Most fence contractors leave thousands of dollars per job on the table because they were never taught how to sell. Chuck Thokey, one of the top-rated sales trainers in home services, joined me on the Fencing Success Podcast for a 44-minute conversation about how to close more jobs at higher prices — without becoming the high-pressure salesperson nobody wants to be.
About the episode
This is one of the most actionable sales conversations on the Fencing Success Podcast. Share the video URL and I’ll embed it here.
What you’ll learn in this episode
- The mindset shift that separates great fence salespeople from average ones
- How to ask the right discovery questions before you ever pitch a fence
- The price anchoring strategy that lets you charge 20-30% more
- Why offering financing options dramatically increases your average ticket
- The objection handling framework Chuck teaches every contractor
- How to know when a customer is ready to close — and what to say
Selling is service, not pressure
Chuck opens with a reframe that every contractor should internalize: selling well is a form of service, not a form of pressure. The customer wants the fence. They invited you to their home. They’re trying to make a good decision. Your job as a salesperson is to help them see the right option clearly — not to convince them of something they don’t want.
The contractors who hate sales usually hate it because they’ve been taught a high-pressure model from the 1980s. The modern approach is the opposite: ask great questions, listen carefully, present the right option, and close cleanly.
Discovery questions before pitch
The biggest mistake fence salespeople make is launching into a pitch before they’ve asked the right discovery questions. Chuck’s advice is to spend the first 15 minutes of a sales call doing nothing but understanding the customer: why they want the fence, what they value about their home, what they’re worried about, what timeline they need, what experiences they’ve had with contractors before. Those answers tell you exactly how to present your option — and they make the close inevitable.
Price anchoring
Chuck’s tactical lesson on price anchoring: always present three options, with the highest option presented first. The fence contractors who present a $25,000 cedar privacy option, then a $18,000 mid-grade option, then a $12,000 entry option, sell the $18,000 option 70% of the time. The contractors who present them in reverse order — cheapest first — sell the cheapest option most of the time. Same options, different order, dramatically different revenue.
Financing as a multiplier
The other underused tool is financing. Most fence customers can afford the premium option if they can pay over 24-60 months at low monthly payments. Without financing, they default to the cash they have on hand and pick the cheaper option. With financing presented up front, the conversation moves from “can I afford this?” to “what monthly payment am I comfortable with?” Average tickets go up by 20-40% when financing is offered clearly.
Objection handling
Chuck teaches a simple objection framework: acknowledge, ask, answer, advance. The customer says “I need to think about it.” Acknowledge (“that makes sense, this is a big decision”). Ask (“what specifically are you wanting to think about?”). Answer (handle the actual objection underneath). Advance (“now that we’ve covered that, are you comfortable moving forward?”). Most contractors skip steps 2-4 and just say “okay, call me if you decide.” That’s where deals die.
Reading the close signals
The signals that a customer is ready to close are almost always the same: they start asking about timeline and start dates, they ask specific questions about the install, they bring their spouse into the conversation, they ask about warranty in detail. When you see those signals, the move is to ask the closing question directly. Don’t wait. Don’t hedge. Ask: “Are you ready to get this on the schedule?” The customer will either say yes or tell you specifically what’s still holding them back.
About the guest: Chuck Thokey
Chuck Thokey is one of the most respected sales trainers in home services. He’s worked with thousands of contractors across multiple trades to install sales systems that actually produce results.
Want to upgrade your sales process?
If you know your fence company is losing deals because the sales conversation isn’t dialed in, the fix is a real process. Reach out through my Professional Network page. And to pair this with the lead-generation playbook, watch Dollar-a-Day for Contractors.
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