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Rocket ahead with a few of our recent
Successful Home Builders' Newsletters...

Are You Selling Features...or Are Your Selling Benefits?
(And Which One Will Close Clients Quicker --
and Stop You From Having to Competing on Price...)
OK, I know I mentioned this week's newsletter was going to discuss 'blowing your own horn.' This week's topic does touch on that, but it was also refined in response to questions about 'educating the client' and comments about losing business due to pricing.
"Am I a Builder / Renovator or a College Professor?"
Now and again I'll get asked about 'educating the client' specifically when a contractor talks about losing jobs due to being 'undercut' by some competition.

One such conversation happened last week when a builder mentioned losing jobs to...shall we say... less than reputable competition.

Typically in this situation I'll talk about educating the client, to which the response is usually, "I don't have time to teach the client everything I know." First, I agree. Second, you don't have to. Third, you can't afford not to.
Educating the Client
When I discuss 'educating the client', I'm not suggesting you have to provide years of trades knowledge, personal experience, and recent modern changes in the home building industry.

Of course not, first...you're right -- you don't have that kind of time. Second, chances are the average home owner just doesn't care.

What I am saying is to educate the client so:
  1. they understand what your price represents; and

  2. they know what to look for, so they can compare apples to apples.
A Recent Example
A friend recently bought a house and, as par for the course, was contacted by a handful of companies promising to deliver natural gas at lower, locked-in rates.

Now, I can't claim to verify the following information, it's just what he received when he asked for advice. It does, however, illustrate the point.

Apparently the rate quote by these companies (and rather large companies at that...this isn't a fly-by-night thing) is lower because it doesn't include all the costs associated with delivering natural gas to his house.

That is, the rate they were quoting was the 'supply' charge. They then COMPARED this rate to their competition...although they compared it to a rate that combined three different charges and, therefore, was ALWAYS going to be more then theirs.

This would be like me selling you a computer, and saying mine was $750 while comparing it against a competitor's $950 model -- but failing to mention the competitor's included a monitor and mine didn't. Not fair, right?
So, How Do You Use This Information to Stop Fighting on Price?
This is what I mean by 'educating the client'. Let them know what they're getting with your price vs. a potential competitors AND help them ensure they ca, and are, comparing apples to apples.

Do you have to list all 1,001 differences that go into building or renovating a home? Of course not...in fact, if you capture the 10 - 15 biggies, most clients will assume the rest is taken care of (and it usually is).
And Where Does "Features vs. Benefits" Fit Into All of This?
Features vs. Benefits is one of the easiest ways to separate you from your competition and stop fighting on price.

Remember above, when I said chances are home owners don't care? What they (and 99% of all humans purchasing something) don't care about is the process. What they DO care about is the results.

Do you care how a phone works? Do you care if your business phone went dead for one hour? Do you care how HTTP Internet protocol works? Do you care if your website went down for a week? See...it's not the process most people care about (although some may be curious about it after the fact) -- it's the result!

So, don't tell your clients you use "the finest quality building materials" (and who ISN'T going to say that to get the business) or the best workers (and, again, who doesn't say that) -- tell them what matters, the results:
  • we build square rooms (feature) so your furniture doesn't look wonky in the corner...or anywhere (benefit)

  • we prime *both* sides of natural siding (feature) so it lasts longer (benefit) than builders that don't (extra points: mention **how much longer**)

  • we allow wood flooring to acclimatize before installation (feature), to eliminate gaps (benefit)
Your Advantage? Effectively Eliminate a Good Portion of Your Competition!
As mentioned above...if you list a number of areas that you add quality and value to your clients, and you do it by focusing on the end-result...the benefit, not the feature, you'll rocket above your competition in two ways:
  1. the lower-quality, 'price-fighter' builder can't fight you on price now, since they can't hold a candle to you; and

  2. if your other competition isn't doing this, guess who comes out on top?
Will people still go for the lower-priced builder? Yes. Their will always be someone who'd rather get it cheap rather than get it good.

BUT...if you effectively educate your client -- show them the benefits of your extra quality, extra value and (yes) extra price, you'll be happy to let the price-shoppers go, and keep the quality-buyers.

Here's to your profitable results!