Boost Close Rate – Payment Option Benefits Series

We’re back to discuss how payment options can benefit your home improvement business. Previously, we went over how they can improve your cash flow and increase your leads. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how to close more sales.

How Can Contractor Financing Boost My Close Rate?

In our Brickyard Study conducted in 2018, we discovered many customer behaviors that impact their decision-making process when it comes to home improvement. This research showed that 35% of consumers start the process of searching for a contractor without considering how they’re going to pay for their project. This provides a great opportunity for you to fulfill that need with little additional lift from your customer. Plus, if customers know you provide a way for them to pay for the job (ex., your home improvement advertising), it makes it more likely they’ll select you for the job.

As far as numbers go, offering payment options can nearly double your close rate. For example, assuming a baseline of 25%, by offering a choice between a Same-As-Cash and low-monthly payment option, you could see an increase to a 44% close rate*.

Additionally, when a customer is approved for a Regions | EnerBank USA loan that you offered, they will stick with you to complete the job 94% of the time, helping to further bolster your close rate.

How Does This Benefit My Business?

By closing more contractor sales during the initial bid, your business can save time and money. A higher close rate means you don’t need to spend your valuable time chasing down cold leads and can, instead, get to work.

Homeowners often underestimate the cost of their projects. When they hear the final bid, they may reconsider the job or want to look elsewhere for additional bids, especially when they don’t have a convenient way to pay on hand. You can preempt both scenarios simply by making payment options available. Customers cited convenience and flexibility as their two top reasons for using contractor-provided financing. These loans allow customers who didn’t have a way to pay for their project, or want to temporarily use their cash elsewhere, to get the project they want now and increase the likelihood that they’ll hire you for the job.

Boosting your close rate can be a HUGE advantage to your business on its own, and we’re only halfway through our full list of payment option benefits. Come back soon, and we’ll go over how we can help grow your average project size.

Want to learn more about payment options? Simply fill out the form on this page, and someone from our team will reach out to you shortly.

*Brickyard Study, commissioned by EnerBank USA 2018