Ryan Carey discusses the sales process of window companies and the mind-game tactics they use. Reuben and Ryan also reminisce about Department Supervisor Training from Home Depot, where they learned how to deal with different types of customers.
Reuben inquires about the important stuff to understand and look for when choosing a window. Ryan discusses the U-value, EnergyStar rating, and highlights that the National Fenestration Rate Council rates windows.
Ryan Carey can be reached at ryan@getmy3quotes.com.. Send your podcast questions to podcast@structuretech.com.
TRANSCRIPTION
The following is a transcription from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it may be slightly incomplete or contain minor inaccuracies due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
Rueben Saltzman: Welcome to my house. Welcome to the Structure Talk podcast, a production of Structure Tech Home Inspections. My name is Reuben Saltzman, I’m your host, alongside building science geek, Tessa Murry. We help home inspectors up their game through education, and we help homeowners to be better stewards of their houses. We’ve been keeping it real on this podcast since 2019, and we are also the number one home inspection podcast in the world, according to my mom. Welcome to the show. We’re here with Ryan Carey today. Ryan is a repeat guest. He’s been on this podcast a couple of times. He is a guest blogger on the Structure Tech blog. He first started guest blogging for us back in… What was it, Ryan? I think it was 2014? Almost in…
Ryan Carey: 2014, yeah, exactly.
RS: Okay. Yeah.
RC: Yeah, we’re coming up on 10 years of My 3 Quotes this summer, so… [chuckle]
Tessa Murry: Wow. That’s…
RS: Oh my goodness. Yeah. So Ryan did the podcast a couple of times last year. We did a good podcast where we kinda introduced who Ryan is, what his background is, his business model. He’s got a really unique business model. And just for anybody who didn’t listen to that show or you’ve forgotten, since it was a year and a half ago, again, it’s Ryan Carey. His company is My 3 Quotes. And Ryan, why don’t you just explain explain a little bit about what My 3 Quotes is all about? What do you do that is super unique?
RC: Yeah, it is very unique. Far as I know, there’s still no one else doing it. But yeah, when it comes to buying exterior improvements to your house, which would be your siding, roofing or windows, most people wanna get multiple quotes, and so they’re gonna call multiple companies. And everybody has their own sales process. Sometimes these meetings can be fairly short, sometimes they can be three hours and you have to kick the salesperson out of your house [laughter] because they’re not gonna leave without trying to get that sale.
RC: So creating My 3 Quotes was a way for me to come out, meet with the customer, give an unbiased look at all the different products that are out there, but also what fits their house best. When I can use any product out there and know a lot about them, that meeting with me is just about figuring out which products we should get quoted out for that house, so I give recommendations on that, and looking for what the customer is seeking based on color styles, things like that, then I send out the job specs to three contractors, who will then send those quotes back to me. I forward those on to the customers and a side by side comparison form that shows the three contractors, the job spec, and then the prices. If the customer decides they wanna move forward with something, then I come back out there, write up the order with them, basically do what the company salesperson would have done from then on, which is… That’s how I get paid in this process, is I get a sales commission, just like if you wanna call the company directly, they’d send a salesperson out. In this case, I act as an independent sales rep for multiple companies, but again, I am not employed by any of these companies. I’m more the customer advocate than I am the contractor advocate, though obviously I use contractors that I trust very much that are gonna take care of our mutual customers.
RC: But with that situation, instead of having those three long-winded sales calls, you have one pretty brief meeting with me. It depends on how many questions there are. Otherwise, I’m just there to measure and figure out what should be quoted for that house. So it makes the process a lot easier.
RS: Awesome. What’s the difference in price if somebody goes with you versus going directly to the company? Is there any difference?
RC: Yeah, as far as how companies treat me, they treat me more like a builder because I give them multiple jobs, so I really do get the best price that they have to offer. Now, when it comes to salespeople individually, the absolute best they could do is try to get close to mine, but in many cases, that’s not gonna be the case. So again, because they know that they’re quoting against two other companies on the exact same job scope, they just have to get down to their bottom price and best price because they know if someone else beats them, it’s likely they’re going to get it. So there really isn’t any messing around with the price and discounts and show a big high price and if you do it now, it’s all just about, “Okay, we know this is going through, Ryan.” It’s going through My 3 Quotes, so we just have to put the best price out there upfront.
RS: Love it. Love it.
TM: So we’re gonna dive into some of those sales tactics that these companies use a little bit later in the podcast, but today we’re gonna focus on windows, is that right?
RC: Well, yeah. And the entire sales process, really. Windows is a much different sales process than the other products out there because there is so much to show at a kitchen table. That’s why windows were really made for the kitchen table sales pitch. Not to say that there aren’t the companies that come in and do a very detailed and long-winded sales pitch on siding or roofing, it’s just that windows have such a unique way that they can be presented in a house, and there’s so many different brands that… Siding, you’re limited, with roofing, you’re limited, there’s only so many manufacturers. Other people could get a quote on an existing siding that’s out there and that other people are quoting, so they can compare more easily.
RC: With windows, you actually have companies that go to a window manufacturer and say, “Private-label this window just for me, because then I’m the only one that has this particular window. It’s called this,” and they name it just for their company. So in many cases, you have a company like let’s say Alside vinyl windows, they make a ton of vinyl windows and they private-label a lot of windows for individual companies, but it’s not called Alside when they do that. They call it the Custom 4000 or they call it the APEX or they call… There’s a bunch of different things that they’ll call it. They were making windows for Window World as well. At this point. I haven’t seen a Window World quote lately, but Alside made windows for Window World for many years, but it wasn’t called the Alside X caliber. It was called the Window World model.
RS: Sure.
TM: Windows are complicated. There’s so many parts and pieces to them and there’s so many options available. Not only in the materials and how it’s constructed and the type of class, but do you wanna replace portions of your windows or do a full replacement? And so you’re gonna help us understand these different questions and materials and then navigate the best option for the homeowner and be their advocate at the same time, right?
RC: Yeah, and really what you might expect when one of these people comes out, the very first window sales company that I worked for was your typical 10-step sales process, “We have one window to sell you. Here’s the pitch book. All the rest are no good. Ours is the best.” And that process is actually effective, amazingly. [chuckle] You really do have so many companies that are still using it. I’ve seen a little bit of change over the years where some of the ones who used to do more of a hard sale are going into a little more of a soft sale, but the hard sale companies are still out there. And what you can expect when you have one of those companies come out to your house, they’re following a 10-step process, so they’re gonna come in, they’re hitting step one, which is the warm-up, they’re gonna small talk, they’re gonna do some things with you. Again, try to find some common…
TM: Warm you up. Yep.
RC: Yep. And they’re gonna try to also, just based on what they see and hear from you, try to gauge what kind of person you are, because there’s even different sales tactics based on personality profiles. And a lot of these companies actually take you through, they have a quadrant of different people and what might be more effective with them versus others. There’s your drivers, there’s your amiable people, there are your…
RS: Your analytical?
RC: Your more analytical type, which, yeah, anytime you hear, “Oh, this is an engineering person.” “Oh boy, okay, we’re really gonna hit these parts with the parts and pieces and the… “
TM: The data, hit them with the data?
RC: Spaces, yeah, and the data and things like that, where some other people are more… They’re gonna buy on personality if they like you, and so, yeah. [chuckle]
RS: Ryan, I gotta ask. Did you ever go through DST training at Home Depot? Ryan and I know each other from Home Depot. That’s where we originally met.
RC: Yes, so one of the training pieces at Home Depot started to touch on that. But then when I left Home Depot and went to an actual window sales company, because the time Home Depot wasn’t doing there in home sales yet at that point, it really went to the next level.
RS: I’m sure.
RC: And then learning through there, because that was your daily life, getting into people’s houses and trying to figure out what the best way to sell them was.
RS: Yeah.
TM: What does DST stand for?
RS: Department Supervisor Training.
TM: Oh, okay.
RS: And that was where I first got introduced to these different types of buyers. And like Ryan was saying, like a driver, an analytical, the amiable, like four different quadrants. And it touches on different personality profiles too, but it’s more adapted for sales. That’s where I first heard about it. And I still remember going through that. It was probably 20 years ago now. But it was mind-blowing for me at the time, [chuckle] and I still remember it today.
RC: Yeah.
TM: Yeah. You’re getting into someone’s mind, the psychology of how their brain works and you’re playing to that [chuckle] weakness or strength, whatever it is.
RC: Yes, exactly. And then they train you to be the person that that person tends to respond to more, because there aren’t… If there’s a driver and then you come in as a driver, you’re gonna butt heads. There ways to… So basically, you’re playing a part when you’re walking in, before you even start the whole sales process. And then from there, you’re deciding what angle to take. But outside of that, it’s a lot of, “Everyone has to do the same things and here’s… Okay, we’re gonna go into the company’s story,” and then that’s when the pitch book comes out. And you’re gonna talk about, “Okay, here’s this particular company. Here’s why… They’ve been in business for this long, and here’s why this is a trustworthy company,” and you’re gonna see certificates, and you’re gonna see licenses, and you’re gonna see any media that they might have had or magazine, articles, and you get through that step, which is the company step. And then you have to close that step, which is by saying, “Well, does this seem like a company you’d feel comfortable doing business with, customer?” “Oh, yeah, yeah, that looks good.” “Okay, great.” That step is closed, and now you move… You’re basically getting rid of objections along the way that might come up in the close, because these objections are, “Well, I don’t really feel comfortable with that company.” It’s like, “Well, actually, we did go through that, and you did say that’s a company you feel comfortable with “
TM: Yeah, you’re building trust.
RC: So you’re just handling objections upfront on all these different steps. And then you get through your company, and then when it comes to windows, of course, that’s where, again, a lot of things that you can bring out for the customer to touch and feel and look at. And with windows, not only would you have a cross-section of the window and an actual window, but you’d have all these little parts and pieces, like in a double hung, what’s the balancer made out of? Is it a block and tackle balancer? Is it a constant force balancer? And you have these pieces. And then again, you’re saying, “Here’s why this one doesn’t work very good.” So you gotta look out for the ones that have this in it, but, “Hey, look at this one,” and then you show how it works. And again, you’re eliminating and putting doubt into any product that might have the other one that you’re talking about, so you’re handing pieces over there.
RC: The other big thing with windows is the spacer. A double pane window has something that is in between that the two pieces of glass attached to. And over the history, aluminum was the first spacer that was used in most windows. Of course, aluminum is really conductive for heat and cold, so that’s why you get so much condensation in the bottom corners of your windows, because you have aluminum spacers and the cold that is… Especially now in the corner where you have a spacer going up and going horizontally at the bottom, it really conducts the heat and cold, so you’ll get the condensation down in the corner. So they started making spacers that were less conductive. And one of the pieces we would use back then is you would take a glass of water and put ice in it and you would ask the customer to get you a glass of water and put ice in it, and then you’d put an aluminum spacer in there, you’d put a stainless steel spacer in there, you’d put a tin-steel spacer, and then you’d put one of these very low conductive foam spacers in there, and then you talk for a while, and then you have the customer touch the ends of these and you can see, “Oh wow, yeah, these ones are really cold,” and, “Oh, this foam one, it’s really not cold at all. Yeah, that one’s not conductive.”
RC: And so, again, you’re using all these little pieces and parts as that show, but the big one that comes up a lot with windows is the heat lamp, and that’s where you have [chuckle] a full kit of different glass packs and you’ll put a heat lamp to one side of it and you’ll have the customer put their hand on the other side of that glass pack, and with two clear panes of glass, you’ll feel that heat coming through, and then you are, “Okay, here’s one layer of Low-E coating,” and all right now you feel a little less, and then here’s another kind, and then you’re waiting to wow them with the last one, which is the one that you’re gonna sell, and that’s the one with the three layers of Low-E coating and the argon gas and everything else. And they’d put their hand on the other side of that, and it was always a… The most common comment was, “Wow, wow,” ’cause they don’t feel any of that heat coming through, so it’s reflecting the heat back, and that is another part of the process. By the time you get done with that window and you say, “Okay, is that the window you would like to see in your house?” And again, you’re trying to close that window step, and they would say, “Yes,” and by this time, you’ve eliminated other products.
RC: And maybe you’re selling a vinyl window at this point and you’ve showed them wood and it deteriorating and maybe you show them a cheaper level fiber glass window that has peeling paint and you’ve eliminated fiber glass, ’cause again, you know that every single one of these companies is gonna show not a good fiber glass window, if they’re pitching against fiber glass, and they’re not gonna show you a good vinyl window, if they’re pitching against vinyl, they’re gonna show you the cheapest vinyl window out there and it’s warping and it’s coming apart. You’re never gonna see that high quality, because there’s high quality in all those levels. There’s high quality fiber glass windows, there’s high quality vinyl windows. So again, they’re just creating doubt.
RS: And what I gotta share with you, Ryan, one other story on that, Melinde. You and Melinde used to work together doing this.
RC: Yes. Owe him well. Yeah.
RS: And one of the stories he’d like to share was whenever they’d go out and he’d be trying to sell siding, they’d be talking people into a certain type of siding. I don’t remember what they were talking ’em into, but you had to start by talking them out of all the ones that you weren’t selling, and he’d say, “You don’t want steel. Steel can rust.” And he never could find a picture of rusted steel siding, so they’d show a picture of a rusted car instead. [laughter] He couldn’t find it. I just love that. [laughter] Sorry, go on.
TM: Oh, gosh.
RC: Yes, for siding, I know what siding panel he was selling at that point. And that was even a vinyl panel that didn’t have a wood grain in it, and what was funny about that is you’d show any other piece of siding with a wood grain in it, and you would re-bend it and crack it, ’cause it would bend or break around those wood grains, but the smooth one, ’cause since it didn’t have the wood grain in there, you couldn’t do that with it. So that was you’re eliminating any wood grain vinyl with that, and then yeah, eliminating steel with showing rust pictures, and yes, it’s quite the process.
RS: Yeah, yeah.
TM: This is really helpful, Ryan, just to hear about just what to expect if you’re a home owner thinking about purchasing windows, and you’re gonna go through this process of what to expect and what these, almost like these mind game tactics are that they’re using.
RC: The most important thing when it comes to sales is that every single customer wants to think they’re getting a good deal, so that is… Whether it’s in that closing part of the sales pitch where you’re showing a really high inflated price and then you’re dropping that part, “Here’s the reason why we’re gonna give you a special deal today.” That works in the advertising of trying to get you off to the house too. You see all these ads on TV all the time, “Here’s what our… ” It’s called the call to action. There always has to be a call to action, a reason why the customer needs to call that company right now, it’s because we’re doing a special deal. We’re doing, “Hey, with five windows, get one free.” We’re doing free labor right now. We’re doing 75% off labor.
RC: And obviously, every one of these companies is gonna make money off of these jobs. That’s, of course, it’s a for-profit industry, and so every one of these different deals they’re having that particular month in the end makes very little difference on what you’re getting as a final price. You’re gonna see that so often, and that’s why I watch some of these commercials on TV, and I think, “Are people really believing that, that they’re gonna get [chuckle] this amazing deal, or that they’re gonna get free labor?” It’s just that they have the windows marked up so much that it fits in there. It’s like all these different pictures that they have going on, so whether it’s in the commercial that people are putting out or whether it’s in the close of the in-home sales pitch, it’s so important to let that customer know that, “This is why you’re getting a good deal today,” ’cause everyone wants a good deal.
RC: You saw in retail, which is pretty interesting, there’s so many different coupons and things that are going on. You go to Cole’s, that’s always a great example of every single thing is 40% off, it’s 60% off, and then, “Here’s your Cole’s cash.” And JCPenney thought several years back, “You know, we do the coupon thing. Our customers are too smart for this. We’re just gonna give you that upfront, low price,” well, it almost sank ’em, because people really [chuckle] want to have that feeling of getting a good deal. And you can see it in certain retail situations, it is actually… There are sales. They’re legit sales from time to time. You go to a Menards, hey, you can see what the price is every day, and now we’re giving you 10% off of that price. Well, okay, everything you can fit in the bag. “Alright, I’m getting 10% off there,” but with these window prices, where do you go to see what these window prices are? You don’t. A lot of these companies have a list price, but it’s so inflated that you can take anything off or you can take labor off, or you can do all these different things to make sure that that customer feels they’re getting the good deal, where in meantime, I have customers ask me all the time when I’m just going in to measure and then send them the prices, “Hey, I got this flyer. It says I get this off, do any of your contractors have anything going on like that right now?”
RC: And I said, [chuckle] “Well, get that price and then just compare it to the prices you get, that I’m gonna send you.” And I have a feeling mine are still gonna be a decent amount lower even with these great, “Oh wow, you’re getting a free window or a free door if you buy five windows.” It’s all just, again, it’s psychology, it’s customer needs to feel they’re getting a good deal, and we need to give the customer a good reason to call now as opposed to just whenever they feel like doing it. It’s, “Oh boy, we’re getting a good deal.”
RS: Yeah.
TM: Yeah. Sense of urgency.
RS: Love it. And this is all what you broke down in the blog post, the first in this four-part series that we posted. And we’re re-posting it now. We’ve kinda updated it with today’s numbers, some new information on there. And this one was Window Replacement Part 1: The Dog and Pony Show Comes to Your House.
RC: Yeah.
[laughter]
RS: So if you could, Ryan, just kinda talk us through some of the stuff to look for to differentiate between windows. What’s the really important stuff to understand?
RC: Yeah, well, like I mentioned in that blog post it’s, the U-factor of the window, is really important, and then that just gives you the overall thermal effectiveness of this window. And with U-factor, the lower the number, the better. ENERGY STAR puts out a rating that, “This makes your window ENERGY STAR qualified if it’s a 0.3 or below,” so then anything you get below 0.3 is… Or 0.3 and below is ENERGY STAR qualified. And that U-factor has to be for the entire window, not just for a certain part of the window, ’cause some companies in the past have put on in their literature even, “Oh, the U-factor here is… Well, it’s really low. Look at it’s 0.22,” and then you see something in fine print at the bottom center-of-glass, so that was a center-of-glass U-factor as opposed to the entire unit. With U-factor, you’re getting that entire rating of the window. And with a good double pane with the three layers of Low-E coating and the argon gas, you can get down to around a 0.26 U-factor, which is really good. With triple panes, you can even get below that, down 0.22 and things like that. I’m not that big into triple pane just because it adds so much weight to the sash, it gives it another spot where there could potentially be a seal failure.
RC: So getting a good double pane is my sweet spot as far as what I like with the three of Low-E coating and the argon gas. Low-E coating just reflects radiant heat back to its source, so it reflects more heat back into your house in the winter, reflects more away from your windows in the summer. The argon gas is a real heavy gas that goes in between the two panes that just makes it harder for molecules to go spinning around and have temperature transfer. So you have those two things you get a really good glass pack there. But then, of course, it’s important, “Well, what’s the weather stripping like?” And there are other ratings to look at, there is air infiltration, and then there’s solar heat gain coefficient, and some people want a little less tint in their glass ’cause the Low-E, three layers of Low-E does add a little bit of tint, and then that cuts down a little bit on the passive heat that you get in the winter through the sun. So there’s a lot of different factors that you can talk about, but really that U-factor is what tells you the main thing you need to know. So you can see a window that has a low U-factor and it has a lifetime warranty. Some of the fiberglass and vinyl windows have lifetime warranties just because they don’t have wood in it that can deteriorate. That’s why you don’t typically see the lifetime warranty in a wood window.
RC: The most common warranty there is a 10, 20, which is 20 years on the glass for seal failures and things like that, and then 10 years on the rest of the product. So again, when you have something that can deteriorate, you can’t typically do the lifetime. But getting a good lifetime window from a company that’s been around for a long time. Again, everyone will talk about that too, put a lifetime warranty on something, but the company has been around for three years or whatever. That company can go out of business and there goes your lifetime warranty. So getting a good quality product from a company that’s been around for a long time with a good U-factor, lifetime warranty, you’re gonna be in good shape, whether that be fiberglass or vinyl or composite.
TM: Something that’s new to me that I’m hearing from you is the discussion about how the U-value can be misinterpreted or I guess the way that it’s presented. And if they’re taking it from just a portion of the window or a center-of-glass versus it’s the overall units rating, that’s something to look for. And as a homeowner, how do you decipher that?
RC: Yeah, so there’s the NFRC, which rates rates windows, and that’s… Already I mentioned too, that F stands for fenestration, which is a word that means [chuckle] the door and window openings in your house. So they rate these windows, and when every one of these windows gets installed in your house, they’re gonna have a sticker on it, and the sticker is gonna show it’s right from the NFRC and it’s gonna show the U-factor, it’s gonna show the ratings, everything from your heat gain coefficient. It’s gonna show quite a few different ratings on there, but it’s certainly gonna show your U-factor, and then you know that that is what you’re getting, and that’s why if you’re looking at windows, whether it be at a showroom or a window that someone brought in, take a look at that and then ask them, “When I get these windows, are they’re gonna come with the stickers?” Because the stickers are… You save. You hold on to those, ’cause a lot of times, you have different rebates going on and there’s different, whether it’s a city or state level program, they always wanna see what that U-factor is, including there are some like energy savings loans that you can get through the state, through the Center for Energy and Environment here in Minnesota, and with that, they wanna see the U-factor too.
RC: So if I have a customer that’s getting a CEE loan for a home energy loan, ’cause they’re usually 5, even now they’re about 5% loans, and you can do that unsecured or secured, they wanna see that U-factor to make sure you’re getting something 0.3 or below, so then I have to provide that to the CEE, to their loan officer there. So that really is what you wanna see, that sticker, ’cause if they were saying something, “Oh, your U-factor is this,” and then your windows come and you see the sticker and it’s not that, obviously, you didn’t get what you thought you were getting.
TM: I’m sure that happens, huh? It sounds like it does.
RC: Oh yeah. [chuckle] Yep. And a lot of people, again, aren’t even gonna look at those stickers or know about the stickers, or they can be taken off before they get to the house. So yeah, there’s a lot of things you can do there.
RS: And there’s salespeople for cheap windows that don’t even know what this is. I was at a trade show once, and they had this booth and it was like worldscheapestwindow.com or something like that. [chuckle] Not really, but they were selling cheap vinyl windows, and it was like a flat price. Any size, whatever, $99 install. There’s something ridiculous. Just too good to be true. And I chatted them up, I just acted really ignorant, “Wow, that’s a really good… What is that?” And I asked them questions, “What’s the U-value on these windows?” And it was like a deer in the headlights, [chuckle] and they had to go talk to their manager. And then she comes back and she says, “Well, these particular windows actually don’t have a U-value.” [laughter] Everything has a U-value. There is a value. It’s okay to say you don’t know what it is or it’s embarrassingly high, but don’t tell me they don’t have one.” I just raised my eyebrows, “Oh, okay. [laughter] Got it. Thank you.”
RC: That’s why you’ll find so many of these places have revolving doors and certainly the first place, coming from Home Depot where I worked in the window and door department, when I worked there, I at least went there with some window knowledge. Most people go there with zero window knowledge. They see an ad in the paper, “Hey, you can make good money here in home sales,” and they come and so they get the total training right there. And it is a revolving door, because if you think it’s uncomfortable for the customer, it’s no fun for the salespeople either. It’s like it is a high pressure. Not only are you applying all these sales tactics, but then when you get back to the office the next day and you didn’t sell these two appointments that you actually had full presentations for, that’s, “Oh man, why didn’t you close that deal?” And so you’re in there, your palms are getting sweaty before you go home because you have to come out of there with a sale. You have to spend three hours and try to get someone to make a $20,000-$30,000 commitment in one night, and yeah, you’re trying to get that sale so bad ’cause you wanna be able to write up that number up on the board when you walk into the sales office the next day.
RC: So it is… You’ve seen a lot of good movies, your boiler room type movies, and it really is… That’s the kind of room that it is, so it burns a lot of people out quickly, and so a lot of times they do, they’re in that high-pressure sales room and then they’ve learned some things, but they decide that, “I can’t do this forever.” That was certainly what happened with me. It just wasn’t… It was hard to do. And so eventually, when it’s creating that kind of stress, [chuckle] “I gotta go to a… ” You don’t even know that other kind of companies exist, and then you find out, “Oh, well, not all companies are like this.” Some rely more on their years in service than their reputation where they don’t do the high pressure sales. But again, a lot of these companies do because it’s absolutely effective. Those companies tend to have more of a 35% close ratio in there, where the companies who just leave prices and leave it behind tend to be down 20 and sometimes below, even when they’re presenting a better price, because they’re not doing those things to capture the moment when the emotion is up and the customer is excited about the product and everything else, and they’ve seen the heat lamp and they’re really excited about how this is gonna affect their house and to take advantage of that moment when they’re like, “Oh, these are gonna be good in my house.”
RS: Yeah.
RC: So now you got a boom, hit ’em with the deal that’s good for right now and get them signed.
RS: So what’s your close ratio, Ryan?
[chuckle]
RC: Actually mine’s pretty darn good because the prices… [laughter]
RS: I bet.
RC: The prices I leave behind… And mine is close to 50, because I’m leaving behind prices, but I just know it’s so rare they’re ever gonna get beat, and if they do, it’s possibly by a company that hasn’t have the years around the companies I work with. And many times it’s funny too with my situation, because I apply zero pressure. I send out the quotes. Sometimes they come back with some questions. I might not hear from them for two years, and then they come back, “Hey, okay, we’re ready now. Can you get those quotes updated?” And that’s something that doesn’t happen in that other world because in that other world, part of the reason you have to close them in one day is because that price is not gonna compare well with other prices that they get. You know if they don’t sign up that night, they’re never coming back if they get other… That’s why it’s so important. The 10-step sales process is meant to capture really nice profit margin, and so that’s part of it too. That’s why they can’t leave prices behind in that situation. And many companies don’t. They won’t even leave the quote behind ’cause they’re just like, “Nope, sorry that this is for today,” and away they go, where with me, I’m obviously happy to send the email and then wait to hear back, and when the questions come, they come. If they wanna meet up at the showroom, that’s usually the next step. It’s like, “Okay, I see what the prices are.”
RC: Sometimes I give them different price points, so, “Here’s a vinyl window, here’s a fiberglass window, here’s a stainable fiberglass,” so there’ll be different price points. And then it’s, “Well, let’s go meet at the showroom. Now that you know what the price differences are, let’s go meet at the showroom and we can actually see full-size windows and wall displays, compare them next to each other. Here’s a vinyl, here’s a fiberglass, here’s a wood, here’s composite,” and they can kinda see. And by then, they’ve seen prices, so they know what they’re dealing with. But yeah, I’ve had many customers who… [chuckle] I actually just have one yesterday, who I hadn’t heard from since 2019, and it’s like, “Yep. Okay, we’re ready,” ’cause sometimes they do just wanna know what it costs, and they’re like, “Oh boy, even my window prices… Windows aren’t cheap.” So they go, “Okay, well, that maybe was more than I thought it was gonna be ’cause I had no idea what it was gonna be.” So let’s say for this process, and whether they wanna use something like a 18-month no interest plan or some kind of financing plan or a Center for Energy and Environment plan, maybe they go, “No, I just wanna save up and do it later.” Now, of course, the prices have changed a decent amount from 2019 to today. Again, I’ve had people come back a year or two down the line, it’s a very common thing for me where I don’t think that’s very common with many other situations. [chuckle]
RS: Yeah, I bet not.
TM: Oh, wow. Interesting.
RS: We should bring this one to a close, ’cause we wanna get you on again next week, Ryan, ’cause you’ve got a four-part series that you’re doing for me on the blog, and I wanna kinda match our podcast with that series. So next week, we’re gonna be talking about different materials and methods. And we already, we did a bit of an episode on that a couple of years ago on the podcast when we were talking about… I think the title of that podcast was “Vinyl Windows Are Better Than Wood.” Very controversial topic.
RC: Yeah, right, right. [laughter] Yep.
RS: We’re gonna talk about that next week and just talk about all the different materials so people can be a little bit more educated on some of the pros and cons and bust some of those myths around a bunch of these different types of windows. That will be part two in this series. So thank you all for listening. If you have questions for Ryan, you could send them directly to Ryan. Ryan, can you give out your email address and your website?
RC: Yeah. Yeah, you can send it right to ryan@getmy3quotes.com, and that’s the number 3, so ryan@getmy3quotes.com.
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RS: And of course, the website then is getmy3quotes.com?
RC: That’s correct.
RS: Okay. Alright.
RC: Yeah, you got it.
RS: And we will have links to both of those in the show notes. And again, thank you all for listening. Email questions, if you have any. The podcast email is podcast@structuretech.com. Again, I’m Reuben Saltzman with Tessa Murry signing off. This has been a Structure Tech presentation. Thank you all for listening. Take care.
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