“The last impression is the lasting impression” 

That’s deep right. It is something to think about in the customer experience.

We just finished our new home.  We designed it, we love it, but the last month was brutal. My wife had a hard time getting past all of the little things going wrong and it created a not-so-fun experience at the end.

That is the lasting impression for us and it will take a while to get that taste out of our mouth.

Attention sales pros! We talk to hundreds of prospects, we sell a lot of homes, we say the same things over and over, it can become robotic. I encourage you (and you too Mike Lyon) to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and do everything you can to make sure they have an enjoyable experience.

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Marketing Solutions for Serious Sales Results

Date: Friday, February 10
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 am
Location: West 312

Description: Three leading industry trainers and speakers have concentrated their new home sales and marketing strategies and techniques into this high-energy, information-packed presentation. With a special focus on online marketing methods, you’ll get an actionable plan that will help you increase your sales traffic, polish your online efforts and revitalize your sales team.

Learning Outcomes:

• Become familiar with the most valuable, innovative and proven online tools to create on-site success, improve budgeting and planning and maximize sales.
• Acquire field-tested, step-by-step techniques for creating online content (at very little cost) to capture the attention of potential home buyers.
• Learn how to create a ‘digital inbound path’ for your prospects that attracts the right buyer – including how to create content that makes you consistently appear at or near the top of search engine results.
• Discover little-known secrets for successfully integrating your online and on-site sales efforts to provide customers with a seamless transition from your website to face-to-face interactions with your sales force – and thus avoid the Internet elimination game.

Speakers: Brian Flook, Mike Lyon, Myers Barnes, MIRM

100 Ideas for Maximizing the Benefits of Your Existing Traffic

Date: Wednesday, February 8
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 am
Location: West 311 G-H

Description: Nearly everything about our market has changed – including the selling environment, the buyer, our products and how we follow up on leads. One old-fashioned rule still applies, however: the unmatched potential in a prospect who has actually walked in the door. In this session, you’ll learn new ways to market, network and follow up to maximize your chances of closing the sale. This course will cover 100 new ideas a builder’s sales team can implement to maximize sales from the traffic they are getting.

Learning Outcomes:

• Appreciate the real value of walk-in prospects, and learn new ways to follow up and close the deal.
• Get insights that will help you achieve measurably better results – whether you’re a CEO, COO, builder, lender or sales or marketing manager.
• Acquire great new ideas your sales team can use immediately to maximize sales from the walk-in traffic you’re already generating.

Speakers: Mike Lyon, Scott Stroud, Shirleen Von HoffmannSimilar Posts:

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I recently had a conversation with a very large home builder about starting an online sales program and they basically said, “Mike, we like to make slow and calculated decisions. We will get there eventually, but we have to wrap our brains around this first.”

What can you say to that logic? All I know is “slow” doesn’t work when it comes to life and business on the Internet. They kinda work like dog years. Every moment counts!

I understand not wanting to make the wrong moves, but moving in some direction is better than doing nothing at all. Don’t allow yourself to succumb to “analysis paralysis”. If you want to reach more customers for less money and to sell more homes, here are five fundamental principles that will enable you to make “no-lose” decisions. (Plus bonus content to dive deeper)

1. Spend More Money on Your Website—Rarely have I found a builder that spends too much money on their website. This tool houses the digital hub of your universe, the virtual model home. You may need a redesign, a new feature, a mobile site, or more exciting content. The investment in your website is the best money you can spend with tremendous ROI! If you question whether putting money here is worthwhile, just compare your website’s unique visitors (using your site analytics) with your walk-in prospects and see which one gets more traffic. With a great site, you will drive more traffic through both your virtual and physical door. It might be time to Build a New Virtual Model Home >>
2. Move More of Your Advertising Budget Online—50% of home shoppers take their very first step by searching online. Compare that to 3% who will pick up a paper and 18% who will call a Realtor. What does this mean? You should be spending your advertising dollars where your prospects are looking. Get as close as you can to allocating 50% of your advertising dollars online.  10% of your budget to online advertising is like trying to spark a fire by rubbing two wet sticks together! If you are wondering how to measure what works, check out this post >>
3. Get a CRM Program That WORKS!—If you don’t have an effective Customer Relationship Management Program …get one. Don’t waste your time trying to make a tired, old clunky CRM system do more than it was designed for. Just ask yourself these questions: Does my CRM make my life easier? Does it automate the follow-up process? Do my salespeople actually use it? Does it track prospects on my website? Will it send mass emails? If the answer to any of these is “NO”, then you need a new system…immediately! Great guest post on CRM here >>
4. Get A Dedicated Responder—Let’s face it. Bad salespeople suck and they just won’t follow up with prospects. Good salespeople may not be able to follow up quickly or frequently enough because they are busy having valuable face time with customers. So you need a system that ensures communication with an interested prospect. Whether you choose a dedicated Online Sales Counselor or an automated responder, make sure all leads are responded to within five minutes or less and receive five to seven contacts in the first month. I guarantee that those prospects are getting better communication from your competition so you need to be on top of this step! Not getting the results you want, see this post on 10 reasons why >>
5. Establish an Online Sales Process—Building homes requires a process. Traditional selling follows a process. If you want sustainable results from your online selling efforts that you can replicate, you need to create and implement a process—from generating leads to follow-up to marketing, You can start by making sure that the first four tips are incorporated! Here is a quick video overview >> 

There you go. Five things that you can put on your board and chase after with Ricky Bobby-like speed. I guarantee, these are good decisions you can make as a company and ones that have never yielded a negative result. Get your new year off to a winning start with these “no lose” tips.

Photo Credit: Claire Wilkerson Similar Posts:

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You know I love Eyejot! It’s a great email tool to help you stand out from your competition. Sending a video email is an invaluable asset to engage your prospects and contacts right off the bat.

Now Eyejot has made it even easier to create engaging content at the spur of the moment. They’ve created the Eyejot Mobile App available in the iTunes App Store. Not only is this great for sending emails, but there’s a new business card feature – Eyejot vCards. Business cards are such a throwaway, but now with this great technology you can save, up to 5 unique vCard videos, and with a few keystrokes and a new contact’s email address your vCard will materialize in their inbox with your downloadable contact information.

But don’t just read it, see it for yourself. Here is my Eyejot video, reviewing the new Eyejot mobile app.

Still not convinced? Here are a few things to know about the new Eyejot iphone app:

• Uses rear or front facing camera to record
• Video is selectable from the photo gallery
• Upload video messages in the background
• Download video messages from the cloud
• Up to 5 minutes of video messaging
• Longer message duration for Eyejot PRO and PRO+ members
• Video Business Cards – Eyejot vCards
• Support for portrait and landscape recording

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One of the reasons I wasn’t gung ho on the idea was because it was too slow (hence, the term “snail mail”). I like fast. The faster, the better.

The other reason that I wasn’t running out to buy note cards was because I’d have to ask someone for their mailing address. That can be awkward, particularly when you’re not yet “there” in the sales relationship.

My preference for this type of follow-up has been to send a video email that included a video tour of the home or a picture of the lot they looked at. A not-so-subtle reminder of what they could have.

Lately, I’ve had a change of heart and been kicking it old school…with a twist. Several apps make it easy to blend smartphone technology with the personal touch of snail mail.

Apple just released an app called “Cards” that lets you take a photo on your iPhone or iPod Touch and turn it into a notecard, with your personal message. You then click on an address in your Contacts list and the card will be printed and mailed, all for just $2.99, including postage! Postagram offers a similar service, producing postcards for 99 cents. You can customize your design and message, and your cards are automatically saved.

It’s fast, personal, and effective!

Think about the cool things you can do:

• Snap a photo of the home your prospect is considering
• Take a picture of a “Sold” sign
• Send a photo of the lot
• Take a picture of steps in the construction process

Yes, you still have to ask them for their address, but it will be a lot easier to obtain when you say, “Hey, can I send you a super cool card with your photo on it?”

Here’s an example of a notecard I produced with the Cards app. I sent this to my wife to encourage her that our new home is almost done. Let me just say, that $2.99 was money well spent!

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“Mike, how do we create emails that will get the attention of our REALTORs®?”

I have been asked this question twice in the past week so I thought I would answer it in a blog post. Ask any real estate agent about their inbox, “oh, you mean that haystack I have to sort through every day. The deep abyss of spam, new listing notifications and Ugandan prince emails ” Let’s face it, most of our inboxes are bursting at the seams. So we click through and delete as many as possible of those that don’t strike our interest. One click, and all the work you put into crafting a newsworthy email blast for your REALTOR® partners has been wasted.

The solution is not to give up on email marketing. Just do it better.

Instead of thinking about what you have to offer a real estate agent, consider the benefit to them. How will your information or advice help them sell more homes? What results can they expect? When you become a trusted advisor, your emails won’t be overlooked.

Here are some ideas to tantalize your enough recipient to open your emails:

1. Highlight the benefit provided to them by your Online Sales Counselor
2. Update them on the latest financing and interest rates and mortgage programs
3. Announce new and coming-soon communities (= new sales opportunities for them)
4. Announce the opening of additional phases (Ditto!)
5. Promote special offers or incentives
6. Highlight builder’s achievements or awards that reinforce the quality their buyers can expect
7. Share new floor plans to demonstrate flexibility and options—something that every buyers welcomes
8. Reinforce the benefits of owning a new home versus a resale home
9. Explain your building process, particularly those points that differentiate this builder from the competition
10. Tell a satisfied customer’s story that underscores the reasons a buyer should select a home by this builder
11. Feature an agent who just sold a home with you and include sales tips from that agent
12. Highlight community or neighborhood events to paint a picture of fun and involvement, not just an individual property
13. Review the strong points of your website—and be sure to embed links for them to get there easily
14. Offer news and statistics about general homebuilding and new construction—agents and buyers love to see how others are faring in their circumstance
15. Send holiday greetings with a personal message (mine just went out today)

Before you click “Send”, put yourself in the recipient’s place and ask yourself, “So what?” Why should they take valuable time to read your email? When your subject line gives them that incentive and your email supports it with great content, only then should you make your way into their crowded inbox.Similar Posts:

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Yup. It’s a start, not a finish. With millions of people relying on their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) to access the Web, you need to think smaller in order to get bigger. (tweet this) According to Google, Web searches conducted via mobile devices have increased 400 percent since 2010. By 2013, Google predicts that more people will use their smartphones than their computers to go online. And, by 2015, there will be one mobile device for every five people on the planet.

Have you looked at your website to see how it looks on a smartphone? It’s a very different view on a small screen. And even if you can see it, does it accommodate the hand-held surfer? Is it “thumb-friendly”? Does your navigation work quickly and easily? How fast does it load? 71 percent of users expect a mobile site to load as fast as a desktop site, and 78 percent will retry two times or less if the site does not load quickly (Compuware). Remember the saying, “You have one chance to make a good first impression”? It was never so true as with mobile sites.

Google launched a helpful site for taking your website mobile: howtogomo.com. Test your current site here to see how mobile-friendly it is, using their mobile emulator (tweet this). Find out how to build (or rebuild) your mobile site.

Check out the case study of Ryland Homes’ site conversion. By investing in building a better website, their mobile registrations increased 300 percent, at a cost of 30 percent less than before they revamped their site. And, since launching in March 2011, Ryland Homes are now seeing home sales that began as leads generated from the mobile site.

Here are three more statistics to consider:

1. 95 percent of mobile device users search for local information on their smartphones;
2. 61 percent call and 59 percent visit a business after finding it on the go; and
3. 90 percent of them act within 24 hours. (tweet this stat)

So, if they can’t find you, where are they going?Similar Posts:

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About the Book:

Secrets of New Home Sales Negotiation, How to Achieve ‘Yes!’ Every Time.

This groundbreaking field manual will become the new best friend to any home-builder, sales manager, or new home salesperson who is weary of losing sales to the deals, discounts and incentives offered by their competitors. Order it today!

Secrets Of New Home Sales Negotiation will help you transform your approach to negotiating and slice through every obstacle – from price phobias to extreme bargain hunters. Apply the tactics and you’ll overcome your need to concede your position by applying field-tested strategies, proven to deliver success with even the toughest home-buyer.

Guaranteed you’ll learn how to:

• Power past Price Resistance
• Overcome your pesky competitors’ deals, discounts, and incentives
• Negotiate global, selling homes to anyone from any culture
• Vaccinate yourself against every known objection
• Apply killer persuasion strategies that close sales like clockwork
• Discover – and AVOID – the biggest negotiation mistake that even hardcore, new home salespeople make in their presentations
• Tap into today’s sales strategies that expand the bottom line

Secrets Of New Home Sales Negotiation will unleash your potential to dramatically increase your income, expand the profitability of each sale, and build a following of satisfied customers. Pick up a copy and watch your sales SOAR!

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Let’s start with some video emails. Those of you who follow my blog know I geek out over eyejot.com. Here is my very first video email, shot in 2008. I can barely watch this. Am I some kind of animatronic robot?

Ok, stop laughing.

Now, here is a video I recently shot to send as a follow-up to 200+ webinar attendees. This was done on the first take.

No, I don’t like the way I am rocking back and forth like I have to go to the bathroom, but overall, it’s much better then the first video, no?

Next up—here you can view one of my first video messages that I shot for YouTube.

I asked for feedback on this, and here were some of the responses: “Why are you so quiet? Are their kids sleeping in the office next to you?” and “Is there a reason why you are whispering?” Lesson learned.

Now, here is a more recent video.

So, pop quiz—What do you think the difference is between the first videos and the more recent ones? The first thing that comes to my mind is confidence. I was nervous in those first videos and it showed, right? Now, I consider myself to be a fairly confident guy, but seeing yourself on camera and using a different medium to communicate a message can be daunting. Watching these first videos makes me cringe, but it’s a good reminder.  I’ve seen very talented public speakers collapse under the pressure of shooting a video. If you are not used to it, it just feels weird.

Do you know what helped me get over that? I just shot a boatload of videos. Practice, practice, practice! I am pushing close to a 1,000 videos via YouTube, streaming webinars, video emails, and public/private trainings. I still have a lot of room for improvement, but now I am much more relaxed and confident.

You will be, too. If you are just starting out, keep at it. If you are nervous, suck it up. If you don’t like the way you look, get over it. I still believe this is one of the biggest game changers in professional selling so get started superstar!

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Are you using old outdated methods to communicate with your prospects? Here I share a story about an encounter with a real estate agent while my wife and I were shopping for a home. She made the choice not to upgrade her process and now her 30 year old business is suffering because of it. Don’t be that agent – don’t get stuck in a rut! Similar Posts:

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