Restoration logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Restoration logo
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
    • New Products & Technologies
    • Submit Your Product
    • Interactive Product Spotlights
  • EDUCATION
    • KnowHow.
    • Podcasts
    • Trade Shows & Expos
    • Training & Certification
    • Webinars
    • Whitepapers
  • TOPICS
    • Water Damage
    • Fire & Smoke Damage
    • Mold
    • Contamination
    • Odor
    • Contents
    • Architecture
    • Catastrophe
    • Cleaning
  • BUSINESS
    • Managing Your Business
    • Insurance/Legal Matters
  • BUYER'S GUIDE
  • VIDEOS
    • Ask Annissa
    • Ask the Expert
    • Ironclad Marketing Minute
    • TradeTalks
    • Video Channel
  • INFOCENTER
    • Mold and Mycotoxins
  • THE EXPERIENCE
    • Conference & Exhibition
    • Convention & Trade Show
    • R&R Special Issue
  • EMAG
    • eMagazine
    • Archive Issues
    • Contact
    • Advertise
  • SIGN UP
Managing Your Restoration Business

Ask, Don't Tell: Strategies for Taking Sales to the Next Level

By Tom Cline
Ask, Don't Tell: Strategies for Taking Sales to the Next Level
March 13, 2018

In the restoration industry, success in sales is based on building trust and establishing credibility. When selling any service, the prospective customer has only your relationship, the information you provide, and the inputs and evaluations from others on which to base their choice of vendor. Effectively building trust is the most critical skill your business development people must master.

The selling strategy I have found most successful is to build that trust and credibility on the platform of positioning your company, and yourself as the sales or business development professional, as a partner; a resource that can help the customer achieve their goals. This is a partnership that goes well beyond simply providing your services when they are needed. When fully embraced, you’ll find this method is significantly more successful and built on a deeper relationship with the customer than the “find their pain” approach popularized in the 1990s.

When you first meet with a prospect, your goals are twofold: come to understand their goals and needs, and build your credibility. The majority of sales people try to accomplish these goals by telling—describing your company, your services or products, and the uniqueness of your offerings. We try to talk the prospects into believing how great we are. This approach typically comes across as cocky or ego-driven and may be received as a heavy-handed sales pitch. 

The best meetings with prospective customers are those where the sales person isn’t talking. Why is that, you ask? Because if the seller isn’t talking, the prospect is the one speaking. When prospects talk, they help the sales person understand their expectations in terms of product or service features, responsiveness, vendor capabilities, and training opportunities. When appropriate questions are used, you will also learn what their business goals are and the areas on which they are focused for performance improvement. Listening to what your prospects have to say helps you better understand them and prepares you to explain how your company can do a better job of addressing their needs than your competition. These are your differences. The selling that then takes place is you describing how you can partner with the prospect to help them achieve their objectives and make their business more successful.

managing your restoration business

When you first meet with a prospect, your goals are twofold: come to understand their goals and needs, and build your credibility.

Listening also builds trust.

Strong, credibility-building questions are the best way to display your competence. These are questions that demonstrate your experience, while encouraging the prospect to talk about their issues. It requires advance research and planning to develop good, powerful questions, but once you have invested the time and come up with the right ones, you can use them across the range of customers and prospects in the market segments on which you are focused.

For example, when meeting with prospects in the property management field, you might pose the following: “As I look at my other customers across the industry I find they are extremely focused on developing the ability to create a profile of their best, long-term tenants so they can identify and attract others like them. Is that part of your business strategy, and how would you characterize your efforts?”

Your second essential objective is to understand your prospect’s issues. Every executive has an agenda of business goals, needs, or priorities. Your mission is to explore, understand, and add value to their agenda. When you can connect with and support a higher-level goal, you get closer to becoming a trusted advisor. If you remain focused on tactical needs, you are just an expert-for-hire, susceptible to becoming a commodity.

Where appropriate, you may leverage statements made by their company leaders, such as: “Your CEO’s speech to last month’s industry conference sure made clear his vision regarding your company’s growth aspirations. How will that affect your particular area?” This is a way to explore the prospect’s issues while demonstrating your knowledge, experience, and preparation for the meeting.

Other questions designed to better understand your prospect’s agenda include:

  • What organizational capabilities do you need to strengthen in order to support your business strategy?
  • To achieve your goals, is there anything you need to deemphasize or stop doing?
  • If you had additional resources, in which opportunities or areas would you invest them?

In an early meeting with a prospect, these questions help you to add value by helping them think differently about their issues and challenges.

Let’s go back to “your differences” that I mentioned a bit earlier. One of the statements you will frequently hear from a prospective restoration customer or referral source is: “We are already working with/using/referring ABC Restoration.” Your response should be what Jeffrey Fox calls “Killer Sales Question #3” in his book How to Become a Rainmaker. “Yes, that’s a good company, would you like to know our points of difference?” These points of difference, which you should be fully prepared to explain, provide the prospect with the information they need to support a decision to begin working with you.

Never Stop Asking

Once you have acquired a new customer your challenge is to deepen the relationship by better understanding them and providing insights into the issues they are facing. Here are some simple phrases that can be powerful tools for getting to the root of their position:

  • Tell me more about that.
  • What do you mean by that?
  • How so?

These phrases not only help you to probe for additional information, they are also an excellent tool to keep your customer talking, allowing you additional time to formulate a response or to decide in which direction you want to take the conversation.

It is also important to have questions in your arsenal that will help you to effectively learn more about customers you already serve, thereby deepening the relationship. One approach is to ask: “Which parts of your job do you wish you could spend more time on, and which do you wish you could spend less?” The response to this question not only helps you understand where your customer’s passions lie, but may identify opportunities for your company to provide resources or other services that help with the aspects of their work they do not find fulfilling or meaningful.

Doing your research and preparing strong questions to be used early on with prospects will clearly separate you and your company, providing a strong differentiator from your competitors. Once you have built trust and obtained a new customer, additional questions will help ensure that you understand and are providing value to their most-critical items, allowing you to deepen your relationship and foster a long-term partnership that will generate consistent streams of revenue for you and value for your customers. Just remember to “ask, don’t tell.”  

KEYWORDS: business planning restoration business management restoration business marketing

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Tom Cline is a Business Development Advisor for Violand Management Associates (VMA), a highly respected consulting company in the restoration and cleaning industries. Tom is a leading expert in sales, sales management, and business profitability for the restoration and cleaning industries with over 35 years of experience in those areas. Through Violand, Tom works with companies to develop their people and their profits. To reach him, visit Violand.com or call 1-800-360-3513.

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
To unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • mold remediation

    Fighting Mold and Bacteria Damage

    Successful mold remediation can be multidisciplinary,...
    Contamination Restoration & Remediation​
    By: Josh Woolen
  • certifications and licenses for restoration professionals

    Certifications and Licenses Every Restoration Company Needs

    Restoration companies need to make sure they have the...
    Restoration Training/Education
    By: Sharon Elzarat
  • a wall covered in moss and fungus

    Zero Tolerance for Toxic Molds: Essential Steps for Successful Remediation

    Understanding the importance of zero tolerance for toxic...
    Mold Remediation
    By: Michael A. Pinto CSP, SMS, CMP, RTPE, FLS, ERS and Kendra Seymour
You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Subscribe For Free!
  • eNewsletter
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • Manage My Preferences

More Videos

Popular Stories

Ask the Expert: Unlocking Efficiency in Water Damage Restoration

Unlocking Efficiency in Water Damage Restoration

Jon-Don and Aramsco

Aramsco Acquires Jon-Don Assets to Ensure Seamless Service and Support for Customers

Ask the Expert: Catastrophe Panel - Back to the Basics Part 1

Catastrophe Panel – Back to the Basics Part 1

Submit Your New Product/Technology to R&R!

Would you like to promote a new restoration, remediation or cleaning product/technology with Restoration & Remediation? Fill out the question below to start your submission:

Events

September 3, 2025

The Experience Convention and Trade Show

The Experience Convention & Trade Show logoJoin us in Las Vegas for The Experience Convention & Trade Show, the leading event for cleaning, restoration, and remediation pros, packed with hands-on demos, expert speakers, and high-impact networking. Happening September 3–5, 2025 at Caesars Forum—this is where the industry comes to learn, connect, and grow!

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Restoration Services

What restoration/remediation service do you prioritize most?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

The Cleaning, Restoration, Inspection, and Safety Glossary

The Cleaning, Restoration, Inspection, and Safety Glossary

The Cleaning, Restoration, Inspection, and Safety Glossary.

See More Products

Related Articles

  • Cline_FT

    Maximizing the Return on your Marketing and Sales Investments

    See More
  • Positioning, People, and Partnerships | Part 1

    Positioning, People, and Partnerships | Part 1

    See More
  • The Power of Focus

    The Power of Focus: Understanding Critical Needs of Your Customers (Part 1)

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • Cover.jpg

    How To Get More Water Damage Jobs (ebook)

  • COVER pdf.jpg

    How to Get More Restoration Jobs in 14 Days... (ebook)

See More Products
×

Stay ahead of the curve with our eNewsletters.

Get the latest industry updates tailored your way.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Directories
    • Store
    • Want More
    • Submit a Press Release
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eNewsletters
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Reprints
    • Marketing Services
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing