When I first started The Home Front, one of the reasons I titled my article The Front Porch was to reflect on the experience of watching and observing. Assessing and evaluating sales agents through the mystery shop process is an exercise of observation and examination of the agent’s ability to structure an effective sales presentation. Now my front porch is either a hidden audio recorder or a hidden video camera. The observation of the sales agent in action provides both management and the agent the opportunity to discuss how effective the agent is at securing the sale. Management and agents must have a constructive conversation about what occurred during a specific sales encounter. The emphasis is on constructive. Make it a friendly and positive discussion.

Many aspects of an effective sales presentation need to be in place. We have discussed the technical components over the years in this newsletter. But beyond the technical skills, an agent must incorporate much more.

Building rapport. We talk a lot about creating rapport with our prospective buyers. But so many agents just don’t know how. Why is that? Is it because an agent sees a sale vs. a neighbor? In a sense, an agent should treat their sales center as a front porch in a neighborhood they live in. Do they take the time to offer a friendly and warm hello? Do they take the time to ‘chat’ with their prospective buyer who just might become a neighbor? Do they take the time to determine ‘how is it going’? Do they take the time to have a conversation? In short, do they just take the time to get to know their buyer? Too often our agents just rush through the drill and the whole encounter is perfunctory and impersonal.

While we do not want mindless chatter in a sales presentation, home sales must never be a mechanical process. Information download is not conducive to creating a relaxed selling environment and creating rapport.

One of the 1st steps to allow us to have an effective conversation is the use of small talk. Never underestimate the power of small talk. Whether we are at a party or any other social function, we have all found ourselves engaged in it. It is the icebreaker we use to converse with people we do not know. It is how we find common ground so we can engage in casual conversation. You should enjoy the process of learning about someone through hearing their story. The value in small talk is not so much in the words being spoken, but in the geniality of the interaction. Through small talk, we are setting the stage for further interaction.

For example, someone asks 'how are you?' These words, when said in the right way, represent friendliness and a sincere interest in that other person. Now we don’t want to spend time to get into the details of each others lives. But some small talk, keeping it short, helps break down the barrier of the buyer who ‘won’t be sold’. I observed one agent start their conversation by complimenting someone on their jewelry and learned that that person had her own jewelry business. A brief conversation ensued and instant rapport was created.

In good times or bad, agents must think in terms of people and homes, not traffic and units. Our homes are our refuge and when we make that decision to purchase a home, it has to feel right. Therefore an agent needs to get to that point in their sales presentation where one of their homes feels right to the prospective buyer. So instead of asking how do you like it or what do you think, perhaps a better question might be, ‘how does it feel’? When you get your buyers feeling positive about your homes, you are on the road to obtaining a purchase commitment. Get the buyers to chat about their family in their new home. They will then begin their journey down a new memory lane.

This is the worst cycle I have experienced in my 49 years involved in home building. Whatever worked for you during the great years either stopped working or at best isn't working as well as it did.

I really cannot take personal credit for these great ideas; they come from our clients, and they work.

1.) Have your sales offices shopped! I recently shopped sales teams. I was shocked at how few, if any, salespeople tried to sell me a home. They were still operating as if buyers were going to take houses away from them rather than selling their offerings. You need to have your salespeople sharp and selling.

2.) Make sure your sales offices and models are in tip-top shape! Models need to be clean and fresh; offices well organized; burned out light bulbs replaced; and trash picked up daily. Landscaping and signs need to be in tip-top condition; they're what homebuyers see first.

3.) Remember that Net sales after cancellations are what really count! In these times, it's most important to keep sales after you've made them. It's easy for buyer's remorse to set in. One of our clients has solved that problem in the novel way the company finances its sales.

The best sales manager can be the messiah for a merchant builder. A sales messiah has the ability to take his or her flock to the promised land. They can lead followers themselves and leverage results by using the talents of their closest confidants. This happens not by command but by leadership. By providing tools, coaching, support, guidance, and simple caring. The sales messiah seems to be able to calm waters and cause results that will feed a large flock. They may well perform miracles.

The sales messiah’s followers will all bring different talents to the table. All are interested in creating the same basic result, but have different, sometimes complementary approaches toward a common goal. Some are the masters of making the possible happen. To do so, they often ignore the storming waters or the drought or the plague or pestilence. But some followers need much more help to become successful at making the possible actually occur. They all find different ways to interact with believers.

Some followers are not believers; they are, in fact, a distraction. Sometimes they are even sinister. But all are part of the sales messiah’s flock.

I call these different personalities the apossibles. Some apossibles naturally leverage the skills of the sales messiah. Some apossibles need more mentoring. Despite their exalted status, appossibles are still human, still have frailties.

2. The Fisher: This is the apossible that is best at casting a wide net. In new home sales, she understands the value of self-prospecting. When one cast does not succeed, she quickly re-focuses, and casts the net again. One cast does not make a fishing endeavor!

1. How can you be more successful?

2. Why is it so difficult to focus your energy on your goals?

3. Why are you always running out of time?

Time Utilization

The $86,400 question – If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400, that carried over no balance from day to day, and allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening canceled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would do?

Draw out every cent, of course!

You do have such a bank, and its name is “time”. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night, it rules off, as lost, whatever you failed to invest in a good purpose. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

Premise:

There is not enough time in the day to get all the things done you want to do! Accept this premise and you are on your way to improving your use of time. If you still believe you can do everything you want to, you will remain as frustrated as you are right now.

Solution:

Since you can’t do everything you want to, the logical solution is to begin eliminating certain tasks. You do this by saying “NO” and separating your HIGH PAYOFF ACTIVITIES from your LOW PAYOFF ACTIVITIES.

High payoff activities
Directly related to your goals

Can’t be delegated

Might be unpleasant

Might be difficult to do

Tend to be risk-taking

High return on investment

Low payoff activities

Not related to your goals

Comfortable to do

Non- creative

Non- risk taking Routine Trivial

Make a list

What are you doing with your time? Ask yourself this- “Is what I am doing right now helping me to sell another home or helping me achieve a personal or professional goal?” Is today getting you one day closer to what you want to be, or what you want to have in life? Listed below are some common time wasters for real estate sales people:

Telephone interruptions Inadequate planning

Attempting too much

Drop in visitors (not prospects)

Failure to delegate Personal disorganization

Lack of self discipline

Inability to say “No”

Procrastination Meetings

Paperwork Leaving tasks unfinished

Socializing Confused responsibility

Poor communications No goals

Take the time to make a list of “time wasters” that you encounter which keep you from reaching your goals.

TRAINING. Using a Video Profile from LeBlanc & Associates of you best agent(s) demonstrates what you expect from the rest of the sales team. What better way can an agent learn than from the best of their peers? The training aspect is then reinforced with our self-evaluation guide.

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING. To maintain the highest quality of final product, all our work is done in-house. Our clients receive two DVDs of each sales encounter and have the option of either a fully processed or non-processed format.

QUALITY. LeBlanc & Associates is established as the premiere company for sales agent evaluations. Our business is your business . . . new home sales. Our high level of training for our field techs provides the best capture rate of your agents. We know you are paying to see your agents – not the walls and windows of your sales office.

WHY LEBLANC & ASSOCIATES? Have you tried the rest and found ill prepared field personnel? Have you seen more walls than agents? Do ceiling shots make you dizzy?

THEN BE PREPARED FOR THE BEST. GIVE US A CALL!

It’s easy! Give us a call!!