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Articles

The Front Porch
Mary LeBlanc

Top Ten Rules of Successful FollowUp
Marianne Weissinger

Perception Is Everything

What is a picture worth?

The Front Porch

Stuck in traffic the other day (what else is new), I was listening to the radio and heard a real oldie on the radio Hitching a Ride. Remember that one? "Ride, ride, ride, hitching a ride." That song was in the era of bell-bottoms, long hair for men and youthful foolishness for everyone. It also was an era where we were less prepared for life's lessons. Top of page

Hitching a ride. How appropriate for today's selling environment. How many are just hitching a ride with a strong marketplace? How many agents are actively selling homes? This is a question that must be answered by both management and the sales agents themselves. Too many agents are racking up awards and money just by being in the right place at the right time. While this is gratifying in many ways, it is also setting the stage for future failure.

LeBlanc & Associates continually sees evidence of how this strong market has negatively affected sales agents. Through both our audio and video evaluation programs, we see two types of agents. The first is what we know to be a good sales agent that has become lazy. These agents no longer feel it is necessary to show pride in their product and community through a demonstration process. These agents no longer feel it is necessary to establish the proper ground work for the sale through an effectivediscovery and qualification process. They no longer feel it is necessary to ask what is important to the buyers. They no longer feel it is necessary to bring their home to life for the prospective buyer. And they no longer feel it is necessary to ask for the sale. Top of page

We also see agents who have never developed the basic skills. This agent is earning good money. But this agent has one approach to selling homes: "Hello. Here is our brochure. Here is our price list. There are the models. I will answer your questions when you return (maybe)." Boy isn't that an inviting atmosphere to have someone want to buy your homes and live in your community! This agent has become accustomed to selling from a priority list. Line up and pick a number.

If all an agent knows is the "accidental" sale (one that would happen anyway, in spite of the agent) then how will that agent ever move product in a normal or slower market? Like the young hitchhikers, these agents are not prepared for life's lessons when a different selling environment will inevitably come.

LeBlanc & Associates has been receiving more and more requests to determine why a company's homes are not selling better. The traffic is good. The product is fine. But why are we not selling? Sometimes the request is for an exit survey.

Sometimes we are asked to conduct a competitive project report. Most of the time we are asked to assess the sales agent. Usually our evaluation reports or video profiles will confirm management's suspicions their agents either have become lazy or the agent never had the skills to begin with. Top of page

But a word of caution here for management. Have you been actively supporting your sales agents with training and training material?

Whether it be one-on-one time with your sales agent in the field, training sessions in your sales meetings, a Sales Tutorial® from LeBlanc & Associates, or bringing in an outside trainer, you must give that agent every opportunity to succeed. The performance evaluation report is part of that process. When you call us to assess an agent, we do hope that the report is used as a training tool. Of course the true sales professional will not rely solely on management to enhance their selling skills. A true sales professional will seek their own way to continually improve their sales performance.

Sales managers, make sure your agents are prepared for the sale. Remember, hitching a ride went out with long hair and bell-bottoms! Hitching a ride will never replace having your own transportation and planning your own course to success. Give us a call!

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Top Ten Rules of Successful FollowUp
By Marianne Weissinger
Computers For Tracts

Follow-up is one of the most common problem areas for builders. Are your salespeople following up as they should? Below are ten "follow-up" rules to help you increase conversion ratios and make more sales. Top of page

Follow up must be easy or it won't get done. You must give your sales staff the proper tools so that they won't be overwhelmed by the follow-up task. Perhaps the best way to ensure an efficient follow-up system that salespeople will be inclined to use is to automate the task. With an automated follow-up program, your salesperson need onlyenter a prospect's information one time. After that, follow-up letters can be automatically generated, and salespeople can mail merge the pre-written letters from their prospect list and print them off with one or two clicks of a mouse. Top of page
Follow-up must have support from the top. The success of your follow-up program depends upon the management of your company. Upper management must put a priority on developing guidelines for salespeople to follow and enforce them consistently. They must commit sustained resources to the task and equip their salespeople with the necessary tools to follow up efficiently.
Register every visitor - no exceptions! This even applies to those who say they are "just looking." By entering each and every guest, your salespeople will eventually compile a treasure trove of follow-up opportunities, and your company will build a database of valuable information for traffic reports, demographics, etc. Later, when the prospects are converted to buyers, you'll have a complete history of your activity with that customer.
Follow-up activity must be monitored. Your sales managers must be able to quickly and easily monitor each salesperson's follow-up activities. With an automated program, your salespeople can print out a status report of their follow-up activities and bring this week's follow-up letters to the sales meeting for the sales manager to initial. This beats having the sales manager visit each site to check follow-up records individually.
Assign each salesperson a goal. Your sales manager should meet with each salesperson regularly to establish follow-up or conversion-rate goals and objectives. You can award incentives to salespeople meeting or exceeding their objectives. Top of page
Classify each prospect by their likelihood of buying. Your company should adopt a classification system by which your salespeople can categorize all prospects based on their likelihood of buying. An example of a common system builders use is the "A," "B," and "C" categories. "A's" are ready, willing, and able to buy. "B" prospects are ready and able to buy, but still need encouragement. "C's" are ready and willing to buy, but may not qualify financially. When using an automated system, make sure the program you use can tailor a follow-up program based on your own classification system.
Use the telephone as well as letters. There's power in a person's voice, and a letter alone won't come across as warm as a personal phone call. Often salespeople have "call reluctance," an obstacle you must help them get beyond. Make sure your automated follow-up program allows salespeople to make notes on the phone calls in each customer's record. The program should be as easy to record and schedule additional calls as one or two mouse clicks.
Make follow-up a priority at weekly meetings. At each sales meeting, remind your sales staff that even though business may seem good, it could be even better. Consider incentive programs such as contests rewarding salespeople with the highest conversion ratios. Salespeople who have the greatest number of prospects in the pipeline will have the greatest insurance against any future declines in sales. Top of page
The "Buy or Die" philosophy. Sales trainers often teach that you should follow-up with every prospect until they either buy from you or die. While that may be somewhat of an extreme viewpoint, it certainly illustrates the importance of persistence. Some of the most successful salespeople tell stories of prospects returning to their site years later to buy a home from them. So continue to send your follow-up letters until your A, B, or C customers buy a home from you, buy from someone else, or it is clear they are not going to buy at all.

Follow-up - It's not just for prospects! When is it time to stop following up? Never! Once your customers sign the purchase agreement, they still need a lot of guidance during financing, options selection, walk-through, and those inevitable service requests. By following up 30 days, six months, and one year after move-in, you'll help ensure customer satisfaction and improve your referral ratios. Make sure your automated program can be fully integrated into your customer service program. We've seen builders increase their sales, productivity and conversion ratios when they begin to make follow-up a priority. Your company can do it, too!

Marianne Weissinger is regional coordinator for Computers for Tracts, the leading provider of builder customer relations software with tools for prospect follow-up, customer care and home warranty, sales and escrow processing, and sales and traffic reporting. For more information, call (800) 523-9357.

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Eat What You Kill

A parable for new home sales professionals
It was a very good year in the jungle.
The Lion, King of the Jungle,
Lord of all he could see, was happy.
Game was plentiful.
They were easy.
In fact, this season,
there was more than enough game.
Very little effort was required of the Lion.
Very little chase.
The antelopes seemed in a frenzy.
They were foolish.
They seemed, even, dumb.
They had lost their natural timidness.
They were like lambs to the slaughter.
Only they were not lambs.
They were bucks. And doe. Top of page

Bucks and doe were easy to come by.
The Lion just picked off the easy ones.
And only ate the prime portions.
And forgot staging the hunt.
Ignored those who bolted.
Let his claws go soft.
And his teeth go dull.
Never chased the bucks. Nor doe.
And unlike even the foolish, frenetic squirrel,
Did not put anything away for another day.

Eating what he killed, Top of page
The Lion ate well.
But left the jungle littered with his leftovers.
Dead bodies. Foul odors.
This intimidated other prey.
The Lion, grown fat and lazy,
The Lion, King of the Jungle,
The Lion, Lord of all he saw,
The Lion chose to change his scenery.
And left his jungle for a brief respite.
A sojourn.

The Lion, King of the Jungle,
Lord of all he had seen, looked away.
Looked for a resting place.
To sun. To relax.
To reflect on his majesty
On his prowess, his importance,
and his skills of the hunt.
But he was not hunting.
He had left the hunting grounds.
But only for a change of scenery.

When he returned, the scenery of
his own jungle had changed.
The game had changed.
Bucks were more scarce.
Doe, also. But just a little. Top of page

However,
Young lions had moved into the region.
They had not become fat. Nor lazy.
They were sharp of fang,
and masters of the claws.
Also, each had the heart of a lion.
The old Lion was confused.
He blamed the game for changing.
He roared: "This is my territory.
Always was. Always will be."

Young lions, involved in their own hunt,
Did not hear him.
Or could not. Or would not.
The old Lion roared.
He threatened.
No one paid attention.
Nor respect. No one heard.

The old Lion began to whine.
To feel sorry for himself.
He grew hungry.
His strength waned.
His will ebbed. He grew tired.
Tired and then angry.

Then too angry, then too tired.
Then too angry to be tired.
Then too tired to be angry.
Then simply tired of being angry.
Then just tired.

He suffered. Top of page

Then the winds changed, and the rains came.
The times, too, were changing.
But times always changed,
Did they not?
But this lion may not survive,
Maybe not until they changed back,
Until good times returned.

He was tired and growing old.
And angry. And hungry.
He had not saved any bucks, nor doe
Or had saved too few.
He had lost his edge
And his hunting ground.
And his will.

He was irrelevant.
His tears began.
If only he had kept hunting.
Stayed sharp, saved a little doe.
Had not left the hunting ground when hunting was good.

If only Top of page

If only he had remembered HE WAS A LION.
Born to hunt, and good at it.
Supposed to chase, and built for it.
Meant to plan his hunt.
And clever enough to do so.
He was destined to "eat what you kill."
He could not kill. He didn't eat.

"Next time there are good times," he thinks
"Next time, I'll do differently."

Next time of good times, he does the same.
There will always be a next time.
This lion, who had been King of the Jungle
Who had been Lord of all he saw,
May not be there
Next time.

David Harding Top of page

Dave Harding is Director of Marketing & Sales at Kaufman & Broad, a national trainer of new home salespeople, and a tongue-in-cheek observer of the homebuilding business.

Telephone 520/577-7007
Fax 520/299-2725
Email: DHarding@kbhomes.com

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Perception Is Everything

Although two competing candy shops had the same prices, neighborhood kids preferred one store over the other. When asked why, the kids said, "Because the 'good' store always gives more candy. The girl in the other store takes candy away." True? Not really. In the "good" store, the owner would make sure to put a small amount of candy on the scale, then kept adding to it. In the "bad" store, the owner would pile a heaping amount of candy on the scale, and then take it off until it hit the right weight. The same amount of candy was sold, but perception is everything.

How do prospective buyers perceive your homes? Are they the "good" homes or the "bad" homes? LeBlanc & Associates can conduct Exit Surveys at your communities to determine how prospective buyers perceive your homes. Give us a call!

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What is a picture worth?

Many companies have been requesting a series of video shops for their sales teams. LeBlanc & Associates now provides this valuable service. Through a full video presentation, we take the denial aspect out of the evaluation process. Give us a call!

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