Episode 6: Sales Techniques

n this episode of The Clean Hour, we break down one of the most misunderstood skills in business — sales.

Many pressure washing business owners think sales is about being pushy or convincing people to buy. In reality, the best salespeople focus on understanding customer needs, building trust, communicating value, and helping customers make confident decisions.

We discuss:
✅ Why sales is really about solving problems
✅ Understanding what customers actually want
✅ How to communicate value instead of competing on price
✅ Handling objections with confidence
✅ Building trust throughout the customer journey
✅ Following up without sounding pushy
✅ Improving your quote acceptance rate

Whether you're new to business or looking to improve your conversion rate, this episode will help you develop a simple, natural sales process that wins more work and builds stronger customer relationships.

🎧 Subscribe for weekly episodes helping pressure washing business owners grow smarter, faster, and more profitably.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the sixth episode of the Clean Hour Podcast. Thank you very much for joining us again. Hope you've been enjoying the previous five episodes. Last episode was all about finances and financial management for an exterior cleaning business. So if you haven't listened to that, go back and listen to that because it'll really help you in your journey. Today's episode is uh a really, really important one, and it's probably the biggest, the hardest thing exterior cleaners face, and that's sales. Uh but luckily we have the man for the job because Matt, this is your uh your expertise, this is your bread and butter. So um looking forward to this one. I think it's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

This yeah, um sales, it's really, really important, innit? And people are either really good at it, really bad at it, really confident with it, or try and shake it off altogether. So, yeah, it's uh I'm really looking forward to the podcast. It'll be interesting to see what questions are up in there and where we go with it. But yeah, man, all good, all is good.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Excellent. So, sales then. So we'll marketing and sales, right? Are the would you agree that they're the two biggest most important things a business needs to master or at least have in place if you want to grow? Because it's all right being I say this in my videos as well, it's all right being the best cleaner, having the best kit, but if you can't market and sell, let's talk about not let's not talk about marketing today, but sales. If you can't sell, what is the point? Because you can have all the leads in the world, all the kit, you can have everything in place, but if you can't get that over the line, you're gonna struggle and you're not gonna be able to grow. So, from your experience, would you say that sales is the hardest thing that people struggle with in this industry?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

I I think it is, yeah. I think I think what it comes back to, it comes back to the last episode of we it's a very British thing in it. We don't like talking money, we're very I think we're brought up that way, I think we're very um conservative and reserved about around money, and and we almost find it embarrassing um to talk about money. And I think the people that do well in sales, so I see when you're selling your own services in your own business, the people that do well don't have that stigma of embarrassment uh around the price. Everyone, everyone is has this stigma to talk about money, and I think if you master sales, you know, and I don't mean become salesy, don't become slimy, just master sales, then I I think you'll see a massive change in your business, you'll see a massive change in the money coming into your business, um, and it's a really important subject to cover because people are just absolutely they're terrified of it for some reason. The number of people we speak to, and I hear the number of people other people speak to, you know, people that generate leads saying, I've got this client is getting 120 leads a month, you can't close them. Can't close one. Now you have to really look at and they you know and the and the their um defence mechanism is uh the leads are shit, the leads are shit. You need to look at your sales process. If you're getting five leads and you can't close them, then especially in exterior cleaning, then then your marketing's wrong, your lead generation's wrong. But if you're getting 120 leads a month and you can't close one of them, then you have a sales problem, not a leads problem. So yeah, it's really important, really important.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

It's interesting you said the word slimy there, because I think the first thing to talk about is maybe reframing sales, like what does sales mean to you? Um, why do you think sales has a bad rep? Because I would say it does overall. When you think salesman, you like you said, slimy, sleazy, um dishonest. I think we've got to move away from that, don't we? Because why do you think it has a bad uh a bad rep, I think, in in in business, not just pressure washing, but yeah, why do you think it has a bad reputation, sales?

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I I would say because sales predominantly right. If you if you're a sales rep, if you work for a company doing sales, you are probably on a base salary and then on a really big commission. So most sales jobs they will sell their grandmother to get the commission. They will promise you the world and then under deliver once you've signed the dotted line. Whatever it is for a car, for a holiday, for a house, whatever it is, anybody that is in commissioned sales, um, so that's the two points you need to look at commission sales and then you selling your own services. You're not commissioned when you sell your services, you are selling your services at a value that you believe is right and a price that is right to do that job and make profit. So that those are the two things. You don't there's no there's no salesy sleazy sales techniques used to sell exterior cleaner unless you work for a large company and you're the sales rep, and then they'll promise the world, you know. And you look back in your own life, you know, you buy something, you buy a brand new car, for example, and the sales rep says, Oh mate, it'll come with a full tank of fuel. Yeah, we'll put the mats in, we'll do this, we'll do that. You go to collect it, there isn't a full tank of fuel, there isn't any mats in it, he hasn't done what he said, and he's not there today, it's his day off. And you're like, ah, mate, you winding me up because that's what they do, they promise you the world, then under deliver. So there's two different types of salespeople: there's the commission-based, and then there's the owner operator that is selling his services on on value, um, and you need to really get you need to distinguish between the two. You're not a commission-based sales rep. You need to be really good at sales, and you need to be able to close, but you're not going down the line of commission-based. So your offer isn't on bullshit, broken promises, lies, and just saying, just saying whatever they want to hear to get it across the line. Yours is on value, quality of work, but your price is your price. That's where I'd start with that.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Absolutely. I think with roof cleaning as well, because it's so it's much higher ticket. Sales really is relationships, isn't it? It's how can you build the rapport and the relationship with the customer and and kind of work out their needs as well. You're not going into it, like you said, with that kind of sleazy mindset. You go in there thinking, can I build rapport with this customer? Can I give them what they want? And and a lot of people, they don't with sales, right? You're selling the outcome, aren't you? You're not selling the product, and I think that's where a lot of people fall short. I see people's ads and people saying, uh, you know, we clean with this, we clean with uh this surface cleaner and apply this chemical and la la la. But it doesn't really matter, that's not what people are interested in. People want a clean roof, they want they want to stop having to pick up moss out of their gutters or on their driveway or patio, they want to stop slipping on uh on their patio if you're cleaning patios, you know what I mean? So it's I think we've got to look at that, isn't it? We've got to look at the outcome rather than the products. I think that's what a lot of people make the mistake in this industry.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah, we we you're selling a fix to people's pain points. People are coming to us because they have a pain point. The pain point might be block gutters, it might be a slippy patio, it might be they're fed up a sweeping moss, it might be they're trying to sell the property and they want it bruised up. So that that's the pain point. You've got to sell the solution to the pain point. You know what I know what the pain point is pretty much with every roof clean, right? It's they're fed up a sweeping moss, they're fed up a sweeping moss up. So when I'm doing when I'm doing my um if I'm going to see them and I'm walking around the house with them, you know, I'll bring that up. Bring that up. God, you must be driving you mad, sweeping this moss up. Oh mate, every day, every day I'm out of here, it drives me insane. There you go. But luckily for you, I have the solution to remove that because I'm a moss removal specialist. Brilliant job done. And then it literally is getting your price across, innit? There's nothing sleazy about it, they've got a problem, I can solve it. I'm not promising them the world, I'm you know, I'm just saying you've got a problem, I will, I will resolve this, you know, and they pretty much know that because they've looked at my social media, they've seen my Google reviews, they've seen all my videos, they've seen everything we do. That's why I'm studying their garden. This is this is just now to finalise it, to give them a price and finalise it. You know, they've done all the research before I've got to that garden, you know. So this doesn't have to be salesy, doesn't have to be sleazy, I don't have to promise them things that I can't deliver. I just say, yeah, moss, I'll get rid of that for you. I'll do all your gutters, I'll do all your windows on the way down. It'll be beautiful, like every post you see on Instagram. Okay, Matt, what's the price? Thousand pounds. Job done. Thanks. When can I sign up? That's it. There's no sleaziness, there's no sales, there's no pushing, there's no nothing. That that's it. Very, very simple. You know, that is it.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Yeah, outcome-based. I think I I take it back to my previous business, the wedding, the wedding uh company. I did really, really well with sales and marketing. Like it was just something that just worked and we excelled at. I used to look at all the other photographers and videographers, and they'd in their ads, they'd be like, Um, uh we use this professional Canon Mark D, uh 5D Mark III camera, and we give you 600 8k high-resolution images and all this. But my ads, I'd be like, we capture memories, that's what I would say. And I'd say, like, when people aren't around anymore, you can look back at our work and still hear voices and see them and stuff. They they're the same product, but two completely different ways of looking at it. One was showing the technology and the technical side of it, one was pulling on the emotion, and that's it, really. That uh for me, that's sales in my head anyway. It's it's looking at the outcome and and the like with pressure washing and roof cleaning, this it's the same thing, really. We're just cleaning dirt off a roof or cleaning dirt off a driveway or patio. But it's how you position it and how you how you communicate it on your socials, how you uh put it in your um your ads, and then ultimately how you communicate to the customer, isn't it? And it's it's such a small tweak. But if you make that tweak, your sales become so much easier because it's genuine emotion and a relationship instead of just giving them a load of waffle, basically, which a lot of people do, talking about PSI, chemicals, all this kind of stuff. People don't people don't care. People do not care, they just want it cleaned.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

And and purchasing is a feeling, yes, and it's a feeling. You're buying, it's a feeling, you're buying, you're buying that, you're really you're removing your pain point, but it's a feeling, it's a feeling, and we speak about it. People buy from people, people buy from authenticity, and they buy from people they trust. But everything we've spoken about over the last six weeks is all the building blocks to get to this point, in it. We've built the trust, we've built the social media, we've done the marketing, we know the numbers. Now we're at the point of execution. This is what this journey is all about. It isn't this, you know, it isn't just one piece to the jigsaw, it's everything you need to do to get yourself to stud there, and then the final piece now is closing that deal, and it is, you know, you've got to have an understanding on how people operate and what they want. People are busy, right? People are busy, everyone's busy, I'm busy, you're busy, everyone's busy. People don't want you stood in their garden for an hour waffling on about how great the earth system is, how great your pressure washer is, how great your chemicals are, how it's gonna, you know, they're not interested. They just it needs to be short, snappy, no sleazy, not desperate. This is what I do, I remove your moss. Job done. That's the price. Next, move on, you know, and I think once I think people I I think where people struggle with sales, right, in my eyes, is when I've taught people to sell, I think where they struggle is they try and oversell. And I mentioned it in the last in the last um podcast where they give a price, and then instantly, before the clients even had time to think about what he's gonna say, they then spiel off why it's that price. And that shows two things, right? It shows that you're not confident in your price, because now you're having to spiel off to justify it, and you should never have to justify your price. Um, it your price is your price, your price isn't for everyone's budget, and if it's two dear for them, that's absolutely fine. You wish them well and you part ways, it's it's not a problem. You should never if you're having to justify your price, then you really need help in your sales. You just tell them the price and leave it. Let them make the first move, let them ask the question. That's it. But people, and I see it all the time, they say a price and then have to justify it, and you don't that that highlights to the buyer that something isn't right, something's just not right because now he's justifying it, he's now going salesy, he's now pushing it on me. Nah, stop, tell him the price, be quiet. Promise you, works a trait.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

I think it's the question is how can we communicate value, isn't it? I think really um because if a customer has five or six quotes, or you know, when you give a if you give someone a quote and they say, Oh, I've just got a few other quotes to get through. What they're really saying is we it's just on price here. That's what they're saying. We don't we we don't we don't value you enough or trust you enough just to say yes straight away, so ultimately then it's coming down to a price. Um because cheap cheap competitors will always exist. There's always the people who race to the bottom and we see it, they're always there, always there. So I guess it's how can we justify our qua our quality and our value and our premium price, and if that's what we're gonna do, how can we do that? So, how is that possible? Then what should we be doing then to communicate our value? Does it start with I we think I say to my clients a lot, and a lot of it is from you, is I say before we run ads and stuff, I say make sure your posts on your socials, make sure your socials and your Google My Business and your reviews are in place because it makes the sell so much easier. Because what people do is they'll click on your ad, they might check out your Google My Business, they'll check out your socials, and that's where for me, that's where the value is communicated. And when it by the time it comes to you standing on their doorstep, they already get to know you, and the sale is almost done, as long as you don't balls it up and do something weird on the doorstep. I think that's how you communicate value, is that fair to say, where you you you put it in place before the meeting, so the meeting is much easier. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

It is, yeah, you're 100% right there. Um I'm glad you've listened to me over the years. Um the the um that value is built long before the price, right? And I think we had this conversation on Wednesday about Gordon Ramsay gives everything away for free. Oh yeah, don't he? He gives all his recipes, he gives all his ingredients, he films how he puts it all together, and he gives you everything for free, right? Everything, but people still flock to his restaurants, they still flock. You try and book the Savoy Grill in London this week, you ain't getting it. There's months and months and months and months of waiting lists to get in there, but he's told you how he cooks his beef. Well he's shown you how to make it, he's shown you every ingredients, how long it needs to go in the oven for, right? What he's done is he's building the value, and he's building the trust long before people book a book a meal with him, right? And it's the same with exterior cleaning. If you're not building the trust, if you're not giving people the value in your social media, if you're not not just showing them before and afters or a time lapse, you're actually getting on the camera and giving them value of why it needs to be done, and not so much how you're gonna do it, but why it needs to be done. What it what does it prevent? What does it prevent? What do I get back from it? Well, it could increase the price of my house if I'm selling it. The curb appeal, anyone coming to buy it looks at it and goes, Wow, that looks really nice and it's well kept. First impressions. You know, there's a value to everything you do, and by building that long before you're stood with that client, that client might be watching you a year, two years, three years. They may not be able to afford your roof clean or your external cleaning package when they first came across you, but they've grown with you over the last six months, twelve months, a year. They've grown with your journey. The value's already there, right? They know what you do, they feel that they know you. The last bit of it is you giving them a price. And if you've built the value into it, you don't have to give them the value in the garden. They know the value. That's why you stood there. You stood there because they know the value. All they want is I guess it's I guess it's more of a just a final confirmation that I've watched them for a year, now he's stood in my garden, he's exactly the same as what I've seen on social media. I really like the guy already, and his price is his price. I know why his price is that because he's explained it in previous social media videos of how he gets to that price, so there's no shock when you tell them, and then the sale, you're right, becomes it's not always a formality, but it's pretty much a lot easier to sell if you've built the value behind the scenes. You can't build value in someone's back garden, right? And give them a price of a thousand pounds and build the value there and there, because it just comes across sales. So you you just got to do it not offline, but you've got to do it, do you know what I mean? Way before you get to that point of executing a price, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

The work starts way before that, what you said. Like just in just one that's just came to my head now. I don't even know. I think this is a relevant example. Um I uh we have Sky TV, right? So all the Sky Sports packages and stuff. Uh they uh sent a letter out the other day saying your prices are going up by X amount. It wasn't even that much, but it's like four or five pounds for each service, so Sky Sports is going up, Sky TV and all this kind of stuff. So you could call me a mug for paying it, but um I could easily have one of them dodgy sticks that a lot of people have. But Sky have been Sky have built that reputation for themselves and the quality that they do provide. So they can just send me a letter saying the price is going up, and it's like take it or leave it. And I'm I've taken it, I've taken it because I know the quality that I get with it, and I think that all starts with because they've built their brand, they've built the the trust, um, the quality they they provide. They don't even have to justify it anymore, they can just say here's the price, and it's going up, take it or leave it, and they don't really care. Whereas I could easily just pay what I pay a month, I could pay a year for a dodgy stick, but I don't because the quality is being communicated. If that makes sense, is that a good analogy?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

It it is, yeah, because if you look at all the big brands, right? All the big brands are they build everything behind the scenes, don't they? And I go back to Gordon Ramsay, I go back to his restaurants, right? Um you want to go and eat in the Savoy, two of you, and have these beef wellington and veg or chips, a couple of pints, a couple of shorts, and a dessert. It's gonna cost you the best part of 500 quid, right? But you can't get in. You you can't get in. You physically cannot get in. You know, he's not even cooking it, he's not even the chef. So you're paying for something that he's built through value in social media and his reputation.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

I've never thought about that, that he's not actually cooking, he's not cooking, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

And people are flocking to it, right? So you can do this if you build your and this this is another subject which we've I think we might don't know what we're gonna do. You know, your personal brand, people will want the patio cleaned by your company. If you've built your personal brand and your business brand with value, you might not be doing it. You know, you know, the these people that have built really successful companies that are doing great work. You know, um Joe Wicks, right? Joe Wicks isn't a personal trainer, he doesn't go around training every single person, but his his value of what he teached on YouTube and during lockdown has scaled him to millions and millions of pounds, but he's not teaching everyone. He's just he's just built the value in before people even get to the program. People now get to the program and want to buy it because Joe Wicks' name's on it. That that's it, he's not doing it, and that's what I think people miss with the sales. That they think, oh, if I get loads of leads, I'll just turn up and I'll sell it. Well, no, it doesn't work like that. You know, people are, especially when you're selling big ticket items, right? When you're selling big ticket items, people need to see the value in it. They have to get that feeling that the value is there for what they're about to spend. But if you've missed it out on your socials or all you're ever showing is time lapses, then then you're not, you're gonna really struggle. You're gonna really struggle to convert unless you are absolutely shit out, nailed, confident. But if you're not and you're missing all the tricks and you're saying the wrong things at the wrong time, then you are always gonna struggle. Doesn't matter who your marketing agency is, it doesn't matter how many leads they're gonna get you, you will struggle to convert if everything else isn't aligned and you're not operating and functioning in the in the way that sales need to operate and function.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

It's it's just a given, it's massive. Alignment's a really good word there. So I'm just thinking like two grand. Let's say if you were to book a holiday, I think I I use holiday quite a lot because I love holidays, love booking holidays. But um, let's say there's a two grand holiday and they the company says it's two grand to wherever, I don't know, Italy, whatever. If they didn't have any pictures, if they didn't have any reviews, if they had no evidence that they go to Italy and they have this, you know, people have a good time, would you just fork over two grand? You'd be like, what? No? Can I see some reviews? Oh sorry, we haven't got any. Okay, no worries. You got any photos or videos of the destination? No, no, sorry, haven't we haven't done that. Okay, okay. Um Don't we want to give you two grand then? And it's that's no different to exterior cleaning. A two grand roof clean. Have have you got evidence of it? Have you got your reviews up on Google? No. Okay. Have you got any videos of you just explaining what happens? No. Okay. You got a couple of before and afters that you posted three or four months ago? No. Sales so hard, it's so so hard, almost impossible. But most people do that, they don't they don't make the change and then they wonder why sales aren't working and they're not closing these these leads. Because yeah, you can say, oh, the leads are shit, oh it's the time of year, or this, that, and the other. If the leads are there and you can sell, you're gonna make money. Yeah, what in the last episode we said numbers don't lie in terms of um in terms of finances, they don't lie really in sales either. If you're getting 100 leads a month and you're quoting 30, 40 of them and you're winning nothing, the numbers are telling you a big, big issue there, and you can choose to accept it or you can ignore it and it's up to you, but it's it won't it won't lie to you.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

No, it and that and that's the point with it, isn't it? The numbers don't lie, you know, whether it's a financial number or it's a quantity number, they they don't lie, and you need to sometimes you need to have a really honest look at yourself, you know. And one of the questions that I ask at the networking days we did was would you buy from your company? And the percentage of people that said no was astonishing. It blew me away. I'm thinking, you wouldn't even buy from your own company. How are you expecting them, the audience to buy from your company if you wouldn't buy from it? And and it all leads up, we are taking a cold, cold prospect through our social media journey, we are warming them up through our value, through our trust, through our Google reviews, we are warming them up, warming them up to the point not everybody's gonna find you and want a roof clean or a patio clean tomorrow. They may not want it till next year, right? They may be thinking 2027 I'm gonna get my patio cleaned and repointed, right? So they found you, because you know how the algorithm works. Once you search for it, you're running dated with every cleaning company in the planet, is on your social media, and then they start following you. But if you're not warming them up with value, you're not, you're just missing. That's your biggest shot window, isn't it? If if your shot window isn't um enticing, if it isn't trustworthy, if it isn't giving them value, if it isn't giving them a reason to stop and listen to what you're saying, you know, whether it be funny, educational, attention grabbing, whatever it is, if it doesn't do that, why would they come and buy from you? And I see it all the time. I I I have this thing, right? Where I study a lot of businesses through the mentoring. So I'm always keeping an eye, not an eye, but I'm always doing my research on businesses, and I can tell you when certain businesses in our industry start to get a little bit worried that the work's drying up because I see a spike in their social media, and it stands out like a bulldog's bollock. Seriously, I can see it. It literally I say, Oh, they haven't posted for ages, and then there's a spike, right? They then come into this spike thing where they may post for four or five days over and over again, and then quotes that they've done, you know, a few months ago start to fall in, and then they disappear again because they've got work in front of them, and you can see the patterns, I know which companies they are, and I know because I I study companies, not I know I study for the good bits that they do, but also the bad bits to learn from, but I can see this pattern that people only start building the trust when they haven't got any work, and if I turn it round again, you know, sensible people come to me early on when they've got money in the business, but the number of people I speak to that need help because they didn't want to spend the money a year ago, but now want to spend it today when they're on their arse and they've got no money is is unbelievable. It's unbelievable. You know, you you've you've got to everything, everything we speak about on this journey is about getting you to that point, and if you're not doing the rest, you're always gonna struggle in sales. You just are ever every business, every business is is warming you up. Doesn't matter what you buy, right? Why do holiday companies start showing summer 2027 in November in November, December, January, February, March? Because it's freezing. You're fed up, it's pissing down with rain, you're depressed, you want an holiday. So they start putting the two E adverts on, the Jet 2 holidays, the tune with Jet 2, you know, everything is to look it's warming you up, they're showing people on beaches, they're showing them in pools, they're showing them in lovely accommodation, they're showing eating great food and having family time. You're sat at home in your house, it's pissing down for the last month, you're freezing cold, and you're like, fuck, I'm going on a holiday. That's what they're doing. They're warming you up, they're warming you up to book an holiday for next year. It's not something they've just they've just thought of. This is something that works, you know. But with exterior cleaning, we we have got to keep people warmed up all year. All year. You know, this isn't, you don't have your roof cleaned every year. So for my customers, they're pretty much a one-off customer for five years. So I've got to keep them warm until they're ready to execute. So then that way I've got to keep doing everything I'm doing socially and keep the work good, keep the social media current, keep it active, keep it look like a care, keep adding value, and then when they're ready, they pull the trigger. Getting to the point of sales in the garden is is there's so much to do before you get to that point. But it is easy if you understand sales.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

We'll get into in a sec, actually being on the doorstep, any advice that we can give, but keep on what you're saying. It's it's diggy well before you're thirsty. That's the phrase that I think with that. Um, there's a reason why like Halloween starts advertising even earlier every year. I swear like end of summer Halloween, bam. Uh, you know, September, October, Christmas starts popping up. John Lewis advert gets earlier and earlier every year. And like you said, it's priming. You know, these custom these Christmas the Christmas sales don't start on the 24th of uh December, do they? That they're advertising really early, months before, to lead up to it. And I think with pressure wash, let's just take a pressure washing exam uh company, for example, not roof cleaning, because more people do pressure washing. Um if you start a business in January, let's just say, January the 1st, you go right, I'm gonna start a pressure washing business. I think the biggest mistake you can make is leaving it till the first of March to start posting photos and videos and start trying to get reviews. You need to use your time wisely. Something that I was very conscious about when I started in the January was right, I'm gonna go to all my neighbours, I'm gonna get reviews, I'm gonna do some jobs for free, I'm gonna start posting pictures because by the time when pressure washing season comes around, you're warmed up. I get it all the time. I get people saying, you know, peeps people I had chats with five or six months ago about coming on board with me, and they'll message me, like you said, when they're when they're desperate, when they need work, and they go, right, I'm ready to go now. Uh and I'm like, Well, it's gone now, the your place is gone, I'm sorry, but it's you're too late. But they're ready then because they don't think about it until they need to, and then they panic, and then they're slashing prices, and then that's when all the trouble starts, and that's when it's harder to sell, as we know, because you're in a po you're in a place of desperation. So you have to use your time wisely and and foot you know, forecast what what where do you want to be in a few months, put the work in now because it makes the sales so much easier when it comes to it. And they're all easy things to do, like we've got reviews, social proof, photos, we've we've been through all these time and time again, but easy, free, and it it'll help your sales so much more in a few months' time when you need to.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Yeah. Consistency wins the race.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Yes. Yeah, for sure. For sure. I think so let's um so let's so now we've talked about kind of building the trust before, let's let's take it to an actual quote now. Are you happy to to go through a bit of that? Kind of okay. Because what when someone gets a quote for their roof, unless you've unless they y they have to have you, which is unlikely, but if you do those things that we've said, it it makes it more likely. But let's assume they're gonna get four or five people to quote because they they just do, that's what people do. Let's let's what's like a not a perfect because you're never gonna get a perfect one, but what's a good a good journey then? So you you turn up to the customer's property, what what you think in your head? What's your first step?

SPEAKER_01 33:40

So I've looked at the property online. The only re and I've just I need to break this down. The only reason I'm going to that property is because I probably can't get the full picture of access, or it's over £2,000. Anything under that I don't go to.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

So you quote you quote remotely for jobs under £2,000?

SPEAKER_01 34:04

I don't even speak to them. I don't even speak to them. No phone calls, it's all done over email. There's no the very first time I will speak to that person, if it's under £2,000, is the day I turn up for the job.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Interesting. That's the that's the first time I speak to them. Never met them, never spoke to them. And that that for people listening, that that will seem quite bizarre, but that just goes to show you how we built the value beforehand. When you're sending someone a quote for £2,000 and you've never spoken to them and they're booking you in, that shows you that your social media and your value is is on point. Because would you would you really spend £2,000 with someone you've never met or never spoke to? But people do. But people do. Anything over £2,000 I go to, right? So I'll rock up. I've looked at the property already, so I've got an idea. I already know the price. I'm just now going to look at the access, really. Or if there's power cables, I can't really see anything like that. So I pull up on the drive. I already know the price. I know the price. I know it's three days, it's three grand, right? Let's say it's three grand. It's a three-day clean. It's three grand. What I'm what I do, right? I'm looking for key indications, right? In in the gardens, in the driveway. And when I'm talking about key indications, is there a dog? Is the kids' bikes? Is there is there a football flag? Is there a rugby sticker on the on the car? I'm looking for key indications. Key indications that can make anything not sales here, make it humanised, right? So I might turn up, and for example, there might be a army be the best sticker on the back of the vehicle. I've got a lead now. I've got a lead straight away. Good morning, nice to meet you. Matt Cottswell Roof Cleaning. UX military? How'd you know that? So you've got Army be the best on the back of your car. Yeah, mate, yeah, I'm a UX military. Yeah, I am, yeah. 17 years. Bang, done. I said done. So I'm looking. I might be a football sticker, it might be a Chelsea sticker. And I might say, I'm a Liverpool fan, I might say to them, mate, there's some dirt on the back of your car. What do you mean? I said there's some dirty old Chelsea sticker on there. Yeah, I'm humanising it. It's not sales. I broke the barrier. If they open the door and the dog runs out, right? I drop to my knees and I play with the dog for 30 seconds before I even speak to them. People are obsessed with their pets. They look after their pets like they should, like it's the most important thing on the planet, right? They open the door, the dog runs out, and they say, Okay, sorry, you okay with dogs? Yeah, yeah. I drop to my knees and I play with the dog for 30 seconds. Then I stand up, shake the hand, and introduce myself. I'm just humanising the whole process, right? And these are things that we teach how to do that because that takes the sales aspect out of it. People warm to people and buy off people. But the whole process of me doing that quote, and then I just say to them, look, all I'm here for is to check your access and answer any questions you've got. Do I have a walk round? Yeah, cool. Yeah, Christ must be fed up a sweeping moss off that patio on that every day. Every day. Okay, cool. I can get rid of that for you. Yeah, not a problem here. Two, and then I say, Here's the bad news. Firstly, we're not the cheapest. Secondly, I can't get you in for three months, and you need to pay a 20 pence deposit to book us. No, no, no, it's fine. Three months is fine. How much is it? It's gonna cost you three grand. Bang, silence. Don't say a word. Let them speak. Bang, say all done.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

It's interesting because sorry to jump in there. There are three what seem like on the surface, three big roadblocks, wait list, uh, you're not the cheapest, and and three K or whatever. But you're using it to your advantage, aren't you? Yeah, that's what you do. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

Yeah, yeah. And it's job done. Not everybody buys. That's fine, because not everyone's a customer. But we we do alright. Our close rate is high, our order book is good, the price is right, people want us to clean their roof, they want the quality, they see the value. Um, but I'm no longer I'm in that garden no longer than probably 10 minutes maximum. Some are even shorter, you know. I closed, I closed our biggest sale this month, £6,000 for a domestic roof. I was in the garden probably four minutes, if that £6,000. They were like, Yeah, brilliant, Matt. Yeah, absolutely. Send us the deposit, we'll get it paid this evening. Okay, cool, see you in three months. Job done.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Question over here. Yes. That level of confidence in it. If let's just say all your bookings cancelled tomorrow until September, don't know what happened, something's happened down in the cotswalls, right? Would you have the same approach if you quote for your next one to quote?

SPEAKER_01 39:29

Yeah.

unknown 39:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

That's the big thing, isn't it? Because it because it's it's it's it's it's proven.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

When you start changing everything, right, when you start changing your pricing, your strategy, your marketing, right? My my marketing, right, has been the same for four years. My pricing has been the same for four years. My approach to sales has been the same for four years. If it works, you don't change it. What I have done is I have refined the processes and made little changes, but I've documented the journey and I've documented the numbers and the success rate. How many people do we speak to when I say to them, how many leads you're getting? Oh, don't know. How many you're converting? Don't know. How much is the acquisition of sale? Don't know. Right, okay. Blows my mind. If you don't know those bits, then you you just you're going in blind every time. These are all the bits you need to know. I know I did a video not long ago and I said I know that I close one in ten. So I need ten opportunities for one sale. So if I need if I need if I need 20, if I need, if I need 10 sales a month, then I need a hundred leads, don't I? Because I know that. And then all I do is I call it counting the nose. If I know I get one sale in every 10, I know, go and quote today, no, no, no, no, no. Bang, sale. Then I start the nose again. One, no, two, no, three, no, four, no five, no, six, no seven's a yes. Start the nose again. I know that because that's how the process works. So I know where I am in the sales process. And pretty much, if you look back over the data, that that's how it is. 10 no or nine no's, one yes, job done. I'm not panicking. People panic, they go and quote three jobs today and don't get any and then go into a mad panic and think, oh, I'm too dear, I'm too dear. I need to reduce my prices. No, you don't. But if you don't know what your process is and what the numbers are telling you, you know, the fourth one might have been a yes. Then you get the fourth one, right? Because you've lowered your prices. There you go. You're now in the race to the bottom.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Because the fourth one might have been a yes at your £1,000. If you've lowered it to $850, you think, oh, I need to be £850. Then every quote's £850. What happens if the $850 start to slow down? Do you go to $750? Then they slow down, to go to $650. And it's nothing to do with the price, it's the not getting the value before you're stood there. That's what they're not getting.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Not the price. By knowing your numbers as well, it helps your marketing because if you if you want 10 jobs a month and you know that you just said yours is one in ten, and let's say your cost per lead is a tenner, then you've got to spend about a thousand pounds. If you do that, you'll hit your figures, and you just rinse and repeat every single month. That's what it allows you to do. If you don't know your close rate or your cost per lead or any of that kind of stuff, you how can you ever scale that to a lot to you know to grow a business in the future? You can't. You just winging it and guessing it and hoping work comes in. If you don't know those figures, they're so important.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

And and and what also is really important with that, just on a side note to that, is is if you know those figures and you know your cost per lead and you know how many you need to get to make a sale, then you can change that whenever you need. If you're fully booked up for three, four months, then dial it back a bit. Turn your ad spend down. If you can turn your ad spend down to say half, then you're gonna keep a steady flow coming in, but you're gonna save yourself £500 a month for a couple of months, or if you know you're coming into a real peak season and you want to make hey, why the sun shines, turn it up a bit. But if you don't know the numbers, you can't do that, you're just doing it blind. But the number of people that are doing it blind, and you know, they're not alone. That there's more people doing it blind than are doing it, you know, with with data in front of them. Um and and it is, it it's it's really it's really the key element. This the sales bit, right, is a personal thing. You've got to read the situation, you've got to know when you can have a laugh, when you can't have a laugh, when people don't want to be bothered, and you'll also know the customers that want that extra time with you and will ask you a million questions. You have to be able to read people, read the situation, read the environment. You know, if it's if it's five o'clock at night, they've just come home from work and the kids are running round causing chaos. They're probably not going to be engaged with you, and they're probably not going to want you there for 35 minutes, telling them how great your fucking flat surface cleaner is and how brilliant your chemicals are. They're not interested. I've got a problem, the patio's slippy. Can you clean it? Yeah. What's the price? It's 290 quid. When can you do it? Next Wednesday. Cool, just put it in right and I'll see you next Wednesday. Done. As quick as that, but you have to read that situation. If you stand on that doorstep going over the same old crap to them about how great you are and how great your system is, they're just they're losing the will to live. They are losing the will to live. But you have to be able to read that. If you can't read that situation, you're not gonna close what you need to close to be successful. It's a fact.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

Two things I want to talk about before we finish this is um handling objections. Because especially with roof cleaning, as you've said, one in ten, a lot of people will get very, very disheartened when someone says no. I I remember it's happened to me, it's happened to all of us. I remember it happened to you before when you had a couple of slow weeks with sales last year. As it happens to everyone, especially this time of year, everyone's advertising, cost per lead goes up, it's harder, right? How do we how do we handle those objections um when people are saying too expensive, I need to think about it? I'll get back to you because I've got a few more quotes. How do you how do you cope with that? Because it's easy to worry, isn't it, and kind of think you're doing something wrong.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

It it is um and I and I think the first thing is if you know if you know what the what the turnaround is, if you know you're one in ten, right, and this is what people don't know. People don't know what the quote in, what the system produces. I know mine's one in ten, right? I know that. So I know I've got nine no's. My only worry is when it goes over ten, right? If it goes over, if it goes to twelve, I'm thinking, ooh, what's changed? Well, what's changed? 13, 40, then I sell one, then I'm back to it. So monitoring your numbers and understanding them will help with dealing with rejection, right? So if you know that if you're pressure washing, if you know that it's one in seven, you know you've got six no's. You want to collect those six no's as quick as you can, right? If you know it's one in seven for jet washing, you want to collect the six no's as quick as you can. If you can do three today, three tomorrow, bang, get them done. There's your six nos, bang, and then you. If you get it yes in the first one, brilliant, you start again. It's about understanding that because that helps with the mindset of collecting the no's. Collecting the no's is really important because every no you collect, you are quicker to a yes. And if you know what the number is, then it's very easy to control your own mindset. If you're guessing, then you can't, you don't know where it is and what it is, and that's when the doubt starts setting in that you're too dear, you're doing something wrong, your competitors are cheaper. You've got to be strong in your numbers to allow you to understand how many no's. Not everybody's gonna buy off you, so you need to know how many no's lead you to a yes. You get the yes, reset the clock, go again. That's the first mindset thing. Dealing with um objection face to face, you tell them it's a thousand pounds, and people say to me, God, that's expensive. And my reply is compared to what? And they're like, ah, oh well, I've had I've had two other quotes and they're significantly cheaper. I said, Well, they will be, because I'm the number one roof cleaner in the Cotswolds, so I'm not gonna be the same price as a cheap company, but that's not and then I say, but that I didn't think you wanted cheap, I thought you wanted value and quality of work done safely. Oh, well, we do. Well, you have to pay for that. Yeah, no, you're right, Matt. Can we get you booked in? Of course you can.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

That that's a completely different reaction to bloody hell, that's expensive. Uh oh, sorry, what's it what do you have in mind, what's your budget? Correct. Two completely different um responses, but it determines what kind of precedent you want to set. Um I think it's also important to well, it's uh a useful exercise can be if you're if you're getting those maybe more than you think you should, maybe ask. Oh, no worries at all, thanks for letting me know. Can I just ask why did you go with someone else? And they'll tell you maybe we trusted someone else, someone was a bit quicker getting back to us, you were too you were the most expensive. You can get some data back, which then you can then improve your sales process. Um, so don't be afraid to ask, I think, um, if if people do say no, because it can really help you.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

I I did a video a couple of months ago, a real it was it wasn't a video, it was a real, and a very top tip, right? But people don't know this, and this is another top tip for this episode is when you've done a job, whether it be a roof clean or a patio clean or whatever you do, whatever whatever business you're in, right? It doesn't just relate to exterior cleaning, right? When you finish the job and you're handing it over and everyone's happy, ask them the question why did you nearly not book me? Because that is more powerful than any other question you can ask them. Because they'll stand there, they'll think about everything they've seen about you, and then they will give you one piece of information that you might not have seen. And the question is, why did you not why did you nearly not book me?

SPEAKER_00 50:19

So are you trying to find something that you can improve on there? Is that what you're doing? Yeah, absolutely. That's what the pro that's what the idea of that is.

SPEAKER_01 50:24

Yeah, yeah. And it's really important that we forget that we ask him for a review. Do you know what I mean? And we ask, can you live us a review because you've done great work? But if you if you want to really hone into data and numbers, just ask him that. Ask them why did you not nearly book me?

SPEAKER_00 50:39

Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

Yeah, there you go. Top tip.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Well, we started a segment last week about uh answering listener questions. Um, and I've I was going through a few trying to find one that relates to this, and I think it does a bit. Um, so it's a question from Iron Striker, that's his name. Um, he's basically said, Is uh I was wondering if starting a business like this is possible at 18 years old? I've been thinking doing it since I was 16. Um, will people take me seriously at such a young age? And I think this comes back to set some of the stuff we've been talking about today. Can can someone at 18 provide the value and the trust to get sales in? What do you think? Do you think it can be done or do you think it's it's harder to do? What do you reckon?

SPEAKER_01 51:26

Um I think I think it can be done. I think you have to be smart. I think you're hopefully already tack tech savvy and you understand social media better than anyone of an older generation. I think you have to do it, document your story and build trust through your story. There's a young lad, I'm saying I think he's young. Have you come across Boyle's Exterior Clean in Liverpool? The name rings a bell. Lad with longer Scouser. Maybe he's brilliant, he's only a young lad. He's just had it in his social media, he's he's he just and it's really funny. I really like his content, but he he's someone that's understood it, got it right, and he is doing really good work, right? And he stands in front of the camera and he is he he just comes across, he's only young, but he comes across as such a lovable lad, and I I get the feeling, and his work's good, right? His work is good. I'm not saying he doesn't do good work, he's got it right, but I get the feeling when I watch his media, it's very authentic, and he comes across as do you know what I'd like that lad in my garden. I'd like him, I I could have I could see me having a brew with him and having a do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 52:47

So he leans into it, he creates so his age isn't a barrier.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

His age isn't a barrier because he's got his social media, his trust building platform, he's got it on point. He's not trying to be, he's not trying to be a multi-million pound company. He's only just had his first van wrapped, he's asked the viewers which wrapping they like best, as it A or B. He then got some new waterproofs and he was putting them on, mate. And it's just it's so endearing to think, yeah, he looks like a nice lad him. I wouldn't mind him doing my drive. And I think he's building a big following and doing good work, and he's a young kid. So yeah, can you start at 18?

SPEAKER_00 53:25

You can absolutely do it at 18. Just tell your story. Don't don't hide it, don't be don't try and come across that you're 35, lean into it and tell your story, and there's no reason why you can't.

SPEAKER_01 53:35

Absolutely 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:37

Right, one question each. We're coming to the end. I have one for you.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

Um for you yet, I'll have to think of one quickly.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

What's one thing that some a cleaner can do right now, just one, to improve their um quote acceptance rate.

SPEAKER_01 53:56

Um if you're struggling, and this is a direct plug, if you're struggling with sales, get training. Get training from someone. If you're struggling with sales, get training. Because trying to work it out on your own may kill your business. You can get it from anywhere. Go online, go on to YouTube as your first point and type in how to sell home services, how to sell to consumers, and start learning and taking bits out of it. Get training, either pay for it or get the free training, but get training, otherwise you'll be out of business. That's what I would sell say. Um, question for you what would you say is your number one? So from your journey, right? From your journey from start to finish in all the businesses you've had, what is the one thing that has stayed consistent in your sales spiel, patter, strategy? What's the one thing that's stayed consistent? Everything else can change, but one thing, is the one thing you can say, I've done this since day one. It stayed there.

SPEAKER_00 55:15

Face to the business. Putting my face to the business. Um first video business, I was running Facebook ads in front of a green screen. Uh wedding company, I was absolutely everywhere. Uh our Irish dancing one, we're in front of the camera. Uh cleaning business, I'm everywhere. Agency, I'm doing this. Yeah. 100%. And and there's no even we don't even have to explain it, we've said it a million times why that is. But that is the consistency, is you are there in front of on the promo videos, in the photos, on the socials, makes sales way easier. And it and I didn't do it to make sales easy, I just do it because I I like having a a face of the business, it just makes it what it is, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 55:56

100%. Yeah, good answer.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

Cool, there we go. Well that's uh I think that's episode wrapped up. Um important that is, man, if you can get a hold of your fig um of your sales, sorry, it's uh everything else just flows, doesn't it? Cash flows, um your socials flow because you got more jobs, so you've got more content to post, which then feeds into the machine of of building the trust. So um yeah, if you don't know how to do it, if you're struggling, ask don't be afraid to reach out for training, not trying to plug it, but Matt Matt helped me and uh he he's it's what he does. So I recommend anyone getting in contact uh if you need to, or learn it yourself, or do whatever you want, but whatever you do, improve it and work on it. And once you get it, once it clicks, you'll be absolutely flying, I'm sure of it. Um so that's episode six, I think. Is it episode six? Yeah, it is bloody.

SPEAKER_01 56:44

Yeah, they're going, aren't they now?

SPEAKER_00 56:46

Yeah, yeah. Uh next episode, episode seven, is about uh operations and efficiency. So all the things that you can do to help the business run more smoothly. Um so that's that'll be really interesting to get into that one. Um enjoyed that, Matt? Your your uh your broken button of sales.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

I did, yeah. I like sales, it's so important, isn't it? It's so important to every business, doesn't matter what business, it's just it's the lifeline. No sales, no money, no work, no business. Simple.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

100%, 100%. Cool. Well, thank you every everyone for listening. Um if you have any questions about anything that you want us to try and answer in this last the last part of the segment, last segment, part, last part of the show, um, drop us a DM, contact us however you want, comment down below in the videos, and we'll try and get those answered. Um stick around for next week, it'll be back uh next Tuesday. It's every Tuesday, by the way, at 6 p.m. Every episode drops on YouTube, Apple's Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And any uh suggestions for episodes, let us know as well. And uh after 12 episodes, we wrote in it up so we can do an episode about anything after these 12 episodes. So yeah, do let us know. And uh any feedback is welcome. And also please give us a five-star review if you if you wanna. That'd be very kind. It'll help us to grow and push this podcast uh to more people. So yeah, Matt, thanks again for joining me. Thank you. Speak soon, pal. We'll see you all on the next one. See ya later.