Here’s what I know based on concrete statistics:

Financing makes the average sale price go up.

It’s incontrovertible.

And the better the terms, the higher the sale.

Because here is the truth—most homeowners get sticker shock when you tell them their project will cost $10,000 or $20,000 or $40,000 or whatever the number is.

But when you come in with financing, you soften the blow.

The thing is, there is a right way and a wrong way to offer financing.

Most contractors use financing as a last-ditch attempt to salvage a sale. This is the WRONG way.

Instead, sell the monthly payment just like car companies do.

What you do is sit down with the homeowners and say, “Mr. and Mrs. Prospect, we offer several financing options to make this project affordable. How much money do you feel would fit comfortably into your monthly budget to make this project happen?”

(Remember, this is at the beginning—not the end—of the sale.)

If the prospect is not 100% dead set on paying cash upfront (many aren’t, and are open to different options), they will either give you a number or say, “Well, I don’t really know.”

If they don’t know, you say, “What about $200? $300?”

When the prospect gives you a number, say, “OK, you know what, Mr. Prospect? I’ll make you a promise. We can absolutely perform the project you want within your budget of [number] a month.”

If necessary, you can always negotiate the length of the contractor later to make the price fit.

Offering financing this way allows you to close deals faster, easier, and at higher prices.

So when contractors tell me their customers don’t need financing because they all have money, I respond, “That may be true, but how many deals are you losing because the customer did not have the money right then?”

Or…

“That may be true, but how much money in upsells are you losing when your customer has to fork over $10,000 at once, instead of $850 per month?”

One of the best ways I’ve found to offer financing as a first resort is through the GreenSky® Program.

The GreenSky Program is the real deal. Upfront payments. Higher credit limits. Instant credit decisions. No paperwork. No enrollment fee.

Your customers apply for credit during your sales presentation through the GreenSky website, by phone, or through the mobile app. They then get a credit decision almost immediately—sometimes in as little as five seconds.

And when they’re approved, the amount can actually be for more than the cost of the project. This allows you to easily make upsells while staying within your customers’ budgets. Who could possibly pass up replacing their entry door for another $10 per month or upgrading their countertops for $25 per month?

Bottom Line: When you lead with financing through companies like GreenSky, you immediately get your prospects thinking about their projects in small, manageable monthly payments—not a five-figure sum that’s going to leave a gaping hole in their bank accounts.

You’re much more likely to get a “yes”… and for a higher price.

Find out more about the advantages of offering financing through GreenSky on our official MYM GreenSky® page.

Basically, it’s a contractor’s financing dream—and a tool that will melt away price resistance in practically all of your prospects.

* All financing is subject to credit approval and credit qualification.  Financing for GreenSky® consumer credit programs is provided by federally insured, federal and state-chartered financial institutions without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex or familial status.

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Last week, I told you about Renoworks Pro, the remodeling visualization software that is literally adding tens of thousands of dollars to projects or contractors across the U.S. of A.

I want to follow up with a quick email about more amazing results remodeling contractors are reporting:

“Renoworks Pro is huge – it provides me the ability to upsell. I can usually add between $3,000 to $10,000 of product and services to every job. This helps set me apart from the competition and I worry less about competing on price versus adding value during the sale.”

-William LaMonaca, Colorado Home Exteriors

“Renoworks Pro replaces our ‘crystal ball.’ A homeowner photo regularly becomes a $40,000 remodeling contract approved, anticipated, and referred by a customer.”

-Jack Cooper, Custom Exteriors Inc.

“Renoworks Pro helps my prospects visualize their projects. It fast tracks prospects’ decision-making process by giving them clarity and confidence in their decision.”

-Wayne Verboomen, The Window Guy

“Since using Renoworks Pro, I have increased my close rates and profit by 60%.”

-Paul Sacco, JM Door & Hardware

“For the exterior contractor, Renoworks Pro is the single best upselling tool in the remodeling industry. Let the competition fumble with samples and sales pitches while you show the prospect their home transformed into their dream house, right before their very eyes.”

-Mike Damora, K & B Home Remodelers

Find out more—and take advantage of an exclusive MYM email subscriber discount—by visiting our Renoworks Pro page and filling out the form.

When you submit the form, a Renoworks Pro consultant will contact you shortly with more information and give you the opportunity to schedule a free live demo.

P.S. Look out for when I do a follow-up email on Renoworks Pro and how it completely melts prospect price objections. We’re back to our regularly scheduled MYM-related programming in the next post. It’s a post you definitely do NOT want to show to your spouse. You’ve been warned!

A few months ago, my 11-year-old son Luke wanted to buy a Desert Eagle Full Auto Airsoft Pistol on eBay.

My response: “Um… no.”

But Luke really, really wanted it.

So when I put my size-12 loafer down, he didn’t back off.

Instead, he came at me with a binder’s-worth of review information about the gun and the seller.

He showed me the gun had a four-and-a-half-star rating out of five. He showed me the seller had 3,119 reviews and 99.7% positive feedback. He showed me the seller also had 1,541 positive reviews in the past 12 months.

So even good ol’ wide-eyed Luke knows that online reviews are a hugely persuasive form of social proof.

He might not have thought of it in that exact way (he’s a middle schooler, not a marketer), but he has figured out that people can be swayed into doing or buying something if enough other people do.

And this is why 11-year-old Luke understands marketing better than most contractors.

Sure, contractors think reviews are important… but many underestimate just how important.

Like I said a few posts ago, Social Proof is essential and new research shows 90% of people read online reviews before deciding to call a contractor.

Yes… 90 percent!

Oh, don’t look so surprised.

The good news: If you already have a bunch of great online reviews, you have nothing to worry about.

The bad news: If you don’t have a bunch of great online reviews, you’re leaving a depressingly large sum of money on the table.

Fortunately for you, we can fix that.

We’ve been providing Online Reputation Management (ORM) for just a few months, but it’s already proving to be a godsend for our clients who need to beef up their online reputations.

Case in point…

In just one month, our ORM has generated our client Jacob’s Ladder, 10 new five-star online reviews across Google, Facebook, BBB, and Yelp.

At this pace, the company could have 120+ stellar online reviews within the year.

Like I said yesterday, it goes to show that building up a lot of great reviews is not hard, but it does take a lot of time and effort. To do it yourself, you’d have to dedicate a full-time employee to it, and it would cost you thousands of dollars a month.

Consider the eBay seller I mentioned earlier. It’s taken her 15 years to accumulate those 3,119 reviews. That works out to about 208 reviews per year.
If you’re an eBay user, you know that people on there give out reviews like candy. So if it’s taken this woman this long to collect that many reviews on eBay, you can expect it will take you years to attain even one-third that amount on sites like Yelp, Google, and Facebook.

That’s why you need to get started RIGHT NOW if you want to build an ironclad online reputation. The longer you wait, the more rave reviews you lose out on.

Because here’s the thing…

Your customers want to let the world know how great you are. But they have 789 things going on in their lives, so they forget to.

MYM ORM sends your customers through a sophisticated review funnel that gets them to take action and provide online feedback on the review websites of your choosing.

So stop shooting yourself in the foot with an airsoft pistol. Every remodeling project that goes by that you’re not utilizing ORM is another wasted opportunity for a great online review.

Mosey on over to MYM’s official ORM webpage for more details.

Until next time,

P.S. So, did Luke’s tactic of showing me mounds of social proof persuade me to let him bid on the airsoft gun? Actually yeah, it did—under the condition that I would heavily supervise his use. He was outbid in the last few seconds, though, so he didn’t end up getting it. Oh, darn….

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