Embrace the Future: 3 Steps to Virtual Selling

With the current social distancing and lockdown orders, closing jobs through the traditional sales process is nearly impossible. We no longer have the benefit of meeting and connecting face to face with homeowners – options we perhaps took for granted in developing relationships and trust.

In order to thrive, you need to adapt.

Virus or not, our world is moving away from a manual reality toward a digital one. That means little to no paperwork, virtual meetings, the disappearance of checkbooks and the increase in digital payments, new technologies that help automate routine tasks, and, most importantly, shifts in customer expectations.

When it comes to homeowners, the sales process has never been easy. Now, more than ever, closing jobs feels like hiking up Mt. Everest.

Enter the practice of virtual selling.

Virtual selling transforms your business to meet the needs of the new way of selling home improvement jobs by using technology to measure, estimate, sell, and get paid -- all done digitally.

One Click Contractor is the only platform you need to run your entire sales process remotely, efficiently, safely, and simply from the comfort of your home office. There are only three steps involved.

1. Collect Your Measurements

In the manual sales process, to determine job scope, you have to schedule a time to visit the homeowner(s) for an in-person walk around. Then you must painstakingly measure the windows, doors, siding, roof, decking, fencing, etc. A trip up to the roof was in order, for measurements and inspection. You might scope out surrounding homes to help you gauge materials and colors. You also have a conversation with the homeowner(s), and when they ask how much the project will cost, your best guess is all you can give until you go back to the office and calculate the numbers.

While you may gather all of the necessary information, the process is slow, inefficient, time-consuming, and loosely accurate.

With virtual selling, you can do a virtual walk around to gather the same information remotely with efficiency, speed, and accuracy. The OCC platform allows you to upload manual measurements directly into a customer job, or you can import measurements from external measurement sources like Hover, Eagleview, or with OCC proprietary tools (included with your subscription). This allows you to easily capture remote measurements for roofing, decking/fencing, siding, gutters, windows/doors, and more.

Have homeowners send you photos and information on weather, and gather more specific housing data from Zillow.

2. Make Your Estimates

The second step in virtual selling is making your estimates. Rather than guessing and then running the numbers, our digital sales platform allows you to create estimating templates which you can then edit on the fly to quickly generate accurate digital estimations. It's as easy as one click.

3. Engage Your Customer & Close the Sale

The third and final step in virtual selling is engaging your customer and closing the sale -- sell and get paid. Invite the homeowner to a virtual meeting, where you can share your screen and one-way video as you walk through your virtual presentation. Build trust by taking them, step by step, from start to finish, through the entire project, including prices, materials, where you will need them to make a decision, timing, clean-up, warranties, variables that impact cost, etc.

Once you close the deal, simply send an agreement with the terms and conditions, which the homeowner can electronically sign via email or on a tablet. You can also collect payment from your customer with a digital credit card payment or offer financing options all within the tool.

Step into the Future

Move from the old way of selling to the new way of selling with One Click Contractor. Spend less time commuting, guessing, scheduling visits, and dealing with paperwork, and more time building trust with your customers and selling jobs.

For more information about virtual selling, visit oneclickcontractor.com.