The one-legged appointment is costing you more than you think

Every in-home salesperson knows the feeling. You walk in, and only one spouse is home. "My husband's working late, but I can tell him everything." You give the whole presentation. It goes great. And then: "I need to talk it over with him."

That's a one-legged appointment, and in most companies it quietly eats a big share of the leads you paid for.

Why one-legged appointments almost never close

It's not that the homeowner is stalling. They genuinely can't say yes. A $30,000 decision is a decision for two people, and one of them wasn't there. So the person who was there has to retell your whole presentation, from memory, at the dinner table, without the pictures, without the options, and without you there to answer the questions. You're no longer selling. They are, and they're not trained.

What it really costs

Do the math on your own company:

• How many appointments last month had only one decision maker home?
• How many of those closed that night?
• How many closed ever?

For many companies, one-legged appointments are a big share of appointments and a small share of sales. Every one of them was a lead you paid for, an evening your rep spent, and a homeowner who was interested enough to let you in.

How to prevent them

Set it right. When the appointment is booked, ask who else is involved in the decision, and set the time when both will be there. Say why: "So you both see the options and can decide together, without you having to explain it all later."

Confirm it the same way every time. The day before, confirm that both will be home. If one can't make it, offer to move the appointment. A moved appointment is better than a lost one.

Make it a rule, not a suggestion. If it depends on each rep remembering, it won't happen consistently.

When it happens anyway

Sometimes the second decision maker really can't be there. Don't just leave a brochure.

• Make the presentation travel. Send the proposal, the options, and their own house rendered in the colors they chose, so the spouse sees exactly what the one at home saw.
• Offer a short call with both. "Would it help if I ran the same 20 minutes for both of you, by video, tomorrow evening?"
• Book the follow-up before you leave. Never leave with "we'll get back to you."

The bigger point

A one-legged appointment isn't a homeowner problem. It's a process problem, and process problems can be fixed. That's one of the five numbers we look at on every RenderBid demo: the share of your appointments with only one decision maker, and what closing more of them would be worth.