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LeBlanc
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Issue 3 Spring 1998
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The Front Porch In the new home building community, we learn to live in a world of paradoxes. I personally believe this is what attracts dynamic personalities into this industry. Particularly in the sales and marketing sector. I think we all suffer some schizophrenic tendencies. Why else would we invest years of our lives in a world of ‘feast or famine’? Like a roller coaster ride, the thrills run both ways...lots of fun and lots of fright! Top of page Right now, we are in the fun cycle. Sales are strong. It has become a seller’s market. Incentives are quickly disappearing. Some communities either have long interest lists or actual camp-outs. Buyers are hungry to purchase and builders are sitting back and saying, "Yes! Finally! Let us all enjoy the good times". Caution. Let us not forget the lessons learned over the last several years. Those of us who have been in this industry a while, understand the cyclical nature of our business. We capitalize on the good times. Why not? But don’t forget there will be times when the demand starts to ebb. We should not dread or be apprehensive about the down cycle. To the contrary, we should face it head on and as the Scouts teach...Be Prepared. Top of page Most of you who read this newsletter probably will not want to think about the next down cycle. No room for negative thinking. I concur--do not think in negative terms. Do think in proactive terms. How is your company prepared for the next cycle: financially...psychologically...strategically? I am involved in the world of sales and marketing. As I work with builders covering the western part of our country, I share with them the pleasure of a strong market. Yet, what disturbs me is an old attitude starting to creep into the sales teams. Order takers. Oh how soon we all forget. One of my field evaluators relayed a personal experience she and her husband encountered in Orange County, California. The new home bug hit them hard and they started visiting various new home communities. One community they visited was ‘sold out’ of their current phase. What did that particular agent say and do? I wish I could report that the agent took the time to talk to the couple to determine their needs, timing and other relevant issues to offer them a high level of personal service. Unfortunately, that agent would not even provide price lists or other basic information. Her attitude was, ‘Why bother? We don’t have any homes to sell. See ya.’ Does that disturb anyone else besides me? Management must by ever vigilant with their sales teams. They must insure that their agents never forget how important the prospective buyer is to everyone. Not only to a particular community, but also to the builder and to the industry. Remember, since there is a limited supply of new homes, these buyers will also look at the resale market. If you are desperate to purchase a home, you will look at all your options. Many re-sales are only a few years old. It is a viable option. Top of page Stay ahead of the game. There are many parts of a mosaic that places your company in a strategically ‘smart’ position. We have talked before about the role of sales agent evaluations. They are critical to implement on a continual basis. Satisfaction surveys are important. New product research is essential. Sales agent training is vital. I refer to agent skill assessment as an evaluation in lieu of mystery shopping. I also prefer to view sales agent training differently. When I work with sales agents, I work with them as a facilitator. Training has many connotations. If someone is trained in a certain process, does that negate other ways of selling? Must every agent walk lock step as scripted by any one trainer? I personally think there are many roads that can be traveled to reach the agent’s final destination, i.e. the sale. There must always be structure in a sales presentation. However, what separates the top-selling agents is their ability to take a little bit from all sources and effectively blend the pieces into their own sales personality. How else can you achieve spontaneity when interacting with a buyer and show that you care? Top of page When you work with your sales teams, don’t forget the importance of the telephone. How many of your agents think of a ringing telephone as an intrusion into their lives? How many of your agents think of the telephone as an extension of the sales process? LeBlanc & Associates has discovered over the years that very few new home sales agents understand the vital role the telephone plays into their success as a sales professional. Re-sale agents do understand how the telephone enhances their sales careers. Of course, in today’s world of cyberspace, e-mail can also be influential. Have your Visitor Registration Cards been updated to include e-mail? Are your agents up to speed with their office computers to send e-mail notices? We all want to take a smart approach to building, marketing and selling our homes. In this ever changing market of ours, we must all realize there is no one single way to achieve that goal. Look at all of your options and select as many as you feel that will take you to your sales objectives. Along the way, give us a call. LeBlanc & Associates will provide you with quality service as well as a high level of personal attention that will facilitate your road to success. LeBlanc & Associates Sales
Agents Evaluations The
Home Front edited by Carol Michela The Economy: Does It Get Any Better Than This? contributed by Rich Martin Seemingly every month, The alphabet soup of GDP, PPI, and CPI continues to get tastier. Share these delectables with your home buying clients--particularity any fence-sitting clients--and tell them: short of winning the lottery or having Ed McMahon ring your doorbell, the economic environment for buying a house just doesn’t get any better than this! Top of page 30-Year
Bond Sinks to New Low New-Home
Sales Hit 11-Year High Existing
Home Sales to hit 29-Year High ‘97
Producer Prices Dip 1.2% "The good inflation numbers mean that the combined rate of unemployment and inflation -- the so-called misery index -- is the lowest it has been in more than 30 years", said Janet Yellen, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors. The lack of inflation is helping Americans in two ways. First, it means the purchasing power of paychecks is growing. Second, long-term interest rates are down and should stay down. Top of page Real
Estate Analysts See No Dip in Home Sales The group said that potential home buyers currently enjoy a triple-play of good tiding: confidence boosted by stock market, and mortgage rates at or below seven percent. Trade-up homes and second homes should benefit most from the economic well-being, as the median house price climbs an estimated 6.2 percent for 1998. contributed
by Rich Martin Pastel’s Are Not Only For Easter! by Sally Groth Trends in fashion lead many interior designers to their new color palettes. The trend today is soft, intimate and soothing pastels that we often associate with spring. Top of page One of the first basic rules of model home merchandising is "white, bright and cheery!" How many times we have heard that phrase from our clients. Well, move over Mr. WB & C, your very next model home may look like the wonderful colors we associate with Easter eggs. Soft yellow walls with white sash and trim, clear blue or tone on tone fabrics and hints of celery may be in your future. Shame on dark cabinets, heavy brocades and tired combinations. Today’s home shoppers are excited with the new color trends and creative interpretations of those new trends. Colors that sparkle into family rooms, kitchens and even onto the kitchen cabinets. by
Sally Groth, Bravado
Who’s Selling Your Homes? by Vincent J. Barbato As industry professionals, we are always looking for ways to improve ourselves - to be the best! Not very long ago, the "Critical Path" sales technique revolutionized new home sales. Salespeople across the country received intense training on how to Greet, Pre-Qualify, Demonstrate, Qualify, Site and Close their prospects. This well-planned, disciplined approach brought salespeople and their builder’s sales everywhere. It worked! Top of page Unfortunately, art often imitates life. Out of this "good" approach comes "bad." Mechanical Mike was born. Well, maybe he wasn’t born, but he sure arrived. I know you all have met him and heard his "canned" approach. Soon enough, each and every prospect was receiving the same presentation at each and every development. Life became monotonous and boring. This is certainly not the way it was intended to be, but it happened. Now we’re in the ‘90’s! We know people do not want to be treated like numbers and they most certainly do not want to be treated like commission checks. Thus, in our never-ending quest to improve and be the best, the "Relationship Sale" was born. Top of page What a great concept! Become friends with your prospect! Find out about them and their needs and let them know you care. Now we have sales managers out there scurrying around to retrain their salespeople on how to sell homes using the relationship technique. And, like its predecessor, it really works! What’s more, life is fun again! Unfortunately, there’s that art-imitating-life thing. You know, the bad coming from the good. What bad could possibly come from making a friend? Well, it’s my contention that for many salespeople, the Relationship Sale has given them a license to be lazy. Many sales agents rejoiced when they found out their sales managers did not want them to use the "stuffy" Critical Path technique. Why? Because it was so disciplined. What’s worse, with this technique there was accountability beyond the bottom-line sales figures. Now, instead of Mechanical Mike, we have Passive Paula. Passive Paula makes her prospects feel good, but she never actually demonstrates or closes unless she is specifically asked to do so by the prospect. She is making sales, but only to the "laydown" buyers. The tougher sales are free to go along their "merry" way. Top of page This is not acceptable. To be truly successful and outsell the competition, you must sell homes to the tough buyers. My guiding philosophy is this: "In order for your sales consultants to sell homes effectively, they must determine their prospects’ needs and desires and tailor their products’ features and benefits to them." "Tailoring" is most easily accomplished by establishing a strong, trusting relationship with the prospects (i.e. Relationship Selling) and guiding them through a well-planned presentation, (i.e. the Critical Path). The principles of both techniques are sound, and although they are somewhat different, they are not mutually exclusive. Call the Relationship Sale the "Art" and the Critical Path the "Science". Develop an organized sales presentation for your salespeople. The Critical Path provides an excellent model. The presentation must allow the salesperson to uncover the prospect’s needs and desires, address them and then lead the prospect to the close. Along with the presentation training, the salesperson must receive intense education on the products’ features and benefits so that when a need or desire is uncovered, the sales consultant knows how to address it most effectively. Top of page Where does the relationship come in? After the presentation is planned, make sure your salespeople thoroughly understand it. That is, explain not only the specific elements of the presentation, but the motivations behind each step as well. Only with thorough understanding can salespeople effectively incorporate their personalities into the presentation. No two presentations should be the same because the salesperson has trained on how to tailor the presentation specifically to the prospect. Presentations then become more like conversations. The prospects will be made to feel both comfortable and important. Bonding will occur and, if the salesperson follows the elements of the presentation, more sales will result. by
Vincent J. Barbato, Performance Training For Sales Teams by Dave Harding As an effective sales manager, you will spend a third of your time increasing the skills of your site professionals. You’ll need to be creative, even humorous, to ensure everyone gets value from your training. Increasing sales abilities is not optional for you nor your team. Everyone needs to embrace improvement--even if its source may not be as skilled as ourselves. Mariah Carey trains from someone; Tiger Woods has a golf pro to help him! Who dares train Ken Griffey to hit home runs? A director trains Tom Hanks to act! The very best know the value of learning, practicing and training--apparently from someone less capable. Thus, even your very best will benefit from performance training. "Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House" Top of page It is vital for your sales team to know who you are. Who is your customer? What is your target niche? What is your warranty? Are you self-insured or backed by, e.g., Residential Warranty Corp.? How do we price homes? Options, upgrades, custom features? Are these a service, or a profit center? What is our most profitable plan? How long is our construction schedule for each plan? How reliable it this schedule? Who is our closest competitor? Why do we lose sales to them? What are the three most identified reasons to buy our homes? What is our sale-fail ratio? Closing ratio? How many sales are co-brokered? What are co-brokers’ closing ratio for our homes? What are our most effective sales tools? What provides most traffic? Best traffic, if different? When do we get each? Where do you build? Only in certain types of locations, counties, amenity areas, school districts, etc.? Don’t assume your sales staff know. They may be able to provide land acquisition information. If you cannot answer these questions yourself, please develop the answers. When you have them, share them with the front line troops. They need them to be successful.
by
David Harding, Exchequer Consulting Corporation This site designed and hosted by Expedionet,
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