Sales Objections

Customer won't give straight answers to your questions
Customer claims they don't know what they want
Customer won't give you a start or completion date
Customer won't tell you if they are going to be the only ones making the buying decision
Customer won't tell you how the job is to be financed
Customer won't let you meet or talk to second party that is paying for job
Second party is out of town and can't/won't meet with you to review job
Customer won't tell you their budget (after you give the three price ranges)
Their budget is unrealistic

The Sales Call

Attendance

Customer not at home at the appointment time (or shows up late)
Customer(s) not at home on the second appointment
Customer's spouse not at the appointment or shows up late
Customer wants to exclude spouse from sales call
Customer's spouse is sleeping and can't be disturbed
Spouse not at home on second appointment to get design agreement
Customer tells you that their spouse is just too busy to be involved

Interruptions

Neighbor, friend or family member drops in during sales call
Customer continually uses phone during appointment
Customer eating meal when you arrive for the appointment
Customer asks you ahead of time to have a meal with them
Customer doesn't pay attention to the sales call
Customer keeps wandering off
One spouse leaves during appointment
Customer has TV on or on too loud
Customer has sick, whiny or ill behaved child
Customer has parent living with them that keeps interrupting process
Customer involved in other activity (housework, yard work, puttering in garage) and won't stop to talk with you
Customer dealing with "crisis" during sales call
Customer gets important phone call from family member, doctor or attorney
Customer notified of death in family during sales call

Family Relationships

Customer keeps interrupting their spouse when they are talking
Spouse making comments behind their partners back
Customer makes an agreement with you for design services, then spouse refuses to sign the agreement
Customer is abusive to spouse or family member
One spouse is an alcoholic or drug user
Adult children bad mouthing you or your company to parents
Adult children telling parents to not work with your company, or don't do the job at all, while you are there
Dealing with a jealous or untrusting spouse
Family member is in construction, but not doing the job
Family member is a former contractor
Customer is your family member

Customer "Wants"

Customer asks you for the names, addresses and phone numbers of the specialty contractors and suppliers you will use on the job
Customer wants to be their own general contractor
Customer is a contractor
Customer is an employee of a contractor
Customer wants you to "fix" something during the appointment
Customer asks very specific questions on how to do something on their job
Customer doesn't want any plans for the job
Customer doesn't want to get permits for the job
Customer wants you to meet him in his office to review your final quote
Customer asks you to donate work or materials to their organization
Customer is vague about preference
Customer has unrealistic expectations about cost or timeline
Customer wants you to "baby-sit" pets or children during the remodel
Customer wants you to finish the job another contractor started
Customer wants to talk to you about their religious affiliation
Customer wants you to look at other company's quotes, paperwork or plans
Customer tells you they want to combine the best ideas from all companies
Customer wants to put their "side job" on your permit
Customer wants to put their "side job" on the financing for your job that has lender inspections before payments
Customer says they want to help supervise the crews
Customer asks if you use subcontractors on their job

Irritations

Customer is a smoker
Customer is argumentative
Customer is confrontational
Customer keeps asking "why" when you ask specific questions
Customer keeps interrupting while you are answering a previous question
Customer tells you how they mistreated another contractor
Customer tells you how another contractor mistreated them
Customer badmouths another company or individual from another company
Customer has pets or other "critters" that could cause a problem
Customer or spouse is drunk when you arrive on sales call
Other family member is drunk when you arrive
You are offered alcohol on a sales call
You are offered drugs on a sales call
You find large quantities of drugs on sales call
Customer handling firearms or other weapon on a sales call
Customer won't make good eye contact with you during the conversation
Unusual amount of physical contact on sales call
Dealing with amorous advances
Dealing with lack of or appropriate attire
Neighbors or acquaintances of the customer warn you about them
Customer tells you they are getting several bids
Customer asks you when you can start the job

Misrepresentations

Customer has used deception to gain appointment
Customer "springs" something on you after quote
Customer agrees to your proposal, asks for time to review the contract, then changes the scope of work and talks to other contractors

Pricing

Customer wants their CPA to audit your books to ensure fair pricing
Customer wants their CPA to audit your books to be sure bills are paid on time
Customer wants their CPA to audit your books to be sure you are only charging the industry standard 10-and-10 for overhead and profit
Customer wants a Cost Plus or T&M contract
Customer wants both a fixed price and T&M (with guaranteed maximum) quote
Customer wants to do a Cost Plus management job with a "not to exceed" clause or a fixed fee
Customer wants an itemization of all costs before a contract is signed
Customer asks what your markup is
Customer promises more work if you give them good price for this job
Customer wants a price "today" for the job
Customer wants a "ballpark" price
Customer keeps asking for prices on individual projects
Customer keeps asking "What's the price" or "When do we get to the price?"
Customer wants to see your estimate sheet
Customer tells you they want the job done as cheaply as possible
Customer wants you to cut every corner you can to lower the price
Customer wants to do some of the work to keep the cost down
Customer wants several price options on a job
Customer can do the job "much cheaper" using subcontractors
Customer says your price is much lower than other bid
Customer wants or tries to compare your quote to other quotes
Customer says another company will start the job with no down payment, or won't ask for any money until the work is done
Customer tries to negotiate a better deal using another company's quote or design
Customer tells you what they think your price should be
Get your price down if you want this job
Customer tells you that they will only pay 8% overhead and profit
Customer says your price is way higher than the "industry standard" of 10% overhead and 10% profit
Customer "knows" what the job should cost
Customer wants to pay cash for the job to get a better deal
Customer suggests you pay the taxes for the job
Customer says they want to furnish their own materials

Dodges

Customer says they are too busy to set a callback, so mail your proposal
I want to talk to my business partner
Working with a managing partner
Customer wants a written proposal without making a commitment
Customer won't make a decision after you make your final quote for the job as agreed
Your price is too high
That is more money than we want to spend
We have to sleep on this proposal
We need to talk to our banker or lender
We need to hash this over
We want to think about it
We want to talk to spouse's father who was a contractor
We want to talk to our minister / priest / rabbi
We want to talk with our son or daughter before we commit to this
Your company's reputation is bad
Our neighbor said one of your people stole something while you were working on their job
You people charge too much
We want our attorney to read this contract before we sign it
We won't sign a contract unless you agree to work on the job

Competitors

Another salesman shows up on your call
Other company tries to get customer to cancel your sale
Other company wants to see your bid
Other company badmouths your company

Building Issues

Building has fleas
Home is filthy and hazardous to your health
Home or building smells extremely bad
Customer makes claims about the building that you know are not true

Dealing With Other Professionals

Architects

Customer is an architect
Architect says they will draw the plans for their own job
Architect wants to "use" your company to get "their" job built
Architect wants to "supervise" your employees and subcontractors
Architect wants to hire your employees and subcontractors through your company
Architect or owner asks for the names, addresses and phone numbers of the specialty contractors and suppliers you will use on the job
Architect wants you to furnish a quote for labor only
Architect wants you to deduct his fees for "architectural work" off your final quote
Architect or owner tries to nickel and dime you
Architect says he or she will write the contract for the residential job using AIA documents
Customer's architect constantly steps in between you and the customer
Architect tells customer you don't know what you are doing
Architect has incomplete plans for the job, or wants you to start job before the plans are complete or approved for permit
Architect has plans with several obvious measurement errors
Architect has plans with no schedules or missing details
Architect's plans require engineering but lack an engineer's stamp or documentation
Architect has plans that won't work

Attorneys

Attorney insists that you use an AIA document to write the contract for the job
Attorney wants to write the contract for the job
Customer's spouse, son or daughter is an attorney
Attorney disregards language in the contract

Engineers

Customer is an engineer and thinks that houses are built like airplanes, to a tolerance to 1/1,000ths of an inch
Engineer has to check with architect or designer to modify plans

Realtors

Realtor wants quote for "their" customer
Realtor wants a square foot price for an addition, kitchen or bath for an out-of-town customer or a customer who's "just considering" a purchase
Realtor wants a walk through with their out-of-town customer
Realtor needs a price today for some repair work
Realtor wants to set up a meeting with their customer, you and your competitors to discuss bid for repair work
Realtor wants you to provide a bid to replace a roof or do other repairs

Insurance Work

You were not told that it was an insurance job when you set the lead
Insurance adjuster asks for written quote
After you have scoped the damage, the customer asks if you would fix something
Customer says: "I need to get approval from my spouse"
Customer says: "You fix the first six items on the scope of repairs; I'll fix the rest"
Customer says: "The adjuster said you could include this in your scope and they would pay for it"
Customer says: "Take my carport and turn it into a garage and charge the insurance company"
Customer says: "Build my deductible or depreciated amounts into your quote"
Customer says: "I've been paying insurance all of my life and this is the first claim that I have ever made"
Insurance company tells you that certain portions of your work are exempt from overhead, profit or taxes
Insurance company tells you they don't pay for job supervision
Insurance company tells you they are not going to pay your overhead and profit on sub-contractor's work on the job, and claim the practice is an "industry standard"
Customer wants an independent inspector for job

Financing

Lender gives the customer an estimate sheet for you to fill out
Lender only wants to give draws on the job every 30 to 45 days
Lender wants to inspect the job before releasing each draw
Lender has told the customer that retainage is normal for 30, 60 or 90 days
Customer is a lender
Lender tells you they want a performance bond after you sign the contract
Lender tells customer to get three bids before they will lend the customer money
Lender tells customer not to give you a down payment
Lender pushes owner to use a different contractor
Lender offers customer a lower interest rate to use another contractor
If requested, customer refuses to put money in escrow for the job (normally applies only to larger jobs)
Lender asks for contact information for specialty contractors and suppliers you will use on the job

Contracts

Customer wants penalties in contract for failure to meet completion dates
Customer wants retainage in contract
Customer wants the finance charge clause for final payment (if not made on time) removed from contract
Customer says they won't give you a down payment
Customer wants to cut the down payment amount in half
Customer wants to change your payment schedule on your contract
Customer promises a "bonus" if you come in under bid or if you give them a good price for the job
Customer objects to your 2% final payment
Customer tells you that they are going to insist on a release of lien document signed by all subcontractors and you before final payment

After Contract

Customer wants to cancel the job after the right of rescission period, but before the job has started
Customer wants to cancel the job after the job has started
Customer doesn't want to attend the pre-job conference
Customer going on trip and won't be there for part or all of the job
Customer presents themselves as one personality type and turns out to be something completely different
Disagreement develops because several versions of the plan are being used on the job
Architect or designer tells you to make a change on the job, and later denies it
Architect or designer tells you to make a change then refuses to submit the change to the owner
Customer tells the job superintendent, "The salesman told us we were going to get…."
Customer says you agreed to a different pay schedule than is on the contract
Customer says the time schedule is different than what is on the contract
Customer wants to "borrow" your tools to do their side project
Customer takes job materials to use on their project
Customer keeps getting in the work crew's way
Customer's children keep getting into the work crew's way
Customer's pets keep getting in work crew's way
Customer's teenage children in the home with no parental or family member supervision
Customer tries to get the workmen to change things on the job
Customer, architect or designer tell a subcontractor or workmen to leave the job
Customer lied about how payments will be made or where the money will be coming from
Customer becomes angry with you
Customer gets mad and starts yelling at you whenever you ask for a payment
Customer won't make the final payment claiming you charged them too much
Customer tells you they are going to deduct $XXXX because of something that happened during the course of the job
Customer calls around for material prices, questions your pricing and refuses to pay
Customer wants credit for material left over
Customer exceeds the installed allowance amounts on the contract, then refuses to pay the final bill
Customer asks you why you are charging more for a subcontractor's services than the sub would charge
Customer comes to you with a punch list
Asbestos, PCB, lead-based paint is found on the job and the customer won't pay to have the hazardous materials removed
Customer wants to use your subcontractors for work in another part of the home or building while you are doing your job

Marketing and Sales

Sales "Opportunities"

Appendix I - "Opportunities"

Construction Programs and Results

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2818 NE 292nd Avenue, Camas, WA 98607