What is the Approximator?
The Approximator is a powerful delivery tool that helps salespeople present "designed" system templates, and through interactions with the client, produce accurate budget estimates during the first client-dealer meeting. This empowers clients to create/modify sytems and budgets instantly, avoiding the typical delays, inaccuracies and budget stresses of "normal" proposals.
The Approximator is available as a stand-alone version for your laptop, or at a discount if included with theVizualizer.
Approximator Quick Links:
Why use the Approximator?
There are many reasons, but the first is psychological and best illustrated in the following true stories:
Story One: A dealer in Las Vegas explained how the Approximator had changed the way they do business. He described actual situations when they would size up a prospect as a "$30,000" client and then be amazed as the projects soared over six figures. At first they thought it was a fluke or that the clients would soon change their minds. This happened more than once and the job remained as sold. It became the way they sold.
Let's go analytical – the dealer was selling the same products in the same market to the same type of client at the same or higher pricing and using the same sales staff just as always, but the projects were getting bigger. It was not as if the dealer had some killer "exclusive product advantage" that his competitors could not also have. It was unlikely that the prospect became any richer or the new home got any larger because of the Approximator. So, what was going on?
Story Two: A dealer in Miami declared that all proposals had to be delivered within 24 hours, and his closing rate doubled! That happened without any product breakthroughs or price concessions. He literally did not have to spend or give up a thing to double the results. Why did that happen?
The answers exist in the psychology of the client... First: "Speed is a Tool, it is not that the big eat the small, it is that the fast that eat the slow." The potential clients appreciate a quick response and they reward you with their business. It demonstrates that you have taken the time and have the resources to design your systems in advance. Next: It answers the one question everyone has, how much?
If you have ever built or remodeled, you know the frustration. A tradesman shows up to measure for whatever and then disappears for a few days and then reappears with a number that is never what you expected. When a potential client shops for almost any other product, they can quickly establish a budget based on the published prices. Ours is one of the few industries that persists in "figuring it out" after that first meeting.
Using the Approximator allows you to quickly and accurately give your prospective client a budget, so there is no shock when they receive their actual proposal. The actual proposal will usually be within 5% to 10% of the number you all agree to during that first meeting.
The Approximator engages the potential client
The Approximator helps you illustrate the complexity of designed systems, without overwhelming the client. And, it empowers clients to create their own systems (this is actually the most powerful reason).
When clients are involved in the process, they accept responsibility and develop a sense of ownership. Research has proven that client involvement is the most effective way to sell. It also helps the potential client realize how wide your offerings are and how dramatic the price ranges can be. Most dealers are amazed as they watch the client select systems that they would have been afraid to suggest. Too many salesmen "think with their own wallet". The Approximator fixes that.
We have also learned about times when the client did not know a dealer could do motorized shades or dimming control until the Approximator was unleashed.
They see the prices change as they add more categories or increase the scope of work. When they want to adjust the budget, they work with the entire system in each Master Category; they do not focus on individual items or ask for discounts. If they want to spend less, they select less. The same way they would choose a smaller car.
If the client is going to say no, let's get there fast. It is better during the first meeting than after weeks of work on a proposal that will not be accepted. It reassures the client to know that your pricing is consistent and not something that is adjusted by your perception of their wealth.