# A book on how we run our business.



## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

A few weeks ago, I posted The Rolex Watch Story. Maybe, this story and its analogy is dumb, and boring, but this is exact system we use for closing sales, and we close sales for about 95% of the sales, we attempt to close. Contractors sales are a little different, but this story should give you some ideas. 

You can read millions of page about selling, but closing every type of sale and the customer's thinking follows a very specific pattern, and the list of obstacle is very small. The problem I see is, most people think everything has to be complicated. When hiring new employees, I have a hard time trying to get them to stop doing all the things they don't have to do. It is difficult to make people understand how simple selling is, until after they actually see the simplicity, in action.

I edited this manual and added information about how we do our record keeping, dispatching, advertising campaigns, ad design, dispatching, customer list management, accounting, and a lot more.

I will continue to edit this manual, because I will probably retire, hopefully, in about 18 months. The only thing stopping me from retiring, now, is I have an 8 and 13 year old, they will probably go to college, and I don't know how much money is enough. 

I am making this manual, for the person who takes over my company, and am posting the manual, on this forum, to help contractors, and because posting it motivates me to finish it, a little faster.

The recent version was fairly unedited. This version has about 60 pages completed, and is edited up to about 20 pages.

I am trying to help contractors understand that there is plenty of work. You have to work a little harder to get it. A few days ago, I posted that we may break our sales record in 2008. This morning, I entered our invoices, into our software, and we broke our all-time gross sales record, by about 5%. But, we spent an extra 10 tons of money on advertising. Also, this has been the toughest year, in 35 years.

This is the manual. When finished, it will be about 150 pages, so if you are interested, check for updates, every few weeks.

http://www.bestlineplumbing.com/BusinessManual.htm

Updated 12/28/06. I updated the manual and the new name is business manual 122808. It had about 500 typo errors and now I think up to the end of the sales portion is completed. I added a few important pictures and corrected a lot of the grammar. I don't think I will be editing the first 40 pages any more. The remainder of the book is fairly clear, and contains enough information to give you some ideas. I will continue to add to the manual at a slower rate. My next project is to put together a database containing all types of brochures, for all types of contractors, where we can critique the design. I think this is very important, for everyone, and myself.


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## CNC (Mar 29, 2006)

first few pages are excellent, very blunt, but interesting. I plan on reading its entirety tomorrow, print it out, and sell it on ebay :jester: joking. Thanks ! I will return with full feedback, and more knowledge in my brain !


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## mark the coach (Aug 11, 2008)

*have you considered franchising?*

Hello PC

I have read many of your posts and you are a great resource for the members of the forum. Your information is simple and effective and your willingness to share is outstanding.

Have you considered franchising your methods?

I think you have a lot to offer the industry.

mark the coach


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

*Thank you very much.*



mark the coach said:


> Hello PC
> 
> I have read many of your posts and you are a great resource for the members of the forum. Your information is simple and effective and your willingness to share is outstanding.
> 
> ...


Starting to feel the age. Just want to help a few contractors before I quit. And I have a few more irons in the fire.

When I started my business, in 1973, I met a retired plumber, in the street. He invited me to his home, for dinner, and spent several hours, giving me advice and tips. Within a few weeks, of starting my business, thanks to this plumber, I was rolling in the dough, and have been, ever since. I have been blessed with good fortune, and enjoy helping people, if I can.

Thank you very much.


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## 1mancrew (Nov 17, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the wealth of information. I know by applying your sales techniques I will be a better salesman. Thanks!


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

If your business is operating without a manual, then you are flying blind and constantly re-inventing the wheel. I too have a manual which is not yet complete but grows constantly.


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## Jerrald Hayes (Apr 24, 2006)

*Excellent stuff*

PCPlumber I too the time today to read your Business Manual and I wanted you to know that I think this is just EXCELLENT stuff you've compiled. It's some of the best stuff I've read on sales for contractors in quite some time. If the readers hear don't read and study this thoroughly they're just being suicidal. Great stuff.

I wanted to ask you though about one paragraph on page 23 which reads:



> "The total is $12,980, and since I am going to do both jobs together, I will give you
> a $500 discount, off of the drains, and $500 off, the copper pipes. That is $11,980,
> and I will round it off to $12,900."


 Is the $12,900 a typo? You just gave the prospective client $1000 off the job but then rounded the quoted price up $920.

I have some minor quibbles reading your comments regarding the effectiveness of postcards (i.e. direct mail prospectiing). I agree 1000% (no that's not a typo, I'm being emphatic ) on your thinking that Google AdWords is a waste for contractors. 

I also think I should add that while your advice is 'plumbing contractor centric' and there are marketing differences to be considered for non-plumbing contractors such as a Home Builder, Kitchen & Bath contractor, a Faux painter, or a stair builder etc. the information is still all applicable and valuable if the reader keeps his or her mind wide open. 

Again just great stuff.


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## rewrew87 (Dec 14, 2008)

pcplumber I would just like to say that as a young kid just getting started your knowledge and experience is greatly appreciated. I have just read the first 23 pages and was so intrigued by what I was reading lost track of time and forgot to go pick up my sister.... can't wait to read the rest!


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

***


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

*Please elaborate*



Mike Finley said:


> I'm a littlet shocked you would want to let something like that get around publically.


Does the manual contain anything that appears to be dishonest? I'm not right, all the time, and criticism does not hurt my feelings. But, the power of the philosophies works for us. Whether or not, people agree, at least, we have everything in writing, and we make what be believe in, work.

The same as I chain myself, to my customer's kitchen table, I will chain myself to my keyboard, until I sell contractors that there is a lot of business out there, there are better and easier ways to close sales, and there are better ways to demand more money for your services. 

There are many contractors running larger and better businesses than mine. I wouldn't mind spending a few days picking their brains.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

***


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

Mike Finley said:


> No, not dishonest, but it does have a lot of information about how you sell and operate that customers might take the wrong way. I wouldn't say you are doing anything illegal or dishonest or anything like that. You're just laying yourself bare to your customers and I'm not sure how smart that is to put something like that out there in the public domain.
> 
> The parts about your pricing made me wince a little that you were publishing that stuff. My impression was your manual presents your selling philosophy as you're out to get as much money from somebody as you can. You temper it with some discussion of providing a great quality service in return, but it still comes across to me like you're more about making sure you get the biggest check written possible from your customers.
> 
> That kind of makes me nervous that you would want that out there in the public domain.


Jokingly, I will tell my customers I want to charge them as much as possible, and I do. I'm not afraid to admit it.

Thank you for the input.


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## mharrold (Mar 13, 2007)

Thank you, PCPlumber.
I currently close about 50%, not bad for a young company, but this will take it to a new level. (I would love for my pay to get close to your figures)

I personally charge what I think is a fair price but this guide will help me to show the customers that what I am presenting is THE fair price. No need to look elsewhere.

I truly appreciate this.


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## DetailHandyman (Jul 21, 2008)

pcplumber...

Thanks for posting that manual. I have gotten a new perspective on a few things. I do agree with Finley, some of the statements could be misconstrued by a non-industry reader. Though I realize that's not the intended audience.

One grammatical critique: way too many commas in many sentences. Made it "flow" a little slow for me.

Great info though. You may have to market this on CD like the other biz gurus. :thumbsup:


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

***


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

I opened the zip file, but it only contained a shortcut?


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## Paul Joseph (Nov 11, 2007)

I seem to be unable to download the file. Could someone please send it to 
[email protected]. It would be greatly appreciated.
Paul
www.Precisionplushomeimprovements.com


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## BKFranks (Feb 19, 2008)

I downloaded also, but just like the others it only had a shortcut. Would love to read this.

.


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## rbsremodeling (Nov 12, 2007)

When you click on the link it should down load the manual


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## BKFranks (Feb 19, 2008)

I clicked on it and it downloads a zip file with nothing in it but a shortcut. :sad:
The shortcut is to "C:\Shared Programs\Pictures\BusinessManual.pdf" on the host computer.
File being downloaded is "http://www.bestlineplumbing.com/BusinessManual122408.zip"
Open the file and it contains only one file "BusinessManual.pdf.lnk"

If anyone has already downloaded it can you email it to me. Thanks.


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## cork (Dec 9, 2008)

*PC Plumber manual*

I can't download the manual either.


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## BKFranks (Feb 19, 2008)

Oh, I see what PC did. He zipped the link to the file and not the actual file.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

BKFranks said:


> Oh, I see what PC did. He zipped the link to the file and not the actual file.


Yes, it's a shortcut to the file on his C drive.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

*Sorry, thought I tested it right.*

I think I corrected the link problem.

http://bestlineplumbing.com/BusinessManual.htm


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## BKFranks (Feb 19, 2008)

Yep, all fixed. Thanks PC.


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## Tiger (Nov 21, 2007)

PC,

I'm reading through your manual & in your sales presentation you mention using the clients TV or your own TV & also printing pictures. Just curious if you found the printer necessary when it's already on TV. It seems like overkill & a bit cumbersome to show a picture on TV, then print it. Seems like it would be an unnatural break in the presentation w/o a helper, and even distracting with a helper.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

Tiger said:


> PC,
> 
> I'm reading through your manual & in your sales presentation you mention using the clients TV or your own TV & also printing pictures. Just curious if you found the printer necessary when it's already on TV. It seems like overkill & a bit cumbersome to show a picture on TV, then print it. Seems like it would be an unnatural break in the presentation w/o a helper, and even distracting with a helper.


Even though the customer can see the problem, and you show the problem on a television, you have to print the pictures every time. They have to be 8 x 10 pictures. These pictures have a very powerful psychological effect. 

In the past few days, I started a thread about blowing off jobs. Today, we went to a home and found a hole in a floor furnace. My helper mentioned, the customer was not the owner of the home. There were other factors, I cannot write about, that made it appear we were wasting our time. He suggested we blow the job off. I practice what I preach. We showed the customer the picture of the furnace hole on her television. We took our time and printed two 8 x 10 pictures. Later we found that her father was the owner of the home. The customer called her father, as she was holding the pictures in her hand. Her father said he did not want to buy a new furnace, so the daughter signed the contract and said she would pay for the the furnace with her own money.

If we had not put these pictures in the daughters' hand, we would not have sold this furnace.

Sometimes you can get lucky, and you can think whatever you want, but you will not know the power of showing every customer the problem, three times, and giving your customer printed pictures, even when you don't think you will close the sale.

Sometimes, we think something is not necessary because another way has worked okay, but maybe there is a way, that works almost every time, and this 'way' allows us to get twice as much money.


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## Ed the Roofer (Dec 12, 2006)

PC,

Where the heck do you find the time? 

I sensed your spirit of sharing and the compassion you have for your methods immediately, but do you have any other work to do, or did you get to the point of just being able to do what you want to do?

If I download this incomplete version now, please, emphatically please, let me know when the completed version is done.

Thanks so much for becoming a top-notch sharer on this site. :thumbsup:

God Bless You for the ability and desire to do so.

Regards,

Ed



pcplumber said:


> A few weeks ago, I posted The Rolex Watch Story. Maybe, this story and its analogy is dumb, and boring, but this is exact system we use for closing sales, and we close sales for about 95% of the sales, we attempt to close. Contractors sales are a little different, but this story should give you some ideas.
> 
> You can read millions of page about selling, but closing every type of sale and the customer's thinking follows a very specific pattern, and the list of obstacle is very small. The problem I see is, most people think everything has to be complicated. When hiring new employees, I have a hard time trying to get them to stop doing all the things they don't have to do. It is difficult to make people understand how simple selling is, until after they actually see the simplicity, in action.
> 
> ...


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## Tiger (Nov 21, 2007)

pcplumber said:


> We showed the customer the picture of the furnace hole on her television. We took our time and printed two 8 x 10 pictures.
> 
> If we had not put these pictures in the daughters' hand, we would not have sold this furnace.


Thanks for the details. What has me concerned is I could do an inspection and find twenty five $200 problems to come up with a $5k repair rather than your two pictures for a $5k repair. Now I'm not laying 2 pages on her table, I've got a book to show. I'm just trying to imagine how this presentation is going to look professional.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

Tiger said:


> Thanks for the details. What has me concerned is I could do an inspection and find twenty five $200 problems to come up with a $5k repair rather than your two pictures for a $5k repair. Now I'm not laying 2 pages on her table, I've got a book to show. I'm just trying to imagine how this presentation is going to look professional.


 SHOW THREE PROBLEMS

Before you even think about closing a sale, your customer's home must have no less than one problem. Sometimes, one problem is enough to justify the replacement of the sewer pipe from the house to the property line, but you should always look for no less than three problems, before you tell your customer he has even one problem.

'THREE' is the magic number. Less than three problems and you may not be able to justify replacing an entire drain system, a furnace, a water heater, rewiring the entire house, or replacing the sewer from the house to the property line.

DO NOT ELABORATE ON MORE THAN THREE PROBLEMS

Talking to the customer, about more than three problems, causes confusion. You can show the customer a hundred problems, take pictures of a hundred problems, and show the customer a hundred pictures on your television, but when you are closing the sale, you do not want to confuse the customer, by over-taxing his mental capacity. Show the customer many problems, but print pictures of only three to four problems, when you go the next step, 'Show The Problem Three Times (not show three problems).

This is how people think. Women are great for this and you have seen this many times. A woman takes a car to a mechanic. The mechanic tells the woman the car needs a new alternator. No problem! The woman has the alternator replaced.

The following story is not a joke. Add two more broken items to the car. A woman has the best model Oldsmobile. It is only three years old and has 30,000 miles. She takes the car to a mechanic, and the mechanic tells her, she needs a new radiator hose, a fan belt, and brakes. "My car is falling apart and it is a piece of junk. I'll just buy a new car." 


SIZE DOES NOT MATTER 

In the previous story, the number of problems was more important than the size of the problems. Contractors find it difficult to understand, what is not important to us, may be very important to the customer. If you and I owned the Oldsmobile, we would make the repairs and drive the car until it had no less than 150,000 to 250,000 miles. We would tell the customer to make the repairs and keep the car. The customer is thinking the car may break down on the freeway and she could be killed. She is not willing to take this chance. 

The same is true when making repairs to your customer's home. Your customer may have three tiny problems, and he is not willing to take a chance and have one more. I showed a customer a very tiny leak on a drain pipe. I did not say one word, and the customer said, "just replace all the drains, I don't want any problems in the future." 

When a customer has one electrical problem, he is not going to replace every wire in the house. When you show him three problems, and use the methods and pictures, in this manual, you can sell almost every customer, on rewiring their entire house.

When taking and showing pictures, show the customer every picture on the television, and elaborate, a little, on each one. When printing the pictures, print only three to four of the best pictures, or the pictures with the most serious problems.

You go to a customer's home and the customer has one leak in a cold water pipe. He does not need to replace the entire water pipe system. 

You go to a customer's home. He has two leaks in his water pipes and a valve is leaking. Now, the customer is more inclined to replace his entire water pipe system. The customer does not need more than three reasons.

A house has a crack in a foundation wall. One crack does not mean the house is going to sink into the ground, or get destroyed in an earthquake. 

A home has two cracks in a foundation wall, and beam resting on foundation wall, has been destroyed by termites. This customer is more likely to do something before a disaster occurs.

Always show the customer no less than three problems, or explain three different reasons why a problem needs to be repaired, or replaced.


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## Tiger (Nov 21, 2007)

Thanks for that clarification.


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## Complete Pro (Oct 30, 2007)

:notworthyIt is an incredible read PC.:notworthy

Your last post actually hit home for me because I am making a presentation tomorrow to a lady with a foundation falling in around her home, plumbing problems (sewer lines are broken due to house shifting), and beam/leveling problems in her crawl space (again due to house shifting).

*Should I stop at these three problems,* or should I also point out her cracked plaster, sticking doors and windows, HVAC that is falling apart, broken stairs, etc.? Or should I wait until I have the contract and mention that my crew could fix some of things while they are there doing the primary work, foundation, leveling and sewer?

She told me she would pull an equity loan for the work, so she needed and estimate for the banker. If I shoot her a price for the primary work, and then have change orders that add another 10%-20% to the original contract, she may not have that extra 20% from the bank.

I do like the "...doing the work is my business, getting the money is your business..." line, but how do I get her to that extra 10%-20% from the bank without looking like I was planning getting it from the start all along.

If I were to list all the problem with her house that I spotted upon an initial inspection, it would more than double the amount of money needed to fix her primary problems.


:clap:And by the way, if you are really looking to retire, publish this and make some residual money, become a consultant for small business', or sell articles like this to trade magazines. I think there is a second career requiring a little less work in any or all of those fields.:clap:


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

*Ask the customer what she wants.*



Complete Pro said:


> :notworthyIt is an incredible read PC.:notworthy
> 
> Your last post actually hit home for me because I am making a presentation tomorrow to a lady with a foundation falling in around her home, plumbing problems (sewer lines are broken due to house shifting), and beam/leveling problems in her crawl space (again due to house shifting).
> 
> ...


I usually tell the customer every problem and go for the gold metal, but I certainly don't want to be responsible for costing you to lose the entire job.

Make sure you are 100% positive that she is going to have you do the foundation wall. Make sure you are positive she will sign a contract with you. Then tell her this:

"Mam, I know you called me for the foundation wall, but I found some more problems and I just thought I should tell you. Let me show you what I found, and I want you to know you are not obligated, or anything."

When I write these statements, I use poor grammar on purpose. The statement does not have to make sense.

Look at your customer and see how she reacts. She will be very happy that you are telling her, she will frown, or she will get upset.

After you see her reaction, you can move to close the sale, or downplay the problems and brush them off. If you print pictures and use the methods in the manual, you have a better chance to close the sale. Usually, with a sale like this one, I would write a contract for just the foundation wall and one for the entire job. You can say:

"You know, the more you do the cheaper the job is."

Your customer will look surprised. You go through the steps of showing your customer the pictures of the problems. 

"While we are already here, I cut the cost of many items by up to 20%. Look here, this new water heater, in my price book is $1250. While I'm here, I'll install a new 40 gallon gas water heater, with a 6-year guarantee for $950. to replace your leaky pipes, with Type 'L' THICK Copper pipes, the price in my book is $6500, but while I'm here, I will give you the copper repipe for $5500. If you do everything separate, it cost $40,000. If you do everything, at same time, the job is only $32,000, so you will save $8,000. I just thought I would mention this to you, and I wrote separate contract, for each job."

As we are aware, a slight change in a price you quote can make or break a sale. My book price for the water heater is $1250. I will not quote a price of $1,000 because this sounds like a lot of money. So, I lowered the price to $950 that does not sound like a King's ransom.

My copper repipe price is $6500. I lowered the price to less than $6,000, even if I drop the price to only $5800. It is all about perceived value.

Customers sense fear and lack of experience. Get a nice camera, television, printer, and make a price book. Get everything set up and practice. When you are positive about what you are doing you won't say 'um' or 'uh'. 

Get as much money as you can. A higher price job has more urgency and some customers love the 'power of spending money'.


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## Complete Pro (Oct 30, 2007)

Thanks pc,:notworthy

Your advice is greatly appreciated. I have done my homework on this one, emailed and spoke with the subs that will be involved, had a brief conversation with the city's engineer and have my 4 printed pictures of the most pressing problems, and my laptop, rather than the customers t.v., with more pictures, ready to go. 

I do not have a price book like you do, I really do wish that I did. I might make up a few pages that I can access on the laptop while talking with the customer. The only problem would be if they ask me about other work that I don't have a prepared page for. Then it will look like I am winging it. I am sure that I can find my way around that by at least expecting they she could, and probably will, ask questions about things other than the immediate work.



> originally posted by *pcplumber*
> "Mam, I know you called me for the foundation wall, but I found some more problems and I just thought I should tell you. Let me show you what I found, and I want you to know you are not obligated, or anything."


This line, or something very similar to it, is the one that I was having a tough time, coming up with. THANK YOU!! :notworthy

Honestly, the plumbing is going to* have to be *part of the foundation wall project because her drains are broken, and literally repaired with duct tape. The moment the city inspector sees it, and there is no way he can miss it, he will flag it. I will definitely make this point to her. Two of my four printed pictures are of these broken and taped up joints and the wet/contaminated soil beneath them.

I am not "counting my chickens before they hatch", but I do think I stand a great chance of landing this job.:thumbsup: I am the only remodeling contractor she is currently getting an estimate from. Her other two estimates, so she says, are from foundation companies only, and I know one of them personally. I am pretty sure, not positive, but pretty sure they just looked at the foundation, threw her a price for that work, and that is it.

I will keep you posted.



> Originally posted by *CompletePro*
> Your last post actually hit home for me because I am making a presentation tomorrow to a lady with a foundation falling in around her home,


p.s.: this got moved to Saturday.


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## outlaw (Jan 7, 2009)

pcplumber,
You have a system for closing sales and that is good.:notworthy 

But, it is very appearent that you are also the low price.:no:

25-30% of people will buy the low price. I think that skews your closing ratios.:detective:


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

*This is how much can be sold with pictures in one day.*

This post should (hopefully) give you an indication about how powerful having a positive attitude is, how powerful the proper use of pictures is, and why visiting every customer is critical, regardless of what they request for service.

After reading this story you will see what what this thread is about. I would not have sold one penny of this money without using pictures and without using the methods in the manual.

You will see pictures of two small roof repairs where I sold jobs, so my methods even work terrific for roofers. Incidentally, I am licensed for roofing, and may re-start my roofing company, this week. I used my methods for roofing 30 years ago, when I was only 28, and I had 32 roofers. I stopped roofing because my plumbing was too busy and I could not manage 60 employees.

This story will show that the previous post, regarding low prices is not accurate. We may use loss-leaders, but we are far from low-priced. I like to think we close, gross, and net about 4 times more than most companies my size. Otherwise, I would not be writing and posting this information.

If you did not read the manual, read the first 40 pages so you understand how we use these pictures and close sales.

http://www.bestlineplumbing.com/BusinessManual.htm

Open this link. Make sure you REFRESH the page when it opens. You will see Part 2.


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## outlaw (Jan 7, 2009)

Maybe I was quick to judge. What is your net % of sales?


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

outlaw said:


> Maybe I was quick to judge. What is your net % of sales?


30% + Repair plumbing has a high mark-up. New construction plumbers are lucky if they net 5%.


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## Shellbuilder (May 14, 2006)

Very interesting PC, thanks for sharing!!


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## BMAN (Aug 21, 2006)

I don't se it as the lowest price I see it as real pricing. He doesnt charge by the hour so production is probably way higher, so from a job cost perspective it may look like a lower margin which would suck if you were the type who worked alone and depended on higher margins and less work per day. Since he has many employees going out and doing higher volume then it doesnt matter.


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