Take the conversation with the buyer all the way to the order the company intends to earn money from. If construction brings in most of the money, finding out the buyer’s plans for their house before the consultation and continuing the work after they buy the house plans help increase sales conversion. More meetings are needed when the sales team already knows how to guide buyers along this path.
The advice “Book more consultations and you’ll get more contracts” sounds convincing. In a meeting, it is easier to explain a complex product, address doubts and suggest a suitable option. But there is a case where following this advice does harm: the team invites everyone who comes along, then stops talking about the next order after the first payment.
We looked for losses between departments and found them on both sides
We had a client: a company that sold plans for private houses, design and construction services. Most of the money came from construction. The owner thought buyers were being lost during the handover between departments. From several dozen sales of house plans, one client went on to construction; the owner wanted three or four.
During the audit, our head of sales opened ten randomly chosen deals. Only one had a comment. There was no next step in almost any of them; the head of sales considered most of the deals lost. Almost all enquiries were sent to a consultation without any preliminary questions, and only a small proportion led to a contract.
The owner described the new salesperson’s work like this: they picked up buyers who wanted house plans straight away and paid straight away. They lost the people who needed explanations and help reaching a decision.
The review changed where we looked. Before the consultation, no one found out what the person needed. After selling the plans, the team simply stopped talking to many buyers. Fixing the handover between departments alone was not enough: some people were being lost before it, and others received no attention after buying.
For me, the main issue here is where the company considers its work finished. The plans are sold, the money is received. But the owner is also counting on the construction work. If the conversation stops after the plans are sold, the owner is waiting for an order that the sales team has stopped guiding the buyer towards.
Why booking more consultations is harmful
Before inviting someone to a meeting, a salesperson needs an answer: is this person only looking for house plans, or are they considering having the company build the house? What do they need to decide before choosing a contractor? The consultation needs to address those needs. Without that information, you keep having to start the same conversation by finding out why the person got in touch in the first place.
With the team’s time limited, extra meetings take up hours needed for explanations and continuing negotiations already under way. A buyer who can decide on their own will order the plans quickly. Someone who needs to understand the details will be left waiting. This is exactly the difference the owner saw in the new salesperson’s work. Increasing the workload while keeping this approach to sales means reinforcing the advantage of buyers who need almost no help.
I think it is a mistake to label everyone else as unsuitable potential buyers. Someone choosing house plans still has a separate decision to make about construction. Not agreeing immediately does not make them an unsuitable buyer. First, we need to find out what is holding them back from that decision and whether they need us as their contractor at all.
The opposite extreme is to push construction on every buyer of house plans. The plans have value on their own. An honest answer of “I only need the plans” frees up the salesperson’s time; no answer leaves the company guessing.
Four buyer statuses after the sale of house plans
The owner needs to know what proportion of buyers the sales team is still guiding towards construction. A short table is useful here: the head of sales uses it to put together a summary, and the owner then chooses where to focus efforts.
| What is known about the buyer | What it means | Action for the sales team |
|---|---|---|
| They have signed a construction contract with us | They have moved on to construction | Count this towards the results for this group of buyers |
| They are still choosing and have agreed to the next conversation | The decision is still being discussed | Continue with the question the client still needs answered |
| They have confirmed they will not order construction from us | They have said no to a second order | Record the reason and stop pushing the proposal |
| No one clarified their next steps after they bought the plans | The outcome of the second order is unknown | Resume the conversation and find out their plans |
The last row needs attention before you increase the number of consultations. It is unclear how many people were even offered a further discussion about construction. With a gap like this in the data, more enquiries do not answer the question of why existing buyers have gone quiet.
How to calculate the amount of work using your own figures
Take one group of house plan buyers from a chosen period. The head of sales assigns each buyer to one row of the table as of the current date, without counting anyone twice. When comparing different groups, allow the same amount of time after purchase: someone who has just bought plans and someone who bought them a long time ago have had different amounts of time to choose a builder.
The calculation is simple: buyers of house plans − those who ordered construction − those still choosing who have agreed to the next conversation − those who confirmed they would not order construction = buyers whose next steps are unknown.
A line you can use in the report: “Of the total number of house plan buyers, state how many ordered construction, are still choosing, declined, and for how many the next steps are unknown.” This number of unknowns cannot be counted as either guaranteed orders or definite losses. It shows how much work the sales team still has to do before asking for more meetings with new buyers.
If refusals are most common, their reasons need to be examined. If there are many unknowns, the conversations that have stopped need attention. If people are still choosing, the head of sales needs to ensure there is time for their questions. One overall measure of the move from plans to construction mixes these decisions together.
For this kind of review, sales team analytics is useful: AI ROP analyses calls and messages alongside the deal record and shows where things go wrong at each stage; it only reads the data, while the team carries out the decisions. At RENTROP, you can start with a free sales review of this specific problem — where the conversation about construction stops after a buyer shows interest in house plans.
When more meetings really are needed
The advice works if the company knows what the buyer needs before the consultation, continues talking after the sale of the plans and has time for new clients. A sign of readiness is that the head of sales can explain what happened to buyers in the most recent group, including those who declined. Increasing the number of meetings then rests on a clear way of working.
In the case of the house plans company, the audit found that the conversation stopped where the owner expected the sale to continue. The client had paid for the plans, which said nothing yet about their choice of builder. By going quiet after receiving payment, the company itself left the next conversation to someone else.