How to sell Fences and Decks

How to Sell Decks and Fences ( prelude ) ?????

Selling decks and fences is 80% preparation and 20% experience.

Here are the absolute basics. ( Prelude to the sale )

1. You need to show people your best work. How will you do this? Creativity counts. We give our builders the best portfolio and display work in the business. 20 years of beautiful projects like half million dollar tennis courts and up-scale trelliswork. This tells our potential clients that we are simply the best.


2. You may not have the car of your dreams-in fact it might be a little rough. Your car should not be as nice as your best clients, it may be slightly better than what you find in your pressure treated clientele’s drive. Showing up in a $100,000 Mercedes S class says the wrong thing for a deck company. The vehicle should be respectable but not ostentatious, well maintained and signs add to credibility. If your vehicle is in obvious need of repair park a couple of doors down as not to call attention to it. If your car leaks fluids, park on the road and plan on upgrading soon.


3. Up-scale clients will expect you to be in office casual. Armani suits may say that you are expensive-but office casual will say that you are a respectable business man. Show up in ripped jeans and people will have reservations about giving you a check. A company shirt with logo will also help confidence.


4. Shoes-believe it or not are very important to high-end clients. They know that $30.00 shoes denote that they out-class you. I know what you are thinking here. That’s ridiculous, and if you went to a public school you may just be thinking that. This is just something you will have to trust me on, until you buy a pair of Browns, Bass, or Geox for $150-250. When you pay attention take a look at how the people in the big house look inside your shoes when you take them off. A little detail like this will actually make it easier to sell to high-end clients. Showing up in office casual clothes, with good shoes and they see you as respectable and valuing quality. If you choose to invest in good shoes you will obviously shop for the best materials for them.


5. Do you have your portfolio, design resources, contracts, brochures, business cards, drawing pad, tape measure, a good pen? You are ready to approach the door. Have a card in your hand… and approach.

A Canadian businessman once told me, “ Do Business in your own back yard “. When questioned about it his point to me was to stay local. Create a business that draws clientele to you. Transportation is expensive, and time on the road is time wasted.

This is the most compelling reason for staying local.

In our area here there are a couple of new deck company start-ups attempting to cover the entire area. They are both marketing themselves as the most creative (they are not),and the least expensive (they are). On top of having higher transportation costs, they have the smallest profit margin (if any). I would warrant a guess that both are utilizing illegal labor, (just a hunch) and sub-standard materials.

They are both marketing hard, pay per click advertising, and I know one is a full time student.

Every year there are a hundred or so start up deck companies—every year most of them go broke. Some survive a while—but rarely do they ever succeed.

This is why I am so proud of our crews.

75% business failure rate in the first 3 years that is the standard ratio in Ontario.

I really believe we are building our installation network utilizing the best quality people in our areas.