotional one.
Think about those days when everything seems to be working against you. You’re trying to make it to a meeting on time, but you end up 15 minutes late because you can’t find your car keys, you spill coffee all over yourself, and get caught by a train that's moving slow AF. Do you think you’re in a “yes” kind of mood when you finally get to your meeting? Probably not. Does that tell you how easily your emotions can get in the way of your logical decision-making?
With a powerful story, you can help people form a positive emotional association with you and your proposal. When you stir up emotions in people with your stories, it defines the way they perceive you, which creates a stronger connection in their minds, linking you with the ability to solve their problems. Your audience may not remember their logical reasons for wanting to work with you, but they will undoubtedly remember how you made them feel. Telling the right stories to develop emotional associations is the key to turning prospects into customers.
For the robotic equipment builder, they have plenty of stories about times when a competitor beat them out on price because they don’t know what it truly takes to do the job, and then failed to deliver, putting the customer in a major SNAFU. They run back to my customer in crisis mode asking for help because they're 6 weeks behind on production launch and they end up paying almost double what they would have if they had just trusted the experts to begin with.
By telling this story, my customer can show the prospect that they want what's best for them, and that they know how to make it happen. Use their words to paint that picture of their ideal future, with your solution at the center. Show them the big picture of what your proposed solution is going to do for them. Then you can go on to break down the different features of your proposal, but make sure to explain how and why they will work best to help them reach their goals.
Think about times when you were able to be a hero to your customer. What was the situation? What problem did you solve for them? How did you do it better than anyone else would have?
Take the Lead with a Clear Process
That old saying, “the customer is always right” is just not true when it comes to providing a custom manufacturing service. Remember, YOU are the expert and they are coming to YOU to get their problem solved, so act like it! You wouldn’t tell your cruise ship captain which route to take when you leave port, would you? Of course not! You paid a lot of money to let someone else take care of the details and make sure you have a great trip. The same concept applies here. You need to show your customer that you are taking care of them.
How do you do that? By taking the lead from the beginning. You should have a firm standardized procedure that you take each customer through when they first make contact. The more seriously you take your process, the more seriously they will take you. This can be as simple as having a list of questions you ask every new customer and things you need to tell them so they know what to expect. Maybe you have a slightly different list for existing customers or for certain types of projects. The goal is to eliminate unplanned interactions with the customer while putting their mind at ease by showing you have a handle on the situation. Think back to every project that didn't go perfect. What do you wish you had known in the beginning? Make that part of your process.
And if customers try to get around your process, stand your ground and bring them back in. This will probably be difficult at first and might make you feel a bit arrogant, but your customer will thank you for it and trust you more going forward. Don’t be rude about it, obviously. Just explain why it’s beneficial to them to follow your lead and maybe even give an example of how it saved the day for another customer.
Use every tiny opportunity to show that you are true to your word.
Every little interaction is an opportunity to show that you’re as good as your word. That means, closing every conversation by telling your customer what will happen next and delivering on it. Again, this is your process, so you want to reassure them at every turn that you are in control and they have nothing to worry about. Make sure you have clear action items and deadlines after meetings and deliver as specified. If you say you’ll get them something on Friday, they better have it in hand by 8 am on Friday.
This one should be obvious, but don't ever over-promise and under-deliver. It’s easy to make big promises in order to win the job, but if you know you can’t deliver on them, it’s never going to be worth it. You will only be setting yourself up for failure. Always set clear and realistic expectations from the beginning, even if that means admitting that part of the project is out of your wheelhouse. Actually, when you're honest with your prospect about your limitations, that can make them want to work with you even more because it shows you are as good as your word. And if you can point them to someone who can do whatever you can't do, even better!
The reverse can be true too. If you always go above and beyond what you say you're going to do, customers will always expect you to, which can also set you up to fail. If you under-promise and over-deliver in the beginning to impress them and then go back into delivering only what you promised, they’ll feel like you don’t care about them as much anymore. Something I started doing is booking extra time after meetings to review my notes and put any projects into motion that I can. I'll even complete the work right after we talk and then schedule it to be delivered on whatever date we agreed on.
When you don’t meet the exact expectations that you set in the beginning, you will quickly lose trust with your customer. They’ll either think you’re untrustworthy and unqualified–or with the reverse, that you’re losing interest–no one wants any of that! Show your customer that you always do what you say you'll do.
So, how can job shops improve their close rates?
Frame the conversation in terms of your customer’s situation and their goals
Explain WHY you are proposing your solution and how it will make their life easier
Tell stories that highlight the differences between your solution and your competitor’s
Use every tiny little opportunity to show that you are as true as your word