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LeBlanc
& Associates
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Issue 1 Fall 1997
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The Front Porch Welcome to the first edition of what we expect to be an informative and comprehensive newsletter for the new home builder community. Our goal is to feature established professionals covering all aspects of sales and marketing. From the prospective of these highly respected individuals, we will pass along their words of wisdom. Over the years I have always appreciated help and advice from my professional colleagues. Now it is time to share the benefits of this collective wisdom through a more broad based medium of communication. Top of page LeBlanc & Associates offers the builder community several valuable sales and marketing services. As most of you know, one of those services is evaluation and assessment of the sales team. Having worked in the new home builder community for some 20 years, I have witnessed many attitudes towards sales agents. For the most part, management supports its sales team. However, there are times I have witnessed a sink or swim approach to sales associates. "Sell ‘em or you’re gone". How short sighted. No matter what product or service your company offers, you can not survive without a qualified, trained and motivated sales team. They are your lifeline. In the housing industry it is easy to slip into an order taking mind set when sales are good, demand is high, (experiencing camp-outs?), and everything is moving right along. Why spend money on sales agents? You don't. You INVEST in them. Just like stock market investments, you need to look at the long term results. If your company commits to excellence in its name identity, product, customer service, etc., then you must include sales. Top of page Your agents are the first contact to your homes. The agent must make the prospective buyer feel at home, establish trust, appreciate the quality of your product and structure an effective sales presentation. If they don’t, that buyer will move along to the next community. Rest assured there will be a top performing sales agent somewhere else who will close the sale. No matter how strong the market might be, no one can afford to have any buyer leave one of your communities with a negative impression. Many companies have offered buyer referral programs. Do you think you will get referrals if you have an untrained and non-motivated individual representing you in your sales center? Word of mouth selling can be a strong ally. It can also work against you. Through sales agent evaluations you can obtain the assurance that your sales team consists of top performers. My experience has shown that those companies who evaluate on a constant basis, that is a minimum of once a year, have the best skilled agents. Used properly, performance evaluations are a highly effective training tool. I look forward to greeting you in each of our subsequent editions of The Home Front. If you would like additional topics covered in later editions, or if you would like to be a contributor, please call, fax or e-mail your comments. Your input is important to our commitment to excellence! Top of page LeBlanc & Associates Sales
Agents Evaluations The
Home Front edited by Carol Michela Sales Offices by Anne Christopher I’ve bought houses in them, sold houses in them, and sold them. It’s been a unique love affair and qualifies me to talk about them from a multiple user standpoint. Top of page The design of a sales office must serve various functions. It must service the needs of the customer and client, the sales staff and the builder’s marketing image. Of course, this must be accomplished with an efficient use of budget dollars. Consider the many sales office user needs: Customer and client: an
education and information center where one can comfortably both
receive and impart information in a professional manner a
welcoming and comfortable atmosphere an
environment which educates the customer about the builder and
creates name/product recognition A creative approach to the design of a multiple user sales office is to form a Sales Office design team. The team should be comprised of representation from the marketing and sales departments and include a professional sales office designer to provide design expertise. The team is challenged to establish function/need priorities for the new sales office and tasked to look for creative solutions to your marketing and sales priorities. Top of page Should traditional displays be enhanced to tell more than one message? Are there additional educational opportunities in the model complex outside the sales office? Should any product displays be incorporated into the models? May additional storage areas be found for office equipment and supplies in areas adjacent to the sales office? Most importantly, the team is tasked to create an integrated informational and hospitable environment for the MOST IMPORTANT sales office user - the customer and client. Today’s client is knowledgeable, comfortable with sophisticated information giver equipage and needs dynamic informational/educational displays to hold his attention. The team approach to the sales office will provide a more creative, cohesive and efficient sales environment. by
Anne Christopher, Motivational Systems, Inc. New Homes and Resale Homes by Eve Hager All
you need do, is forget about your preconceived notions that these
two sectors of the real estate market are mutually exclusive.
Professional sales agents seek every opportunity to serve their
clients. The best way to accomplish this is to locate the property
that best suites the client’s needs. Since we’ve survived the worst real estate recession in California history, one of the lessons learned (by smart home builders) is that the resale sector is a great source of sales. For that matter the entire country, with the exception of California, routinely relies on resale agents to provide buyers for their new home projects. When you think about spending an average of $5,000 for a one-day advertisement in your local newspaper, the 3% commission to a resale agent is a minimal cost in the big scheme of the builder’s marketing budget. Particularly when you consider that, at best, only one in three or four sales will typically come directly through a resale agent. This equates to actually less that 1% of a home builder’s budget. The sheer number of resale agents along with their extended networks represents an enormous source of buyers. For example, in San Diego County there are over 4,000 resale agents. Each of these, at least the good ones, have a wide sphere of influence as well as an extensive stock of happy past clients, and they are accustomed to keeping in constant contact with these folks. The home builder, can avail himself of free advertising for their project(s) through the best source possible—agent word or mouth. That’s far preferable to having agents steer clients away from your homes because you don’t co-op. You’ll also be able to tie into national relocation networks. Top of page A savvy home builder will regularly tap into the resale market to keep abreast of what's happening, statistically speaking. Are sales accelerating or slowing? What’s the current inventory and monthly absorption rate? Is there pressure on prices - up or down? Good resale agents will be happy to keep you advised. Since resales consistently presage what’s going to happen to the new home market, maybe you’ll be in a better position to anticipate the next recession and adjust your product and marketing approach accordingly. Agents on the tracts can aid their builders by interviewing those resale agents who impress them and discussing the potential for contingency management. This ensures the builder that the contingent new home buyer is not listing their home with Uncle Elmo (who just got his license) but with an established professional who will properly price and market the home. Tract agents should also "pitch" their product at the Realtor office meetings in their geographic area and send reminder notes to the agents who do visit the development. They should market their homes to the resale brokerage community as creatively as they would to buyer prospects. Let’s try not to lose the rapport that’s been built-up these past few years between the two disciplines, so that when the next "down" cycle rolls around we don’t have to start all over again to establish trust and income for each other. by Eve Hager. Eve
was a sales & marketing executive in the new home field for
10 years. She is currently with Newman & Newman, a division
of Prudential California Realty,
Escrow Expectations by Diane Simmons What
kind of service are you getting from your escrow agent? The escrow
company you select to handle your tract sales is one of the most
important contacts you can make on your subdivision. Their organization,
experience, know-how and efficiency, or lack of same, can make
a difference of weeks and thousands of dollars in your sales/profit
picture. This article is written from a Southern California perspective, however, most of these basic principals contained here should apply in other areas and states. Does your escrow agency contain the following features and services?
If you answered no to any of the above, then you are not getting a complete service for your money. You may have a bargain escrow fee, but how much is it really costing??? Deal with a company that shows you the personal attention you deserve from all representatives of the company and that has the accountability and reputation to stand behind their word. by
Diane Simmons, Vice President of the Major Client Division , Spring
Mountain Escrow Corporation of California No More Incentives by Susanna McDowell As a salesperson, I have been able to have incentives as often as I have needed for the past six years UNTIL this spring. Top of page The word came from the sales manager, "Try not to use incentives. The market is San Diego is picking up." We tried to wean ourselves away from them. Then, The Memo came across the fax in the sales office four weeks later. "NO MORE INCENTIVES!...unless the lot is standing inventory." I always like to look at the glass as half full. So I began to fine tune my sales training tools and remembered that we are paid to ask questions. When buyers ask for incentives, I respond in a very hushed tone, "WE no longer offer incentives. The market has picked up, especially here. Look at all the sold buttons." I go on to probe and listen carefully. To help establish the motivation of a client, I’ll add, "If a home were to fall out of escrow, I may get just a little. Let me ask you, can you close in 30 days if I get one back on the market?" I get their reaction and go from there. Buyers need a salesperson to help fix their underlying need: where to buy. If they are still shopping incentives, they must be tired. I want to be the new home salesperson that finds their hot buttons and finds out what moves them. by
Susanna McDowell, Continental Homes Hiring a Great Sales Force by David Harding In assembling a top sales team, make a checklist of what you expect in a successful hire. Then, look for the candidate to demonstrate the same selling skills in selling himself. Top of page "ABC-always be closing." "Meet, greet, qualify." "Demonstrate, overcome objections, and close." "Close for the order-or at least for the appointment to return." These statements are as relevant to staffing as they are to selling new homes. A candidate who asks if you are the hiring authority is qualifying. If she does not ask, consider passing. There is no point in her closing if the buying committee is not (all) here. Look for the salesperson to ask when to start the new assignment. If she cannot be assumptive about a product (her skills) and a price (money and other motivators) she knows well, would she be more successful selling your product and your price? Aptitude testing is a great investment of $100 to $300. It saves us from hiring copies of ourselves and provides guidance on managing the salesperson effectively. Scheduling conflicts once forced me to have the aptitude test done after an employment was signed. The psychologist warned of unreliability, that my hire was more interested in a night as a heavy metal songstress and that she was likely to ignore her site duties. No fooling! Four years later she has not turned up to start her job. Lesson learned. Top of page Dave Stone and the Stone Institute developed a simple, self administered sales aptitude test that plots empathy vs. ego. Lots of both, in balance, probably discloses a sales master. Lots of one may suggest a social worker or a politician, but not someone likely to sell new homes for us. Testing of any kind can only be an aid and not a determinant. I like to think 25 years of sales and sales management can spot attributes that testers may miss! Consider shopping the candidate if he is currently on site. I was once very close to offering a position, but something troubled me. LeBlanc & Associates shopped the person at my request. Since we had no waiver, no tape was made. However, our tester had no difficulty recalling the extensive, unprompted, and even creative use of the most profane language to a customer. Thanks, but no thanks! by
David Harding, Exchequer Consulting Corporation This site designed and hosted by Expedionet, Inc. Copyright© 2004, LeBlanc & Associates. All rights reserved. |
