Sales & Closing Tips for TWO Decision Makers (When One Wants It More!)
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Effective Strategies for Home Improvement Sales to Couples
Here are some tips on selling home improvements when one person wants it more than the other. The most common scenario in home improvement sales or in-home sales is that you're dealing with two people, usually a husband and wife. I don't want to sound like I'm stereotyping, but this is the most typical scenario. For this example, I’ll refer to them as a husband and wife because it’s easier, and I'll refer to the husband as the one to sell, though it could go either way. Frankly, it’s usually the wife who’s really in control of the decision-making. So, don’t condemn me for the examples 😊. I’m also going to explain what I use in the close for this scenario, which has helped me make a lot of sales, so please listen to the end.
Importance of Selling to Both Parties
If you're selling in the home and it’s a typical relationship, you have to sell to both people. You can’t sell to just one out of the two. You either go 2 for 2, or 0 for 2. One out of two is like going 0 for 2 because you won’t make the sale.
Sometimes you're in a situation where one person wants the improvement more than the other. The other person acts like they don’t care and is only somewhat involved. The main thing I do is focus even more on the one who isn’t as sold because they’re the most likely person to kill the sale. This situation can be identified when the husband says something like, “Well, to me the kitchen looks fine, but my wife’s been bothering me for years to get this done.” Or some variation of, “I really don’t care; it’s whatever she wants.” The wife might say, “I know we need new windows at some point, but I don’t know if it’s totally necessary.” In sales, you’ve got to leverage every benefit you can. Sometimes I may flatter the one who isn’t sold or gently put them on the spot.
How to Engage the Unsold Party
One way I do this is by saying to the wife, “Well, for what it’s worth, I can tell you have a good husband who must really love you to even be looking at a new kitchen when he doesn’t care, but obviously, he cares about you.” You have to do this tactfully, and if you have enough rapport, it usually works. The wife usually says, “I know,” and the husband smiles. Another approach I use is to ask the husband point blank, “Do you think your wife is being foolish or silly for wanting to redo the kitchen?” It's a nice way to put him on the spot. In most cases, they won’t argue with that. Again, your mindset should always be that you’re there to help the person get what they want. If it’s just one person, then you’re helping them get the other person on board. A lot of times, I actually feel sorry for the wife. You know, the one who’s got a dress that’s been washed 1000 times, while the husband has all these new toys outside, and she slaves over the kitchen every single day to feed the family. And she’s not strong enough to get her husband to agree without my help.
The second scenario is when one person doesn’t want to be involved at all. I remember one time, I was talking to a husband and wife, and they both seemed interested. We were in the warm-up, and all of a sudden, the husband said, “OK, I gotta go.” I asked, “Well, where are you going?” He replied, “Oh, I’m going downstairs to do some work. This is her project.” This is one of those moments of truth where, if you don’t act quickly, he’s going to leave, and it’ll be all over. My response was, “Oh, if you don’t mind, I just need about 5 more minutes because I have a couple of questions about the house and the electrical and gas hookups. After that, you can do what you want.” I got him involved in the information-gathering process. Those who know me know I use a set list of questions to do this. Once I got him involved, he stayed for two and a half hours as we wrote up the paperwork. I knew I had literally five minutes to get him engaged.
Handling Scenarios Where One Person Disengages
The point is, in any situation, you want to get both people involved. The easiest way to do this is to ask questions and always go back and forth when talking to them. For example, when gathering information, I might ask, “Do you have any hot or cold spots in the house, Mary?” Then, I’d follow up with, “What about you, John? Anything else you want to add?” Don’t let them avoid responding. For example, if you’re in the information-gathering process and you ask the unsold person, “What color do you think would go with this?” or “Do you prefer casements or double-hung windows?” and their response is, “Like I said, it’s up to her,” I always follow up with, “I know it’s up to her, but what do you think about it?” You’d be surprised how often the “I don’t care” person gives you a very detailed opinion.
The opposite scenario is when you create a situation by focusing on just one person and leaving the other out. This encourages the excluded person to leave and disengage from the process.
Another scenario is when one party leaves right in the middle of your presentation. This happens for a couple of reasons: 1) You didn’t get them involved enough, or 2) You didn’t build enough rapport and respect. In the worst case, they don’t say anything and just get up and leave. When you’re new to sales, you often realize what’s happening too late. I’ve seen instances where the salesperson watches the husband get up and leave the house, and five minutes later, they finally muster up the courage to ask, “Oh, by the way, did your husband leave?” At that point, it’s too late. When that happens, it means you have no rapport and no respect from the customer. Imagine you’re having a conversation with friends, and suddenly one of them just gets up and leaves without saying anything. That’s what’s happening here. If you’ve gotten both people involved, this won’t happen. But even if it does, you have to be strong enough to address it immediately by saying, “I’m sorry, if you don’t mind me asking, are you leaving?” If they say yes, ask, “Is there something you’re not interested in, or have I upset you?” If they reply, “Oh no, no, she can handle the rest,” respond by saying, “Well, if you don’t mind, we still need to go over things like color selection, styles, and payment options, and it’s usually better to have you both here to get all your questions answered. I’ve found that when one person isn’t involved, someone inevitably calls later asking about lowering the payment or changing something. Instead of going back and forth, which wastes more of your time, we can get everything answered at once. That way, I only need to talk to you again if you want to place the order. Make sense?” Then get them to stay. When you’re new, you might feel uncomfortable doing this, but after you’ve had enough experiences of people wasting your time, you’ll get stronger and hold your ground.
Closing a Sale When One Partner is Sold
Another dynamic is when one person is sold during the close. It’s very common during the close for one person to really want the improvement and be obviously sold on it. When you sense this, let that person help sell the other. You can tell one person is really sold when they say, “I really want this,” or sometimes it’s more subtle. One of the biggest buying signs I get in the close is when one person says, “What do you think, honey?” My take on the situation is that if one person asks the other, “What do you think?” it means they’re sold. If they weren’t sold, they wouldn’t ask.
The best way to handle this is when one person says, “What do you think, honey?” I always jump in before the other can answer and say, “Well, I definitely want to know what your husband thinks, but I have a question for you. What do you think? Because I get the feeling that if it were up to you, you’d be doing it, wouldn’t you?” When they answer “Yes,” ask them why. This forces them to reinforce their answer. “Why? Because I like it, and I think it’s a good deal.” Now it’s almost like you’ve got two people on your side—yourself and the person who asked the question. The best strategy now is to stay quiet after they say they’d do it and explain why. The silence puts pressure on the other person. Don’t say anything, and let them make the first move.
