My sister Kim recently purchased a 100 year old bungalow in St. Petersburg, Fla. She is having a bathroom added along with some other renovations to make the house more suited for her.
She interviewed 4 remodeling contractors. She showed them exactly what she wanted done and had each of them give her an estimate to do the work. (All four of the contractors came highly recommended to her by friends and/or associates.)
After meeting and interviewing each of them, she made her choice.
According to her…
Contractor A didn’t seem to listen to her. He seemed to have in mind how HE wanted to do the job and she could tell by his questions that he hadn’t listened to a word she’d said. RED FLAG!
Contractor B was arrogant and assured her he would do a great job and everything would be fine…and she hadn’t even told him what she wanted done yet. ANOTHER RED FLAG!
Contractor C was sloppily dressed, used bad grammar and made a racial comment about another neighborhood which highly offended her. NEXT!
Contractor D…the one she chose…was a very clean cut, nice, courteous man who listened to everything she said and wanted to make sure he understood exactly what SHE wanted. She felt very secure in awarding him the contract. And his follow-up has proven her choice to be the right one.
Now, let’s assume that all four of the contractors are good, conscientious craftsmen and would do an excellent job on the actual remodeling project.
We all know that the construction industry is, for the most part, in the tank these days. All of those guys could have really used the work. (It was a $20,000.00+ job.)
My point is simple: You only get one chance to make a first impression…so you’d better make it count.
Think about what it is you are trying to accomplish. You are trying to win the confidence of a total stranger and persuade them to choose YOU… instead of the other person…to do business with.
You absolutely must make a great first impression each and every time!
And…speaking of time…thank YOU for taking the time to read this letter.
Hal
PS. I’d love to bring one of my workshops onto to YOUR OFFICE for YOU and YOUR STAFF.
Give me a call at 770-993-0004 or email me at Hal@HalColeman.com and let’s talk about some ways I can help YOU grow your business!