that I have been fully vetted and am one of the elite few companies that have passed this process. With an organization like the Home Technology Association giving its stamp of approval, I can set myself apart from the others. I also know that clients are always looking for some third-party validation before choosing a company or product. Like a 5-star review, HTA Certification should raise your closing rate by 7% or greater. It helped raise my close rate 22.4% when I compared my 2019 and 2020 sales figures. 2. Listen. Most of your competitors show up to an interview and blather on about themselves and the tech they sell. Do not use the " show up and throw up " sales approach. It is a loser. Ask a lot of questions and listen to your prospect. Find out what is important to them and repeat it back to them. Clients will respond to the fact that they feel their voice was being heard. 3. Do not ignore either spouse. My firm once won a job because our competitor could not stop looking at the wife's chest during the sales pitch. No joke. Often the wife has the most influence but is completely ignored in the meeting, do not do this ... or stare inappropriately. In fact, treat both spouses equally as the decision maker even if one of them is quiet or disinterested. So many jobs get won because the wife " likes " one of the contestants better. Do not underestimate the influence of either spouse. 4. Deliver budgets in bitesize chunks. Help your client understand how you are proposing that they spend their money. A single proposal with a final price tag of $300k is overwhelming to a client. Divide those costs up by system so they can better understand how it got to $300k. Making a proposal or budget presentation digestible will help you close more sales. hire the wrong person vs. the user experience when they hire you. This should be completely non-technical. They have all heard horror stories from friends who hate their technology systems. Tell them how you do it differently. Let them know what you do to make their system more reliable and user-friendly. CI owners and salespeople are all short on time and busy sorting through opportunities. If you focus on closing the leads you have in your pipeline, you can save an enormous amount of time. CE Pro 5. Shift the conversation from price to quality. Paint a picture for your client of the user experience if they ERIC THIES is President of Lake Balboa, Calif.-based DSI Luxury Technology, an HTA Certified integrator. cepro.com May 2021 CE Pro | 55 C2105 pp52-55 HTA Sales.indd 55 4/6/21 10:46 AMhttp://www.lowellmfg.com http://www.cepro.com