Sales Mastery for Junk Removal Professionals

There is a sales language that all successful sales people have mastered. If you own your business, regardless of the industry, you’re just as much a salesperson as you are an owner.

If you hope to grow a successful junk removal business, or any business for that matter, you’ll have to learn the very important skill of guiding the sales call in a manner that addresses all of the needs of the client while relaying confidence and charisma so the potential customer feels good about choosing your company to handle their junk removal needs.

A great salesperson is skillful, not only in the art of selling, but also in the ability use the best language and words of which to highlight how his company is the best choice for the customers needs. Whether you realize it or not, we all speak our own unique sales language, and so do our customers. When you learn to identify your customers needs and speak in the same sales language as your client, you’ll close more sales.

When I was a military recruiter, part of recruiting commands marketing strategy was to provide military uniforms for high school aged recruits to wear while in school. Uniforms were provided to high school Seniors who’d enlisted in the US Army, but who couldn’t yet ship to basic training until they completed their final year and graduated from high school.

This strategy proved extremely effective as a recruiting tool. When random students saw one of their fellow students in full military dress, it tended to generate curiosity and eventually the other students might ask to be introduced to me, the recruiter. If I played my cards right, that interaction would eventually result in a high school student enlisting and me making my quota.

Framing Your Message For Sales Success

Every Thursday my recruiting partner and I had our recruits wear the uniform to school. After school, we’d pick up our recruits and transport them to the base for Thursday night training. Sometimes, we’d bring along a high school student who was a friend of our recruit and was curious about the military. On one occasion a recruit did bring along a friend who expressing interest in enlisting.

While on our way to the base, the friend began commenting about how “high speed” our recruit looked in his brand new uniform. My recruiting partner who was a very new Sergeant and still inexperienced in the recruiting field replied to the student, “You can have a uniform too, all you have to do is join, but you’ll HAVE to wear the uniform every Thursday without fail.” I immediately corrected the Sergeant and replied to the student, “You don’t HAVE to wear the uniform on Thursdays, you GET to wear the uniform on Thursdays!

Did you see what I did there?

“Have to” vs. “Get to”!

One small word substitution created a major shift in the message that we were relaying to the friend. “Have to” is a chore, it’s a command with no options other than to comply. No one likes being told what to do! “Have to” isn’t a phrase you’d use if you’re trying to speak the sales language with maximum effect. On the other hand, “get to” frames the statement more like a priviledge or an honor. “Get to” is exactly the kind verbal framing of the phrase that one would use to maximize the idea of the honor that comes with wearing the uniform of the greatest army on earth. This was a very powerful, albeit minor adjustment to the Sergeants statement but it created a major shift in how the statement was received in the mind of the friend.

The same can be said about every interaction you have with a potential client. The language of sales is one of the most crucial factors in any engagement. The language you use and how you use it when interacting with the potential client can open doors and entice the customer to want to know more about how great your junk removal company is.

Mastering Your Sales Language

Mastering the sales language has a lot to do with how comfortable you are with the product you’re selling, how much you believe in the product you’re selling, and the words you’re using to sell your product. If your words sound as if they’re forced or not authentic, your clients will see right through you and their defenses will go up. At that point its twice as hard to close the sale.

Becoming a master at the language of sales isn’t difficult, it just requires dedication to your craft and lots of practice.

One of the most effective ways to improve your mastery of the sales language is to record yourself engaging in mock in-person sales calls and telephone calls with friends or family members, then have them critique your performance. You should also record yourself in your mock practice sessions. How do you think you sound? Were you nervous or anxious? Did you sound friendly? Did you guide the call in a logical manner so you could effectively present the best image and features / benefits of your company to the client?

Recording your practice sessions is one of the best tools you can use to refine your ability to speak the sales language effectively. You get to see and listen to your deficiencies and then begin trying to eliminate them. It doesn’t take very long to improve your ability to effectively utilize the sales language, it just takes diligence and the desire to be better at your craft.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

A few years ago my wife applied for a very prestigious fellowship with the federal govt. There were close to 12,000 applicants vying for the coveted three spots. Knowing that the competition was fierce, and that part of the selection process was based on multiple telephone and in person interviews, we decided that we’d record hundreds of mock telephone calls and record video of her answering questions as if she were in the actual interview. At the end of every practice session we’d replay the video and audio recordings to critique them.

In the beginning, she was very surprised at how uncomfortable she appeared during her on camera interviews. Her phone calls weren’t much better either. Over the months, she improved dramatically and eventually earned one of the three fellowship positions at the Pentagon in Washington DC.

We believe her success was due to her diligence and preparation. Often, we only get one opportunity to impress the client. You must make every opportunity count! Very few great salespeople were born that way, most had to work toward their craft.

Mastering Phone Sales

Most often you’ll engage with the client by telephone before having the opportunity to meet them in person. Great phone sales skills are what gets your foot in the door. If you don’t present well via telephone, you’ll never move to the next step. Every time you answer the phone you’re selling yourself and your service. You want to relay confidence, decisiveness, leadership, and a spirit of service in order to make the best impression on the client so they give you the opportunity to serve them. Great telephone skill is one of the key elements in effectively speaking the sales language.

A major facet of the sales language is knowing how to guide the sales call effectively. Without a doubt, you should always be in control of the call. The moment you allow the caller to control the call is the moment you begin to diminish the probability that you’re going to close the sale. We’ve all had those callers who as soon as you answer the call immediately begin to ask questions without so much as telling introducing themselves. Not only is that not polite, but in order to guide a sales call effectively one must always know whom they’re speaking with.

When I engage with a caller who attempts to take control of the call, I move into the alpha role by courteously restating my name and then asking them theirs. This technique puts the flow of the call back into your hands. It returns control to you so that you can manage the call to achieve the best outcome. Being in control of the call doesn’t mean you do all the talking, it merely means that you are the subject matter expert so you should be asking the right questions at the right time and listening to the customers responses and needs in order to determine how best to serve them.

Resist the Urge to “Dumptruck”

Another often overlooked telephone skill is learning to resist the urge to “dumptruck” on the client. As a young military recruiter I witnessed countless inexperienced recruiters do what I call “dump trucking.” I’ll put it into perspective for you. Imagine a person calls a recruiting office to learn about opportunities with the military. Many times I heard inexperienced recruiters inundate the prospect with a ton of info about enlisting, without ever asking the prospect any of the important questions about why he was interested in learning more about joining.

They told the caller everything he wasn’t interested in knowing, and didn’t answer any of the questions that were important to the caller. What typically happens in that scenario is the prospect would hang up, not remembering anything the recruiter said and not getting any of his primary concerns addressed. The recruiter would usually lose that prospect and never hear from them again. To the contrary, a savvy recruiter who possessed a keen understanding of how to speak the sales language would close many more prospects by finding out what motivated the caller to call.

Applied to the junk removal industry, this technique translates to understanding the clients needs and addressing those needs directly.

Wrapping Up – Sales Mastery for Junk Professionals

In the junk removal industry, many haulers tend to think that saving money is the primary motivator of the client. Though saving money is important to everyone, many junk removal clients simply desire a higher caliber of service and are willing to pay a premium for it. Being effective at speaking the sales language isn’t about trying to close the sale through trickery or manipulation, its about knowing how to use the right words at the right time, asking applicable questions, listening to the customers needs, and relaying confidence to the client about how your company can solve the clients problem better than anyone else.

These principles are tried and true in any industry or business. Learn to master the sales language and you will be successful in any endeavor you pursue.