The word presentation has several connotations but basically is defined as the act of presenting – something offered or given; something set forth for the attention of the mind; a descriptive or persuasive account. All of us have experienced some sort of product or service presentation in our lives. Some are effective. Some not so memorable. TV ads sell to our imaginations. Don’t we all envision ourselves as that young good looking male/female driving that car? If we just wear that right perfume/cologne, our lives will be enhanced. In the better restaurants, the chef wants to capture our imaginations with the visual presentation of the meal. Sometimes the visual is more captivating than the actual enjoyment of the meal. Brings to mind the old TV ad, ‘Where’s the beef?’

In our sales centers, how persuasive are our agent’s sales presentations? Sometimes agents are technically correct and cover all the basics of a solid sales presentation – Meet, Qualify, Product Presentation, etc. However, it comes across as perfunctory and never really captures the buyer’s attention. It is not persuasive. Other agents may not technically cover all the basics, but they sure do capture the buyer’s emotional attention. They know how to sell the ‘wow’ factor. They may score a bit lower on their reports, but they know how to sell homes. Of course, the rare perfect agent knows how to blend these two facets.

While it is extremely important for the sales agent to cover all the technical aspects of the sales presentation, they must not lose sight of the overall concept of what a sales presentation needs to be. The agent needs to help the prospective buyer grasp the concept of living in their community by matching lifestyle. They must effectively present their product. Can they make the prospective buyer actually feel at home? In short, they must offer a persuasive case for the buyer to want to purchase. Something in the sales presentation needs to be memorable.

LeBlanc & Associates rates agents on personalizing their presentations. Many agents do not fully understand how to personalize their homes and community to their prospective buyer. The primary reason they don’t personalize the presentation is because they don’t conduct an effective discovery process to learn about the buyer’s needs and preferences. Many sales presentations that I have heard and seen over the years fall under the ‘one size fits all’ category. The agent lists all the homes features and community amenities as if the prospective buyer should be in awe of this verbal listing. The agent never determines if any these features and amenities are of any interest or importance to the buyer. Nothing memorable is established. Discovery is so essential. By determining what is important, then the agent can be more time efficient and effective by tailoring the presentation to what they learned through that discovery process. Otherwise, while the agent is covering the basics, it just comes across as ‘blah, blah, blah’….the so what factor.

One size does not fit all. Every buyer is unique. While in terms of their family profile, the Jones family might meet your ‘typical demographic’. However that does not mean they have the same needs and preferences as the Smith family. The Jones family may want a large yard for a pool, barbeque, large family gatherings, etc. The Smith family may favor the interior of the home and not really want the hassle of the larger yard or may not want to encourage family gatherings at their home! Discovery is key.

So while reviewing the evaluation reports with your agents, look beyond the scores. Ratings are of course important. However, how well does your agent captivate the mind and emotion of your prospective buyer? How well does the agent persuade the prospective buyer that their homes and community is exactly what they have been looking for? That persuasive factor is what defines the superstar.

HF: Manny, you are a proponent of analyzing all prospects and buyers. Your reasons?

MS: Too often we ignore valuable information that is ours for the looking. Our prospects tell us very clearly who we are attracting to our communities with our marketing approach and our advertising. If it is the wrong expected profile, but we are still selling homes, perhaps we need to adjust our advertising to attract more of this profile, we might just sell more homes. If we are attracting a profile that can not afford our homes, or our homes are wrong for them. Then once again we need to adjust our advertising and marketing to attract the correct profile.

In addition, it is always interesting to discover how our buyers actually reside in their homes. Do they live in the home the way we envisioned they would? What can we learn from this that we might be able to apply to our presentation that might help us sell more homes? Our homeowners can also tell us a lot about who we should be marketing to. We must carefully analyze our traffic and our actual buyers to fine tune our marketing and advertising efforts.

HF: Your advice to builders is that goal setting is not just for the sales team.

MS: It is equally important for the builder to determine what he/she wants to accomplish. What do they need to know to make those sales occur?

HF: Performance standards apply equally to the builders.

MS: Yes. Builders must not only set goals but they must also define the steps to achieve their goals. Their goals should be set by themselves so they know what they want to realistically accomplish. Then the builder must set performance standards so they can succeed.

HF: The importance of providing on-going educations programs for sales staff?

MS: While budgets are trimmed during lean times, builders must always provide sufficient money in their budget to train and evaluate (mystery shop) their sales team. These are the tools that ensure the agents can meet their goals.

Manny Schatz, principal of Professional Builder Services, Inc., holds a general contractors license, a broker’s license and MIRM certification. Manny was an associate of The Stone Institute and worked with the late Dave Stone. For further information, contact Manny Schatz at (925) 837-1937.

The digital age has come to new home sales training. Since November of last year, BuilderRadio has been posting recorded sales seminars online, and the idea is catching on. Their feature program, Selling New Homes: The Monday Morning Sales Meeting, an online radio show focusing on sales tips for builders and new home salespeople, is being listened to by an estimated 1,500 people per week, and their audience continues to grow.

“The show offers tips and ideas on how to connect with buyers, drive traffic and increase sales,” says Jerry Rouleau, the shows creator. “We interview top sales people, sales managers and trainers from all over the country, and they share with our listeners what’s working for them now to drive sales. It’s a great way for salespeople to become exposed to new sales techniques without the cost of traveling to attend a seminar in person. Here, the training is free. They just click the ‘play’ button and listen.”

The program is subtitled ‘The Monday Morning Sales Meeting’ for a reason: A new meeting is posted at www.BuilderRadio.com every Monday morning, in time for salespeople or groups to ‘click on’ and get an instant guest speaker for their sales meeting. Recent programs have included nationally known trainers such as Robert August, Ross Robbins, Bonnie Alfriend, Hal Von Nessen, Charles J. Clark III, Manny Schatz, Bill Webb, Jerry Costanzo, Brian Flook, Mary Dewalt, Tom Stephani, Dan Levitan, John Underwood, Bob Hafer, Roger Fiehn, and William Woodard, as well as many top builders and salespeople. Eric Lipar, of LGI Homes, one of the top 200 builders in the country, was interviewed about how his company continues to set sales records while other builders are going bust. Other topics featured include model merchandising, market positioning, and how to host a home-buyer seminar. “We try to offer ideas that salespeople can hear and put to immediate use,” says Rouleau, himself a popular trainer and speaker. “There’s no ‘fluff.’”

“We interview top sales people, sales managers and trainers from all over the country, and they share with our listeners what’s working for them now to drive sales. It’s a great way for salespeople to become exposed to new sales techniques without the cost of traveling to attend a seminar in person...

Each episode of the program is archived online, so visitors can visit the website and take their pick from over 30 pre-recorded meetings, with a new one being added each week. In addition to the audio, an article about the interview is also available so that visitors have their choice of listening to the interview or reading the highlights. Both the articles and the audio files can be downloaded to a computer or mp3 player, such as the popular iPod, or BuilderRadio makes copies available on CD for a fee. There is no charge to listen to the programs online or to download them. Instead, the program costs are covered by sponsors.

Jerry is a speaker, author, and consultant, specializing in sales training, and public relations for the housing industry. He is the author of “Selling New Homes: Sales & Marketing Workbook for Million-Dollar Producers”, “Selling New Homes the Easy Way” and a frequent article contributor to numerous building trade publications. Jerry is also the producer of the Builder Radio Media Network, which includes BuilderRadio.com, & BuildGreenRadio.com.

In addition to training he also specializes in public relations and in the past 10 years, he has created over 36 million dollars in free publicity for his housing clients. Jerry has been featured on the Today Show and in People Magazine. Special feature home projects that he has been involved in have been seen in USA Today and in hundreds of newspapers, radio, TV, industry trade publications and specialty consumer magazines like Country Living, House Beautiful, Country Home, and Home Magazine.

Jerry can be reached at 860-589-7391, by e-mail at: jerryrouleau@comcast.net or through his websites: www.jrouleau.com & www.BuilderRadio.com.

While our ability to recognize the Superstars was very limited this time around, we extend our Kudos to the following agents:

Bobbi West:

K Hovnanian Homes:

Bobbi excels at not only offering a comprehensive sales presentation, but also at being able to engage her prospective buyers through a relaxed yet effective discovery process. Bobbi creates a friendly and professional environment that slowly enables her prospective buyers to emotionally bond with the home.

Paula Nelson:

Toll Brothers:

Paula is a seasoned sale professional who provides her buyer with a superior sales presentation. She transitions well to her product presentation and conducts an effect discovery and needs assessment. Paula was near perfect on her closing skills.

Loralee Miller:

McArthur Homes.

A very special Kudos to Loralee. After reviewing the DVD of her video evaluation, Loralee demonstrated her true professionalism. Her comments validate the value of training, role playing and evaluations through the mystery shop process.

Creighton, I am so glad you had me do this! It has helped me realize a lot. Of course I realized that by asking better questions in the beginning I would spend less time rambling and telling them things they don't want to know about. It helped writing things down as we went through the house. It helped me think of better questions to ask at certain spots in the home. I also noticed that I missed some objections the buyers might have had. I realized it would be good for me to clarify what they say and make sure I am understanding them. I was also glad that I had to write down closing questions. That is something I need to practice out loud, asking for the sale. Any way thank you for the opportunity. -Loralee

The most important things our onsite sales teams can bring to their communities every day are excitement, optimism and positive energy. Our buyers instantly pick up on how the sales team presents itself, and a confident salesperson is almost always a successful salesperson. Sammy Davis, Jr. used to say if he got up in the middle of night for a glass of milk, he did 10 minutes when the refrigerator light came on. That is the kind of attitude that must be reflected during our onsite sales presentations. It’s Showtime, every single day.

Mark Winningham

TeamBuilder JLS

425.458.6753

markw@teambuilderjls.com

SEEING IS BELIEVING. Eliminate the doubt. No matter what the market conditions may be, a community’s success ultimately relies on the quality of the sales agents. Video Profiles from LeBlanc & Associates capture each agent’s sales presentation, the good and the not-so-good, through the eyes of the buyer.

LeBlanc & Associates 800.838.1779

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