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LeBlanc
& Associates
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Issue 5 Fall 1998
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The Front Porch When I started this newsletter, I promised myself that I would make every effort not to repeat a topic within a short period. I need to break that promise. Why? Welcome to Orders ‘R’ Us. Top of page In the Spring 1998 edition, I addressed the issue of how sales agents quickly forgot many of the basic selling skills that were acquired through many hours (and dollars) of training over the last several years. How sad that sales offices are quickly becoming the equivalent of a fast food restaurant. The overall approach to sales appears to be "Let’s see how quickly we can get you out of here!" Order taking has come back with a vengeance. Listening to volumes of tapes generated through our performance evaluation reports, I consistently listen to agents who are baby-sitting their sites. I understand that agents have many pressures on them during this frenzied market. Buyers are more demanding, more anxious, more aggressive, more everything. Agreeably, this can take a toll on the front line people. However, no matter the difficult circumstances, it is never acceptable for a sales agent to lose his/her professionalism in the process. Top of page Given the same basic scenario of being currently sold out and waiting for the next phase release, the following list is representative of what we listen to on the audio tapes: Lunch time. The sales agent is too busy eating to have the courtesy to come out of her office, greet the prospective buyer, and offer some level of professional greeting. Why not, "…Excuse me! It has been so busy! I have to grab a bite whenever I can. How may I help you?" Attitudes. Sales agents indirectly (and sometimes directly) inferring, "Didn’t you hear me? I don’t have any homes to sell you." How about, "I know how frustrating the process is. What can I tell you about our homes and community that might help you at a later date?" Top of page Priority lists. "We have about 200 people on our priority list for the next 25 homes. You can of course sign up. But the list is long" (i.e. …no way do you have a chance). How about, "I know we have a long list. But you know, things change. I encourage all my buyers to take a chance and sign up!" The list goes on, but each encounter is a variation of the above three themes. I am troubled by sales agents relying solely on priority lists to sell their homes. Certainly sales have been flying fast and furious. But we must all remember the age-old adage…The one constant in life is CHANGE. Market conditions change. What effect the international economic crisis will have on our economy is an unknown. Buyers’ situations change. How many of those buyers on your lists are on multiple priority lists? Do you think that they are just waiting for your homes, or for the first opportunity to fill their housing needs? How strong are those priority list sales? Have your agents developed and established the emotional buy-in to your product to hold the buyers through the long wait ahead of them? At the very least, I would like to see agents return to a level of professional courtesy that affords every visitor to their sales center with a feeling of worth and importance. Management should never become complacent with their sales teams. Just because the numbers are strong, does not necessarily mean the sales team is strong. The sales agent must always assume the responsibility of creating demand. Otherwise, they run the risk of leaving money on the table…for them and for the builder. Top of page More and more of our clients are requesting that we evaluate their agents not only to insure the level of their selling skills; but equally important, to assess their attitudes. How do the agents treat the prospective buyer? How do they represent the builder? Additionally, we receive many requests to evaluate vendor representatives. How are they treating your buyers? Once you have made the sale, do your vendor representatives (pool, electrical, flooring, etc) undermine all your sales efforts? Satisfaction surveys give you information from one source, the happy buyers. What about the others who do not respond or cancel their sale? You must consistently confirm you have true sales professionals representing your company. Through either our performance evaluations or our Sales Tutorial® program, we will provide the means to assess the worth of your selling team. Top of page You have made a large investment in your communities, not to mention your name recognition. Performance evaluations are insurance that your investment does not lose value. So, give us a call! LeBlanc & Associates Sales
Agents Evaluations The
Home Front edited by Carol Michela
Outsourcing New Home Sales for Increased Efficiency by Michael J. Hixson Through the "feast or famine" home-building period of the past few years, many firms have lost sight of one important source of increased efficiency (and profits), through the utilization of contracted new-home-sales specialty firms. Essentially, new-home sales firms offer several advantages to smaller-to-mid- sided homebuilding firms: Expertise. Most established new-home-sales firms' managers have extensive experience in sales management within the homebuilding industry. This means that the issues of recruiting, hiring, training, evaluation, motivation and compensation are not "irritants" or "extras" for these managers, but normal course-of-business issues with solutions and resources readily available. New-home-sales firms have extensive experience with all types of sales personnel selling all types of products, and understand the value of "matching" salespersons to appropriate communities. In addition, these firms operate in more than one immediate market area, and therefore can spot trends and opportunities from a much broader perspective than can most smaller homebuilders. Top of page Marketing Support. Most new-home-sales firms have extensive marketing expertise, in that they are often the "de facto" marketing department for their smaller clients. Along with sales brokerage for homebuilders, they can advise and direct the client's efforts in the areas of research, target marketing, market planning, advertising, merchandising, product design and public relations, as well as in the assembly and coordination of the creative team necessary for all aspects of a marketing program. Value. When one considers the cost of salary and benefits necessary to attract a top-flight sales and marketing manager to a smaller-sized builder, the use of an "outside" sales and marketing firm is a very viable and cost-effective alternative. These firms carry workers' comp, liability and errors and omissions insurance policies, administer all payroll and personnel issues for their salespeople, and provide full sales office administration systems, to include reporting and contract forms. Cash Flow. Best yet, new-home-sales firms get paid when the escrow closes! Wouldn't it be nice to pay all employees in that manner? Top of page Performance Improvements. Most new-home-sales firms can demonstrate clearly that sales occur faster, and with less headaches, than when a smaller builder "does it himself or herself." Better relations with co-op brokers, better sales control and management, and overall better knowledge in this area of specialty cause this to happen. With only a 10% improvement in sales and closings, return on investment is often increased by 25-30%, in addition to any cost savings previously described. One final note. When analyzing new-home-sales firms, ask a few questions. Find out if they are members of professional organizations such as Builders Marketing Society, Sales and Marketing Councils, homebuilders' associations, local boards of Realtors, and whether the principals and staff have earned designations such as MIRM, CSP, CGB, and so forth. Does the firm also operate a resale division? If so, is management and staff completely separate? If not, there's a natural conflict of interest. In any case, homebuilders should evaluate an "outsourced" sales operation as a potential option to improve performance, cash flow and profits. by
Michael J. Hixson Virtual Model Homes Contributed by Steve Ormonde Today’s Ormonde products are setting the standards in sales and marketing efficiency for the builder community by easing the buying process with state-of-the-art, yet affordable, virtual model sales tools. The dynamic tools, created by a skilled team of formally trained architects using state-of-the-art proprietary software, allow prospective home buyers to virtually "walk through" your model homes, tour room-by-room, and conceal or display furniture. Buyers can also choose floorplan options and room configurations, customize their home with upgrades, change interior and exterior finishes, and even view entire communities that are still months away from being built. Top of page 3D Walk-Through From an introduction menu at a kiosk or personal computer in your sales office or other location, buyers can "virtually tour" any of your models. This tour of the entire home, led by an invisible guide, begins with a street view featuring exterior elevations. It allows the viewer to become wholly immersed without even having to touch a button. The tour walks potential buyers through the front yard, up to the front door, and into the beautifully decorated and fully merchandised rooms of the home. 2D Floor Planner At a kiosk or personal computer’s main menu, your buyers choose from the available plans, giving them the opportunity to select and instantly view any floorplan and combination of options. Information on available manufacturers’ products is also readily available at the click of a button. The interactive nature of the floorplans enables them to be easily reversed on-screen. Top of page Another unique feature of the 2D Floor Planner is its ability to transform, with options, to fit the specific tastes of each individual buyer. By simply clicking a button, buyers can add options the builder has made available, such as dens, extra bedrooms, and fireplaces. 3D Interactive Planner With incredible detail and award-winning imagery, the 3D Interactive Planner makes your blueprints come to life. This allows buyers to view every aspect and angle of both exterior and interior, virtually step-by-step, with an easy-to-use, intuitive interface. The exteriors of the homes are exact in every detail, including lush landscaping. The interiors are professionally merchandised, and furniture can be concealed or displayed to your buyers’ preference. The images can also be printed in full-color for your buyers to take home with them. The 3D Interactive Planner encourages buyers to add structural options and upgrades, in any combination, to selected rooms of the floorplan, and allows them to be viewed from all angles. This enables potential buyers to customize a home to match their unique lifestyles, and solves a common problem of traditional model home: an inability to show all option combinations. Top of page Community Tour The Community Tour is an animated video that can be used both as a stand-alone or as an introduction to the Virtual Model System. It allows a builder or developer to showcase an entire site prior to build-out, which then invites the buyers to fully visualize how a community will look with homes, mature landscaping, recreational areas, and all other aspects of a completed neighborhood. The Ormonde service continues beyond the creation of the virtual models and system installation. Ormonde experts train your sales staff on-site, and then follow-up to ensure the system exceeds your expectations. Contributed
by Steve Ormonde
Understanding the Asian Buyer by Dave Harding The Certified New Home Sales Professional program by National Association of Home Builders is a good introduction and also a good refresher. For sales managers who teach, it can be an opportunity and also a good refresher. I have required this course and designation for every site professional and for key members of the home office marketing staff. Top of page CSP is usually 6 full days in 6 weeks. It usually has outstanding professionals teaching the basics of new home sales. Kansas City and Seattle are 2 areas that often are recognized for an excellent version of CSP. It is a practical program designed to aid the sales of all new homes. It needs a little more strength in the area of condominium lifestyle/product, but still has a lot to offer you and your sales team. The program includes key components of construction, demonstration, follow up, closing, etc. It includes some personality and psychographics. More is needed for sales masters. I refer site professionals to do more in-depth work on Charles Clarke’s approach (Bulls, Owls, Lambs, Tigers) and to use it throughout the sales process. His material should be part of your basic resource library. The MIRM program, also sponsored by NAHB provides a higher degree of personality and psychographic relevance. Be aware, though, that Bill "World Wide" Webb, a national MIRM trainer, based in Ameila Island, FL, does a superb presentation that will result in more sales for your team. Top of page CSP is available in most metropolitan markets, usually annually. Many markets include a brief session of feng shui. For those markets where there is a strong Asian market, especially Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Toronto, Chicago, and New York, there is no substitute for Angi Ma Wong. If Angi does not have a seminar available to suit you, at least have in your library a few copies of her book, Target: The U.S. Asian Market. It is a valuable resource in professionally serving the different needs of several Asian communities. Thoughtful, sensitive and clear, it is the definite treatise, easily read, on the facts, as well as the reasons for some of the requirements of this important part of the new home market. If you are able to have any on site seminar with a feng shui master, your sales team will be better equipped to understand an ancient approach that would otherwise only be mystery. by
David Harding, Exchequer Consulting Corporation This site designed and hosted by Expedionet,
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