Video Mystery Shopping: Who’s ‘searching’ for you? And, what will they find?

Meet Yafet! My 'Sales Rock Star' from Indonesia!

I want to introduce you to my new friend. His name is Yafet Kristanto Antonius and he lives in Indonesia. He is also a realtor with ERA Real Estate.

Now, like many realtors and new home sales associates, Yafet wanted to brush up on his sales skills, improve his conversion rate, and increase his business. He realized he needed training tools that would help him succeed in his quest! So, one night Yafet was searching on-line for a resource that would help him accomplish his goals. He conducted several internet searches using the words ‘sales training for real estate’ and guess whose name popped up on his screen? Melinda Brody and Company!

A half a world away, Yafet made a decision to purchase my 5 Star Training DVD set. He ordered the program through my website and we happily sent it to him.

If you had asked me 10 years ago if I had any clients in Indonesia, I would have probably looked at you like you were crazy! Indonesia???  Are you kidding me? But, now, it is a different story! Our world has become much smaller than it was 10 years ago!

Let me share with you a bit about my new friend’s homeland – the Republic of Indonesia. It is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania.  Indonesia is an  archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has  33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world’s fourth most populous country. Humm, ya think they MIGHT sell a lot of real estate and new homes over there? Of course they do!

My point is, with all of the fancy technology available today, whether you like it or not, you, your builder, and your new home community have gone global. (And if you haven’t, you better believe your competitors have!) Your prospects and clients can come from anywhere in the world! Don’t limit your thinking and marketing to your local geographic area.

Once a prospect finds you on the internet, you want to be sure that you have enough information on-line that will allow them to learn more about you, your builder and your community. Here are four tips to get you started:

1. Create a community facebook page
2. Open a twitter account
3. Utilize your Linked in account
4. Learn simple, easy SEO tactics that will get you found quickly

You never know WHO might be looking for a new home in your community and WHERE they will be coming from. But, if you don’t have a strong on-line presence one thing is certain….they will never, ever find you!

As for me, I was so excited to have met Yafet through the internet, that in addition to the 5 Star Selling program he ordered, I sent him a free ‘Sales Rock Star’ t-shirt! He was kind enough to model it for me so I could share it with you! You never know, Indonesia just might become part of the 2012 Back in Black Tour!

Video Mystery Shopping Tip: Create a ‘buzz’ in your neighborhood! (Eat MORE Pizza!)

As some of you know, I have been on a fitness kick for the past several months. This includes eating properly (plenty of protein!), drinking enough water each day to quench a camel’s thirst for a year, and EXERCISING! While I enjoy exercising, I often seem to have a difficult time squeezing in a good work-out into my day. When I get busy, exercising is usually the first item that I cut from my schedule in order to get all my other tasks done.  Sound familiar?

I know I am not the only person who does this, and I whole-heartedly believe that the health and fitness industry fully understands this as well. This is why I was so impressed with the marketing strategy that Planet Fitness  introduced to keep its clients coming back for more!

On the first Monday of each month Planet Fitness hosts a ‘pizza’ night! That’s right! Come in, work your butt off at the gym, and then enjoy a calorie laden, cheesy, yummy slice of pizza! And, if you aren’t a pizza fan, you can also visit Planet Fitness on the second Tuesday of the month when they host a bagel, cream cheese, and coffee event!

Now, at first this marketing strategy might seem a bit like an oxymoron, but the proof is in the pudding (or in this case, the pizza crust!). The gym is packed on the nights the events are held!  Planet Fitness has created a ‘buzz’ that is helping them retain current clients AND attract new clients. So, what does this mean to those of us in new home sales? It means that there is an opportunity for us to do the same thing for our builder and our new home communities.

Once you realize HOW to tap into your current homeowners to get them to start talking about YOU, you create a buzz that is sure to reward you with referrals, resulting in more new home sales!

Here are some suggestions to ‘create a buzz’ among your current homeowners!

1. Plan a pizza/movie night at your community clubhouse and have your owners invite their friends to join them.
2. Ask your interior decorator (or your design center manager) to conduct a mini-workshop for your homeowners in the model that focuses on designer tips and trends.
3. Plan a pool party or bar-b-q for you homeowners and again, as them to bring a friend.
4. Offer your current homeowners a $10 Starbucks gift card for every ‘friend or family member’ they refer to your community.
5. Hire a clown or face-painter to come out on a Saturday afternoon to entertain the children that live in your community!

 There are literally hundreds of creative (and inexpensive!) ways to create a buzz about YOUR community! Get the neighbors involved and happy, and I promise you they will tell their friends about it!

Video Mystery Shopping Tip: The QUEST for ‘The Perfect’ outfit!

Last week I went shopping with my bff Ruth. I was on a mission to find ‘The Perfect’ outfit for my speaking presentation next month at the International Builder’s Show. I had some idea of what I was looking for, I knew the price range I wanted to stay within, and I was pretty sure I wanted to buy my outfit at Ann Taylor. However, I decided to pop into another women’s boutique on the way to Ann Taylor, just to check out my options.

As Ruth and I walked into the boutique we were immediately accosted by an overly aggressive female sales representative! She started talking to us about the fantastic sale that was taking place and how we could save over 50% on select items! Funny, she never asked us ‘what’ it was we were looking for. So, how could she know where to direct us? She told us her name, several times, but never asked us for our names or any other information!  It was pretty obvious that she was a *commission* only employee! Her job was to sell, sell, sell….and it didn’t matter what! Ruth and I were immediately turned off, and quickly snuck out of the store hoping ‘Miss Aggressive’ wouldn’t notice our departure and come chasing after us!

Or next stop was Ann Taylor. We entered the store and were greeted by Ginger, who politely introduced herself to us and began asking questions as to the reason for our visit. She spent time getting to know us, what we were looking to purchase, etc. After about 5 minutes of questioning and listening, Ginger led us to a rack of clothing and there it was……‘The Perfect’ outfit…and it was on sale for 25% off! But, here’s the kicker, I would have bought the dress at full price, because it was EXACTLY what I was looking for! And, the only way Ginger could have known this was through effective questioning and listening to my responses.

Does this experience sound familiar to you? My shopping excursion is not much different from what happens when your prospects arrive at your new home sales office. They have come in with an idea of what they are looking for, they know what their general price range is, and have selected the builders they want to visit. So, let me ask you…..is your sales presentation more like Ginger’s or Miss Aggressive’s?  Do you take the time to really listen to your prospects to understand what it is they are looking for or do you just try to *sell* them on what you have available?

By the way, if you want to see my ‘Perfect’ outfit (and attend a GREAT sales rally!), be sure to attend the International Builder’s Show on February 9^th! See you there!

Video Mystery Shopping Tip: To buy, or not to buy….that is the question! What is the answer?

How many times have you been faced with this situation? Two prospective buyers enter your sales office. You happily demonstrate your model (they LOVE it!), show them an available home site (it’s PERFECT for them!), explain the benefits of your community (it has EVERYTHING they want!), and then when you try to get them to move forward on the purchase of their new home they politely explain to you that they are probably just going to make a few improvements to their current home instead.

Your jaw drops, your heart sinks, you realize you have just lost the deal. But instead of losing the deal to the new home builder down the street, you have lost it to the 25-year-old home they are currently living in! Grrrrrr! What is WRONG with these people? Can’t they see the ‘obvious’ reasons for buying a brand new home???

Well, in most cases, the answer is YES! But, the challenge for you is to guide them through the process and explain (and affirm) to them that purchasing a new home is their best option. So, how do you do this? Well, one thing you don’t do is shout out: You idiots! Can’t you see that buying a brand new home is the right choice????

As I have said before many times, people BUY on emotion and justify with LOGIC.  That 25-year-old home your prospects are currently living in is much more than old ‘sticks and bricks’ to them. It is a scrapbook of life’s memories! So, your challenge is to create a new (and improved) scrapbook for them! In other words, you have to get them to emotionally ‘fall in love’ with your product. How do you do this? You ‘romance’ the home! Your prospects have to visualize actually living in the home and the community. Once they form this emotional bond and can really ‘see’ themselves enjoying the home, the community and the home site, it is much easier to ‘let go’ of the past and start planning for the future….in THEIR new home!

The best way to do this is by using trial closes through a strategic questioning process. As you go through the home, engage your prospects! Before you get started, ask them WHAT they love about their current home and what they would change about it. This answer alone will provide you with key information that will help you structure your sales presentation to their specific needs and wants. But, you have to really listen and understand what they are telling you. As you are demonstrating the model, use this information as reinforcement. As you tour each room of the model, ask them HOW they would use the space, WHERE they would place their furniture, WHAT they like best about the layout. Engage, engage, engage….the more involved they become with the house, the more they are starting to visualize themselves living their! Paint a beautiful picture for them of what their lives will REALLY look like if they chose to live in the spacious 4 bedroom Winslow model on the wooded, oversized, corner home site #36 in the beautiful, gated Willow Lakes Reserve community! Allow your prospects to FALL in LOVE!

Video Mystery Shopping: Stay Connected with Your ‘A’ Team – the REALTORS!

You know, one of the great mysteries to me in the new home industry is why there is oftentimes a huge disconnect  between new home sales associates and Realtors. It’s as if they live on two different planets yet have one common goal – to sell houses!

Your Realtors are a vital part of your marketing plan! They are your ‘A’ team! They have the clients, you have the product! The quicker you realize this and begin to build a marketing system that includes your real estate comrades the quicker you will sell new homes.

Let’s look at the facts for a moment, shall we? As a new home sales associate, you spend a great deal of your time in your sales office…..waiting (and praying) for walk in traffic, correct? A general real estate agent typically spends a great deal of their time on the streets, showing clients potential homes for purchase…..OK, call me crazy, but doesn’t it make sense to have the REALTORS show their CLIENTS your new homes??

Now, let’s look at it from the Realtor’s perspective. A Realtor gets paid a commission once a home closes.  They do not make money ‘hand-holding’ a buyer through the long (and often tedious) process of closing the home. So, call me crazy, but isn’t a NEW HOME transaction easier, quicker and more cost-effective for the REALTOR? Their client buys your home, and the Realtor gets paid at closing, but they don’t have to be involved in the time-consuming minutia that occurs during the process….that becomes YOUR job.

So, how do we get Realtors to help us ‘sell’ our new homes? Here are 5 quick tips that you can begin using today to increase your Realtor business.

1. Identify the top real estate firms and realtors in your target market area. You need to know WHICH realtors are actually selling homes in your area. Once identified, create a database with their contact information. You have now created your ‘A’ team!
2. Meet & Greet – Now that you know WHO you are targeting, get out there and meet them! Offer to attend a sales meeting at the top real estate firms. Bring some bagels and plenty of collateral materials. And, get specific in your presentation! Let the Realtors know exactly why they should bring their clients to your community.  Better yet, hold an open house at your community so the Realtors can actually see your product.
3. Educate and Engage – Don’t assume your Realtors know everything about your community or the new home sales process. Oftentimes Realtors don’t show new homes because the process (and commission structure) is unfamiliar (and scary) to them. Why not offer to conduct a brief workshop on how the new home process works? Create a partnership with your Realtor ‘A’ team.
4. Keep in touch – Make sure you keep in touch with your Realtor ‘A’ team. I know a new home sales associate that schedules a lunch once a week with a top producing Realtor. It’s all about building relationships! Also, be sure to keep your ‘A’ team posted on events in your community, new inventory homes, special promotions or incentives. Make it EASY for them to sell your product! 
5. Appreciate and thank your Realtor community – Remember, people do business with people that they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. Let your Realtors know that you appreciate their time, their business, and their referrals. Thank them! I know a very successful new home sales associate that gives every realtor who brings a prospective buyer into her sales office a $10 Starbucks gift card. This is a great way to say ‘thank you’ for your business.

Bottom line, Realtors account for a VERY large portion of new home sales, well over 60% in many areas, can you really afford NOT to have a Realtor ‘A’ team in place?

Video Mystery Shopping: The forgotten sales tool – Sell the home site!

Believe it or not, there is a tried and true method to selling a home in the new home industry. It’s a pretty simple formula. If you follow this 4 step program, I promise you that you will see an increase in new home sales!

1. Sell the Builder
2. Sell the Community
3. Sell the Home
4. Sell the Home site

Now, in most cases new home sales people do a pretty good job of selling the builder, the community and the home. However, when it comes to selling the actual home site they often fall short. When selling the other three, the new homes sales associate has a myriad of resources and tools to help with the presentation (a builder’s story, community information and a decked out model!). But, when it comes time to sell the home site (one of the most important pieces of the process) they only have one thing to show – an empty lot!

So, how do we take this barren, boring empty lot and transform it into a super, sexy potential home site for our prospects?  The answer it simple – Visualization!

You have to get your prospects to visualize living on that home site! So, how do you do this? Well, here are a couple of tips:

1. Use the word home site instead of lot. This is a small but significant step in helping your prospects visualize. Which would you rather live on, a ‘lot’ or a ‘home site’?
2. Physically take your prospects out to the home site. You are doing yourself and your prospects a major disservice if you don’t physically walk the home site. Most people can’t visualize what a new home looks like just from looking at just a floor plan; the same is true with the home site. Also, by setting foot on the home site you are establishing a sense of ownership that can’t be garnered looking at a site map.
3. ASK your prospect questions about what they like to do outside. Engaging your prospects on how they would use the outdoor space is the most important thing you can do. Once you find out what it is they like to do outside, you can then paint the picture for them. If they like to garden, point out an area that would be excellent for planting. If they have children, demonstrate how the yard space could accommodate a back yard jungle gym or swing set! Point out the obvious! IE., the beautiful trees or the spacious back yard.
4. Trial close them on the home site. You want your prospects to ‘fall in love’ with the home site the same way they fall in love with the home. Here’s a tip, while you are physically standing in their potential new back yard, ask your prospects if they can “see” themselves enjoying a glass of wine after work while sitting in their back yard watching their children run and play with Fluffy the dog as the sun quietly sets behind the canopy of the trees.

It’s all about visualization and painting that ideal picture for your prospects.

Video Mystery Shopping Tip: Persist but don’t Pester, the sales are in the follow up!

If you have ever been to a car dealership, you KNOW how annoying, frustrating and uncomfortable the experience can be. The moment you walk through the door a salesperson immediately latches on to you and does not let go. This person will do everything within their power to get you to ‘buy’ today! They will throw incentives at you left and right, discuss finance options until you can’t see straight and pretty much promise you their firstborn child if you buy on the spot!

But the most uncomfortable (and pathetic) part of the whole process for me is when you want to leave the dealership and have not purchased a vehicle. Once a salesperson tried to physically block me from walking out the door! And, once I did escape from the dealership (otherwise known as Alcatraz!), the salesperson literally RAN after me screaming ‘what will it take to get you to BUY today?’

Well, not only was I not going to ‘BUY today’, I made the decision not to buy from the dealership for the rest of my life! It was obnoxious! And, it gets better! Once I got home, the salesperson made it his mission in life to call me every other day to see if I was ‘ready’ to buy the car of my dreams…..he even promised to throw in floor mats…. for free! OK, STOP THE MADNESS!

The point of this story is there is a FINE line between being persistent and being a pest! My car salesperson was a PEST! And that was a huge turn off.

So, how do you make a sale without being a PEST? In New Home Sales we are taught to ‘ask for the sale’ – and I totally agree. However, we must also remember that we do not want to cross over from Persistent-land into PEST-ville!

4 Tips to avoid becoming a New Home Sales PEST:

P – Be Persistent, not Pushy. If the prospect is not ready to purchase on the spot, start asking questions! Here are some key questions to ask: 1. WHEN do you plan to make your buying decision? 2. Is there any additional information I can provide to you that will help you make this decision? 3. Are there any obstacles or objections that would stop you from purchasing? 4. Would it be alright if I kept in contact with you?

E – Explain to your prospects HOW the new home sales process works! Let them know what to expect from you in the way of follow-up…and then DO IT. I can’t tell you how many new home sales have been lost due to a sales associate’s lack of follow-up. Follow up is where the majority of new home sales are MADE!

S – Sell the community, the builder, the floor plans, and the home site. Get your prospects to fall in love with each one along the way, so that when you get to the closing, it becomes a natural transition! You aren’t just selling them a home; you are validating what they have already confirmed along the way. This means becoming a master of ‘trial closes’.

T – Take the time to really listen to what your prospect’s needs are. Don’t try to ‘sell’ them something they don’t need. Look at your role as that of a matchmaker and not a sales person. You are trying to determine if your community, builder, floor plans and home sites are a good fit for your prospects. And if so, it makes perfect sense for them to buy from you!

Remember, it’s all about creating value and an emotional attachment, not just selling a home. And the sooner you grasp this concept, the more new homes you will sell. And, no matter what else you do, promise me you won’t go running down the street screaming after your prospects once they leave your model center!

Video Mystery Shopping Tip: My ‘world-famous’ Thanksgiving stuffing FLOPPED! (Or, why your top producer didn’t score well on their Video Mystery Shop)

Last week was Thanksgiving, and as is tradition in my family, I am in charge of making my world-famous Thanksgiving stuffing each year. It is YUMMY and my family loves it! I take great pleasure and pride in my stuffing, so you can imagine the horror and shock I experienced this year when my stuffing was a flop!

I am not sure what happened. I used all of my normal ingredients, cooked it the same way I have for YEARS, and yet something wasn’t quite right….instead of fluffy, melt in your mouth stuffing…I had spongy, stick to the roof of your mouth stuffing! What went wrong??

This experience reminded me of what I oftentimes hear from new home sales managers when they review the shops of their top sales associates and discover that they scored extremely low……they always ask: What went wrong??

So, let me explain a couple of things. We will start with some basic definitions. A ‘top producer’ has the ability and skill set to sell ANYWHERE. A ‘sales associate’ can sell as well, as long as they have an excellent PRODUCT, with great a great PRICE, in an ideal PLACE (Location), and with a nice PROMOTION tied to it. In other words, the product sells itself. Or, as I like to say, even a blind squirrel occasionally finds an acorn.

So many times, new home sales managers confuse their ‘top producer’ with a ‘lucky sales associate’.  So, how can you tell the difference? One of my clients puts his top producers in hard-to-sell situations and offers them an increased commission. A ‘hard-to-sell’ situation might be a community that isn’t ideally geographically located, or a close out community that isn’t generating a lot of traffic. He typically experiences great results with this strategy because a top producer can sell and close anywhere, not just in an ideal environment.

Understanding the difference between a ‘top producer’ and a ‘lucky sales associate’ will help you evaluate the scoring from Video Mystery Shops much more effectively. A video shop is a snapshot meant to give you an overall idea of what is happening in your sales offices. It scores a sales person on the basic skills and techniques needed to sell new homes in this market.

Most true ‘top producers’ WELCOME video shops and look at them as a way to showcase their talents and improve their overall sales performance. A ‘lucky sales associate’ may become offended or insulted by a bad shop, because in a sense, they are being ‘exposed’ to the truth for the first time. A ‘top producer’ can sell and close anywhere and anytime. A ‘lucky sales associate’ cannot.

So, if you get a video shop back for one of your ‘top producers’ and the score is low, I encourage you to dig a little deeper and see if there are certain things happening ‘behind the scenes’ that you may not be aware of. My guess is that your ‘top producer’ is not a ‘top producer’ after all. It may be that they are lucky and have found the proverbial ‘acorn’. If this is the case, it isn’t necessarily a lost cause. Training, coaching, mentoring and additional shops can help to improve the situation.

By using Video Mystery Shopping as a sales and coaching tool, you are giving your top producers and your lucky sales associates a gift. In most cases, how they receive the gift can be very revealing.

PS – in the case of my ‘FLOPPED’ stuffing, I later found out that the oven I used to  cook my stuffing was not working properly and it never heated up to the temperature necessary to create my culinary masterpiece…..I guess it is time to find a ‘new community’ for my world-famous stuffing! It wasn’t quite the ‘top producer’ I thought it had been for all the years!

Video Mystery Shopping Tips: Overselling? Underselling? How to ”mix” the perfect SALES cocktail!

Howard and I were at a party a few weeks ago, and the hostess offered to make me a cocktail prior to dinner. I accepted her gracious invitation and ordered up a vodka/club. A pretty simple drink, vodka and club soda…………not too hard to screw that up!

Anyway, when she returned with my drink I took a little sip and almost fainted! The drink was plenty heavy on the vodka, and way too light on the club soda. There was NO WAY I could drink it. It was just too strong for my taste!

This experience got me thinking about how new home sales associates *create the perfect new home sales cocktail* for their prospects. Most sales people understand the typical ingredients that go into creating the perfect recipe, but are they using the right amount of each ingredient???

New Home Sales Associates are trained to talk about the following during the sales presentation: the community, the floor plans, the home sites, the builder story, financing options and programs, and whatever other *new* program or promotion the builder has going on at the time.  These ingredients, when mixed properly, create the perfect new home *cocktail*! However, like my host at the dinner party last week, some new home sales associates tend to add too much of one ingredient and not enough of another, which can be disastrous!

Each step of the sales presentation is important and deserves to be discussed; however, if you tend to go heavy on some parts and light on the others, you are not creating the perfect ‘mix’. So, how do you manage this process to ensure you are adding just the right amounts of information? For starters, ALWAYS ask the prospects how much time they have to spend with you. This will help you determine how much time to focus in each area. I have seen countless video mystery shops where the sales associate DID NOT ask the prospects’ time frame, and inevitably the prospects had to leave before the sales associate had the opportunity to get through the entire presentation.

I advise sales associates to prepare two variations of their sales presentation: the Cliff Note version and the Standard version.

The Cliff Note version is ideal for those prospects that have less than 30 minutes to spend with you. For example, a prospect that visits your new home community during their lunch hour and does not have the option to stay longer. During this version of the presentation, you will touch on all the key points, and then make sure to set up a follow-up appointment that will allow you to go into more explanation.

The Standard version of your sales presentation is probably the one you are most accustomed to giving. This presentation can last anywhere from 45 – 90 minutes. You have ample time to hit all the key areas of your presentation and do not have to feel rushed.

And, a final note about *creating* the perfect mix during your sales presentation……………ASK QUESTIONS! Find out what your prospects’ hot buttons are and focus on that; however, do not omit other information in order to do so. The builder’s story is just as important as the energy efficiency program, so be sure to add equal amounts of both. Like the vodka/club example…..you have to have the right combination of ALL ingredients in order to create the perfect new home sales cocktail! Cheers!

Video Mystery Shopping Tip: How to spot sales superstars from outside the industry

The other day I was at Macy’s for the ‘One Day Sale’ (you know, the sale they seem to have every month!), anyway, I was looking specifically for a pair of boots. When I went to the shoe department I was greeted warmly by Megan. Megan asked me questions about what I was looking for in my new boots, how and where I planned to use the boots, what my budget was, and a plethora of other relevant questions regarding boots! I was impressed. She then showed me three pair of boots that were in my price range and met my specific needs and wants.

Megan pinpointed exactly what I wanted in my new boots through questioning and listening!

RESULT: I bought the boots! (and a matching leather handbag  that Megan introduced me to!)

After shopping, my girlfriend Ruth and I headed over to Brio’s in Winter Park for a little post-shopping nourishment (plus, I just had to show off my new boots and purse!) Well, our waiter Raphael came over to take our order and tell us about the specials of the day. I was having a hard time deciding what to eat for lunch. Did I want the salmon or did I want to splurge on pasta?? Raphael completely empathized with my dilemma and began telling me more about my two options. He started by asking questions and (more importantly) really listening to my answers! Finally, he said: ‘Melinda (yes, at this point we were on a first name basis), based on what you have told me, it is clear you should order the salmon. It meets your caloric and carbohydrate requirements, it is not as filling as the pasta, and it is simply delicious!’

Raphael had CLOSED me!

RESULT: I ordered the salmon, and left a 30% tip!

Do you think Megan or Raphael would make good new home sales associates? You bet your bottom dollar they would! They had the core skills needed to make a successful new home sales person. If you are a sales manager in the homebuilding industry, you have an opportunity to recruit new home sales professional every place you go. You see, you can typically train someone to be knowledgeable about the process and logistics of new home sales and construction, but you can’t always teach someone how to be a superstar sales person. These special folks have developed  the personality and skill set needed to be outstanding in sales, no matter what they are selling.

It doesn’t matter if they come from the retail industry, the restaurant industry, or the rock & roll industry! What DOES matter is that they have the essential qualities and skills that make them a shining sales superstar!

So, what are the traits you are looking for in a new home sales potential new hire?

1. Ability to ask questions, listen and develop rapport
2. Enthusiastic attitude
3. Excellent Customer Service Skills
4. Strong Closing Skills

So, next time you are out and about, pay close attention to those you come in to contact with. You never know where your next top producer will be found!