Leading Edge

In my previous column on lead tracking, I said it is critical to make sure you and the potential customer (PC) are compatible.

Case in point: Last week I was in the office late, around 6:30 p.m., when the phone rang. I answered it, thinking it could be my wife looking for an ETA home. It was instead a PC. At that time of night, I can be short and to the point as I want to get home to see the kids. This gentleman, rather straightforward and bland, was looking for me to make an appointment to review a job he wanted to complete at his home. His friend, a well-known competitive contractor, had referred us to this PC. My ears stood straight up. Usually that means the contractor does not want the job for one of two reasons, the PC is a jerk or they want to keep the PC as a friend.

After the usual warm-up of what the job involved, I started asking some of the tougher questions, such as status of plans, time frame of start and completion, who my competition was and the coupe'' de gras, budget. The gentleman was nice enough, a fairly straightforward and methodical fellow, a pharmacist. But you could hear his wife in the background, nay-naying my being so forward and honest about the project. I wanted to know if I was talking with a PC who wanted a $450 service call or a $50,000 bathroom. You could actually here her say, "Why does he need to know that?" I had just asked the budget question.

The PC stated, calmly, "Oh, we know from our contractor friend that it is probably around $200,000." That was all it took for the wife. It sounded like a newborn bird chirping for the worm from my end of the receiver.

The pharmacist handled it all in stride. We set an appointment for his off day the next week. At this point keep in mind: I wanted to go after this job. It sounded like the kind of job I really liked. I actually got to know the guy pretty well through the conversation and was looking forward to meeting with him to negotiate a price.

The day before our meeting, my secretary called the pharmacist at work to confirm the appointment. Later that afternoon, the wife calls our office and cancels the appointment. I wanted to know why. The next day at our weekly sales meeting, I took the copy of the lead to follow-up with the PC. I sensed that I did not want to call the house, so I called him at his office. I knew from my prior discussion with the gentleman he would be honest with me.

Guess what? His wife was mad at me for asking such tough questions; therefore, she did not like me and decided to cancel the appointment. The pharmacist was true to his word and stood by his wife. He was as honest with me as he had been the night of the first phone call.

I did not waste the gas nor the time simply because I followed my lead sheet procedures to a tee. I figured it was better to find out what a witch the wife was now, than later. How could you or I work for someone that had a problem with facing the cold hard facts of remodeling? I feel I saved myself a lot of heartache simply because my system identified a PC that could not be open and honest. I know I saved myself a lot of money.

Michael Carden is an owner of MUI Corporation, Birmingham, AL and former National chairman of the Remodelors Council. Please email him with any comments or questions regarding his column.