Chicago Basement Waterproofing – Knocking the Competition
I’m about to give away a big secret of the basement waterproofing industry: The man or woman who comes to your home representing a basement waterproofing contractor is an expert in diagnosing basement water problems but they’re also a salesperson.
Speaking for my own company, I can also tell you that a salesperson that represents us is well-trained in finding and diagnosing basement water problems and probably came to us with a background in construction or home inspection or some other related field.
Not surprisingly, we encourage our advisors to explain to their customers why we’re the best and give solid, quantifiable reasons why you should hire us. But, there’s one thing they are forbidden to do.
Beware the Salesperson That Tries to Win Your Business by Trashing His or Her Competitors!
We have told not only our salespeople but everyone at our company that we want to continue to grow our business by being the best and most cost-effective, not by slandering our competitors. And you, Mr. or Ms. Chicago homeowner, should be careful of doing business with any basement waterproofing company, or any other business, that tries to win you over by trashing other companies.
There’s nothing wrong with a fair comparison of methods, materials and prices. In fact, we recently posted an article comparing us to one of our competitors, but we believe it was fair and honest and had nothing negative to say about the other company
We’ve also written openly on this blog about online reviews and encouraged consumers to use them. We’ve even admitted that, while 99% of our reviews online are very positive, every once in a while there’s one that’s less than great. One of those reviews, on a popular online review site, was written by someone who didn’t do business with us because of what he had been told by a salesperson from one of our competitors.
Our advisor had been called to the customer’s Chicago-area home because he had seepage in his basement from an undetermined source. As we and many, many other basement waterproofing companies normally do in a situation like this, our rep conducted a hose test outside the home and found the source of seepage.
Seeking a second opinion, the homeowner met with a salesperson from another basement waterproofing contractor who told him that the hose test didn’t work and would require a “truckload” of water before the leak became noticeable – both statements untrue. Then, he did the unconscionable and scared this poor homeowner by implying that the hose test may have done further damage to his foundation.
I assume our competitor did the work on this house and that he and his company profited from it and I guess that’s good for them. And maybe they even did a great job for this homeowner – but you have to wonder how they sleep at night if that’s the way they conduct themselves.
Look, we admittedly would love to get every job that comes our way and we consider every “yes” a victory and every “no, thanks” a loss. However, we want to get the business by proving we’re the best and most cost-effective, not by lying about our competitors.
And for you, Chicago homeowner, here are the questions:
- If a salesperson is lying to you about the competition, what else is he or she lying to you about?
- If a company isn’t confident enough in its own abilities to be honest with you, why should have confidence in them?
At U.S. Waterproofing, we do business fairly and sell our services on their own merits so that you never have to ask those questions about us. Our 55 years in business and more than 300,000 satisfied customers speak to that. If you want to know more, just ask for a free consultation.
