According to Remodeling Magazine, 15-20% of sales appointments are one-leggers, or sales calls with only one homeowner present. Deciding to leave 20%+ of sales on the table is an enormous decision, so you should really think about your process for turning one-leggers into profitable business.

Here are 3 successful remodelers’ takes on the one-legged sales call. Use their expertise to grow your business!

The Company: Midwest Construction

The Strategy: Strong preference for both homeowners.

As the Big 50 remodeler in Des Moines, Midwest Construction focuses on process to grow their business. They have a strong preference for having both homeowners available for the sales call, and they train their phone team to make it happen.

To ensure that both homeowners are available, we worked with Midwest Construction to provide phone scripting for selling the appointment to both homeowners. Here are some key points you can replicate in your process:

  • Start by selling the value of the appointment.
  • Once the homeowner agrees to the appointment, ask if there is a 2nd co-owner.
  • Ask for the 2nd co-owner to be in attendance, again selling the value of the appointment.

Of course, if a homeowner insists that they want to make the purchase alone, give the customer what they want!

Ready to start writing more business? Download our Sales Strategy Guide for tips to close more sales!

The Company: Rite Windows

The Strategy: Sit with any qualified customer.

We work with the experts over at Rite Windows, and their team mentioned that their percentage of one-leggers is much higher than Remodeling Magazine’s nationwide average. What’s more, they don’t see that as a problem.

The sales team at Rite Windows happily sits with one half of the household, and shows excellent sales results.

With our lead-tracking software, they know their ideal customer is:

  • Sophisticated.
  • A dual-income household, where one-leggers are far more common.
  • Not price sensitive, and willing to pay for a convenient sales process.

After the conversation, I did a bit of snap mathematics. Rite Windows writes more than 2-million dollars in business from just one-legged appointments annually. 

Really think about how willing you are to leave that money on the table!

Ready to start seeing those kinds of sales results? Download our remodeling sales guide below!

The Company: Tony Hoty Training & Consulting

The Strategy: Rethink how your approach the whole topic.

As a pressing topic for in-the-home sales, we cover one-leggers periodically. Last time we discussed it here, Tony Hoty shot me an email with his ideas on the matter, and I have to say his insights were highly valuable.

According to Tony’s process, you need to rethink your approach. He doesn’t even call them one-leggers, which implies a disadvantage, he prefers to call them 1-Party Appointments. Not only are one-homeowner sales closeable, they’re so valuable that you need to mentally stop considering them a bad thing.

If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of Tony’s events, I’d strongly recommend it – he spoke at a remodeling conference just before the Spectrum team, and he has crystal-clear insights into canvassing and in-the-home sales.

What’s your next step?

So, now you know how 3 industry-leaders strategically handle one-on-one sales appointments. The question now is what you want to do about it. If you aren’t already running these sales calls, try it on an experimental basis. Issue the appointments to your sales team, and track the results. Compare the closing rates, and I bet you will find that they are immediately comparable to your other leads.

If you’re ready for the master’s course, download our Sales Strategy Guide below. Our proven tips and tricks will help you close more business, whether you have both homeowners or not!