What You’ll Learn
- Learn how contractors who offer home improvement financing can empower their sales team to win more jobs by selling the benefits of monthly payments.
- Get tips your sales team can use right away.
Home improvement projects can be costly, and paying for them upfront with cash simply isn’t feasible for many homeowners. As a contractor, being able to offer financing with a monthly payment option can help more homeowners afford to invest in their homes and empower your sales team to close more deals. Read on to learn how to equip your sales team with the talking points they need to sell monthly payments instead of cash prices.
Start off with the Financing Conversation
How do you plan on paying for the project? It’s one of the most important questions to ask your customer. By bringing up the topic of affordable financing early in the conversation, you can control and speed up the sales process. Instead of going back and forth with bid adjustments, you can build your quote accurately the first time by knowing what your customer can afford ahead of time.
Long-Term Investment
Position your service as an investment and have a candid conversation with your potential customer. For example, ask them how long they plan on living at their residence. This will help you determine if financing is a good option for them and allow you to tailor your bid for the correct term length to maximize their home improvement investment.
Opportunity Cost
Sometimes home improvement projects are a matter of necessity rather than an investment, such as a roof replacement. When this is the case, you can pitch the idea of opportunity cost, which suggests that the cash spent on a home improvement project could be put to better use in a higher-yielding investment.
Save Cash for Emergencies
Life has a way of throwing curveballs, so it’s important for people to have a rainy-day cash fund. Considering nearly 65% of Americans have less than a month of income saved for emergencies, selling your customers a monthly payment option allows them to save cash for unexpected expenses where they must pay with cash.
Help Maximize Their Budget
Paying with cash for a home improvement project can often limit the project’s scope to the essentials. Position the monthly payment as a way to maximize their budget and turn their dreams into reality rather than settling for the bare necessities.
Uncertainty in Project
As a home improvement industry professional, you undoubtedly have experienced projects with unexpected issues that significantly increased the project’s cost. These can cause customers a lot of stress, especially when they are already cash-strapped. When you have a project that may contain uncertainty, pitching an affordable financing option with a built-in contingency fund to your customer can ease their worries.
Low Payment vs. Lump Sum
How often have you lost out on a bid because the potential customer experienced sticker shock? Probably more times than you can count. Instead of providing your customer with a project bid of $20,000, break it down for them by providing a monthly payment. This helps demonstrate their new hot tub, deck, or kitchen remodel can be affordable and attainable.
Eliminate Objections
Like sticker shock, overall project cost is likely one of the most common objections your sales team experiences during the bid process. Instead of adjusting the bid to meet their cash budget cost, eliminate the objection by offering them the option of affordable monthly payments.
Cost vs. Benefit
With the rise of “buy now, pay later” options, consumers are now used to the idea of utilizing payments to make purchases. Position your pitch around the fact that they can enjoy their new investment sooner and at an affordable monthly price rather than having to wait to save up the cash.
Ready to Grow Your Business with Affordable Financing?
At Salal Dealer Direct Lending, we help home improvement and solar contractors expand their reach, reliably finance larger projects, and empower their customers to improve the houses they call home. If you’re interested in finding out more about how you can give more customers the opportunity to invest in their homes, let’s talk.
Learn more about becoming a Salal Dealer Direct Partner.
