Bob Schultz & The New Home Sales Specialists

We Have A Brand New Website - Visit newhomespecialists.com To Learn More

2014-07-02T11:11:00.003-05:00

New Website!

Take a look at our new website & tell us that you think.

For More Information Please Contact:

2300 Glades Road, Suite 207E
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-368-1151

Don't Forget To Visit Our Website:

http://www.newhomespecialists.com

Read Another Closing Technique From My Book "Smart Selling Techniques" Then Visit Our Website At http://www.newhomespecialists.com To Learn More

2014-03-27T15:33:00.002-05:00

Situation:

Immediately after you show or demonstrate the very first model, floor plan, home site, open house, or completed home.

Strategy:

Pose discovery questions while at the same time asking for the sale by qualifying the customers choice or preference.

Rationale:

People shop using the process of elimination.We want to consciously take them through the process. A customer's response to any question will be a decision - Yes, No, Maybe. These first three techniques lead the customer through the process of elimination.

For More Information Please Contact:

2300 Glades Road, Suite 207E
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-368-1151

Don't Forget To Visit Our Website:

http://www.newhomespecialists.com

Spring Is In The Air - Time To Boost Your Sales - Focus On New Home Sales!!!!!

2014-03-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

Situation:

The customer say that they are look at resales .

Strategy:

Cause the customers to think about what resale really is.

Rationale:

For most home builders, the resale market is your biggest competition. Accentuate the value of a brand new home and plant a seed of doubt.

For More Information Please Contact:

2300 Glades Road, Suite 207E
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-368-1151

Don't Forget To Visit Our Website:

http://www.newhomespecialists.com

How To Answer Complicated Questions Correctly - Try These Proven Tips

2014-02-25T14:09:00.000-05:00

Situation:

The customers ask questions such as "What kind of people live here?" or "Whats the ethnic make up of the neighborhood?"

Strategy:
Be tactful with your answer and maintain a positive additude

Rationale:

Make absolutely sure that you don't violate federal law.

Example:

Q - What kind of people live here?

A- nice (happy) people. I'm curious, why do you ask?

(Listen to what they say and how they say it.) Respond with:
"Well, according to Federal law, Namely the Civil Rights Act and the Fair housing Act,no one involved in real estate is allowed to discuss the ethnic, racial or age make up of any particular neighborhood because to do so would be a violation of those federal laws. I'm sure you understand. You wouldnt want us to break those laws, would you?"

If they continue to ask, respond with :

"I have answered your question to the extent allowed by law. May i ask you, are you a member or representative of of any federal, state, or local government agency or civil rights enforcement group?"

If yes, they will have to disclose it. Respond with:

Great! how did I do?
Wait for their response. remember they have to live somewhere too, so then proceed with:

"Good, which one of our homes would you like to own."

Read The Fair Housing Act Here

For More Information Please Contact:

2300 Glades Road, Suite 207E
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-368-1151

Don't Forget To Visit Our Website:

http://www.newhomespecialists.com

Attention Homebuilders and Agents - Are You Looking To Increase Your Homes Sales? Our New Website Is Now LIVE - Visit http://www.newhomespecialists.com Today

2014-02-20T17:06:00.002-05:00

Our new home sales-specific training courses, management systems and profit-focused resources were created and refined over four decades of actual industry involvement and experience. These programs are time tested and proven through a vast range of economic and market conditions, worldwide.

Homebuilders, developers, new home sales professionals, and Realtors® have achieved amazing results and success by implementing our concepts and practices. Our programs are often copied and imitated, but never equaled. There is no all encompassing program in existence worldwide that can deliver better results than Bob Schultz & The New Home Sales Specialists℠.

Here is a situation:

You want to discover the customers primary reason for looking.

What To Do:

Ask !!

Rationale:

Understanding cutomer's primary reason for looking allows you to gauge their motivation level.

For More Information Please Contact:

2300 Glades Road, Suite 207E
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-368-1151

Don't Forget To Visit Our Website:

http://www.newhomespecialists.com

The Best Home Builder Shows in Vegas

2014-01-30T13:09:00.001-05:00

The Best Home Builder Shows in Vegas

2/5/14 From Concept to Reality

Strategies for a Profitable Project

2/6/14 Increase Your 50+ Market Share

by Winning Sales from the Resale Market

2/7/14 Best in Building Program

How To Increase Sales Revenue and Reduce Unnecessary Costs

What do Las Vegas, IBS & BIB all have in common?

The most success driven home builders, sales & marketing professionals and Bob Schultz will all be there.

The most important industry information is ready for you in just a few short weeks. I am honored to be presenting at my 29th consecutive NAHB Convention - IBS. A special message for those of you who invest the time and money to attend, but find that an hour or so of education and strategy sessions are just not enough. B.I.B - An intense and extended seminar, workshop and interactive sessions: The ROI on your time and participation will be immeasurable. Stay and join your peers.

12/20/2013 Goal Setting For 2014

2014-01-30T13:07:00.004-05:00

As the end of the year draws closer, determine where you are in relation to the sales, financial, and customer satisfaction goals you set for 2013. If you are behind where you projected yourself to be, then assess and analyze to determine what you have to do to get back on track.

Bob Schultz, Contributing Editor

December 20, 2013

What did you accomplish in 2013?

A good way to plan for the new year is to ask yourself that question. Why? Because past performance is always a good indication of potential future success. So, look back before you move forward. Review your goals, activities, and performance benchmarks for 2013. Here are some items to consider as you make your assessment.

Carefully assemble the data needed for this review. As the end of the year draws closer, determine where you are in relation to the sales, financial, and customer satisfaction goals you set for 2013. If you are on track, great, and congratulations.

On the other hand, if you are behind where you projected yourself to be, then assess and analyze to determine what you have to do to get back on track. Next, think through all the actions, activities, and tactics you executed exceptionally well throughout this year. Determine why you performed those tasks so well and identify what you need to do to assure that you keep doing those tasks throughout 2013 and into 2014.

Likewise, review what you didn’t do as well and determine what you must immediately do to become more proficient in each and every one of those areas as you go forward.

Consider using 69 benchmarking segments—52 weekly, 12 monthly, four quarterly, and one annual—if you really want to drill down in the historic data. This rear-view mirror assessment will give you a sense of what you may need to do more systematically as you move forward. By keeping the focus and attention on shorter weekly segments, you’ll be able to achieve much more consistency and urgency in gathering information. Reviewing and assessing each of 12 months will allow more time to make quick adjustments as needed, and major reviews and corrections over four quarters will provide a much stronger possibility of achieving, or exceeding, annual goals and objectives in the future.

After you have assessed and determined what you did well and what needs to be improved, meet with the appropriate members of your team to create an action plan with time lines for implementation to achieve measurable improvement in the year ahead. Here’s an additional tool to help you assess what you accomplished in 2013: I presented a list of “25 Proven Ways to Increase Sales” in last month’s Professional Builder (see PB November 2013 or ProBuilder.com). Take that list, create a simple spreadsheet, and score each of the 25 items as you see it today on a scale of A to F.

A—Got it covered, do it all well and consistently. Identify why and how this has been accomplished. Action Plan: Maintain.

B—Somewhat covered and fairly consistent. Identify why and how this was accomplished. Action Plan: Improve where needed.

C—Varies as to levels of excellence and consistency. Identify why. Action Plan: Immediate improvement.

D—Not even close to a process or system to achieve success. Identify why not. Action Plan: Critical action needed immediately or concede defeat.

F—No clue where we are. Action Plan: Your call as to if you intend to try to stay in business.

A few more thoughts to consider:

• “When something becomes personal, it becomes important.” Builders want sales revenue and salespeople want financial compensation for their sales. For the most part, builders are responsible for nearly all (if not all) of the costs and expenses related to generating the leads and prospects to produce the sales. Pretty simple, straight forward, and personal.

• “You cannot manage and therefore improve that which you do not measure.” To increase the ROI on all sales-related costs and activities, builders, sales and marketing managers, and salespeople should have a passion for knowing and understanding the important metrics of their business.

• “In new home sales, if we only look at a sale as an objective rather than as the end result of a series of activities, actions, and expenses measured against acceptable levels of performance, then we really do not know where we are or what we accomplished.” Develop a vision for those possibilities.

Be sure that you have a system and process in place that consistently provides the costs, numbers, and ratios. Then you can more easily and accurately answer these questions: What did you accomplish in 2013? How did you do it? How many sales and how much revenue and profit did you achieve? How much time, money, and human resources were invested in the process? What was the ROI on the financial and human resources invested?

Using all this information as a frame of reference and creating an appropriate and formative action plan, I promise that you will be able to increase sales conversion ratios and begin to reduce unnecessary costs going into 2014.

But beyond these assessments and reviews, attitude is critical. Remember that success can often times be the biggest breeder of complacency. The recent upturn in many markets is starting to show some signs of that. Also know that no market ever remains great or bad forever. Always stay grounded in reality and be focused on the fundamentals, disciplines, measurable benchmarks, and accountability that are required for consistent optimum performance. Increase sales revenue and reduce unnecessary costs without sacrificing quality, integrity, and sound business practices. Do not allow yourself to get distracted by irrational exuberance or unfounded optimism.

Being a pragmatist with more than four decades of experience in our industry—enduring four major housing recessions along the way—I am convinced that history does repeat itself. With the continued upward pressure on all of your construction and land costs leading to price increases, and the strong potential of increasing interest rates over time, affordability will become a major issue. Also, there is always the omnipresent possibility of any national or global event that could quickly cause fear and pushback from potential buyers.

Then all of a sudden, just as the market did not that long ago, we could go from hot to not in an instant. Don’t plan on that to happen, for that outlook would be pessimistic and not appropriate; however, you should always be preparing for that possibility. Doing so is good judgment and very appropriate. A final thought: Where does good judgment come from? Experience. Where does experience come from? Bad judgment.

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11/15/2013 25 Proven Ways to Increase Sales

2014-01-30T13:07:00.001-05:00

A comprehensive strategy for reviewing and improving your sales operation

Bob Schultz, Contributing Editor

November 15, 2013

If you look at what you are doing and the way you are presently doing it, how many sales and how much revenue do you think you are missing? How much are you misspending in the process, and what can you do to fix it?

To begin, it is imperative that you understand the differences between marketing and sales, and that you have a process to consistently manage and measure the objectives and results of each. For home builders, marketing takes two predominant forms. The first involves research, analysis, and interpretation of information to determine whether your product is well positioned in your marketplace. The second is to provide a reasonable projection of what your sales absorption should be expected to produce.

The following list offers 25 ways that your sales operation can benchmark, assess, and improve its processes. A single step, in and of itself, will not make a substantial difference as none of them is a silver bullet, the one thing, the big secret, or the newest strategy guaranteed to increase your sales. Review them all and evaluate your current standing against the entire list. Commit to an action plan for making improvements where they are needed, and you will begin to make a significant difference. The magic is in the mix. These steps are not easy. Embarking on this path will require focus and an understanding of the value of these principles. Only then will you be able to motivate your team to take the action needed to create more sales success.

Measure

1. Periodically conduct an independent competitive market study and positioning assessment of your company and its offerings.
2. Track monthly sales and closings in your competitive resale market areas and price ranges. Analyze trends, such as the number of closings, days on market, and who the selling agents are, on a quarterly basis.
3. Review and print the complete website of all competing home builders and check each one again monthly, noting any changes in offerings or the status of sales.
4. Send salespeople to personally visit and provide a competitive shop report of all competitive builders at least quarterly.
5. Conduct Realtor focus groups twice annually.
Another critical role of marketing is the creation, implementation, and measurement of resources used to draw homebuyers to interact with your sales people. This is especially important when using social media. Being liked is highly overrated if it does not lead to a measurable number of contacts, and then to sales. Measure the following; this data will let you know if the likes are producing sales:
6. Website visits against source, customer contact information provided on website, contacts made, appointments set, and sales converted.
7. Cost of traffic units by source.
8. Cost of sales by traffic source.
9. Conversion ratios by salesperson, by source.
10. Referral sales.

Mine Those Contacts

Selling new homes is a contact sport. To maximize the number of contacts, take these recommendations to heart:

11. Be open for the convenience of the customer.
12. Be properly staffed, especially during peak traffic times.
13. Utilize assistants. One good new-home salesperson, working in conjunction with a well-trained, motivated assistant will outsell two salespeople in the same situation.
14. Hold a monthly drawing to acquire basic and accurate contact information from all visitors.
15. Have your sales team focus on follow-through and contact all prospects. Measure that activity and its results.

Sales Prep

The point of purchase is where the rubber meets the road. Spending money and human resources just to generate traffic is wasteful and simply gives your salespeople more chances to fail—unless your team has mastered the necessary skills. To improve your conversion ratios, follow these tips:

16. Use a targeted form of compensation where money is earned and escalate for achieving and exceeding levels of sales on a quarterly basis. The compensation should be calculated to be congruent with profit levels, and restarts each quarter. Do not use a fixed percentage of the sales price as your gauge.
17. All that the customer sees—signs, landscaping, models, sales office, amenities, selections center, and the like—must be show ready at all times.
18. Communication, demonstrating, closing, and negotiation skills must be highly developed through inculcation and become second nature when interacting with a customer.
19. Every sales representative that a customer encounters must be psychologically and emotionally ready to sell.
20. Everyone must expect a sale to occur on the first visit, or if that doesn’t happen, a conditional sale; or if that is not going to happen, an appointment to meet again will be made; and if that doesn’t occur, an agreement for a call or contact; and if that doesn’t happen, it’s time to assess why not.

Sales Management

You cannot manage and therefore improve what you do not measure. To create a high-performing sales team:

21. Learn to hire right, and when required, fire right. Do not hire for experience as far too frequently that experience is the greatest barrier to becoming extraordinary.
22. Train for the purpose of skill development and to provide a well-proven basis for change of behavior. Motivate to provoke the use of those skills, and don’t confuse the two.
23. Use simulated selling drills to increase sales competence to a high level of accountability performance. These drills, which salespeople know unfavorably as role playing, are not an option and should not be subject to popular opinion and consensus.
24. Mystery video shop and score against a high standard, view with your salespeople, and coach using the video shop at least twice annually.
25. Lead with a purpose. When placed in command, take charge.

Given the uptick in the market for many builders, the prospect of having a modicum of success can become the biggest breeder of complacency. Don’t let that happen. This list is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a good place to begin an assessment; consider converting it into your own self-evaluation tool. And please feel free to contact me with any questions or situations you would like to discuss.

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11/15/2013 Closing the Sales Fulfillment Gap, Part II: Action Amidst the Angst

2014-01-30T13:06:00.000-05:00

Builders weigh in with their own, still-evolving solutions on how best to shepherd customers from contract to closing.

Scott Sedam, Contributing Editor

November 15, 2013

Last month in the October issue, we broached one of the greatest profit-sapping issues in home building; how to manage customers from sign-up through to the closing table, having met every decision date on time with a smile. It’s a problem that spawns an almost universal groan, yet generates little action toward a remedy or better yet, prevention. I described a 12-step sequence that greatly enhances the odds of success in this process then decided to take it to the streets—the home building streets—and gather some reaction from builders and perhaps a couple of sales trainers. I was hard on sales trainers in the last article in particular because after calling ten builders to learn how their trainers, either internal or external, address the problem I call “sales fulfillment” what I got was a universal, “They don’t.”

I then sent a copy of the first article to a cross section of builders and received a wide variety of responses, some short and sweet and others with considerable detail. A common word emerged as I read those replies—communication. Is that all there is, just improved communication between sales, the design center, purchasing, construction, and the customer and then everything gets better? As Dr. John Douglas, one of my favorite college professors, used to admonish, “Communication is never the problem; it is merely a symptom.” Symptoms, of course, are indicators of a deeper glitch afoot in the system, and we’d be wise to remember Dr. Douglas’ warning as we plow through these responses. In my 40 years in business, I found that an intense focus on outward communication cannot only mask the real problem; it can actually lead you astray. On these pages you will find observations and ideas from builders who, if they have not solved the problem, are owning up to it and making progress.

Mike Humphrey
David Weekley Homes, Houston, Texas

This may sound simplistic but there are some essential basics. Hire the right person to the expected job outcomes/fit, attitude, and do it in a purposeful, scientific way. Train them. Their success is our responsibility since we picked them. Support them with the right tools. Benchmark against others, including those outside the industry, such as retail, etc. Survey customers and listen to their feedback both positive (celebration and reward) and negative (process first and person second with corrective action). Work on development plans with your people. Hire, train, and support toward the outcome you desire.

Dwight Sandlin
Signature Homes, Birmingham, Ala.

Solving this issue requires a resolution of competing perspectives. Finance wants a margin that exceeds pro forma; design wants the coolest look; production wants a box, etc. We decided to create small teams with membership from each department required to accomplish the goal. We are just beginning, but our people are very excited about the teams and believe they will have more control of their own issues.

Jeff Czar
President, Armadillo Homes, San Antonio, Texas

All selections are made by our sales people with customers in our sales centers. While we have many choices, they are done in a way whereby the customer is not overwhelmed. We try to provide the popular colors and options and focus them around design packages. Our customers can upgrade from there if they choose, but there are no handoffs. One single source, one message, and we feel that’s a better customer experience. Our sales agents are trained to cover the dos and don’ts during the selection process, and our customers are told that once the home is started there are no changes. Therefore, together the sales agent and customer verify all selections and options before the contract is sent into our office and ratified by me. To avoid having to tell the customer “No,” we make sure they understand that if a change must be made it requires a change order fee of $250 plus the cost of the change up front. This makes it their choice, but protects us, our schedule, and our margin.

Chris Cates
Caviness & Cates, Fayetteville, N.C.

This issue had been Item No. 1 for us this year, and we attacked it full force. We went after additional sales and strayed from our formula. We are a spec builder, and we have always limited changes to our plans. We began allowing this and in return lost margin based on time, efficiency, and not charging enough for the changes and/or upgrades. We sat down as a group and pared the changes and upgrades that we would offer. As hard as it was to say to our customers, we had to give them a “quality no.” It’s a work in progress and the most important thing you can do is communicate with your staff and your customers. How your departments within your organization communicate also is critical.

Gord Bontje
Laebon Developments, Red Deer, Alberta

In our area it is normal practice for salespeople to manage the fulfillment process. That is, get the selections made, coordinate the final prints, do the walkthroughs, etc. We don’t do that, but for a different reason than you might expect. My reason is that I think my salespeople should be selling. I let them write an agreement, get the conditions removed, spend a few hours turning the deal over to our office and field people, and then forget the buyer. I think the customer is better served that way than by having salespeople also act as clerical workers—something that the profile of a good sales person doesn’t ever contain. And, I get more sales.

John Howe
President, Omega Builders, Temple, Texas

We prided ourselves on being a builder that embraced customization. The national builders cannot stretch a garage or master bedroom to fit your needs, nor can they customize a covered patio to the buyer’s exact wishes with an extra column. This “just-the-way-you-like-it” approach (to steal from Whataburger) we believed set us apart from the giants and gave us an edge. But the recession made things worse. We were willing to completely customize a 1,400 sq. ft. plan, stretching it any which way possible, changing sizes of doors, etc. just to make a sale. The lack of a defined process and clearly stated expectations created chaos, mistakes, missed closing dates, higher cost (less profit), and had an adverse effect on the very thing we wanted—high customer satisfaction.

Since then we have gone through substantial change, examining our entire process from contracting through closing, beginning with clearly defining the process. Buyers are informed verbally and in writing what to expect and exactly what changes can be made and when. Cut-off dates are defined as part of the purchase contract and since implementation of this policy, the number of change orders has decreased dramatically yet the dollar amount hasn’t. The first change order at the time of selections is free, but additional changes incur escalating charges. We determined the most popular structural (plan) options our customers like and offer them as predrawn and prepriced plan options. They have to be chosen at the time of contracting.

We expanded the number of predefined and prepriced standard options and established standard color families, which more than 80 percent of our buyers chose. This simplified the process for everyone and eliminated surprises. Our communication process includes: preconstruction conference call with sales agent and superintendent, preconstruction site walk, pre-drywall site walk including a firm close date set at this time, weekly buyer phone calls with superintendent and sales agent on Friday, recapping the week’s activity, preview of next week’s schedule, buyer concerns, and buyer deliverables. We see the payoff through happier customers and higher referral rates. We see comments like, “Omega is so easy to work with;” “We always know what is going on;” “Omega is the only builder in the area who consistently completes their homes and gets them closed on time.” Our Realtor sales have gone from about 45 percent per year to 60 percent. This took a lot of time and effort, but the results are worth it.

Bob Schultz
New Home Sales Specialist, Boca Raton, Fla.

It is a fundamental responsibility of sales management to continually increase the efficiency and effectiveness of each sales team member, understanding that the entire company is the sales team. Most traditional training does not address the culmination of good sales process—on time closings and achieving profitable margins. This is what I try to instill into builder management:

1. Appropriate sales and operational process, consistently executed, takes the pressure off of people. This provides time to focus on the requirements of sales fulfillment.
2. Compliance requires processes that are jointly established, communicated, and understood by all involved. Establish incentives for compliance and consequences for noncompliance.
3. Establish all activities and actions with timelines that must be achieved by each department and individual, including documents, information, and steps to support customers in the fulfillment process.
4. Three rules:
a. When something becomes personal, it becomes important.
b. When it’s everybody’s business, it’s nobody’s business.
c. Money is important.
5. Prorate sales compensation based on meeting target dates for achievement sales fulfillment. Each subsequent day needed to meet a key date reduces payment. You’ll get 100-percent compliance within weeks.
6. Consider the same for customers. A builder was having problems with buyers completing documents and fulfilling required actions. He created an incentive certificate for design center options and dates. If all occurred on time, fully complete, the entire incentive was awarded at closing. If segments are not completed, the incentive began to decline.
7. It is legitimate to ask, “Why should we have to do this? Pay people, especially employees, to do what they should be doing in the first place?” The answer: “We shouldn’t, but we do, and it works.”

Cory Munson
Grand Haven Homes, Austin, Texas

Having strong relationships with buyers for a long period, sometimes up to eight or nine months, can be very challenging. Setting expectations up front with buyers is critical. If the sales person spends time reviewing deadlines and stressing the importance for the buyer to meet each one, the process goes smoother. This takes more time during the contracting phase, because the sales person needs to go over the entire list of options available and which changes cannot be made after a certain date. The sales staff should contact each buyer a few days before the cut-off date, remind the buyer what is expected of them by then, and never get caught having to explain that an option cannot be added after the cut-off date. It takes commitment and discipline to make this process happen.

There is a management technique—perhaps more of a life technique—that says whenever you describe a problem, a pain, a difficulty, a failure, ask, “Why?” five times. When your salespeople don’t submit their paperwork complete and on-time, ask the five whys. When the start packages and POs go out with errors, five more whys. When your customers fail to make their decision dates, still another five whys. Keep that up and the deeper issues will become clear. That is actually the hard part, facing the brutal facts and being both individually and organizationally honest. Once you’ve done that, a clearer path emerges. All that’s left now is hard work, happy customers, and greater profit. PB

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10/24/2013 Selling To Women Home Buyers

2014-01-30T13:04:00.002-05:00

Compared with men, women have a different approach to the process of purchasing a home and, in many cases, ultimately decide which house to buy.

Bob Schultz, Contributing Editor

October 24, 2013

To be a consistently high-performing new-home sales professional, you must be able to adapt to and connect with all of your potential buyers. As an expert on the new-home sales process, and in writing about marketing and selling to the female buyer, I decided to do what Dr. Stephen Covey recommends in his book, The Seven Habits Of Highly Successful People, which is to seek first to understand, then to be understood. I asked one of the most successful and professional women in new-home sales I know, whose expertise has been proven in the trenches what matters when selling to women buyers. Here is what Michelle Moore has to tell us.

Always having a planned, not canned, presentation prepares you for any surprises in the sales process. This recommendation reminds me of a saying I heard years ago: Proper planning prevents poor performance. Due to the high percentage of women making the home-buying decisions, a planned presentation must include details that are important to women. In fact, studies show that seven out of eight women will go out of their way to do business with companies that market to women. As you can see, the skill of selling to women isn't just nice to know; you need to know it.

The biggest purchase most people ever make is their home. In a recent article, Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women: How to Increase Your Share of the World's Largest Market, credits women with 80 to 85 percent of spending decisions. Sure, we know that men have some say in a couple's decision to buy a home, but when you look into what their contribution is specifically, I think you'll agree it's very little.

Men often have a different approach than women when it comes to the process of purchasing. Men focus on a need and create a process to reach their buying decision, while women consider their relationship with their Realtor to be one of the more important factors in helping them to decide. Aspects such as appearance, reputation, respect, trust, eye contact, and how much you listen (or don't) can make or break the deal for them.
From a woman's perspective, some negative perceptions of men selling to women include a lack of manners, poor listening skills, and being aggressive, pushy, high pressure, overbearing, condescending, and devious.

Likewise, some negative perceptions of women selling to other women include a lack of technical and product knowledge, being emotional, tentative, uncertain, vague, unsure of specifics, unable to make a sound recommendation, and unable to get to the bottom line.
But here's one very important point. Though women have a great deal of buying power, their decisions are not about picking a product that only they like. Ultimately, when a woman makes a buying decision, she has her entire family in mind.

So if you're wondering which points to cover in an effective sales presentation to a woman, here?s a list of four must-haves:

1. Display good business etiquette such as beginning with a friendly greeting. Include a firm handshake while introducing yourself and make eye contact. Generally speaking, women prefer more eye contact than men in the buying process.
2. Paint a picture by speaking to women about how your product is going to appeal to them as a mom, a wife, or a partner. Women are driven to make their own lives, and the lives of those they care about, better. Remember, features tell and benefits sell.
3. Be prepared to deliver a professional presentation full of details such as completion dates, available features, and color selections. As I have always said, the deal is in the details. Women are researchers looking for facts. They won't make purchasing decisions without obtaining all the facts required to make an informed decision.
4. Listen, listen, and listen some more. Superior customer service is linked highly with your ability to actively listen. Reflecting back on customers' needs throughout the entire sales process shows that you are listening, you care about their needs, and you are sincere.

Finally, through the years, I have heard many people talk about doing business by the Golden Rule, which is, Treat people as you want to be treated. That is good. But as you develop your skills in selling to women, I challenge you to live by the Platinum Rule. It simply states, Treat people as they'd like to be treated. If you can master the art of selling to women, you can take your sales numbers to levels you've never seen. PB

Michelle Moore has demonstrated her expertise and ability in the real estate and new-home sales arenas with more than 40 sales and leadership awards from the industry. Michelle travels the country as an inspirational speaker and leadership coach, and as an associate consultant, training facilitator, and coach with Bob Schultz & The New Home Specialists. Her newest book, ?Selling Simplified,? has just been published.

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9/20/2013 It's Not Easy (Or Cheap) Being Green

2014-01-30T13:03:00.002-05:00

Selling energy-efficient systems requires a bit of comparative math to make the value and savings more tangible to potential home buyers.

Bob Schultz, Contributing Editor

September 20, 2013

Kermit the Frog had it right, especially for home builders.

?Being Green? means you have to build to higher standards, more often with higher costs. But the marketplace has not yet totally accepted these added upfront costs to a new home as being a great value.

What is energy efficiency, why do builders do it, and how can the benefits be presented so that all home buyers will consider it a necessity, rather than an expensive nice thing to have?

Let?s check some key words and phrases:

? Energy describes those resources such as petroleum, coal, gas, wind, nuclear fuel, and sunlight from which energy in the form of electricity, heat, etc., can be produced.
? Energy efficiency is simply the process of doing more with less. The goal is to accomplish the same tasks and functions as before while using less energy.
What?s the objective:
? To reduce energy required to regulate temperatures, run appliances, etc.
? To provide cost savings to customers
? To have customers experience useful benefits and perceive great value
? To reduce the world?s energy needs
Why do it:
? To help control global emissions of greenhouse gases
? In many countries, energy efficiency is also seen to have national security benefits.
? It?s the right thing to do.

And how about this: It can help sell more new homes and remodeling contracts.

Since there are additional construction costs involved, make absolutely sure that you receive the economic benefit and ROI you deserve. To accomplish this objective, you must have a strategy in place and implement a consistent plan of action so that each potential buyer touches, feels, sees, and experiences the benefits and value they will gain by buying your energy-efficient home.

As the late actress, Mae West said, ?If you?ve got it, flaunt it.? Football legend Joe Namath said, ?It ain?t braggin? if you can back it up.?

You must present the benefits of your energy system in two formats.

How It'S Done

Tap into your customer?s logical side by presenting benefits that are tangible, such as saving money. Stating a fact in the form of a rhetorical question, to which the only logical reply is ?yes? can get the point across and cause customers to experience that benefit on a conscious level. For example, ?In considering features of your brand new home, I would imagine that like for most people, saving money on energy bills would be of importance to you, is that correct?? Who is going to say, ?No??

Then involve their emotions by connecting with why energy efficiency matters. Another rhetorical question possibility: ?Won?t it be comforting to know that your children will be warm and cozy on a cold night??

Next, create a unique selling proposition. ?Although it?s not required by any building code, we provide you with (mention the energy-value feature(s) that you offer). Of course, this will (explain the benefits). I don?t know why all builders/remodelers don?t provide this feature, but we do it because we believe that when all things are considered, it?s the right thing to do.?

Here is where the rubber meets the road. Most new-home salespeople do a pretty good job of talking about the elements of the energy system. Typically they?ll say something like, ?This will save you 30 percent on your energy bills.? The problem is customers don?t walk around with a calculator so they can immediately crunch the numbers to figure what?s in it for them.

Here is how to drive that point home, every time: Make the savings meaningful, easy to understand, and real.

For example, if your energy-value package is estimated to save your customers 30 percent on their energy bills, that 30 percent figure on its own is rather nebulous until you convert that percentage to something tangible. Here?s how:

? Present the percentage savings as a monthly amount.
? Let?s assume that the estimated monthly cost for energy (heating, cooling, and lighting) for a home that is comparable in size to the product you are offering, but does not have any energy-saving systems, is approximately $500 a month at today?s cost of energy. The 30-percent savings in energy efficiency translates into a dollar savings of $150 per month?a sizeable number to be sure, but still not impactful enough.
? Now create the comparison. Take the $150 monthly savings and convert it to buying power. Explain that at today?s current rates (let?s say 4.5 percent for this example), it takes approximately $5 per month to pay off the interest and principal on each $1,000 of mortgage money borrowed on a 30-year loan.
? Here is where you can turn that 30-percent figure into buying power. In your head, you can estimate as follows. Each $5 per month will pay off approximately $1,000 of borrowed money. Also, you are showing an approximate monthly savings as a part of their total cost of ownership in energy savings of $150 monthly. Divide that $150 by $5, and for each $1,000 of mortgage money you get 30, which represents $30,000 of mortgage money not being borrowed. To validate, use Google search to find any amortization table and plug in the $30,000 mortgage amount at 4.5 percent interest for 30 years. The answer will show a monthly payment of approximately $150.

The conclusion?what they are saving monthly (real cash now) as a result of your energy package?would provide them with, on average, $30,000 of buying power over the life of the mortgage. This figure will make any older resale they might be considering at a lower price seem like much less of a bargain.

Let?s face it, if it were ?easy being green and selling it to the marketplace?, everyone would be doing it. They might not be able to do so, but you certainly can.

Click Here to View This Article

HOW TO RUN YOUR NEW HOME SALES FRANCHISE - PART 1

2013-12-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

The legendary guitarist from a bygone era Jimi Hendrix, was famous for asking, Are you experienced? The question today for new home sales people across the country is “Are you creating a memorable positive experience for your We need to think of the opportunity to sell new home as a “Franchise Opportunity”. Our builders have invested anywhere from a couple of hundred thousand dollars for a single model, to customers?”

many millions of dollars for planned communities. How much are they charging us to run their franchise? A big fat zero! However, what do they expect in return? A Franchise mentality and the accountability that comes with it.

If you take the word Enthusiasm, and underline the last four letters. That stands for I AM SELF MOTIVATED. The most successful New Home Salespeople (and Realtors managing new home sales) in the country, are the ones that take ownership of their communities.

We have to be prepared for our success. Lets look at what this entails in the world of New home Selling.

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success
Alexander Graham Bell

APPPEARANCE
Every day you need to check the appearance of your community, models, available homes, and home sites to make sure they are in tip top shape. By the way, if they aren’t who ultimately pays the price? That’s right; we do the New Home Salesperson/Franchisee, because of the lost sales that result! Add to that list our own appearance; make sure that we are professional at all times, and never in conflict with our message. If you are in doubt there are many excellent books on the topic of professional appearance, we would be happy to recommend.*

SIGNAGE
Can people find you, and is it obvious that you are open when you are open? Are your website, phone number and hours of operation clearly visible when you drive by you model?

Also does you signage create a compelling reason to buy now, such as “Grand Opening”, “Grand Close Out’, “End of Summer/Holiday Savings”; the kind of statements that create subtle urgency.

I managed a community in South Florida where at one time we had a sign with a countdown board with the exact number of remaining opportunities. Since “Perception is Reality”, it was both a conversation piece, and helped to greatly accelerate the pace of the close out.

COLLATEREL MATERIAL
Is it professional and easily accessible to you? We don’t believe in giving out a full brochure at the beginning because your customers won’t need you at the end. Besides at the end we should have narrowed down their choices to one home and homesite (Condominium/Townhome) which is the information they need. Remember that “Confusion leads to Indecision”, so don’t overwhelm them in their packet with too many choices.

Also don’t leave out a bunch of fliers for your customers to pick up. All you are doing is enabling the customer to go around you. As a franchise owner keep control of the sales process, and be the “gatekeeper” of the important information.

MARKETING PROPS
We greatly believe in following a formal sales process, proven beyond any doubt to increase sales. However if you don’t have the appropriate props to support your message, it can be almost counter productive. Remember that “Telling is not selling” and we believe in a “Presentation that is PLANNED not canned.” The essential props to support this are:
Map of the Area or Aerial Photo - both Macro and Micro, clearly labeled with the benefits of the area. Use this to learn about your customer’s location hot buttons, Such as schools, work, recreation etc.
Community Map - Showing the features and benefits of your community.
Builder Story – Photos and bullets points to prove how you are different and better than your competition.

SILENT SALES TOOLS
Show on you community maps the number of sold homes with neat red dots or little houses. Also create statements in writing, such as Grand Opening, Grand Close out 87% sold Out, X number of exciting opportunities and put it in writing near the community map.

The grand daddy of all Silent Sales tools are Sold Signs, so make sure that you lather up your community with proof of your success. As Joe Namath said “It ain’t bragging, if you can back it up!

I always used to make a little ceremony with my customers of either going out and putting the sold sign in the ground together (Or putting a sticker across the sign, if the ground was too hard), and photographing them standing by it. I would then put a copy in a frame for them, or email it to them, and keep a copy in my scrap book on my desk. If the weather is bad then photograph them putting their red sticker on the community map. So many of my students across the country have shared with me, that they have found that “Celebrating the Sale” this way creates a great memory point for their customers, and also helps proactively prevent potential buyer’s remorse.

SALES PROCESS & PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
Prepare your complete sales presentation, write it out, and then practice for at last an hour a day, before your customers arrive in your sales arena.

“If you’re not practicing, somebody else is, somewhere,
and they’ll be ready to take your job.”
Brooke Robinson
American professional baseball player

A little harsh but true. As Legendary Coach Vince Lombardi said “Only perfect practice, makes perfect.”

Also prepare forms that list every feature in your homes from the outside in, along with their specific benefits and then any choices the customer may have. Keep this in a binder in your office and make sure you have it handy. Remember, “Features tell, Benefits sell”; so it is the benefit that will keep the customer coming back for more.

Also create internal forms for available home sites, or available locations in condominium and townhome sales, and available homes. This way you can “site” your customer on their first visit, and create the love for a “one of a kind”, that they will then fear losing; dramatically increasing your sales conversion ratio.

*For a copy of our patented New Home Specialist “Franchise Checklist” form, The Features and Benefits form, or simply to ask any questions please free to email me at: roland@newhomespecialist.com

Happy Thanksgiving, we are thankful for Builders Doing Great Things...!

2013-11-26T17:35:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.

~W.J. Cameron

All of us at

Bob Schultz & The New Home Sales Specialists

are thankful for...

Builders Doing GREAT Things...

Thanksgiving will have a more significant meaning this year after experiencing life through the eyes of some amazing people that we met in the Dominican Republic through the Homes For Hope organization...

We are honored to be a board member of Homes For Hope, and Peggy and I are very thankful to have been given the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic last weekend with Homes For Hope and home builders from across the nation to view the work of HOPE International.

We saw firsthand how our support of Homes For Hope has helped thousands of people pull themselves up out of poverty by offering business loans as small as $55 to people living in extreme poverty. It's a hand up, not a hand out.

Read More...

Learn more about how you, too, can get involved:

As we reflect on our recent experience, we are filled with gratitude and sincere appreciation for all of our blessings.

From all of us....best wishes to you, your families and team members for a happy, restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving Holiday.

Bob Schultz & The New Home Specialists

Blue M & M's & Betenbough Homes

2011-10-17T16:03:00.030-05:00

Many times in life, it is the little things that make a big difference. We have the good fortune to work with wonderful sales teams from all across the world on a regular basis. We are very grateful for this opportunity to help improve lives by teaching proven techniques and processes that will increase sales, and also enrich the lives of those that work hard to implement them.

Earlier this year I returned from a sales training visit with Betenbough Homes in Lubbock Texas. My flight was cancelled due to an incoming blizzard, so I jumped on a plane to a different airport, rented a car and drove two hours in a snow storm getting in after 1 AM, for training that began that day at 8:30 AM.

When Troy, the Director of Sales asked if I had any specific needs, channeling my best Rock Star response, I joked that the room must never exceed 70 degrees, and that I must have only blue M & M’s!

A few weeks later I was shocked to receive in the mail an old fashioned gumball machine loaded with Blue M & M’s, each one inscribed with sayings from the class such as “Take the Shot” and “Ask for the Sale”, and “Coach Roland”. Along with a handwritten note thanking me for the extra effort in making it to the class.

How do you think I felt? Exactly, very special and truly grateful that this team led so ably, by Troy, Kerry and Ron had taken the time to express their gratitude, especially in such a unique and meaningful way. There is no coincidence that this team has an average closing ratio of approximately 1 sale per 4 customers!

Let me ask, how are you showing gratitude to your customers, co-workers and people in your daily life? As I like to say “Gratitude is my favorite Attitude”, in sales it’s the only one that counts! Not only is going above and beyond appropriate in sales to help earn extra sales, and many more referrals, it is also the right thing to do, and will reap wonderful unexpected rewards.
The Ritz Carlton Franchise has the motto “Ladies and gentleman serving Ladies and Gentleman”. Are you rolling out the red carpet for your customers or is it a torn piece of vinyl?

We have discussed before treating your opportunity to sell brand new homes as a Franchise Opportunity.

If you would like our Free Self Evaluation Franchise test, please email to me at:

Roland@newhomespecialist.com

In the sales process in order to run your franchise successfully, you have to be “Interested not Interesting”. Here are four quick tips on how to accomplish that.

OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS
Ask Open ended questions. These are the ones that begin with How, What, When Where, Who, Tell me and Share with me. Get the customers talking and they are happy. When at a loss for what to say next, don’t worry about your next witty, charming and insightful retort, instead simply say:

“Tell me more about that.”

You’ll learn so much more this way, than by trying to dominate the conversation.

LISTEN
What did I say? I thought so, you have to listen! Some basic techniques are:
Make great eye contact – “Listen with your eyes!”
Have the right body language such as leaning in nodding and appearing interested.
Mirror and matching their personality style.
Use their name to soothe them.
Never interrupt them.
Reflect or repeat back the last thing that you heard them say.
Chunk back every thing you heard them say, (try to fill up all four fingers and your thumb with what you heard them say).
And last but not least, don’t answer that darned crack-berry that is attached to your ear!

As I like to say there is no such thing as multi-tasking in New Home Sales, you are either connecting with the customer or blowing the sale!

K.I.S.S.
Which stands for Keep it Simple and Straightforward. Oh yes it does! Research shows that the average human being can only focus for 48 seconds, so it is our job to make our point, involve the customer and move on before they lose interest.

Remember “Telling is not selling!”

EXCEED THEIR EXPECTATIONS
Find ways to surprise them by going above and beyond, both while your with your customers and during your Follow Through. Call them immediately after they have left and thank them for a wonderful visit, hand write notes (or if you have bad hand writing like me then use a font to replicate that authentic look), reference personal details that you have learned during your time with them. Later on, surprise top customers with surpsies such as sending them a review of a restaurant you think they may like, or sending them tickets to a movie that you know they will appreciate.

There is a gentleman called Todd Wiens, who is a community manager for the excellent team, at Ideal Homes in Norman Oklahoma. Todd almost always volunteers to drive me to the airport after training programs, and has sent me many unique cards over the years, that he made with photos of my son, wife and me using photos from my blogs. Above and beyond? Absolutely! I know how much this personal touch means to me, and also that this is how Todd also treats his customers. It is therefore no surprise how successful he is, especially with customer loyalty and referrals!

Many salespeople nowadays make photo scrap books on line of their customer’s homes as they are being built, which make perfect house warming gifts. Others open up websites for their customer so they can log in and monitor the progress of their home as it is being built. All of these examples may take a little extra effort, but are sure to create raving fans, extremely loyal customers and more sales!

ROLAND ON THE ROAD

Here are some of the wonderful builders and sales teams, and places that I have been recently.

Sunrise Homes, New Orleans

Sherrick Development, Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Minto Communities, Sun City Center, Florida

Betenbough Homes, Lubbock, Texas

Sales Heroes
From Handbags to Moneybags!

Our sales hero this blog is Carrie Wagner of Landmark Homes of TN, who used to sell expensive handbags in the mall, and now is successfully selling brand new homes in the Nashville area. Read what owner Gary Wisniewski says about Carrie:

Gents,
Carrie is on fire!!!! We need asbestos suits to work around her.
She just sold Home site #17 Hawthorn valley, has a meeting tonight for a pre-sale @ Normandy & a second meeting at Normandy for Home site #90
As Dr. Norman Vincent Peale has preached: “you can accomplish anything you desire with a Positive Mental Attitude”

Thanks,
Gary Wisniewski

Carrie was hired by Gary using our NHS ten step recruiting process. Unfortunately Carrie was supposed to have been an associate for a while but due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, she was thrown into the deep end a little early. She almost quit, but read what she says about an epiphany she had while attending our New Homes Sales Boot Camp this May.

Hi Roland, Sales were great over the weekend! Valley! I can attribute my success mainly to mindset. Having the right attitude in your sales arena is very important. I struggle sometimes with self-confidence, and that can really defeat a salesperson.
New Home Sales Boot Camp really drove it home for me. At the time thatI participated in that program, I was at a crossroads. I realized during Boot Camp that I had two options: get fully on board with the New Home Sales training program at Normandy Heights, or leave. There was no middle ground. I'm certainly not a quitter, and this career is veryimportant to me, so I made up my mind. Boot Camp could not have come at a better time. I learned so much, and it really pushed me forward and prepared me for a fresh start in my new community. I'm so grateful for this incredible opportunity, and I know that with my determination and the training that Landmark is providing through your training program, the future holds some great things for me. My new home sales career combined with the valuable training has really changed my life for the better. Thanks for everything,
Carrie

Carrie hasn’t looked back. I reviewed her Mystery Video shop last month and she got an incredibly high score, and is continuing to exceed sales expectations for both herself and Gary.

Have a great month of selling and please continue to share your questions and successes.

Truly,

COACH ROLAND

Written By,

Roland Nairnsey

Senior Vice President Training and Development

Bob Schultz and the New Home Sales Specialists

2300 Glades Road, Suite 400 West Boca Raton, Fl 33431
561-368-1151

Roland@newhomespecialist.com

Newhomespecialist.com

TEAMWORK, THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN NEW HOME SALES & SOCCER

2011-07-19T10:37:00.011-05:00

Growing up in London, soccer, or as we call it in England footy, has always been my favorite sport. Recently the USA Womens Soccer team made it all the way to the FIFA World Cup final, where they were “pipped at the post” in an enthralling match, by a plucky Japanese team who came from behind twice and then won in a nail biting penalty shoot out. As much as I wanted the States to win, no one can begrudge the Japanese a victory after what they have endured this year.

As I watched the USA beat France to get in the finals of the Women’s World Cup, and before that beat the favorites Brazil in a memorable come from behind victory, it occurred to me how many similarities that soccer (otherwise known as the “Beautiful Game”) has to our profession of new home sales.

We only tend to remember the stunning individual performances such as in the USA-Brazil game Megan Rapinoe’s pin point cross to find Abby Wambach on the far post and Wambach’s perfect headed goal in the last seconds of overtime; or Hope Solo’s dramatic penalty save to seal the victory, and also give her vindication for being left out of the same game four years ago. However, the truth is that soccer is a true team sport where all eleven players on the field are important and cannot function without the other. This is how it so similar to the new home business.

The forwards, especially the striker or center forward, are given the job of scoring the goals, and just like salespeople are given the most credit for the success of the team. They are often highly emotional, charismatic types. They are on the front line, are highly visible and therefore usually well rewarded when successful.

Behind the forwards are the midfield players, they are the engine of the team, taking the ball from the defense and distributing it to the forwards, occasionally scoring themselves, and often getting back to defend as well. They are like the office team, and administrators strategizing, organizing and always striving for the success of the team.

Behind the midfield is the defense, they are given the job of protecting the goal to prevent the other side from scoring and making sure that the midfield is given the ball to set up offensive plays. Like the construction team, this requires solid, dependable types and is often unglamorous work with fairly small credit. However the defense like construction is the foundation of every great team.

The goalkeeper has a thankless task, rarely receiving that much credit for doing their job of preventing goals from being scored, but facing ridicule for making a mistake which would cause an easy goal to be scored against the team. Like customer service, their job is often taken for granted, yet if they make a mistake they are sorely missed.

Every team has a manager/coach and assistant coaches. They are like the sales managers engaging in market research and hiring the architects to build the best product, and then recruiting and training the best possible team.

At the top of the ladder is the owner or chairman. Just like the owner/developer/builder in construction, they are ultimately responsible for everything that happens. They will take well deserved credit for the success of the team, and make immediate changes to ensure the team thrives at its maximum potential.

Just like new home sales, players practice, and rehearse their positions continually, mastering a basic process. However before entering a game, the coaches will study the competition and come up with a game plan. Whether the teams adopt the formation of a 4-4-2, a 4-3-3- or a 3-5-2, the team will only enter into a game when they are fully prepared to be successful.

The bottom line is that the team cannot function and be successful without the total cooperation of the whole team. If a player starts to look tired, then the manager will warm up substitutes on the sidelines as a clear message that they can be replaced for the improvement of the team. Certain players may receive more attention than others, but the joy of the “beautiful game” is that the best group of individuals that functions as a TEAM will always win.

Well done to the ladies of Team USA and good luck at the London Olympics in 2012.

SALES HEROESAfter our highly successful New Home Sales Boot Camp ® and Serious Sales and Marketing Profit Management (sm) programs In Delray Beach at the end of May, we received a slew of emails from attendees sharing their wonderful sales success stories. We love to hear this great news and always take sincere pride in all of your success. One stands out in particular, from Shawn Forth, a Builder from Oklahoma City who invested in both programs. Shawn is already a successful custom home builder but attended our programs looking to become more of a “quality volume builder” and also learn how to sell homes himself as well as build and run a successful sales operation.

Shawn is an understated gentleman, and I remember noticing every day that he was always one of the first in the training rooms and always placed himself in the front row. Whenever I scanned the audience I would always notice Shawn taking notes feverishly. Here is the email we just received from Shawn.

From: Shawn Forth
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 11:45 PM
To: Bob Schultz
Cc: Roland Nairnsey
Subject: Thank you
Bob/ Roland, I want to thank you for changing my mindset to that of a sales professional. While I have a long way to go, I am already seeing the fruits of the seeds you planted during your New Home Sales Boot Camp I just attended. I sold another home tonight, and it was the first physical visit by the customer. I had spoken with them on the phone, they visited my website and walked the home prior to coming into the office, so just as you told us, “people can and will buy on what appears to be the first visit.” After going through the presentation, visiting the home under construction (100+ degrees), answering multiple objections, asking for the sale multiple times, I finally wrote the agreement at 9:30 pm effective on Tuesday (she forgot her check book).
One sale is not a record, but it is the 4th since my visit to Florida just six weeks ago. I would not have had the tools or the persistence to work with these customers for 3 1/2 hours prior to meeting you and your staff.
Thank you again,
Shawn

This year we have been all over the USA and Canada training wonderful sales people. Recently I was in Vancouver Washington, and had the great pleasure of working again with the delightful team at New Tradition Homes. Here is a photo of the team.

A few days after I returned, I received this exciting email from Jessica Hollandsworth, a salesperson at their Tri-Cities division. For Jessica’s courage in implementing what she learned so quickly, she is also a sales hero.

From: Jessica Hollandsworth Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 3:42 PM
To: Roland Nairnsey
Subject: Just thought you would like to know
Roland,
I just wanted to let you know that Anne and I used the training that you taught us on Friday and Saturday....It was awesome!
I myself had a lady on Saturday morning come in just to look at our product, and she was referred to us from a current homeowner....I showed her the model, then walked her through a floor plan that is what she talked about fitting her needs, we then drove to the 3 home sites that would work for her specifications as well...then she came back and priced out her home. In the process she started crying because she really didn't think she would ever get to this point of owning a home again. She fell in love with New Traditions and I have an appointment with her on Wednesday to write the purchase and sale.
I also had a family come in Saturday afternoon that had previously came in. They knew what floor plan they wanted but wanted to walk through our model again. Within 10 minutes I had them sitting at my desk pricing them out and at the end used the phrase "is this the type of home you would like to own?" and they said yes and wrote up!!!
It was a great weekend and it was really great being able to use the different training techniques, and seeing how they work!!! Thank you
Jessica Hollandsworth,
Professional Sales Representative for New Tradition Homes
Congratulations to Shawn and Jessica and all of you across the world that are working so hard in this challenging market and working “smart” by investing in training to ensure that you are maximizing your sales success.

Lastly, for those who are interested in my lad Max, here is an updated picture of the little fella. He just turned three and continues to brighten every moment of our lives. We are so blessed and grateful.

Have a great month of selling and please continue to share your questions and successes.

Truly

Coach Roland

www.NewHomeSpecialist.com

Written By Roland Nairnsey
Senior Vice President Training and Development
Bob Schultz and the New Home Sales Specialists
2300 Glades Road, Suite 400 West
Boca Raton, Fl 33431

Tel: 561-368-1151

Roland@newhomespecialist.com

HOW TO RUN YOUR NEW HOME SALES FRANCHISE - PART 2

2010-09-03T12:18:00.036-05:00

THIS CUP CAKE HELPED MAKE SALES - LEARN HOW

The topic of running your own new home sales franchise is so detailed, that I had to break it into two parts for you. (We'll get to the cup cake in a moment, I promise!) Here is part two.

FINANCING
In most value ranges the total investment in the home is somewhat arbitrary to the customer, what they care more about is their monthly investment. Make sure that you have at least a basic knowledge of financing, or a simple system, to be able to show your customers what their home, on their homesite with all of their luxury goodies will be; with a highly affordable monthly investment, and watch your sales increase!

KNOWLEDGE OF THE COMPETITION
“Know thy competition as well as thy know thyself.” Visit in person at least once a month and on line, and create a binder with updated info. Sir Francis Bacon famously said, “Knowledge itself is power”. I am saying, “The lack of knowledge, causes unnecessary stress and lost sales!”

With this updated information, you can positively compare your builder against the competition, and you will be able prevent your buyers from using this as an excuse for delaying action, and compromising your prices. Most importantly you can make the sale now, not perhaps some time in the future.
OBJECTIONS
Prepare ahead of time with all the objections you may hear. Pick the top ten, then use our NHS 6 step formula for managing objections, and again keep them in a binder in your sales office. This way you will be prepared to answer any objection that in the past could have given the customer a reason for delay. You can now be proactive as apposed to reactive, and make more sales.
For more info on the 6 step formula you can either go back to previous blogs or watch this little video of me at one of the International Builders Show, discussing customers buts! When I say buts, I mean their objections of course, what were you thinking?

Click on the photo to see part 1, and then be sure to watch parts 2 and 3 as well on You Tube.
FOLLOW THROUGH
Dedicate at least an hour a day to follow through with your customers. Rank your customers as Bob Schultz says; “By what you know about them, not just what you feel”. Use a CRM system and create a daily follow through regimen. We even have a follow through System called CAP with Builder 1440.
If you are interested please email me at roland@newhomespecialist.com
and I will give you the contact info you need.

PROSPECTING
Also dedicate at last an hour a day to the various prospecting targets. The rule is that at least two thirds of your qualified traffic should be self generated. First identify the targets then create a daily prospecting regimen. This is topic is so important, that we will discuss it in more detail in another blog. By the way, this is where the cup cake will come in handy!
EXPERIENCE
Lets take a leaf out Starbucks Corporation playbook, as they were one of the first companies to realize that people would pay more (way more!!!) for their product if they created an inviting environment in which to enjoy it. Prior to their arrival on the national scene we were used to paying less than a dollar for a basic cup of Joe. They created a memorable experience with comfy sofas, cool music, even cooler people writing the next great American novel on their lab tops, enjoying trendy lighting, and over 77,000 (actual number) choices of beverages. Best of all, they even write your name on your unique double mocha, extra skinny, no foam, triple shot, extra hot, Grande latte!

Ask yourself are you creating anywhere close to such a positive experience for your customers. The Ritz Carlton, one of the most luxurious hotel chains in the World, has the company motto:

"Ladies and Gentleman, Serving Ladies and gentleman.”

We should feel and act the same way. When people walk into your model have you created a “Welcome Home Atmosphere” ? Lights on, cheerful breezy music in the background (no radio ads, or politics ruining the moment!), pleasant aroma, and yes refreshments please.

We human beings love free food. When I go to the car dealership to have my car serviced, they have a coffee machine and free cake and cookies. I could be on the biggest diet, but I am like a kid in a candy shop, and never have the willpower to resist free food. Please adopt a service mentality and spoil your customers, so that they’ll keep you on their inclusion list.

The same concept applies with Realtors, make sure that they understand that you are "Realtor Friendly" destination where they and their clients will receive bottled water or coffee, cookies, and a space for them to make their future appointments, as well as great service from the new home sales professional, and both Realtor showings and sales will increase.

Now that we understand what it takes to run a New Home Sales Franchise, are you ready to commit? It is up to you to implement, to attain excellence. Aristotle said;

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”

So now is the perfect time to dedicate yourself to start turning your actions into skills that will then become the habits that will sustain you for a life time of transformative success.
*For a copy of our patented New Home Specialist “Franchise Checklist” form, "The Features and Benefits" form, or simply to ask any questions please free to email me at: roland@newhomespecialist.com.

SOUTH EAST BUILDERS CONFERENCE 2010

Bob and I had the distinct pleasure at the end of July of speaking with Kimberly Mackey at the Sales Summit at SEBC. It was a great program packed with important information on Myth Busting and how to both prospect and sell homes in this market. The large audience was eager and enthusiastic. A big thank you to Kimberly and all of the organizers for a great event, that we were honored to be part of.

SALES HEROES

We have been working with the incredible team at Shea Homes in Charlotte for quite a while. Recently we have been working on Prospecting and teaching the sales team to generate their own qualified traffic.
One of the specific target areas (out of over 20) of course is Realtors, and with the help of John Shea and Director of Sales & Marketing Michelle Scott, we have created an in depth Realtor outreach program. This is something near and dear to my heart, for as a new home salesperson, I was diligent in my relationship building with Realtors and developed a strategy for dropping off food on a regular basis, and then hosting Broker Breakfasts at Brokers sales offices at least once a month; which I sustained for over ten years. Needless to say my Realtor referrals were incredible, which helped greatly increase my personal sales.
At Shea Homes each Sales person created their own Realtor Farm list and then set about implementing our multi stepped outreach program. Like a lot of cities, In Charlotte there were challenges as many of the Real Estate offices didn't want to hear from new home salespeople, especially if they didn't have the listings from that builder.
I truly admire Merdyth's creativity and persistence. Let's read what she said in a recent email to me.
From: Meredyth Holdenrid
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 1:29 PM
To: Roland Nairnsey
Cc: Michele Scott
Subject: Realtor Outreach Success Story!

Hi Roland!

I wanted to let you know about a resent success story that happened to me since kicking off our Realtor Outreach Program.

At Shea Homes we have implemented an escalating commission program for our local Realtors. To let the Realtors know about the program we have been delivering Shea Blue cupcakes to each office. Every cupcake has a flag on it that says “Ask about Shea Homes Escalating Commission program!” It also contains the Builder Representative’s name and cell phone number.

I delivered the first batch of cupcakes to a local Real Estate office on a Monday, not knowing that the office was closed for a holiday. An agent was leaving so she kindly let me in where I proceeded to set up the cupcakes in their break room.

Two weeks later I visited the same office and was turned away by the receptionist because Shea Homes was not a “preferred vendor”. Two days later, three agents from the same office showed up to my model home asking about the escalating commission program. They had seen the cupcakes in their break room and were excited enough to come out and visit in person. All three agents were very impressed with our community and our extra services to them (allowing them to use an office if they are in the area, snacks and water just for them, etc.).

I am currently working on getting more of their agents out to my community. In the meantime I’m still visiting my other offices regularly because it’s proven that Realtor Outreach will only lead to future sales!

Have a wonderful week!

Meredyth Holdenrid

Builder Representative

Shea Homes At Riviera

This is what her boss, Michelle Scott said about Meredyth, also in an email to me.

Meredyth has been one of the most aggressive Agents on our team with regards to our new Realtor program. Many Agents may have avoided the offices that they didn’t think they could get in, but Meredyth chose to try anyway. That’s one of the qualities that I love about her.

Me too!!! Research shows that a customer bought in by a Realtor is far more likely to be qualified to buy than a customer that walks in by themselves (in most cases). And that the conversion ratio with customers bought in by Realtors, is typically on average three to four Realtor visits to lead to a sale, as opposed to many more visits with non- Realtor generated traffic. So as long as our builders are in agreement that it is OK for us to reach out to more Realtors, then it makes sense to make that part of our daily routine. With these statistics in mind, Merdyths 3 cup cakes probably led to a sale. What a return on investment and again congratulations to Meredyth for your passion and persistence.
Again as I promised on my very first blog, there will always be a photo of my young toddler Max. Let face it, we all work so hard, so that we can have the reward of coming home and spending quality time with our loved ones.

I believe here he is channeling a little James Dean!

Thanks again for the opportunity to share these ideas with you.
Please feel free to write with questions, comments and to get your free forms at: newhomespecialist.com or follow the prompts and leave your message on this blog; and also please share YOUR success stories.

Have a terrific month of selling homes.

Bob Schultz and The New Home Specialists
2300 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Tel: 561-368-1151

Newhomespecialist.com

HOW TO RUN YOUR NEW HOME SALES FRANCHISE - PART 1

2010-09-02T11:18:00.024-05:00

The legendary guitarist from a bygone era Jimi Hendrix, was famous for asking, “Are you experienced?” . The question today for new home sales people across the country is “Are you creating a memorable positive experience for your customers?”

We need to think of the opportunity to sell new homes as a “Franchise Opportunity”. Our builders have invested anywhere from a couple of hundred thousand dollars for a single model, to many millions of dollars for planned communities. How much are they charging us to run their franchise? A big fat zero! However, what do they expect in return? A Franchise mentality and the accountability that comes with it.

If you take the word Enthusiasm, and underline the last four letters. (IASM) As Bob Schultz says that stands for I Am Sold Myself, and also I believe it stands for I AM SELF MOTIVATED. The most successful New Home Salespeople (and Realtors managing new home sales) in the country, are the ones that take ownership of their communities.

We have to be prepared for our success. Lets look at what this entails in the world of new home Selling.

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success"
Alexander Graham Bell

APPEARANCE
Every day you need to check the appearance of your community, models, available homes, and home sites to make sure they are in tip top shape. By the way, if they aren’t who ultimately pays the price? That’s right; we do the New Home Salesperson/Franchisee, because of the lost sales that result! Add to that list our own appearance; make sure that we are professional at all times, and never in conflict with our message. If you are in doubt there are many excellent books on the topic of professional appearance, we would be happy to recommend.

For a copy of our patented New Home Specialist Franchise Checklist form, please email to me at roland@newhomespecialist.com

SIGNAGE
Can people find you, and is it obvious that you are open when you are open? Are your website, phone number and hours of operation clearly visible when you drive by your model?

Also does you signage create a compelling reason to buy now, such as “Grand Opening”, “Grand Close Out’, “End of Summer/Holiday Savings”; the kind of statements that create subtle urgency.

I managed a community in South Florida where at one time we had a sign with a countdown board with the exact number of remaining opportunities. Since “Perception is Reality”, it was both a conversation piece, and helped to greatly accelerate the pace of the close out.

COLLATERAL MATERIAL
Is it professional and easily accessible to you? We don’t believe in giving out a full brochure at the beginning because your customers won’t need you at the end. Besides at the end we should have narrowed down their choices to one home and homesite (Condominium/Townhome) which is the information they need. Remember that “Confusion leads to Indecision”, so don’t overwhelm them in their packet with too many choices.

Also don’t leave out a bunch of fliers for your customers to pick up. All you are doing is enabling the customer to go around you. As a franchise owner keep control of the sales process, and be the “gatekeeper” of the important information.

MARKETING PROPS
We greatly believe in following a formal sales process, proven beyond any doubt to increase sales. However if you don’t have the appropriate props to support your message, it can be almost counter productive. Remember that “Telling is not selling” and we believe in a “Presentation that is PLANNED not canned.” The essential props to support this are:
Map of the Area or Aerial Photo - both Macro and Micro, clearly labeled with the benefits of the area. Use this to learn about your customer’s location hot buttons, Such as schools, work, recreation etc.
Community Map - Showing the features and benefits of your community.
Builder Story – Photos and bullet points to prove how you are different and better than your competition.

SILENT SALES TOOLS
Show on you community map the number of sold homes with neat red dots or little houses. Also create statements in writing, such as Grand Opening, Grand Close out 87% sold Out, X number of exciting opportunities and put it in writing near the community map.

The grand daddy of all Silent Sales tools are Sold Signs, so make sure that you lather up your community with proof of your success. As Joe Namath said “It ain’t bragging, if you can back it up!

I always used to make a little ceremony with my customers of either going out and putting the sold sign in the ground together (Or putting a sticker across the sign, if the ground was too hard), and photographing them standing by it. I would then put a copy in a frame for them, or email it to them, and keep a copy in my scrap book on my desk. If the weather is bad then photograph them putting their red sticker on the community map. So many of my students across the country have shared with me, that they have found that “Celebrating the Sale” this way creates a great memory point for their customers, and also helps proactively prevent potential buyer’s remorse.

SALES PROCESS & PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
Prepare your complete sales presentation, write it out, and then practice for at last an hour a day, before your customers arrive in your sales arena.

“If you’re not practicing, somebody else is, somewhere,
and they’ll be ready to take your job.”
Brooke Robinson
American professional baseball player

A little harsh but true. As Legendary Coach Vince Lombardi said:

“Only perfect practice, makes perfect.”

Also prepare forms that list every feature in your homes from the outside in, along with their specific benefits and then any choices the customer may have. Keep this in a binder in your office and make sure you have it handy. Remember, “Features tell, Benefits sell”; so it is the benefit that will keep the customer coming back for more.

Also create internal forms for available home sites, or available locations in condominium and townhome sales, and available homes. This way you can “site” your customer on their first visit, and create the love for a “one of a kind”, that they will then fear losing; dramatically increasing your sales conversion ratio.

As much as we may hate to hear it Role Playing is such an essential part of our daily regimen as salespeople, to ensure that we have created the "muscle memory" on the practice field, so that we can perform at our highest level with real customers. Here are some photos of role playing with real sales teams across the country. Since I have written a few screenplays, I like to think of the sales process as though it were in three acts;

ACT 1

In the sales office practicing your Five Minute Drill (sm)

Here are Salespeople and Sales Associates at Minto enthusiastically role playing at Artesia in Sunrise , and Olympia in Wellington; both in South Florida.

ACT 2

In your models, role playing model demonstration

On the left role playing in the Kitchen with London Bay Homes in Naples, FL.
On the right "Asking for the sale" on the Closing Balcony" with Caruso Homes in Crofton, Maryland.

ACT 3
Closing role plays

Our friends at Heritage Homes in Fargo, ND role playing closing. Check out Lisa's hands flying!

The Franchise mentality in New Home Sales and Management is so important and there are so many elements to consider, that it is too much information for one blog. So I will post the rest of this article later this month. Stay tuned for Part 2.

*Meanwhile for a copy of our patented New Home Specialist “Franchise Checklist” form, The Features and Benefits form, or simply to ask any questions please free to email me at: roland@newhomespecialist.com

SALES HEROES

Find out later this month how Merrdyth Holdenrid at Shea Homes in Charlotte used this cup cake to make sales!

Lastly it wouldn't be a blog from me, if there wasn't an updated photo of my lad Max. Here he is looking very cool in blue.

Feel free to write with questions, comments and to get your free forms at: Roland@newhomespecialist.com

Have a terrific month of selling homes.

Coach Roland

Written by
Roland Nairnsey
Senior vice President, Training & Development
Bob Schultz and The New Home Specialists
2300 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Tel: 561-368-1151

Newhomespecialist.com

ARE YOU A CLOSING CHICKEN?

2010-07-21T18:49:00.017-05:00

Firstly please accept my sincere apologies to all of our loyal Blog readers for the absence of posts. The good news, is that we have been swamped, travelling the country helping sales team to excel and beat their markets. Now it is time to get back to some serious blogging business.

Many of you benefited greatly from the National Stimulus Program, which caused a great surge in sales up until the end of April. After we temporarily drained our customer pipelines, it may have been anti-climatic realizing it was back to business as usual. Instead of being “down in the dumps” (setting aside any political agenda’s), we should all be appreciative for the opportunity to dramatically increase sales, deplete our inventory reserves, and increase our earnings. Now that it is over let’s get back to business as usual, and see how we can learn how to implement the essential level selling skills at the highest possible and most consistent level, so that every month feels like a permanent stimulus for you and your sales teams.

Interestingly 83% of respondent’s who attended our 2010 New Home Sales Camp ® that ended on May 6, enjoyed their best sales month of the year, immediately after attending the program. This statistic is even more remarkable when you consider that the press announced May as the worse month in 38 years for new home sales. We say this not to brag, but to inspire you that with the proper focus, training, and belief in yourself you can accomplish greatness on a consistent basis.

With that in mind let’s focus on closing. At a recent International Builders show, I used the prop of a chicken to make the bold statement that “We are not closing chickens; we just don’t know the words.”

Here is the link to the you tube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3WjJqXy40

Having been a sales person for so long and being the compassionate fellow that I am, I always feel bad when I hear owners and managers complaining that their salespeople can’t close. Most times, what is lacking is the proper instruction followed up with rigorous role playing to ensure that we develop our closing skills and confidence.

Let’s explore the various kinds of closes there are, the words we should use, and
importantly when to use them.

MINI CLOSES

When should you close, and how often? Of course we all know from the very beginning when you first meet the customer, and throughout your presentation.

As I like to say:

"Mini closes lead to big sales!”
Roland Nairnsey

Research shows that the average human being can only focus for 48 seconds, how long did I say? Just checking. So with that in mind, every 48 second span of communication we need to share a feature, cap it with a pertinent benefit and then involve the customer.

The choice of these consistent involvement questions and phrases are endless.
Many times while on the road, I will ask sales teams to come up with as many of these as they can possibly think of. Below is a photo of Mary Beth who successfully sells homes for Caviness & Cates in North Carolina, with a dry erase board full of involvement phrases.

Here are just a few examples:

“Isn’t it” “Wouldn’t you agree?” “Couldn’t you imagine”, “How does that work/look feel?” “What do you think?” “Make sense?”

And of course so many more. Find the ones that you are comfortable with and start using them immediately. As a sales coach, I have found that so often we are saying smart things to our customer, but are not taking the time to “Fish for Feedback” by checking in with our customers, and see how they feel about what we just shared with them. When we learn to slow down, and trust our customers by inviting them into the process, the connection is huge and sales increase exponentially. Plus, you will have far more energy for your self and your next customer as you are allowing the customer to do far more of the talking.

ALTERNATE CHOICES

“Choices = Commitments = Closings.”
Roland Nairnsey

Give your customers a choice, (the simpler the better), they give you their commitment and you close them on their commitment. Before you know it, they have made four of five very important commitments to you, before they have even committed to buying a home.

For example:

SALES GENIUS
“Mr. and Mrs. Customer, we include maintenance free vinyl flooring,
we also offer ceramic tile or hardwood, which would you prefer?”

Once they respond, and then continue with:

SALES GENIUS
"Great when we go back to my office I will be happy
to make a note of that/price that out for you?”

In under thirty seconds, you just made an appointment to take them back that day to your sales office (After you go to the available home or homesite) for a recap and price out; or review of their luxury choices if you aren’t able to price anything for them. At the end of the price out, you will be able to show them the highly affordable monthly investment of their brand new home, with their luxury choices, and you will have earned the right to do what? That’s it…Ask for the Sale!

Give at least 5 alternate choices in a typical presentation and aim to bring back approximately 80-90% of your customers on a first visit for a recap and price out in person and sales again will increase dramatically.

PS. Unless they are out of State, never agree to email or fax your price out, only in person since buying is emotion backed by logic, they need to return to you. (See previous blog for specific “No enabling” dialogue.)

CLOSE AS YOU GO (sm)

“Closing is the process of helping others make
decisions that are good for them.”
Bob Schultz

Again instead of waiting until the end of your presentation with a random closing question that may feel like it is coming out of left field; learn to close as you go. Gain mini agreements, and build your Yes Bank (sm). At the end, your closing process will be a simple recapping of all the agreements you gained along the way.

In the sales office, close out your builder, location and community. During your model demonstration close out the front of the home, the kitchen, great room,
back yard (if there is one of course!), the downstairs, the owners retreat, and then the upstairs.

A word of caution, don’t make your closings statements too lofty or esoteric, because they become harder to agree with. So instead of saying, “Isn’t this the most amazing kitchen you’ve ever seen in your whole life?” Simply say:

SALES GENIUS
“How does the kitchen work/ look/feel?”

Much easier to agree to, and move the sale forward.

FINAL CLOSES

And here are we are, finally having earned the right to ask for the sale. How many times in a typical presentation. Between 5-7. Not in a row of course, that’s just begging! Let’s remember to keep it simple, and when culminating your model demo, close it out. Simply say:

SALES GENIUS
“Is this the (type)* of home you’d like to own?”

*If it is the model say type of home, if it is the available home itself then drop the word type.

When they say yes, then you will say:

SALES GENIUS
“Great, let’s go look at the available homes/ home sites!”

Notice we don’t say, “Would you like to go”, because the customer could say no. You need to become a “crazy home/homesite loving fool” and be walking out the door to get them sited on their first visit. Without them falling in love with the one of a kind homesite or home that could go away; there can be no authentic emotional urgency, and therefore no real fear of loss, that will lead to the sale.

Once you have narrowed down the home or homesite then of course we have nothing left to do but what? That’s it …Ask for the Sale. Instead of saying “Do you wanna tie it up/bind it?” Which is a little risqué if you ask me, instead simply say:

SALES GENIUS
"Now that you have found the home that you like,
Do you have any questions before we go back and review the paperwork?”

A genius question, as most people are conditioned to say “no”, when asked for the business. So in this case no is a good answer. If they have an objection manage it and ask again, if they are appearing pressured and not ready to go ahead, don’t pressure them instead offer to go back to your office for a recap. As I discussed in great detail in earlier blogs, at the end of your recap closing process you will be far more likely to have proactively managed any of their real concerns, and will have earned the right to now ask again, with a much greater likelihood of making the sale. Simply ask:

SALES GENIUS
"Do you have any questions before we begin the paperwork?”

Of course since so much of professional communication is body language, you will have a blank agreement on your desk and a pen in hand when you ask this question, so that you are clearly displaying your closing intent, but in a very friendly way.

Once you ask for the sale, you will typically get either the sale or an objection, so then you will manage their objection and then ask again. You can’t ask with the same words every time as that would be too transparent, so we need to practice the myriad ways in which we can ask for the sale. Not until we have asked between five to seven times can we be sure about our customer’s readiness and ability to buy that day, and then at least we can move straight to the appointment.

So now that we know more about the many types of closes as well as many of the words to say, we can throw away the Closing Chicken, and look our managers in the eyes and say, “I’m not a closing chicken, now I know the words?”

Please feel to write to me at:

roland@newhomespecialist.com

With any questions or for any clarification on any of the closes in discussed.

SALES HEROES

I normally select one or two salespeople from across the country who have gone above and beyond in their pursuit of sales excellence, to give them special recognition. But in this blog, I have decided to congratulate ALL of you. Yes, literally, any one reading this blog who is still in Home Sales and eager to hone your skills deserves a giant sized pat on the back from us. As I work with sales teams all across the country, I truly have a deep rooted respect for all of you for having the courage to stay in this business, during these incredibly adverse economic conditions in most of your markets. Especially, while so many others who may have jumped in during the good times, have already jumped back out for seemingly less challenging jobs.

The good news is that, now is the perfect time to perfect you skills, and the fact that you can sell successfully in these tough times, means that as others sadly fall by the wayside, you have a huge opportunity to gain market share, as well as refine your selling skills. Think about the huge advantage you will have when the market starts to get back to a faster pace. You will be perfectly positioned to reap the rewards, this time creating consistent and long lasting success for your self.

So kudos to all of you, you are ALL our sales heroes!

Lastly some updated photo’s of the lights of my life, my little toddler Max and beautiful wife Svitlana.

Thanks for the great feedback from previous blogs and go out there and make a difference

Truly,

Coach Roland

Newhomespecialist.com

Written By Roland Nairnsey
Senior Vice President, Training & Development
Bob Schultz and the New Home Specialists
Roland@newhomespecialist.com

Start building your Legacy in 2010

2009-12-23T17:54:00.000-05:00

So we all survived the economic storms of 2009.

Whatever your grandkids face in the future, you can now whip out the ultimate trump card and tell them “Aye laddie, you ain’t seen nothing my little whippersnapper; I went through the recession of 09, so stop you’re winging!”

(For some reason, I think in the voice of Mrs. Doubt Fire when I think about talking with my pretend grandkids, very strange!)

So now that 09 is behind us, it is time to focus and start planning for a more prosperous future. As Bob Schultz teaches there are four main levels for individuals and companies to strive. These are:

Survival

Stability

Success

Significance

Now that we have survived, those of us still in Real Estate sales need to ensure stability, by refusing to panic and implementing the essential systems and processes. Once we have accomplished this then success beckons, and unlike the success that may have been built on the false optimism of an investor driven bubble, we need to develop real sales skills, that will cause us to be successful through both good times and bad. Once you are satisfied that you and your company is successful then you need to look further forward and ask yourself “What is your legacy going to be?”, and how can you create significance.

Plato said, “Necessity is the mother of invention”, so I am saying, “Adversity is the mother of re-invention.” The individual sales people, managers and owners across North America (and even as far away as Australia), that we have had the privilege of working with this year, who in spite of the economy have been successful; all have the same traits in common. Namely they are self motivated and refuse to rest on their laurels or talk about past glories. Instead, these salespeople and managers have buckled down and worked harder then ever with us on the correct sales processes and systems. Role playing has been embraced with more passion than I have even seen before. Owners have looked at their product, renegotiated with their trade partners and come out with products that represent Real Value, and have been selling many homes as a result.

As any one who reads this blog knows, my focus is not on myself but the success of our students worldwide. What puts a spring in my step and motivates me is YOUR success. Past Sales Heroes, such as Amy Willey in Delaware who literally spent all summer converting approximately 50% of the customers walking in the door (Yes 1 out of 2, not a typo!), and then came to our new Home Sales Boot Camp (sm) to further hone her skills! Ingrid Prang with Minto in South Florida who after an hour long coaching call and strategy session with me sold an eight hundred thousand dollar condo the next morning on the customers (drum roll please) first visit! Craig Stevens, a builder in Wilmington North Carolina, who re-tooled his homes to give more value, continued to embrace training with his team, and ourselves and has had one of his best years ever. Ted Hardeen, Broker and Manager of Coldwell Banker Seacoast in the same market who led 14 Realtors who represent builders to our Boot Camp this year, because they recognize the importance of being the best at what they do and differentiating themselves from their competition. Or Sales Manager Scott Baughman in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, who was forced to let his highly, trained sales team leave due to the economy and went back out in the field himself. He rolled up his sleeves, works every weekend and using our system which he helped teach to his team for five years, has been selling six or seven homes a month ever since!

To these heroes and all of you out there working hard in sales offices around the globe, congratulations you have survived. But now it is time to focus, decide what you want in 2010, and create your Significant Future.

Here is a quick recap of the last quarter, along with a few tips and free downloads.

NEW HOME SALES BOOT CAMP (r) AND SERIOUS SALES AND MARKETING MANAGEMENT (Sm) WERE A HUGE SUCCESS!

We had a great turnout for our training programs here in balmy Delray Beach Florida.

Here we are on our traditional Ice cream break at Ben and Jerry's.

Not only did Bob Schultz and myself cover Essential, Advanced and some Mastery level New Home Specialist processes and sales systems, we also had a workshop with NHS facilitator Millie Allen Eubanks, Time Management training with Charlie Scott of Woodland, O'brien and Scott, and an incredible motivational session with New York Times best selling author Jon Gordon. He and I are pictured below (I am the one in the tie). He is writer of The Energy Bus, The No Complaining Rule, and Training Camp, all incredible books.

We just set the dates for the next Boot Camp which will be May 4,5, and 6, and Serious Sales and Marketing Management on May 6, 7 and 8, 2010. Jon Gordon will be joining us again and we would love to see you there.

If you have any questions, including what you will learn, then please feel free to email me at; roland@newhomespecialist.com.

ROLAND ON THE ROAD

ROLE PLAYING IN GREENVILLE NORTH CAROLINA WTH CAVINESS and CATES

Here I am (Sporting my one winter sweater) with Mitchell who is doing a great job of demonstrating the homesite to myself and Mary Beth, and below Homer is asking me for the sale while still in the available home. Great Job to all of the team!.

For info on how to role play effectively please write to me at roland@newhomespecialist.com.

INVOLVEMENT QUESTIONS WITH CARUSO HOMES

After reviewng their video shops, we coached on the areas that the team needed to work on the most on. Since involvement was an area to work on, I had the team write down the various simple words or phrases we can use to involve our customers. Below Nancy is standing next to the board with 54 involvement questions, a new world record!

Lastly it wouldn't be my blog if I didn't have a few photos of my little lad Max. I truly couldn't imagine surviving this year if it wasn't for the support from all of our friends and colleagues around the country, but especially the love and affection of my wonderful family, and for that I am truly blessed and very grateful!

Please feel free to post comments and ask any questions.

Wishing you a relaxing holiday season with you and your loved ones, and an abundant, healthy and happy New Year!

truly

Coach Roland

http://www.newhomespecialist.com/

"Deal Or No Deal"

2009-09-15T15:22:00.057-05:00

As Charles Dickens famously said at the beginning of The Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worse of times."

Sometimes I feel that our economy is like that, there is no doubt that there are some very tough markets where our friends in the New Homes Industry are still suffering, and yet there are others who have been able to adapt, and are beginning to thrive and gain significant market share.

So for those of you who are still going through tough times we truly "feel your pain", as we have been there ourselves many times before. To all of you loyal blog readers we are here to help lift you up and inspire you with our monthly dose of real world training strategies that work in this specific market, and current success stories from around the globe.

First our updated good news.

GOOD NEWS METER

According to major news outlets such as MSNBC:

> Housing construction rose in August, and the number of newly laid of workers seeking aid fell unexpectedly last week, adding to signs that the recession has ended.

> Construction of Multifamily, rose 1.5 to an anual rate of 598,000 units.

> Building permits rose 2.7% in August to an annual rate of 579,000.

> August reflected a 25.3% surge in construction of multi family units.

> Regionally construction rose 23.8% in the Northeast, and 0.9% in the midwest.

> Tough Markets such as Broward County in Florida enjoyed 7% appreciation.

"DEAL OR NO DEAL"

Earlier this year I was blessed to have the opportunity to speak at the International Builders Show in Vegas, with famed presenter Charles Clark III, and the topic was Negotiating. We had a standing room crowd of people from every facet of new homes.

Here is an overview of what I discussed. Please keep in my mind that the Official New Home Specialist Negotiation System (sm) takes at least a day if not longer to teach and is accompanied by lengthy workbooks with rheems of offical planned dialogues and role playing opportunities. The following is an abbreviated excerpt of the program I taught at the IBS 2009 in Las vegas.

ESSENTIAL RULES OF NEGOTIATION

> Why do customers negotiate?

Typically, ego, pride, peer/media pressure, behavioral style, culture, and to save face, but very rarely out of financial need. Once we understand this, we can realize that negotiating is just a game, and it is our job to give the customer the satisfaction of feeling as though they have won the game, yet we make the sale at an amount we can afford to accept.

8 ESSENTIAL RULES

1) CREATE A WIN-WIN

"We will never fear to negotiate, but we will never negotiate out of fear."

President John F. Kennedy

Dr. Covey defines a win-win situation as being good for both sides. The customer needs to perceive that they receive a great value, but we also need to ensure that our companies, are also comfortable with the proposals that we are submitting. If not it would either be a lose-win, or a win-lose, neither of which is good for you or your customer.

2) Confirm Ownership

There is no point in even beginning a serious negotiation until the customer has confirmed that they are actually interested in buying your home. Otherwise you will be simply negotiating against yourself, and the customer will merely "shop" your low price around town. So the next time a customer asks whether you will negotiate, reply with words to the effect:

SALES GENIUS

"So this is a home you would like to own?'

If they say yes, then continue. If they say no, then don't be afraid to put your papers away, and explain that you will be happy to help them when they are committed to going ahead.

3) NEGOTIATE OTHER THAN PRICE

Once you have established that yours is a home that your customer would like to own, than it is important to make a list of the facts that will impact the sale, that way you can learn to negotiate items other than price.

Here is the checklist of items to confirm before you enter into a negotiation:
1) Going ahead today
2) Home (model type)
3) Home site/location
4) Included features
5) Luxury choices
6) Financing or cash
a) If financing, have they been recently approved by a lender.
b) If cash, do they have proof of funds to close.
7) Amount of Initial investment
8) Move in date
9) Home to sell
10) Anyone else involved in the buying decision
11) Anything else we should know about (no surprises)
(Then last but not least, ...drum roll please)
12) Total Investment

Admit it, before reading this blog, you thought negotiation was, all about price. Look at all the other elements of the sale we need to focus on first.

4) GET TO GIVE

Once you have verified all of the elements of the sale, and have received your customers proposal, If you are able to come back with a counter proposal, it is important that you get something back in return to keep the negotiating experience authentic for the customer and to cause them to appreciate that they are really getting an exceptional value.

For example,
i) Take occupancy two weeks sooner,
ii) Increase the initial investment
iii) Get your loan approved today
iv) Remove some of your luxury Choices

I grew up selling brand new homes in South Florida, where it was expected to negotiate; and frequently found that there were many rounds of “FACE TO FACE” counter proposals, and each time I would get something a little extra back from the customer.

5) START HIGH STAY HIGH, (IF YOU HAVE TO, THEN COME DOWN SLOWLY)

I'm not talking about the seventies here, but instead, shock your customer with your first counter proposal by coming down by a ridiculously small amount. Be sincere and kill your customer with kindness, but your first return salvo will be a shock to them and reeducate them that their original offer was blatantly ridiculous.

6) ALWAYS COUNTER WITH AN ODD NUMBER

Never meet a customer half way, as what accounting school would ever advocate that formula for doing business, and if you are in a position to counter than make it an odd number so that your customer will believe that your accounting management team has labored over the specifics to give them the best possible value.

For example if your asking price was $300,000, and let’s say your customer offers, $250,000.

(After confirming that they would like to own your home, and acting shocked, and asking “How they arrived at that number?”, as well as explaining that you don’t take offers, and talking about the Smart Selling technique of Checkerboard pricing.)

If you come back with a counter proposal “in person”, after confirming that they could move in two weeks sooner a counter proposal of $1,2345.58, would be apprropriate.
(Say cheese, smile and kill them with kindness, smother them with your closing love!)

Be prepared for the customer to be shocked at first, maybe even a little angry. But by you coming down by such a small amount their next counter proposal will be much higher, until you eventually arrive at a figure you are all comfortable with.

7) NEVER COMMIT
Even if you believe you have arrived at an amount that you feel is acceptable to your company, since you are dealing with someone who wants to win the game, of negotiation, then turn the tables, and instead of letting them see you sweat, make them sweat a little.

If you agree or commit too soon they will think that you have been playing a game and will go home and develop a huge case of buyers remorse, or worse still keep shopping your price around town.

Instead have an addendum pre-written for anything less than full price that they have to sign that states;

“Purchaser acknowledges that they are making an offer that is (substantially) less than the published price and that this offer may be rejected for any reason whatsoever.”

Then you ask them,

SALES GENIUS
“This is somewhat unusual, and there is a strong possibility that your proposal will not be accepted as written (pause). With that in mind, would you still like me to turn it in?”

Think about what you have accomplished,
a) They will go home and wait on tender hooks to see if they have been able to win and purchase your home for the price they want, as opposed to continuing to shop around.
b) If you can accept their proposal they will feel like they have won.
c) If you can’t accept their proposal and need to meet them in person to present your counter proposal then at least you have conditioned them for that, as opposed to inadvertently misleading them by causing them to believe that their offer was acceptable.
d) Sometimes they will not want to take the risk of losing their home and will ask you to go back to the original acceptable asking price.

This happened to a great salesperson named Piera in South Bend, Indiana who tried this technique, after her customers Realtor insisted that they make an offer twenty thousand less than the original asking rice. Piera had the customer sign the addendum. That night the customer called and said that she couldn't sleep and could she go back to the original price. Yes you can! One little technique, made the sale sand saved the company twenty thousand dollars!

8) NEVER NEGOTIATE OVER THE PHONE

If you CALL your customer back to give them your counter proposal, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself how they should react. They are at home the kids are screaming, the economy is hurting and their favorite team is losing on the TV, and there you are trying to sell them a home.
Since we agree that Buying is emotion backed by logic, where would the more logical place to present your counter proposal be? Exactly, back in your model.

When they are at their current home and they want you to spill the beans they are focused on one thing and one thing only price. Let’s face it they are not going to live in the price; they are going to live in your brand new home.

So tease them into coming back, by saying:

SALES GENIUS
“I would love to give you that information but it’s a little too complicated,
in order to prevent any misunderstandings we need to meet in person.
Is tomorrow morning at 11:15 good, or the afternoon at 4:45 better?”

For those of you out there thinking what if it’s not complicated, I would venture to say from decades of personal experience that anything communicated electronically, as opposed to in person can and usually will be misunderstood.

So in order for you to keep the experience authentic and to raise their buying temperature back up, when they return grab a clip board and walk them slowly back through the model, and the available home or home site. Act as though you are confirming all of the details, but we know that your will have re-created the emotional urgency necessary for them to now make the buying decision.

Then it is safe to sit down and go through your counter proposal, remembering to confirm all the other facts and end with the total investment.

COACHING TIP

I know that negotiating at this level is not for the faint of heart, and it certainly takes some practice.

Please remember though, that you didn’t start this, your customer did by wanting to make you an offer. If you don’t give them the satisfying experience of playing the “Negotiating Game” convincingly they will continue to make ridiculous offers, and keep you on their treadmill as opposed to you gaining control, and making a sale that results in a win-win for both parties.

ROLAND ON THE ROAD

Back in August, the Charlotte SMC organized a Breakfast where I had the honor of being the speaker for the morning.

The topic, was "How to Communicate, Connect and Close more sales.

We had over eighty eager New Home Sales professionals, who welcomed me with that typical Southern Charm for a great program. While I was there I was able to reconnect with the incredibly positive Sales team from Simonini Builders, pictured below.

Also while I was there I spent a day with our old friends at Shea Homes, America's largest family owned builder. We spent the day working on Advanced Negotiation techniques.

Next Stop Maryland to work with the team at Caruso Homes. After initial training from all of us at The New Home Specialists and a "Fast Track" program with myself; here we are on a Saturday morning working on Model Demo role playing. The photo on the right we are standing on the balcony, overlooking the foyer and the salesperson is asking me for the sale, simply by saying:

"Is this the type of home you'd like to own?". Every single member of the team tried it so that they became completely comfortable asking simple but effective closing questions.

Here is a picture of compnay owner, Jeff Caruso and myself at a Washington Redskins game. Who said travel wasn't fun?

Next stop Fayetteville, North Carolina, to continue working with the Caviness and Cates team. Here we are role playing their Closing process.

After training we blew off steam with a night of bowling followed by laser tag. Hailing from Britain, I was a little confused, and tried to kick the ball!

Just last week, I was once again with our pals at Ideal homes in Norman, Oklohoma. The topic was Appointment Setting and then we worked on their Hot Prospects which we call Customer in Process (CIP). They are on track for almost a record setting year and under their fine mangement team are amazing implementers of our processes, and truly a great sales team, acomplishing extraordinary results in this tough market! They have actually increased their market share. We are very proud of them.

If you would like a free copy of the Cip form, please email me at:

Roland@newhomespecialist.com - CIP FORMS

SALES HEROES

This blogs award goes to Ingrid Prang, a delightful young lady in South Florida, who is selling beach front condominiums for Minto Homes. Ingrid had an appointment with a customer who she hadn't met yet, and gave me a call to strategize how to make the sale. After about an hour long conversation; where I effectively took Ingrid through the Customer in Process (CIP) form, we had our strategy in place. I sent Ingrid an email confirming every last detail. A few days later I recieved a thrilling call from Ingrid, saying that the customer came in with his wife, and bought the home on the first visit at full price for $850,000!!! (Remember this is September 2009 in Florida, not 2005!)

Here is a copy of the email with the strategy, so you can see how much preparedness it takes to succeed at the highest level.

From: Roland Nairnsey Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 3:29 PMTo: Ingrid Subject: Follow up to last nights customer call
Ingrid,
Thanks for calling last night regarding your customer for Villas By the Sea. I am thrilled that you called, as we are truly here as a resource for exactly this purpose to help you strategize, and make those extra sales. As a recap of what we discussed.
Customer Info:
>You have a gentleman interested in a beachfront unit that is in the process of coming back on the market.
>You are asking $865 and he offered $820, which we are unable to accept.,
> He is comparing you to Competitor, which you have done a great job of making his Realtor aware that may not be there to warranty the home or take care of the community guidelines and amenities.
> He may feel that the other unit is larger and has slightly more included features, but unlike yours, it is not directly on the beach front, but is across from the beach.
> He is arriving Sunday night and bringing his wife for the first time to view their unit and our beachfront home and make a decision. He has shared that she is highly emotional, (may be a tiger, expressive).
> They are starting the day with the competitor and ending with you and VBS.
Goal
Since buying is "emotion backed by logic", prepare a presentation that will be highly emotional for the wife, and cause him to see the incredible value he is already getting, so that the sale becomes irresistible; and your meeting culminates in him purchasing at VBS at the correct amount, creating the perfect win-win.
Strategy & Preparation
a) Go over this week at sunrise, and take some photos from the patio of the sun rising over the Ocean and beach and blow them up to large sizes and stick on poster board.
b) Talk to Jack and see if we can figure out how much that home would be to duplicate at today's prices. In other words he was quoted the price it was sold to the previous customer, but what if we were to put it on the market today at full retail, let's hope it should be somewhere in the $900's.
Appointment
a) Meet at your sales office and give them both an animated, detailed, emotional overview of VBS, and there specific OCEANFRONT home, using all the props, and taking them out back to see the beach and dip their toes in the sand. Mention the words "Oceanfront" as much as you can as well as "Quality", "warranty", "Minto care" "financial stability, "peace of mind" as well.
b) Start at the Beach club, and take as long as you can to walk them through every facet of the club, admiring views, and ask them to imagine their twins coming down and enjoying the club with them. Ask them "If they can imagine their family enjoying the beach club this thanksgiving?".
Once they are emotionally involved with the club remind them of the financial stability of Minto and how that will give them peace of mind in knowing that your "Community investment" is very stable, and you won't have any surprises, unlike the uncertainty of the other project that they are looking at.
c) Walk over to their building, stop at the outside and admire the unique architecture of your building, and point out where there home would be.
d) Demonstrate their home, start with going straight back to the patio and spending as much time as humanly possible admiring the OCEANFRONT view. Show them the photos of the sunrise, and ask them "If they could picture waking up to that breathtaking sunrise over their beach every morning?". Also ask them " Wouldn't it be convenient to wake up and go straight down to your beach without having to worry about crossing the street, and at night go for sunset walks on the beach any time you want?"
e) Ask for the sale.
"Do you have any questions before we go back and review the paperwork?"
Followed by ten seconds of profound silence. If they have no objection go back and write it up. If he mentions the price, then say words to the effect of
"I'm so glad you mentioned that, I have something back at the office, regarding this incredible opportunity
which I should have shown you before."
f) When you go back, on your desk, have a written presentation showing what their home should be at today's Retail prices, and what others
coming in would have to pay, and show them their full savings. (If you have confirmed this with Jack first), You can even apologize and say
words to the effect " I really shouldn't have given you that old price, I made a mistake but Jack says if you go ahead today he will honor it."
g) You wait a second and then start filling in the agreement and say :
"How would you like your names to appear on the agreement?"
and start writing.
How does that sound?
Roland

TWO MORE REPEAT HONORABLE MENTIONS

Amy Willey is a past Sales hero. I received this email from her regarding her conversion ratios. Beginning with the end in mind, we must set goals for our selves, and measure, our success, so we know whether we are moving forward and improving or not. Otherwise we are like a rudderless ship. Check out Amy's incredible closing stats!
Roland,

Thanks Roland, I truly appreciate your support! Well the traffic into my community is low, and my conversion ratios are this:

July-- 9 traffic, sold 5 firm homes 55% (All sales were written within week of initial visit)
August--10 traffic, sold 4 firm homes 40%(3sales written within week of initial visit, 1 homeowner referral)September--6 traffic, sold 4 firm homes 66% (1 of these was a contingency that bought in Aug., flipped in Sept. I didn't count the contingency in Aug sales)

I don't like to talk about this, as I don't want to jinx myself, as I am definitely blessed, and I have a sales process from reading your books and putting it together with my mentor, that works.
Best Regards,
Amy

Last but not least is Tonia Abrahamsson who last year was a sales hero by receiving the highest Video shopping score I have ever given, with a whopping 226 out of a possible 250 points. I have been working with her team on Self Generating Qualified Traffic, one of the best sources being Realtors (where budgets allow), and we discussed in detail hosting Realtor Breakfasts. As Nicki Joy says, "It's not what you know, but what you do with what you know". Here is an email I received recently from Tonia:
Hello Roland,
Just wanted to share some exciting news with you.
Artesia has done three Realtor events between end of August and September. To date, we have written 10 purchase agreements between those three offices.
We understand how important it is to reach out to our realtor friends. With the turnover within realtor offices, these regular events always seem to capture a realtor or two that may have not visited our community otherwise.
Hope all is well.
Best Regards,
Tonia

I am very proud of these three incredible sales people, plus all of you out there working so diligently out there in this tough market. Please send me emails with your stories at:
Roland@newhomespecialist.com

Happy Birthday Bob

October 11th is Bob's Birthday. We had a great party in the office. Here he is blowing out the candles on his Miami Dolphins cake!

FREE DOWNLOADS

Remember if you want the audio version of "Deal or no Deal", please write to me at;

roland@newhomespecialist.com - Deal or no Deal.

and/or the Customer in Process (SM) forms (CIP)

roland@newhomespecialist.com - CIP

and I will be happy to send it/them to you.

Last but not least two photos of my beloved son Max, who incredibly is now almost 18 months.

Please write to us with either your questions or success stories.
Meanwhile, stay positive and have a great month of selling
Coach Roland
newhomespecialist.com

There's a new R word in town...RECOVERY

2009-07-17T10:03:00.094-05:00

SALES OF NEW HOMES SURGE

That was the headline all across the country on July 28th, so for those that read last months blog, I hate to gloat but.....I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Since all of us are in the persuasion business, where perception is king, it is time for us to jump on the bandwagon with gusto and help our customers understand that "Now" truly is the perfect time to buy. While the good times may not return the way they were a few years ago, most experts agree that this seems to be the "beggining of the end" of the recession.

Last month I posted some facts that we could use in our dialogue with our customers, so here are the latest facts.

> Sales of new homes in June jumped 11% from May.

> It was the third month in a row of higher sales, and the most robust sales pace since November.

> Inventories of homes for sale dropped to 8.8 months in June, down from 10.2 months in May and the LOWEST monthly supply since October 2007.

For the record, experts agree that a normal supply of new homes is between six to seven months for a healthy balance between a supply and demand driven market.

Says Bernard Markestien, senior economist at the National Association of Homebuilders

"Evidence is mounting that we have turned the corner for sales, and that is a precursor for a recovery."

There it is my favorite R word, RECOVERY, after my own name of course.

So while the naysayers may depress us with talk of median prices still dropping, and that this may end up being a jobless recovery, and cash for clunkers worked so well they are out of cash, and so on, let's "dare to be different", and all across the selling fields of this great land lets stand up and be counted (Cue military music) and start becoming the voice of optimism, and the purveyors of positivity. Let's start instilling in our customers a sense of urgency that an opportunity like this to invest only comes along "once in a lifetime, and you would hate for them to miss out".

OK, now that is off my chest let me share with you where we have been all across the country, and all of the real world success stories that are happening as we speak.

NEW HOME SPECIALISTS ON THE MOVE

(This is my new photo symbolizing travel, how do you like it? That's me under the wing scratching my head and sobbing, as I realized that I had just lost my luggage for the umpteenth time!)

Here I am with the newest recruits at Minto Communities who are still doing incredibly well in their communities across South Florida, and one in Port St.Lucie. As you will have read in previous blogs we at NHS have been working with Minto for a few years, and they fully believe in hiring candidates with the highest potential, and then allowing us to instill in them our proven sales processes. The management team has recognised that training isn't a one time event, and should be practised continually to keep their sales team sharp and always growing and improving.

As mentioned a few blogs ago, we firmly believe that the real growth spurts for sales skills occur when we get out of the classroom and actually role play skills that we have previously discussed.

Here we are on site, in a gorgeous model numbering a floor plan and preparing exactly what to say to a customer to maximize their involvement, and then we are role playing Closing. Heather is doing a great job of taking me through her recap close, while Lori, Barbara, and Jacqueline look on.

I was just back at Minto with their whole sales team discussing "Adapting for Different Behavioral Styles", and learned that Lori who had been promoted from reception to sales, had already earned two sales, and Barbara was already up to eight sales! Congratulations to the whole team, we are very proud of all of you!

For information on the Recap Close, please write to me at Roland@newhomespecialist.com - Recap Close.

Next stop Annapolis, Maryland. Check out the beautiful scenery!

We just started working with Caruso homes in the Maryland/ Virginia area, so I was in town hosting a recruiting night. We are working closely with them on an accelerated implementation of our systems, so I am going to hold off sharing any more details for the time being, because I know that in a few months we will be bragging about them as the next wonderful success story.

Next stop, Memphis, Tennessee, with the team at Magnolia Homes. Owned by the delightful mother, and son team of Karen and Reggie Garner, and managed very ably by Josh Holley.

This visit we began with Video shop reviews and coaching and then created the training program based upon areas that we all agreed we needed to work on. As a tip, whenever you have elements of shops that are good, it is a wonderful training tool to show those segments (with the salesperson's permission) to other team members, to show them "how it should be done". Actions speak louder than words, as they say.
Here we are watching James Wachob's video shop. James was a sales hero on this blog last fall for his excellent shop, and again his most recent shop didn't disappoint. In Wales (part of great Britain, not the mammal), people name you for your profession such as Billy the Baker, Chris the Cook, Sally the... well you get the idea. From now on I am just going to call him, "James the Closer". James has attended three Boot Camps (sm), and heaps of on going training and is as serious a student of closing as I have ever met. I like to say:

"Your style may cause you to be memorable, but its your process that makes you rich!"

Roland Nairnsey

James has an incredible closing process, so good that if we were running subtitles on the screen, you would hear learned dialogues word for word, yet he makes them seem like his own. Again, great job to James the Closer!

Here we all are at Magnolia Homes having a little pizza break from right to left, are Reggie, Lisa, Andrea, Josh, Karen holding her brand new grandson Shafer, Reggies beautiful wife Jennifer, and her mother.

Next it was Fayeteville, North Carolina for a quick visit with Caviness and Cates to brush up on Model Demo and Closing skills.

They are working hard and getting great results. For the month of July they posted 24 net sales! I am on my way back there next week to work on "Preparing for the main Event" (video shop preparation), Advanced Closing and Closing Role Plays. I have to admit I can't wait as there are many great characters there, and they are always a lot of fun to work with.
After that it was Owensboro, Kentucky, to work with the amazing team at Jagoe Homes. They are doing so well in this tough market that below I have shared the whole story of how we came to work with them, and how they are earning their well deserved success. Here goes;

Jagoe Homes has the WRITE STUFF!Tri-state family Builder builds huge market share by 46%in down economy

If you were to hear about a Builder whose salesteam was Closing1 in 4 customers walking through the door, as of July 2009 would you believe it? Probably not. Well this is exactly the case with Jagoe homes, based in Owensboro Kentucky.

Eight years ago the owners Bill and Scott Jagoe had sought out the services of Bob Schultz and the New Home Specialists, to help give them the sales systems and processes that they realized they needed to create consistency in sales and significance for their family owned business.

After a thorough recruiting process, Dave Crowe was hired to manage the sales team. Dave interestingly came from the funeral monument business and had no prior new homes experience, nor any preconceived notions of how to manage a new home sales team. He was immediately flown to Boca Raton, Florida to consult with Bob Schultz and was thoroughly inculcated into every element of the New Home Specialists proven systems and processes.

Here are Dave Crowe and myself enjoying a mouthwatering dinner at the world famous Moonlite Bar-B-Q. If you are ever in Owensboro you should stop there!Fast forward to the summer of 2009, where of course the United States is suffering through the worst economy since the great depression of 1929, and a strange noise can be heard in Owensboro Kentucky and Evansville Indiana. It is the sound of hammers swinging and homes being built. As competing builders scratch their heads wondering what magic trick has been going on at Jagoe; Jagoe continues to increase its market share, widening the gap between themselves and their competition, with a 46% increase in their core markets.

Says owner Scott Jagoe,
The existing sales team was evaluated, many of whom didn’t make the cut, and many new recruits joined the team by implementing the NHS ten step recruiting process ®. Dave attended Serious Sales Management ® and joined a NHS management mentorship group as well as receiving on going training with the New Home Specialist team. The sales team attended congruent curriculum
based sales training initially with former facilitator Marilyn McVay and then with myself. This included attending Boot Camps (Sm) and on site Smart Start programs (sm), as well as model demo and closing role plays, and in depth Video Shopping coaching and evaluation utilizing the NHS patented system.

Consistent sales success started to blossom, that became sustainable because it had been forged the old fashioned way, though hard work and having the discipline to implement the complete NHS playbook.
Owner Scott Jagoe remembers;
"A few years back when Bob was onsite, a salesperson gave Bob the credit for a sale he had just made. Bob replied, the book and the training are avialable to everyone, your the one that listened, read, tried, and closed YOU GET THE CREDIT."
"We enojoyed a 39% increase in agreements for the first 7 months of 2009, over 20008!"
He continued:
"Our sales team as a whole enjoys a 1 in 4 Closing Ratio, that's not a typo, and we do consider ALL traffic. We keep to the BASICS OF YOUR PROGRAM, sharpen the saw to increase sales skills, and consistently Discover and Close, Discover and Close."
I just had the pleasure of working with the team again at the end of July, to help some new recruits in Louisville get up to speed, as well as a tune up with a few of the existing team.
Scott Jagoe mentions my visit:
"Just last weekend not 24 hours after Roland's training I had a salesperon close on two homes. That salesperson reported to me he used what he learned the prior 3 days from Roland. The bottom line is your program gets results."
In re-tooling their builder story, to add more benefits and involvement questions, they were thrilled to be able to impress their customers with their financial strength while simultaneously creating urgency by being able to say, “That on average approximately a family day is moving into their brand new Jagoe home.”

A bold statement in today’s environment and an accomplishment we are all proud of.

Here we are role playing on site, with Andy, Danielle, Laurie, Dayle, yours truly, Jennifer, Sara and Nathan. Notice Sara demonstrating the homesite with the Soy Bean field in the background, and of course a model demo wouldn't be complete without a famous shower scene demo, to show the spaciousness of course!

SALES HEROES

Christy Dedora

I worked with Christy during a seminar and was impressed with how energetic and engaged she was the whole time. We received this uplifting email, shortly after that which I believe speaks for itself.

From: Chris DeDora

To: Roland Nairnsey

Roland!

I wanted to share with you my experience thus far! I sold 1 my first week here and then 1 each week in the following 4 weeks, so I’ve had a total of 5 sales in my first 6 weeks and I am working on several others. Again, thank you for the awesome training, I refer back to my book and notes often and continue to utilize everything I learned from you! I hope to attend one of your seminars again! I will check the website for upcoming events! Hope you are doing well!

Chris

Chris DeDora
New Home Specialist
Serving All Communities!
Regent Homes

Congratulations to Kristin and Chris for the great job and to all of you working so hard out their and succeeding in this tough market.

I still firmly believe that, "My favorite Attititude is Gratitude", and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to share these great concepts and processes that have helped people improve their careers, and that they take the time to share their victories with all of us, allowing us all to enrich our lives.

By the way look who I ran into at the airport in Washington. Whoever said his personality was like cardboard? For the record, ....Yes you can!

BLOG RECAP

FREE DOWNLOADS

Recap Close

SALES HEROES

Chris DeDora

And finally a few photos of my pride and joy Max. Not only does he play the paino every day, now he likes to play it standing up! Behold the next little Richard!

For any of the free downlaods mentioned or to ask questions and share your success stories, please write to me at Roland@newhomespecialist.com

Happy Selling,

Coach Roland

Newhomespecialist.com

Recovery Is In The Air

2009-06-17T13:53:00.123-05:00

Finally, it seems for the last few months there have been daily drops of good news in the media, and that the emotional mood of the country is starting to slowly shift and become cautiously more optimistic.

For those of us still in Real Estate Sales it is up to us to seek out this positive information, and since we all agree that "Perception is Reality", we have to translate this myriad of complex data simply and effectively, and imbue into our customers that NOW is the perfect time to invest in one of our brand new homes.

It is our job to find these positive articles, and be prepared to refer to them when managing customer's objections about the economy, confirming that now is the right time to buy. On line sources that I check regularly are the Wall Street Journal which is WSJ.com, CCNMoney.com, and the Official NAHB website. Between the three of those sites you should be able to find enough real world positive data, to build your own self confidence, impress your customers, and manage their concerns.

I don't purport to be an economist, but let's first understand what the positive indicators are that are pointing to the fact that we have passed through the bottom (sounds painful), and are moving towards a real recovery.

a) Housing starts increase

Housing starts rose 17.2% in May to a seasonally adjusted level of 532,000 units according to the US Commerce department figures, posting their third monthly increase. Building permits and single family housing starts also rose in May. On the NAHB website the following very helpful information was posted on June 16Th.

Both housing starts and permits were up across every region in May. Starts rose 2 percent in the Northeast, 11.1 percent in the Midwest, 16.8 percent in the South and 28.6 percent in the West. Permits rose 5.7 percent in the Northeast, 8.9 percent in the Midwest, 2.3 percent in the South and 3.8 percent in the West. More information on housing statistics is also available at: http://www.housingeconomics.com/.

b) Inventories are shrinking

The May 28Th headline for CNNMoney.com stated

STEADY HOME SALES COULD BE POSITIVE SIGNAL

April sales are a sign to some economists that the worst of the housing downturn may be over.

This article like many others discussed the facts about home inventories, which is that by the end of April the seasonally adjusted estimate of new homes for sale was 297,000 or a 10.1 month supply at the current sales rate. Down from January where there was a 12.4 months supply.

"This continued reduction in the new homes inventory helps bring supply in line with demand, which is an important step towards the market's recovery" Says NAHB Chief Economist, David Crowe.

April was the 24Th consecutive month in which the number of unsold new homes declined.

c) Positive GDP

The official definition of a a recession, is two consecutive negative quarters of GDP (Gross Domestic product). Research is showing that in spite of a spike in unemployment, economists are predicting that this third quarter will result in positive GDP.

One could say, that while the economy is not yet booming, every month it is becoming less bad.

d) Some of the worse markets are getting better

The three states that led the boom and enjoyed the most appreciation, (Florida, California and Nevada), were also the hardest hit by the economy and have led the nation in foreclosures and short sales. The good news is that these markets are starting to make modest come backs.

For example, even South Florida (where I happen to reside), the Florida Association of Realtors(R) show sales of existing homes and condos continued to post gains in May, the 9Th consecutive month to month increase.

Sales of single family homes were up by 47% in Broward County and 76% in Miami-Dade county compared with May of last year. Even condo sales rose by 25% in Broward and 36% in Miami Dade.

e)The Stock Market enjoys its best quarter since 2003.*

On July 1st, the Wall street Journal reported that; "The Dow closed the second quarter at 8447, up 11% or 838.08 points for the last three months."

They went on to report:

"It was the best quarterly performance for the Dow since the fourth quarter of 2003, early in the last bull market. The quarter marked a period of healing for financial markets around the globe."

The wall street Journal also had a headline on June 16Th

Home Builder Shares Up, Housing Starts Top Street View

The article went on to report: "Shares of home builders traded higher, after housing starts showed further signs of stability in the sector."

Again for the rest of this and other great articles check out WSJ.com. *A word of caution in regards to quoting information about the stock market, as even though it finished the second quarter up, it is still a fairly volatile economic indicator. I have the Dow programmed into my I-phone, and check it regularly. Please do the same thing, and be sure that the Dow is still doing well, before you communicate this benefit to the customer, and potentially end up with egg on your face. So what does all this mean to us, the new home sales professional slugging it out and trying to sell homes out there in the real world?

Firstly, please don't quote my opinion or even your own, instead get in the habit of finding the data, having it available and then quoting "Research shows...".

For in every article that has tinges of positive news there are always warnings and disclaimers. And there are plenty of smart customers out there who are using this economy to justify their ridiculously low offers and will go to war with anyone who attempts to point out that there is a new R word in town, RECOVERY.

The best use of this data is to both use it as a proactively as positive reinforcement for investing now, as well as being prepared when managing objections such as "I don't want to buy now / what if we are not at the bottom of the market?" or "What if the recession gets worse?"

With that in mind, lets quickly recap the 6-Step Formula for Managing Objections. Please remember that very rarely do we make the actual objection go away, instead we can challenge the customer's mindsets and cause their perception to change.

MANAGING OBJECTIONS

1) LISTEN

Listen with empathy not sympathy. Simply say "I hear you". Never agree with the objection.

2) REFLECT AND MINIMIZE

Repeat it back and attempt to make the objection smaller.

"I hear you, you feel the price is a little too high?", "The bedroom is a little too small?" etc.

Often when customers hear the objection repeated, it goes away.

3) QUESTION

This is the most frequently overlooked step. Before we can provide a cure, we have to know specifically what ails our customer. Questioning has three parts:

a) Compliment the objector. i.e., "That's a great question, I am so glad you asked."

b) Preface your question with 'Please help me understand..."

c) Always ask an open ended question, those that begin with "What/ how/ where/when/ tell me/ share with me." etc.

4) ANSWER THE QUESTION

Always with a preplanned answer, and typically either using a "Research Statement" i.e., "Research has shown.." or a "Feel, Felt, Found" / "Third party testimonial" i.e., "Other homeowners, Mr & Mrs Jones, felt the same way but when they moved in they found that..."

5) CONFIRM

"How does that sound/work for you?" etc.

6) MOVE ON

Don't sell past the close. Trust yourself, and move on.

I have Role-Played with many fine sales teams across the country objections regarding the economy. So here is a hypothetical response to an objection such as "I am not sure if we are at the bottom yet / I am concerned about buying in this economy." Etc.

SALES GENIUS (Steps 1 & 2)

I hear you, your a little concerned about the economy?

If the objection persists then continue with step 3

SALES GENIUS (Step 3)

Please help me understand, what are your concerns?

When the buyers respond with words to the effect of, "What if prices continue to go drop, or what if the market gets worse?" then continue with Step 4 and answer the objection.

SALES GENIUS (Step 4 & 5)

I am so glad you mentioned that, it's a great question. (Pause)

Many of our recent home owners here at (Sunny Acres) felt the same way, but have found that their buying power could not be stronger than it is right now.

Our research has shown that there are many real signs that the economy is improving, in fact the Wall Street Journal has reported that housing starts rose nationally in May by over 17%, that national inventories shrank for the 24Th straight month, and the stock market enjoyed its biggest quarterly gain since the last bull market in 2003. Even hardest hit markets like Miami-Dade County in Florida, their single family home sales have increased by 76% over the same month last year. Isn't all of that data incredible?

When you add to this the fact that here at (Sunny Acres) by (ABC Homes) we have re-negotiated with all of our sub-contractors, allowing us to pass on these savings to you, giving you the best value we have ever given! Plus the record setting low interest rates and the little time remaining to take advantage of the eight thousand dollar stimulus tax savings (for first time buyers only), our homeowners have found that there is no better time to invest than right now. Wouldn't you agree?

Let them think, when they agree, simply ask for the sale. So with pen in hand, and paperwork on desk, ask:

SALES GENIUS

Since you agree that now is the perfect time to invest in a brand new (ABC) home here at (Sunny Acres), do you have any other questions before we begin the paperwork?

Then start writing. "Cling, clang" another closer just got their wings!

For the official New Home Specialist Objection worksheet, please email me at: roland@newhomespecialist.com

TRAVELS AROUND THE COUNTRY

Recently I was at The Lake Club, the most prestigious community at Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota, Florida. Here we are with Miranda Oswald and her team, and in the center is Kevin Favre of London Bay Homes, showing very capably how to demonstrate the benefits of their step-in Roman Shower.

Below are the brand new additions to the successful sales team at Minto Communities in South Florida, with their fearless leader, Jack Appleman. A Canadian based builder that we at the New Home Specialists have been privileged to work with for the last few years in Florida, and who last year defied all the odds by selling almost 500 homes in their five Florida locations.

Here is the graduating class of Summer 2009 with their "Smart Start(TM)" Diplomas, after having spent two and a half grueling days with yours truly. Two days later Barbara, standing between myself (the old guy in the blue shirt) and Jack, went back to her community at Olympia in Wellington and sold a brand new home to a customer on their first visit. We at NHS continue to be so proud of all of their hard work and discipline in following our proven systems and for their well deserved continued success.

Next is the terrific team at PMC Homes in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Just looking at the picture has to make you chuckle. I always believe that training should be both fun and interactive, making learning both enjoyable and more meaningful, and this team is always a pleasure to work with.

We spent some time in the classroom recapping Model Demonstration skills, then went out on-site and Role-Played. In the picture below Don is demonstrating to Tina and Lauren the benefits of the over sized back yard, and then the easy to clean shower! They all did exceptionally well. The next day we recapped Advanced Closing Techniques and then we Role- Played what we call "The Closing Game". This is where the salesperson takes me through their step-by-step recap close, and then asks for the sale. The first time I say no. The salesperson has to manage my objection and then ask again using a different closing technique. This happens four times, then on the fifth time I acquiesce and agree to go ahead with the sale. Just like a golfer on a driving range, the idea is to create the muscle memory for closing, so we can be fully prepared when we meet with real customers. Below Theresa is effectively "closing" Courtney and myself.

SALES HEROES

First sales hero is Amy Willey , pictured below with her husband. Amy has been writing to us for months at NHS, asking for training material and downloads and has been using every tool in her artillery to make sales in her tough Maryland market.

Here is an excerpt from an email from Amy,

From: AmyWilley
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 8:00 PM
To: Roland Nairnsey

Roland,

I forgot to give you my May update. I sold two homes in May. One was my model home for a leaseback investment (and it settled in May), and the other was a to be built home to a family I had worked with for two months. They just couldn't make the decision, so I made it for them by sending the contract, and they sent it back with the money. This market brings out all creativity inside of you to get the sales. I will keep you posted on what June brings for me. Thank you for all of your assistance and support. I keep reading Bob's books over and over to get the information ingrained into my brain.

Best Regards,
Amy Willey

As Muhhamed Ali says:

"One who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

Well done to Amy for taking a risk, sending the agreement and being rewarded with the sale.

Next sales hero is Scott Baughman. Scott has worked with us for many years, mainly as a Sales Manager first in Atlanta, and then for Premier Homes in Pueblo and the Springs in Colorado. He has attended four New Home Sales Boot Camps(SM), three Serious Sales Management(SM) programs, as well as various on-site training programs, Role-Playing and video conferences. What makes his story exceptional is the way he has adapted to change and embraced adversity. His sales team was doing well, (in fact last year, Kacey had been a former sales hero of the month). Unfortunately because of the tightening credit market Scott was forced to let his complete sales staff go. In order to help his builder survive, Scott was forced to sit in the model, role up his sleeves and start selling homes. This is what Scott sent to us in an email.

From: scott baughman Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 2:32
PM To: 'Bob Schultz'; Roland Nairnsey, Subject: Thank you...

Dear Bob and Roland –

I just wanted to send you a quick note to say THANK YOU for all of the training on how to sell more new homes – quicker – for more money AND information on how to successfully implement what we learn on the training. I just finished a week with three net sales for the week – So far I am at nine net for the month. I have three more close to writing and I hope to sell at least one more before the end of the day tomorrow.

We are pretty consistently selling between 8 and 10 per month on average using the training that I received and implemented from you.

THANK YOU!

Scott Baughman

PS. The figures I just gave you were for June, in May I sold 7 in the Springs and 6 in Pueblo.

Some were easy some were hard, but the bottom line is that by following the process we got em!

Read more about Scott in an article I wrote for SMI magazine about red hot managers. Hats off to Amy, Scott and all of your working so hard to succeed in this tough market.

FREE DOWNLOADS

Email me at roland@newhomespecialist.com and clarify which dowloads you would like.

>Objection Worksheets

>Red Hot Managers Article

Finally it wouldn't be a real blog from me if there weren't a few pictures of my baby, Max. Time is flying as he is already fourteen months old. I can't believe how madly in love I am with the little fella, and how much I treasure every moment with him.

Please feel free to write to me at Roland@newhomespecialist,com with any comments questions or stories.

Happy Selling!

Coach Roland

NewHomeSpecialist.com

New Microsoft Bing.com Search Engine Takes the # 2 Position

2009-06-10T02:01:00.002-05:00

June 1st 2009 Microsoft launched the new 'Decision Search Engine' intent on improving the way search results are displayed. Commercials on national prime time TV show people speaking random words associated with what others asked them as a way to illustrate the frustration of search results on many search engines. Microsoft launched a YouTube channel with the new search engine to share advertisments - www.YouTube.com/Bing. An example of this includes a commercial where a wife asks about 'Hawaii' and the husband begins saying all types of words that have to do with Hawaii such as 'Hawaii 5-0', surf lingo and other items that would commonly come up on a search engine related to Hawaii.

The Bing.com search engine looks at the context of what users are searching for and then makes a decision on which search results make the most sense to display. With the launch of the new Bing.com search engine Microsoft overtook the # 2 position behind Google temporarily jumping ahead of Yahoo.com with 16.28% of the market share. Yahoo moved down to 10.22% of the market share with Google remaining at 71.47% of the search engine market share according to StatCounter reports June 4th.

Microsoft has launched several new cutting edge technologies in the past few months including Photosynth.net enabling users worldwide to combine images creating extremely detailed 'video like' 3D images online. What remains to be seen is if the Bing.com search engine will be a long term competitor with Yahoo.com or Google.com using intelligent search results and new technologies.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Online Solutions Since 1995
913-814-8844 Office

Role Playing & More Good News

2009-04-06T12:21:00.105-05:00

Congratulations to all of you who are already enjoying a successful start to the year, in spite of the harsh economic realities, and thank you to everyone for your positive feedback regarding last months Good News blog.

Fortunately the good news continues, with many glimmers of hope in the economy, plus all sorts of success stories still streaming in from across the new home sales centers of North America. One of our jobs as new home sales professionals is to find the good news, and then inspire our customers both with our positive outlooks and the positive facts of how investing in one of our brand new homes will benefit them.

As well as showcasing success stories and learning from each other, in this blog we will also focus on the importance of role playing, or what we like to call "Simulated Selling(SM)" for sales professionals.

ROLE-PLAYING

"An ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of preaching".
-Ghandi

As much time as I spend teaching in classrooms and sales centers across the country, I firmly believe that true transformation only occurs when one immediately practices what one has heard
in class.

In the safe setting of a seminar its possible that everything sounds appealing, but the reality of remembering everything and being able to implement is probably remote. The temptation may be to pick and choose concepts sort of like a "smorgasbord", never really ingesting the essential processes and creating lasting growth and systemic change.

However the moment that you take the information and begin to role-play it, is when the processes start to become real, and the outcome will be quantum improvement in your sales skills and of course sales results. As the great Muhammad Ali said:

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
Muhammad Ali

I find as a trainer, that when I watch Mystery Video Shops with you and your team mates, (as a positive training tool!) it is obvious the areas that have been role-played and the areas that haven't. So with that in mind, here are some functional tips on how to role-play, and maximize the benefits You will find that when you role-play you will quickly find the areas that you are strongest in and can reinforce, and also realize the areas that you need the most help.

WHEN TO ROLE-PLAY

Dr. Covey says in "The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People" (I am writing a book called "The Seven Habits Of Fairly Effective People"...well, not really, that would just be silly!), that it takes 21 days of repetition to create or change a habit. That's why the gyms are often full up on the 2nd of January, but if you are not still going by the 23rd of the month then you haven't created the fitness habit yet.

Understanding this, just like personal hygiene or cleaning our teeth, practice needs to become part of our daily regimen. For the record, even though I am English I have very nice teeth and clean them twice a day, thank you very much!

In our profession many of us may work in communities where there is considerable down time between prospects. For me, I was often lucky if I saw any new prospects on a weekday during the steamy Florida summers. With that in mind, we need to set ourselves a schedule of healthy daily activities that will help us stay focused, and positive; as well as increasing sales.

In the last blog, we spoke about self-prospecting, this time we are discussing role-playing and practice. The other major daily activity or course should be a stringent Follow-Through(R) plan. All three of these activities should happen daily, after you have inspected your community, signage and models and gone through your Daily Franchise Checklist.

For a copy of the Daily Franchise Checklist, please email me at roland@newhomespecialist.com

Another optimum time to role-play would be during part of your regular sales meetings. In fact the role-plays should be assigned well in advance, and even posted on the office meeting schedule giving the role-player(s) plenty of time to prepare in advance.

For a copy of a Sales Meeting Agenda, please email me at roland@newhomespecialist.com

The third time to role-play would be one-on-one with your Sales Manager, or sales coach during a weekly visit. We firmly believe that a Sales Manager should spend approximately 70% of their time in the field with the sales team, where the real action is happening so role-playing would be a natural part of that visit.

"Everything is Practice"

-Pele

WHAT TO ROLE-PLAY

I am so glad you asked! I have found the biggest mistake eager role-players make, is to bite off more than they can chew, by starting off with advanced techniques or trying to learn too much at one time. My motto has always been:

KISS (Keep It Simple and Straightforward).

It may not sound so exciting but lets make sure we master the essentials, (the blocking and the tackling, if it were a football practice) before we confuse ourselves with more esoteric material. In Jazz circles there is a saying: "You have to master the tune, before you can improvise".

Therefore the first task you should undertake is to write out the complete sales presentation that would take place in the sales office before going to look at the models. If you have ever attended any of our programs we have the complete template for this in the module titled, "Your Five-Minute Drill(SM), Part IV - Simulated Selling(SM) Experience." It is also available as an accompaniment to our CD series, which we go into detail, on CD #5.

For any of you that have ever been in a play, or a movie it is the same process. Research shows that by writing out your lines yourself, they become embedded far more quickly in your grey matter. I had the good fortune to be speaking at a seminar, in which the widow of the legendary Oscar winning actor Anthony Quinn (Zorba the Greek, Guns of Navarrone etc.) was in the class. She confirmed that Anthony (to his friends) undertook exactly the same process we are discussing, where he would write out his lines and then bold certain words and phrases he wanted to stand out. If it's good enough for Anthony Quinn, it should be good enough for us!

Once you have written out your Simulated Selling(SM) sales presentation then you should learn it one segment at a time. For example:

Greeting, Discovery, Builder Story, Macro and Micro location, Community overview.

Essentially learn the Greeting questions EXACTLY, role-play it perfectly then move on to discovery. Master your discovery questions, the Key C.O.M.M.A. (SM) questions, role-play it perfectly then move on, until you have mastered your complete Simulated Selling(SM) sales presentation.

These five elements of learning, would then combine and become part of your "Seamless Sales Process(SM)".

There is an old phrase, practice makes perfect, this isn't true, as practice just makes permanent. Henry Longhurst said: "They say practice makes perfect. For the vast majority of golfers it merely consolidates imperfection."

So our goal as your coach is to help you realize your potential by practicing perfectly. As the famous football coach Vince Lombardi said:

"Practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

-Vince Lombardi

So, if you are role-playing and it is not going well, then stop take a deep breath and do it over. You will find that by the second and third time of repetition, you will grow in confidence and become more and more self- assured. At New Home Sales Specialists(SM) we have no problem in being "unreasonable", when something so important as your career and long-term success are at stake.

Next work on your Model Demonstration skills. I have worked with many of you in great detail on this topic, and also discussed it my last blog but here is a brief overview:

Take the floor plan of each model and number it in the precise order you want to demo.
Begin with the outside and pick 5 features and benefits, then close it.
Start with a wow, (usually through the front door) and have the customer experience it by asking an involvement question.
"Go the light", create the biggest impact by going to a bright space as quickly as possible leaving smaller rooms to later.
Make it personal by asking about their furniture placement.
Spend plenty of time in the kitchen giving choices to gain involvement, and then let them know, "When we go back to my office I will be happy to make a note of that/price that out."
Ask plenty of small involvement questions, remember the 48 second rule.
"Close as you go", close each major space before you go to the next.
Always close every home you are in. In the model simply ask "Is this the type of home you'd like own?" In the available home "Is this the home you'd like to own?"
If you are not selling the model itself then practice saying "Let's' go look at homesites/available homes etc"; not do you have time or would you like you to go look at homesites.

Next work on Objections. Have your sales team come up with every single objection they hear, make a list of your top ten most frequently heard, and then using the 6 Step Formula for Managing Objections, write them out with the objection, your lead-in question and then your answers. I just returned from London Bay Homes in Naples where we spent a whole day on exactly this, with great results.

Lastly of course, we should practice Closing. Now those of you who are already advanced, know that Closing takes place throughout the sales process, so practicing involvement questions is a terrific role-play.

Since the average human being can only focus for 48 seconds or less, practice sharing a feature and benefit and then capping it with an Involvement question every 48 seconds or less. Try to mix up the questions so they sound fresh, Such as:

"How does that sound/look/feel?"; "How does that work for you?"; "Would that be important to you?"; "What do you think?"; "Does that make sense?"; "So far so good?"; Still with me?"; "Ok?"

"Fair enough?"; "Could(n't) you imagine?"; "Isn't it?"; "Wouldn't you agree?"; "Don't you think?";

And many more.

Many years ago, I created something called "The Closing Game". The idea is that you take me through your recap, close, and then ask me for the sale by saying:

NEW HOME SALES EXPERT

"Do you have any questions before we begin the paperwork?"

You must have the right body language, which is sitting down with a pen in hand and the agreement exposed, so that I understand it is a serious business question.

I will say no, and using the 6 Step Formula you have to manage my objection, and then assumptively close again using a different closing statement. I will say no 4 times and then on the 5th request capitulate and agree to go ahead.

The whole idea is to help you create the muscle memory for Real Closing. I once role-played the closing game with a delightful young man named Josh from Overland Park, Kansas, via video conference. At first I believe Josh was a little thrown off by my obstinacy, and the fact that he had to stretch way out of his comfort zone by asking me for the sale 5 times. Interestingly, later that day he had an appointment come back. He sat the gentleman down to recap and then asked for the sale. The customer said, no. Without flinching, Josh managed his objection and asked again. This went on four times and on the fifth request the customer went ahead with the purchase. He said to Josh that the deciding factor for him was Josh's self confidence and belief that this home was the best opportunity for him. The fact that Josh had practiced and role-played with me his coach, gave him the confidence with the customer to make the saIe. Aah, I hear a bell, as somewhere a closer just got their wings!

We have worked for many years with Ideal Homes in Norman, Oklahoma. The three managers Brian, Bill and Lane, are great implementer's of our systems and constantly keep their sales team accountable, with great effect. At the end of last year I was with them and we role-played The Closing Game. They now do that weekly with each sales person, and in the first three months of this year (2009!!!) they have already sold 107 homes!

Here is a photo of Grant (also a highly skilled professional musician) and his team mates at Ideal Homes role-playing The Closing Game.

Here is what Bill Flemming, one of the Sales Managers at Ideal Homes in Norman, Oklahoma just sent me about role-playing:

We just completed one of the most productive sessions with Roland Nairnsey we have ever had. Our sales team always learns so much from Roland and all of the professionals at New Home Sales Specialists(SM).

Role-playing is always an essential part of our continuous training process at Ideal Homes, especially role-playing closing strategies. Let’s face it; closing is what it’s all about, so role-playing The Close and asking for the sale 5 times in each presentation really helps keep our New Home Sales Consultants sharp and more confident which leads to more sales.

Sometimes we even practice in the form of a game. One very good example is the Objection game. We have each NHC write down the three most common objections they are handling on a daily basis and we throw them into a hat. Each one then takes a turn coming to the front of the room, drawing one of the objections from the hat, and role-playing the objection using the Six Step Process. Believe me, this works. We usually do this in teams and it really gets fun and competitive.
Role-playing is a must to stay ahead of the challenges that we face everyday in New Home Sales, especially with today’s challenging market conditions.

Bill Fleming, Brian Bergerson, Lane Slovecek
Division Managers-Sales, Ideal Homes, Norman, OK

Here is the very skilled and highly energetic sales team at Ideal Homes.

A few years ago when the market was heated up, people looked at me as though I was crazy because there were so many customers, that even asking for the sale once was sometimes a stretch! Now it is back to a more typical market where only those salespeople with these kinds of extreme closing skills will survive.

If at first role-playing is uncfomfortable for you, remember this great quote from seven-time Tour De France winner (and ex-boyfriend of Cheryl Crow) Lance Armstrong.

"Pain is temporary, quitting is forever."
-Lance Armstrong

Do you think he was referring to riding his bike, or dating Cheryl? Hey, don't hate the player hate the game, I merely report the news!

Last month also took me to the charming city of Charlotte to work with the four divisions of Eastwood homes. A very succesful builder in the Carolina's, who has already had an incredible first quarter.

Here is a photo of some of the Eastwood team after the two and half day Smart Start(SM)

Our team is also working with them on a bi-weekly webinar series. So their team is truly serious about creating transformational growth.

Also, I was in picturesque Fayetteville, North Carolina, kicking off our long term program with the sales team of Caviness and Cates.

The sales team is very ably led by Joy Coper in the light blue jacket and were extremely enthusiastic. The tall gentleman in the back is Homer Tyre, and he was one of the first people into Iraq when the War first started. He is a true hero, and to him the worst day in a sales office will never compare to what he has had to endure in the theatre of war.

Lastly, I was in St. Louis participating in a Homebuilders Association program with John Schleimer of Market Perspectives, Richard Elkman of Group Two and Stephen Moore of BSB Design. The subject was Making More Sales In 2009 And Positioning To Thrive Again In 2010.

The program was well attended and very well received. I had the pleasure of reuniting with many sales people, managers and owners whom I have enjoyed working with over the years.

Below is a picture of Cindy, Joann, and Kayla of Fulford Homes. They had attended our New Home Sales Boot Camp(R) in Florida, and then tracked me down at the St. Louis Program. At the New Home Sales Boot Camp(R), Joann, had been fearful of public speaking and she ended up Role-Playing with Bob Schultz himself, and earned a standing ovation from the one hundred plus attendees. (By the way, thanks for the ride back to the airport!)

SALES HEROES

This month I have so many that could be eligible, such as Joann Yanards at Fulford Homes in Illinois for her courage in role-playing, Todd Wiens at Ideal Homes not only for his active participation during training (plus his bright yellow socks!) but for his incredibly personal and impressive follow up, the whole London Bay sales team for their incredible hard work in crafting highly intelligent answers to complicated objections about the economy, and to Chris Dedora at Eastwood Homes for her energy in wanting to turn around her community at Spencer Mountain in Charlotte.

Having said that here is an excerpt from an email from Don B. Lederman of SH Communities at Woodbridge Ranches, In Davie, Florida.

Hi Roland,

Always enjoy spending time with you in the blog-o-sphere. Plenty of great material as usual for those who care to excel, and for those who just simply forgot the basics and need to see the success stories out there today.

Here in Davie, since January 11th, we’ve sold 9 inventory homes, +/- $8.7M, outselling our competition combined 3 to 1 and just about doubling our production of last year. With a new associate and whole new attitude that wraps its arms around every guest that we have, we just have to help them see that this IS the time to buy. Our return guest count, starting January 3rd went from 8 – 9 a week to 23, 28, 19, 21 a week, etc. It’s definitely perking out there and everyone should go to work every day expecting success.

As you know, the background street marketing to Realtors(R), chambers, private schools, smart follow-up, website driven traffic, corporate advertising, creative on-site ‘take-aways’, etc., etc. all help contribute to our overall success. Kelli Shapiro is my ace associate; and covering two sites (one closing out and one well under way) from this office, we also have a sales assistant/administrator, Kelly Lievano, yes I have 2 “Kellies” I guess you could say. Kelli and I are doing a Broker presentation breakfast in Plantation Tuesday morning

All the best,

Don B. Lederman
Sales Manager

So Don and the two Kellies are my first group of Sales Heroes.

The second sales hero is someone who I know personally very well, and shockingly isn't even in New Home Sales (Not fair, I hear you cry!). That person is my sister (nepostism I hear you cry!), Victoria Piccirilli (Born Nairnsey), is one of THE most succcesful Mary Kay salespeople iin the whole country, and just received her second totally free brand new Cadillac. Here is a picture of Vicki and her lovely husband Robert, and my two adorable nephews Charlie and Robert.

Everything that we teach about treating your job as though you owned your franchise, from preparation to prospecting to closing skills to Follow-Through(R) is almost exactly the same with my sisters' daily regimen for success. Since I am older and was there the day she was born, needless to say I am very proud of her.

RECAP

The importance of role-playing.

When to Role-play

How to Role-play

What to Role-Play

SALES HEROES

Honorable mentions to Joann Yanards, Todd Wiens, London Bay Sales team, Chris Dedora, and actual Sales Heroes status to

>Don B. Lederman and Kellie's Shaprio and Lievano.

> Victoria Piccirilli

FREE DOWNLOADS

Daily Franchise Checklist

Seven week Sales Meeting Agenda

email me at Roland@newhomespecialist.com

Finally one more photo of my little Max, who will be ONE-YEAR old on April 24th. Here he is on his first flight, to visit my other sister Abigail, in Huston. As you can see he is all smiles.

Have a great month of Happy Selling, and please keep sending me your success stories and great news.

Coach, Roland Nairnsey

NewHomeSpecialist.com

The Good News Blog

2009-03-04T17:48:00.042-05:00

By ROLAND NAIRNSEY

Are you as fed up with all of the bad news as I am? I thought so.

So with that in mind, here is a blog dedicated solely to good news. If you want to feel negative and are looking to keep company with misery; or would rather continue hearing anxiety inducing stress related stories that cause gnashing of teeth and increases in blood pressure, then this is the wrong site for you.

Instead, I feel it is our job as sales trainers and motivators to lift you up and inspire you with real life success stories from across the World. Firstly, we will hear what happened and where appropriate we will learn exactly what these positive individuals are doing to succeed in these adverse economic conditions.

Please consider this blog a safe haven from the storm. A sanctuary for new home sales people, wherein you can rejuvenate your spirit, recharge your emotional batteries and go out create success for yourself.

Firstly a positive mantra from our friends at PMC homes in Tulsa Oklahoma. As every great motivational book will state, success begins with what you think about. Whether you are quoting Earl Nightingale, Dale Carnegie, Florence Schovel or The Secret, you attract what is first in your mind.

Bo Armentrout, their sales manager heard this phrase from his Superintendent and now it is their tag line that is sent with every email. Here it is;

“At PMC Homes, we choose not to participate in this recession. However, we will lead the recovery.”

I appreciate your interest in PMC Homes and please let me know how I can better serve you to exceed your expectations and earn your personal and referral business.

Best regards,
Bo Armentrout
Sales Manager, Broker, CSP, CRP

Isn’t that a great way to defeat the depression? As the great Gandhi simply stated;

“Be the Change.”

INTERNATIONAL BUILDERS SHOW 2009

The International Builder Show in Las Vegas was a big success, with a larger than expected turnout considering the state of the economy. I had the privilege of speaking at the Sales Rally, as well as on a dynamic program called "Secrets of becoming an Exceptional Closer Now" with the talented speakers John Palumbo and Meredith Oliver, and another program called "Deal or No Deal, secrets of Negotiating Strategies" with the renowned Charles Clarke III.

Here is a photo of myself along with Industry legend Tom Richey, and the other esteemed panelists from the sales rally. They all did a terrific job.

As special treat for all your loyal blogging, we will continue to post a slew of valuable "Free" downloads from the Show. Downloads include PowerPoint's and scripts.The programs are:

"Secrets of becoming an exceptional Closer now"
"Deal or no deal secrets of negotiating strategies!"
"Close more sell more" from the sales Rally
as well as from Bob Schultz's programs:
"Challenges and solutions..opportunities in a changing market"
"Caash in Caash out the new sales strategy to redefine the 50+lifestyle, Buying and selling process"
"Sales is a game" from the Management summit.
PLUS, for the first 50 of you that write to me, the free e-book below, with cutting edge articles from Bob, and one from yours truly.

Write to me at Roland@newhomespecialist.com - Write in The Secret

SUCCESS STORY

Next a success story from the much maligned State of Florida. Minto communities is a company that we at The New Home Specialists have been working with for nearly 2 years, and by remaining focused and methodical in their approach to implementing our systems are continuing to be successful. Please read their success story.

BUILDER IN SOUTH FLORIDA BEATS ALL THE ODDS AND RECEIVES AWARDS FROM INDUSTRY EXPERTS FOR RECORD SETTING YEAR, SELLS NEARLY 500 HOMES IN 08!

If you were to hear that a builder in South Florida sold and closed nearly 500 homes in 2008, would you believe it? Probably not, well the incredible team at Minto Communities has accomplished exactly that.

The management team at Minto realized that every other part of the company was following well defined and clearly documented processes, doing the same with new home sales was a critical next step.

With that in mind they sought out Bob Schultz and the New Home Specialists (NHS) Serious Sales Management system and were also introduced to and implemented their unique trademarked program, the Official New Home Sales Development system.

Through a disciplined structure of on going curriculum based training, consistent and rigorous measurement, evaluation, and follow up, including "role playing" and Video Shop reviews; the Minto sales team has dramatically sharpened its new home sales skills. Also following the NHS ten step recruiting process, exceptional new recruits have joined the team who are coachable, have high energy, and are willing to learn and execute the proven sales processes.

Minto's allegiance to a replicable sales system, coupled with cutting edge, well designed homes in exquisite communities, has been the foundation upon which Minto has built its reputation for over half a century. Combined with carefully conceived pricing strategies, this has been a recipe for sales success. The fact that Minto has been able to accomplish so many sales in these trying economic times, in Florida one of the most difficult states in the entire nation in which to sell homes, has caused other builders to be envious.

In Special recognition of their outstanding achievement, Roland Nairnsey, Senior Vice President of Training and Development at Bob Schultz and the New Home Specialists recently presented some well deserved awards to Minto's New Home professionals. Tonia Abrahamsson won for the best Video Shop, who's shop represented one of the highest scores ever achieved nationally! Lisa Crovato for the best conversion ratio, which was accomplished in the Port St. Lucie market, deemed as one of the most challenging markets nationwide. Sue Bachman for Rookie of the year, after having been recently promoted from the position of new home sales assistant. The entire Minto Florida New Home Sales Team received an award for their outstanding sales performance in 2008 under the direction of Dirk Neumann, Director of Sales.

With its expansion to West-Central Florida, and with the guidance of its new Vice President of Sales and Marketing Jack Appleman, Minto is beginning 2009 where they left off in 2008., Through their synergistic relationship with Bob Schultz and the New Home Specialist team, the company continues to defy the downturn and successfully sell brand new homes!

The Minto team with their awards, on the left is Jack Appleman, then Lisa Crovato, Pam Wilhoit, Tonia Abrahamsson, and Sue Bachman, and their successful teammates.

SALES TRAINING TIPS

Now for some real world sales training tips. that you can implement immediately to create your own success. Sitting around and complaining or worrying doesn't help, as I like to say:

Here is an excerpt form an interview that I did for Builder Radio that aired in February, I believe you will find it helpful.

BuilderRadio interviews Roland Nairnsey, Sr. Vice President of Training and Development, Bob Schultz and The New Home Specialists

Can you teach me how to close more sales?

That seems to be the most often asked question that Roland Nairnsey – and probably every sales trainer and consultant in the housing industry – is asked these days. Roland’s answer is, “Yes. Absolutely. But, you can’t go straight for the close; you first have to earn the right to close.”

Selling is a process that requires skill in order to perform well. The more skillful we become, the more sales we close. It’s as simple as that. Becoming aware of the steps in the process and the skills we need to develop is the first step. One measure of our skill is our conversion ratio.

“First, be aware of your conversion ratio,” says Nairnsey. “It’s somewhat shocking to us that not all sales managers are aware of their sales team’s conversion ratios. So, the first thing you have to do is measure those conversion ratios. That gives you your beginning point; that’s where you start. Then, once you know what that ratio is, you can begin to improve.

Next, we as sales people should be generating our own qualified traffic. The days of waiting for the builder to provide us all our business are gone. There’s a ‘rule of thirds,’ which says that only one third of our business should come from the builder; the other two thirds really should be self-generated.”

Listen to the audio portion of this program to hear Roland Nairnsey describe in detail how these two points are fundamental to closing more sales. Or, continue reading the summary below.

Watch Your Conversion Ratios.What should your closing ration be? Short answer: It depends. It depends on your market and your product, but most importantly, it depends on your selling skills.

Nairnsey shares as an example a salesperson named Ted in South Bend, Indiana, “not a hotbed for home sales, but Ted has a closing ratio of 1:3.6. That means he closes one sale for every 3.6 customers that walk through the door. So, it takes him less than 4 customers to make a sale. Isn’t that amazing? But, he has to do that because he doesn’t have great traffic.”

A 1:4 closing ration may be outstanding, but Ted isn’t an isolated case. Nairnsey works with a relatively new sales team in Loganville, GA who’s members post ratios of between 1:4 and 1:6, and another team in Colorado that averages 1:4.

Nairnsey says that a closing ratio of 1:15 is average, but that many larger builders are seeing ratios of 1:25 or worse. Still, the point is to measure and then improve. “If you’re converting 1:15, the important thing would be to focus on how to improve that. How can you get that down to 1:14, then 1:13 and so on until you get it down to an acceptable level?”

Roland's ‘Sales Tune-Up’

Look at the numbers within the numbers,” he says, in order to find specific ways to improve. In other words, improving our performance in each of the steps of the sales process will lead to an overall improvement in our results. Nairnsey suggests we set the following goals:

Give a Planned Presentation: 100% Everyone that comes in your door should be given a thorough, planned presentation where you are able to learn about the customer and their needs, as well as share information about yourself, your homes and community, and your company.

Demonstration/Guided Model Tour: 90% - 100% Nairnsey emphasizes the need to make this a guided tour so that you can demonstrate how and why this home meets their specific needs and lifestyle. Your goal should be that everyone who received a presentation moves on to take a model tour.

Site on first Visit: 90% If you’re selling in a community, make it your goal to move everyone that takes a tour on to choose a home site. Or, if they have their own site, you should arrange an appointment to visit their site with them. The purpose is to get them to envision their new home on the site. Get them to fall in love with the prospect of living in your home. “You can’t make the sale until you get them to fall in love with your product,” says Nairnsey.

Ask for the sale: 90% Most salespeople let a huge amount of business walk out the door because they simply don’t ask the customer to buy. A closing question that both Nairnsey and Bob Schultz use is, ‘Do you have any questions before we go back and review the paperwork?’

“Then, let them answer ‘No,’ a term buyers are predisposed to use,” he suggests. “Aim for the bulls eye, not just the target.”

Sit down to review terms: 90% “Never negotiate on your feet; always close at your seat,” quips Nairnsey. “So, we’re going to sit down with them for a recap of what you’ve covered,” again, asking for the sale at least 5 – 7 times before moving on to the next step in the process.

Next appointment: 50% - 100% of those who don’t buy on the first visit. If asked properly, an average of 20% or more might buy on the first visit. For those that don’t, 50% of those that come in the door should be booked for a next appointment. “70% of those that leave without a next appointment will never come back,” he says.

“At least let’s get 50% of those that don’t buy on the first visit back for a planning appointment. You must insist upon a next appointment. That’s the kind of emphasis you need to have.”

Follow Through: 100% of those that don’t buy on the first visit. You must be dedicated to an excellent follow through strategy to get as many buyers back to the table as possible.

‘Narrowcasting’ to Generate Traffic

Your typical advertising methods – website, billboards, media, etc., might be called ‘broadcasting.’ That’s certainly appropriate for your company, but individual salespeople should assume responsibility for generating their own leads through a process Nairnsey calls ‘Narrowcasting,’ that is, going after your niche market; knowing who and where your buyers are, and finding ways to connect with them.

Some key areas where salespeople can narrowcast to for leads include:

Realtors
Networking with Realtors.Customers who are brought to you by a Realtor are three times more likely to buy than walk-ins. Cultivate real estate contacts by sponsoring and attending broker breakfasts; join the local Board of Realtors and go to their meetings; make contacts and keep in touch with them on a regular basis; refer business back to them; take excellent care of the customers they bring you.

Referrals. Referral sales are the #1 lead source for home sales and are among the least expensive, easiest to close, and most profitable sales you can make. Nairnsey recommends that sales people ask for referrals…

1. When making the sale - get 4 names at time of purchase

2. At walk-through

3. At closing

4. Current customers – VIP or Ambassador Program

5. Social Events ‘Pick Your Neighbor Event;’ You be social director.

Also narrow cast with:

6.Cancelled Agreements – Situations change, call back every 3 – 6 months

7. Zip code analysis

8. Rental communities

9. Local businesses – HR departments at factories, hospitals, police, etc.

10. Clubs and Organizations – Chamber of Commerce, BBB, etc.

Nairnsey began selling homes in 1983, during a housing market similar to the one we see today. He credits those tough markets with giving him the impetus to take control of his sales by getting the training to develop the skills required to survive the tough times and thrive in the boom times.

MORE SUCCESS STORIES

This was an email from Carmen Ware Sales Manager at Olthof Homes in Schereville Indiana,

Just wanted to let you know that we have sold 36 homes since the beginning of the year. Can you believe it! That’s better than we did last January and February. I don’t want to brag, but I think it may be because I am running things my way.

Carmen Ware
Olthof

Another manager who works very hard at his total process to the same extent that Carmen Ware does is Scott Baughman. Here is an email from him with sales tips included.

Roland –
In what started off a challenging year for Premier and other home builders we seem to be on pace to sell about 8 per month – net – in the first quarter.

I attribute our success to the following factors:

1) A builder (Company Owner) who understands the realities of the market and has priced our available inventory in line with what the market dictates that we should be priced at.

2) A mortgage company that continues to provide service above and beyond to our buyers and – by extension – to us as a seller. When they give a “green light” – usually on the same day as we write the agreement we know that there is a 99% chance that the transaction will close.

3) And finally, a sales process that works. A sales process that I learned from Bob Schultz and the New Home Specialists. Bob – you and Roland have shared everything from the basics of the process to very high level ‘mastery’ skills I have worked hard to first of all get it and understand it. Then, to share it with sales people that I have worked with in such a way that they get it and benefit from it. Using this information I helped the first builder group that I worked with in Georgia go from a virtual start up to sales of close to 600 homes per year – in 4 short years. The second builder I worked with doubled sales from close to 750 to almost 1500 in one year (2005). Here at Premier Homes sales have increased over 300% in the three full years that I have been here using the New Home Specialist systems. As a side note 300% - I think – would be a great accomplishment in any market but when you consider the kind of market that we have been in for 2006, 2007, and 2008 it is remarkable. The process (and the ability to teach, coach, and train sales people on how to implement it) while not successful 100% of the time – and what is – works more of the time than anything else I have ever tried. From the self prospecting techniques that sales people use to generate their own traffic to everything that they do with that traffic (qualifying, model demo, available home demo, available home site demo, recap close, advantages of home ownership, secrets of mortgage finance, DISC knowledge, follow up when they buy, follow up when they don’t buy, CAP, Cancellation Analysis, goal setting, handling objections, and so much more) once they have generated it helps us get more of the incremental sales that we may have missed if we didn’t use the process.

I am looking forward to my next trip to Florida to refresh my skills in both sales and sales management. This will be my fourth trip to the sales management program and my third trip to the sales program. Even though I have been before – with each return trip I pick up some new idea – some new technique that gives me more insight on how to sell more new homes quicker for more money. I truly believe that the incremental sales that we make more than pays for the investment of the return trip.

Thanks again for everything! I will see you in June at Boot Camp

Interestingly I feataured Carmen and Scott in an articile for NAHB's SMI magazine. For the full article, and more information on the processes that both Carmen and Scott follow to create their consistent success, email me at

Roland@newhomespecialist.com - Type in Red Hot Managers

Now for a few more of you who are continuing to succesfully slug it out in the selling fields of new homes.

From: bobby g

Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 4:18 PM

To: Bo ArmentroutCc: Roland NairnseySubject:

RE: CIP Form

Roland

Out of the 9 families that have come through my community, only 2 of them I was unable to close. Here is a CIP for one of the two.

Thanks,

Bobby Green
PMC Homes

So in other words my modest friend Bobby closed 7 out of 9 customers, or 1 sale per every 1.2 customers walking in the door. Take that recession! Seriously, great job Bobby!!!

The CIP form is of course the ultimate coaching tool that I have referenced in previous emails and is still available to any of you that email at:

Roland@newhomespecialist.com - Type in CIP form.

Next is a very positive email from Tabitha Smith who has just joined Pulte in their Charlotte division. I love the message because in sales we have to take the time to Celebrate our Success.

Roland
By the way I sold a pre-sale yesterday!!!
My second sale with Pulte....and I feel great!

Tabitha Smith
Pulte Homes, the company most trusted to build the places we call home!

As salespeople we must savor our victories; and enjoy our success one sale at a time!

Housing and the economic stimulus bill.

Socrates said:

“Knowledge itself is power”

I believe he also said, "Does this wine taste funny to you?" Ok, so maybe he didn't say that, but back to my point, which is conversely I believe that: “The absence of knowledge causes stress and ultimately dooms one to fail in today’s highly competitive market”.

With that in mind the NAHB recently had on their website a detailed overview of the stimulus package and how each proposal benefits us in the housing industry, written by their NAHB Staff. If you would like a copy email me at:

Roland@newhomespecialist.com - type in NAHB Stimulus Benefits.

The last testimonial is from Buddy Blake a Real Estate Broker for Seacoast Realty, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Buddy’s team represents new home builders. Many of his team have attended our Boot Camps and have always been very eager to learn, and hone their sales skills.

What I love is that Buddy took the time to publicly recognize one of his sales people. As managers we must always remember to “Praise in public, and (if you need to) rebuke in private”. Here is an excerpt of an email from a very happy customer praising sales professional Courtney Pridgen.

Here is the email:

Roland and Bob,

It has been your team's guidance and training that has helped me to become the agent that I am today. Thanks again for the kind words.

Take care, Courtney

Buddy Blake
Coldwell Banker
Wilmington, North Carolina

Forwarded message:
From: Heim 1stLT Carl J. Date:

February 7, 2009 7:2 5:01 PM

ESTTo: Buddy Blake

Subject: Courtney Pines

Sir,

I recently purchased a new home in Courtney Pines. I am writing to let you know how pleased I am with the purchase of my first home as well as the excellent work of Courtney Pridgen.Prior to my decision to purchase this home I spoke with many real estate agents throughout the area. None of them left me with the"warm fuzzy feeling" that I needed to purchase a home. In fact, with a military deployment in my near future I was almost dissuaded completely for fear that I was taking on more than I could handle. That all changedafter meeting Courtney. She explained to me the process of purchasing ahome in Courtney Pines in a manner that I could easily understand (having absolutely no real estate knowledge). Given her manner, professionalism and obvious competence the decision to purchase a home from her was a no-brainer. In short, I walked away from our conversation feeling confident that I would not be taken advantage of or left in the dark on any part of this process. As you can tell, my assumptions were correct. Courtney handled every detail of this purchase with extreme professionalism. She is by far the most knowledgeable real estate professional that I have encountered and was able to answer everyquestion - as stated above, in a manner that I understood, without making me feel like she was dumb-ing down her information.In closing I'd like to re-assert that her knowledge and most importantlyher professionalism are unmatched. In addition her communication skills and overall manner are superb and were the driving force behind my decision to purchase this home. You are extremely fortunate to have her on your staff. I am confident that my words echo the thoughts/feelings of any of her clients. Thank you both for making the purchase of my first home such a simple and exciting experience.

Remember, that buying is "Emotion backed by logic", our customers aren't buying just "sticks and bricks", they are investing in their next home. The tie breaker for them is often the anticipation of the enjoyable experience of having us sales professionals help them.

Great Job Courtney and to Buddy for taking the time to recognize a job well done!

SALES HEROES

There could be so many, as I have such respect for all of you that are staying positive and are hunkering down and working so hard in the toughest market in all of our lifetimes. But of course there are a few sales heroes that standout even in this elite crowd.

Tonia Abrahamson of Minto homes, for having one of THE most outstanding Video shops I have ever seen, and scoring an in incredible 218 out of 250. Coincidentally Tonia is consistently the most successful sales person in her company and during training can been seen lip synching the planned presentation as we work on it, and always has the answers to my complicated sales training questions.

Just as Dr. Covey says in the 8th habit, “Find your voice and inspire others” , Tonia is so effective at implementing her sales process, that she is now training those around her how to improve and become a sales hero like herself.

Secondly are two salespeople from London Bay Homes in Naples Florida, Ed Anderson and Paul Schmidgall.

Ed is a retired insurance agent and instead of spending his twilight years on the golf course decided to sell new homes. He had never sold new homes nor received any training before attending our programs. At the end of the second day of training Ed came in with his complete sales presentation hand written by him. He was a little bleary eyed because he had been up until three in the morning working on it. Talk about commitment! Watching his Video shop in February, Ed did very well at implementing a very effective sales process and received one of the highest scores.

Paul is an interesting character. In his first career Paul was a soldier for the US army. Not just any soldier but the kind that was trained specifically to be dropped behind enemy lines to rescue downed soldiers. So while the rest of us are busy complaining about a bad day at the office, think about what Paul had to go through. In his second career Paul became a trained chef. Now in his third career he has become a new home sales proffesional at London Bay. I have to admit that at times during training Paul would appear at little agitated with my high expressive (mildly waffly)responses to his very serious questions. Since Paul has lived by following proven processes, it is not surprise that he was looking for clear and simple answers to his questions. I had the privilege of watching his video shop in February, and have to share that without a doubt it was THE BEST FIRST shop I have ever seen! He scored a remarkable196 out of 250, and showed real determination in implementing thoroughly the process which he knows will cause his success.

To all of our sales heroes a very heartfelt well done!

RECAP

Sales training tips such as how to:

Measure your conversion ratio
Self generating traffic,
Give yourself a Sales tune up.

SUCCESS STORIES

Bo at PMC Homes in Tulsa
Minto Homes in South Florida
Scott Baughman at Premier Homes in Southern Colorado
Carmen Ware in Schererville Indiana
Bobby Green at PMC Homes in Tulsa
Tabitha Smith at Pulte in Charlotte North Carolina
Buddy Blake and Courtney Pridgen at Coldwell Banker Seacoast Realty, in Wilmington Delaware

SALES HEROES

Tonia Abrahamson at Minto
Ed Anderson and Paul Smidgall at London Bay Homes In Naples

FREE DOWNLOADS

Red Hot Managers – Full article containing management secrets
CIP Form
NAHB Stimulus Package Benefits
IBS 2009 programs

Write to me at roland@newhomespecialist.com and name the downloads you are interested in.

MORE GOOD NEWS

It was my Birthday on February 20th (Same every year, if your thinking of sending me a present). I am not sharing my age so please don't even try! Here I am below being suprised by a cake at the office, and there is Bob Schultz himself eyeing up one of the Cheesecake Factories finest specimens!

Lastly, it wouldn't be my blog if there wasn't a picture of my little lad Max, who is now ten months, and looking very GQ in his grown up duds.

Have a great month, stay positive and keep sending me your success stories.

Happy Selling,

Coach Roland

http://www.newhomespecialist.com/