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Happy New YearBy Charlie Roter and Bob Hafer
Charlie and I want to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year. We are here to serve you throughout the coming new year. We hope in some small way our newsletter provides you with ideas to help you achieve the sales success you are searching for. Please keep Charlie and me in mind for all your sales training needs. Our commitment is to deliver more than we promise. With contining success, good luck, prosperity and good selling throughout 2009!
Nothing happens until you participateBy Bob Hafer MIRM, CSP
You don’t get paid for what you know; you get paid for what you do. The new home industry rewards action. When you take action, you trigger all kinds of good things that will carry you to sales success throughout 2009. Through action you let prospects know that you are serious about helping them find the home of their dreams.
Your prospects begin to see that you are different from every other sales rep they've met. They see you as someone to consult with rather than someone to avoid. You begin to learn things from prospects that cannot be learned if you’re just sitting back waiting for something good to happen. Things that a prospect said that once seemed confusing become clear. Things that once appeared difficult begin to be easier. All manner of good things begin to flow in your direction once you begin to take action and participate fully in your customer’s total home buying experience.
You can if you think you can
Participation begins as a thought. Salespeople who are successful first see themselves successful in their mind. Once they have developed a plan, they start. They get up from behind the desk and get into motion. Even if things don’t go as planned, they learn from their mistakes, make necessary changes, and keep taking action, all the time building momentum, until they finally produce the result they set out to produce … and better yet something better than what they originally thought.
Begin today to plan, in your mind, what you are going to do throughout 2009 to reach the goals you set for yourself. You know new home selling is changing. Accept the current market conditions and then get on with it. Decide now to control and influence what you can and let go what you can’t control.
One of the things you do control is whether you take action through participation. You and only you can make that choice. No one else can make that choice for you. Go ahead and anticipate obstacles and plan how to deal with them, visualize and affirm your success, believe in yourself and your dreams. Start moving forward with the following affirmation, “If it is to be, it is up to me”. Jonathan Winters, a Grammy Award-winning comedian, actor, writer and artist once said, “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it”. So, start swimming!
Participate with purpose
As you swim out to meet your ship begin to think about how you will participate in every new prospect’s experience. What follows are some ideas that will help you maintain focus. Each idea requires your full participation. My commitment is you will succeed if you take action on these ideas.
- Understand each prospects visit motivation. Every prospect has a purpose. Do not allow any prospect to leave your model home without you understanding the purpose of the visit. When you understand purpose you understand whether a prospect is serious or just curious. When you understand purpose you can put into motion a plan that fits both you and your prospect’s goals. It’s a win-win situation.
- Ask decision-making and need-to-know questions. Since participation is the heart of any sales presentation then discovery must be the foundation of each sales presentation. You must learn and understand what is important to each prospect. You must learn what is holding a prospect back from buying. If you don’t ask discovery and qualifying questions you are doomed to failure. If you want to stay on course then learn how to ask decision-making and need-to-know questions.
- Build value. You are selling in a very demanding and difficult market. People are looking for value. Unless you build value in your homes, homesite, community, location, financing and builder you are leaving the sale to chance. If your client is in a hurry and doesn’t have time for a full presentation then at the very least build value in yourself. Never ever forget that people buy from people they like.
- Create Urgency. I know that creating urgency in today’s market is difficult. However, it still must be done. The best way to create urgency is through living pleasure. People are moving toward pleasure or moving away from pain when they purchase. If people put off buying now they are giving up the pleasure of living in a new home. It is your responsibility to remind them of that fact. If they stay put then they are only adding to the pain they are already feeling.
- Lead people to minor decisions. Buying a new home is like eating an elephant a bite at a time. Get people to say Yes early and often. The easiest way to make that happen is to use tie downs, tie ups, tie backs and trial closes. People want to be consistent. If you get people to say Yes it is almost impossible to say no. You agree, don’t you?
- Follow up. You are in a be-back business. Almost every sale you make will be to someone who returns at least two to four times. Follow up separates’ the successful salesperson from the average performer. To separate yourself from everyone else make it a habit to contact people immediately after they leave the model home; follow up with a second call within 24 hours. Always leave a message and be persistent. Don’t give up – don’t give in – take action and keep moving forward!
Something to think about
Have you ever noticed that the last six letters in the word satisfaction are A-c-t-i-o-n? In Latin, the word ‘Satis’ means “enough”. What the ancient Romans understood clearly was that Enough Action produces Satisfaction. So if you are looking for satisfaction in new home selling then start participating today.
Send to a friend
Thank you for reading our newsletter. Please do me a favor and forward this newsletter to 5 people who you feel will benefit from the ideas and principles included.
Our goal is to send this newsletter to at least 1000 people monthly. If you have already forwarded our newsletter, thank you. If you have not, please take the time now to help your friends become more successful.
At the bottom of the newsletter you will find a Send to a Friend button. Just click and follow the easy instructions. Thank you in advance for helping us and your friends achieve their goals. It is appreciated!
Robert E. Hafer Seminars
To learn more about Robert E. Hafer seminars and workshops and purchase Building Results – The Ultimate How-To Guide For New Homes Sales/I>, visit www.BobHafer.com, email Bob at buildingresults@BobHafer.com or call 972-795-5926.
Good Luck and Good Selling!
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Sales tip of the monthBy Bob Hafer MIRM, CSP
Have you ever read something that had an immediate impact on how you think? My sales tip of the month had that effect on me. I hope that it has the same effect on you, because if it does it may change the way you think about selling forever. And once you change the way you think you change the way you act.
The Essence of Survival
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or gazelle … when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
I like this idea because it makes the point that each day is a new day and you get to choose how that day is to be. If you choose to wander through the day aimlessly your competition will soon overtake you. But if you choose to participate with purpose and direction you will overtake your competition.
As you start each day take a moment to reflect on what I believe is a simple, one-sentence job description:
“To the best of my ability, I will fully participate today in my customer’s home buying experience.”
If this becomes your purpose and direction for each day then each day will end successfully for you, your customers, and your builder.
What you can do
This month read the sales tip of the month several times a day. I suggest once when you arrive at your office and once more during the day. To make the experience better consider writting the 'Essence of Survival' out in your home own handwriting. Then spend time thinking about the true meaning of the words. Think about what you need to do to stay ahead of your competition. Then put your thoughts and ideas into action … and before you know it you have had a successful day, then a successful week, then a successful year and finally you can look back and admire the successful career you built one day at a time. Make it a great sales month!
Send to a friend
Before reading Charlie's Corner we have a favor to ask. We want you to send this newsletter to 5 people who you feel will benefit from the ideas and principles included. Our goal is to send this newsletter to at least 1000 people monthly. To achieve this goal we need your help. If you have already forwarded our newsletter to 5 friends or colleagues, thanks! If not, at the bottom of the newsletter you will find a Send to a Friend button. Just click and follow the easy instructions. Thank you in advance for helping us and your friends achieve their goals. It is appreciated!
Robert E. Hafer Seminars
To learn more about Robert E. Hafer seminars and workshops and purchase Building Results – The Ultimate How-To Guide For New Homes Sales, visit www.BobHafer.com, email Bob at buildingresults@BobHafer.com or call 972-795-5926.
Good Luck and Good Selling!
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Creating Urgency in a Non Urgent MarketBy Charlie Roter
When should you begin creating urgency? The typical response I here is “The moment a prospect walks in”. While this is true, a better response might be, “ The first moment the customer interacts with the company”.
With today's sophisticated prospect it may be your company's website. Stop now and take a good long look at what your company's website is doing to motivate people to visit your models? Is it giving people enough or too much information? Is it giving the right information?
It might be the moment a prospect drives into your community? What message is received when a prospect sees your community for the first time? How about the streetscape and the exterior of the models? Are they clean, neat and well-maintained?
When was the last time you pulled up to a home and made a decision not to go inside or even consider the home based on what you saw from the exterior? Are you paying attention to the exterior details of your neighborhood? How does your landscaping look? How about your flags and banners? Are they torn and tattered? How about your exterior model home signs, and your showcase or inventory homes? Are they showing wear and tear?
Leave nothing to chance
You cannot afford to leave anything to chance in today’s difficult and demanding market. It is tough enough to sell a home, much less lose a good prospect because of a negative image that is being displayed.
Urgency is created and people are motivated to act when there is something to gain and or they feel they are going to miss out on an good opportunity. You have heard this as "Fear of loss” or “Anticipation of gain”. These two factors motivate people to action. If your community, models and inventory homes are looking tired then it will be very difficult to create urgency.
Pay attention to the details, especially when it comes to your models, the model exteriors, and your inventory homes. Work with construction and management to ensure you are putting the company's best foot forward!
What about your model homes?
In most situations, prospects perceive the models to be of better quality than what they will actually purchase. So if your models look worn and need of repair then you are sending a message that what you are offering the buyer will be worse. If your model homes look tired, then you are just validating their concerns and fears.
Building urgency through words
Incorporate words into your presentation that presuppose the buyer’s intent to purchase from you. Instead of saying “If you purchase a home from us you will have an opportunity to meet with the construction and interior design team”, say “When you purchase from us, you will have an opportunity to meet with the construction and interior design team. Using words such as Once or When presupposes that the sale is going to happen - it really is just a matter of time.
Create urgency through embedded suggestions
Use embedded suggestions to make sure people understand the value of what you are offering. Here are some examples of embedded suggestions:
- When you walk through my model, you will notice the attention to detail and quality that is not evident in other new homes.
- “When you tour the models, you will feel peace of mind and take comfort in knowing that we have taken care of the little things that are so important to most home owners”.
- “The more you walk through this home, the more you notice the quality and value in every room”.
- If you are the kind of person that appreciates attention to detail and quality craftsmanship, then you are really going to enjoy touring this home”.
The key here is to use language and words that have an impact on how people make decisions. Pay particular attention to the words I have underlined. These statements create curiosity and encourage the prospect to ask questions.
Conversely, building urgency is not telling someone that if they don’t purchase today, they will miss out on their dream home because the next person that walks in could buy it. Although you know this may be true, if you have not created excitement and interest throughout your presentation, then your prospect will just think you are using an old and tired closing trick.
It really is not that difficult to create urgency ... just remember the old saying “details, details, details”
Send to a friend
Thank you for reading our newsletter. You now have a choice to make - choose to use the ideas we have shared with you or not. The choice is yours to make – remember that choice not chance always determines success.
Make the right choice and begin today to meet the challenge of today’s ‘new’ home buyer. Additional sales and income are the result.
Forward this newsletter
Please do me a favor, forward this newsletter to 5 people who you feel will benefit from the ideas and principles included. Our goal is to send this newsletter to at least 1000 people monthly. If you have already forwarded my newsletter, thank you. If you have not, please take the time now to help your friends become more successful.
At the bottom of the newsletter you will find a Send to a Friend button. Just click and follow the easy instructions. Thank you in advance for helping me and your friends achieve their goals. It is appreciated!
Charlie Roter Seminars
To learn more about Charlie Roter seminars visit www.CharlieRoter.com. You can also reach Charlie by emailing him at buildingresults@CharlieRoter.com or call him at 719-205-1385. Charlie will respond to your request within 24 hours.
Good Luck and Good Selling!
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