Swimming Naked... or Returning to New Home Selling Fundamentals
September 11, 2007
What do I do now? We’re hearing builders ask this question everywhere. We’re roughly two years into the current housing industry predicament and the NAHB leadership at the Seattle Fall Boards says this downturn may still have some bite. According to a presentation by Bernard Markstein III, NAHB Staff Vice President; the “NAHB forecasts residential bottoming in the first half of 2008.” So what do you do now?
I believe there’s only one way out of the crisis besides riding it out: smart sales and marketing. This is no time to pull back or as some have said, pull out. The market is what it is and you need to make the best of it in order to enjoy the good times that will inevitably come. Oftentimes, opportunities are lurking behind a crisis. Today I’d like to talk about the sales team and their capacity to lead us again.
I am often requested by builders to look at a market or specific product and offer advice that will “pick up sales.” I am always amazed at what I find. Most of the time the answers are quite obvious and simple to remedy. I recently visited a builder’s community to assess the reasons behind the lack of sales. The answers were so obvious; I wasn’t sure how they didn’t see them. Warren Buffet once said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.” Too often builders are swimming naked and don’t even know it. Somewhere in the sales process you’ve been exposed and you may not even recognize it.
Let’s talk about how to trust our sales team and how they need to lead us. In years past, when the market sank, sales teams rose to the occasion and led the way out. Here’s what my friend Bonnie Alfriend, a nationally recognized sales trainer and consultant, recently said, “Normally, sales people lead us out when the market falls short of our expectations, this time I’m seeing them lagging behind.” I’m convinced they need to lead us once again.
When asked to review a community and assess the situation, the last place I am inclined to point my finger is the sales person. But, we can never overlook this essential link in the new home marketing program. I recently sat around a table with several leading new home sales and marketing consultants. There was an overwhelming consensus that some sales people are spoiled. There you go, I said it. I don’t mean spoiled like a brat who always gets what they want. But, if you entered the building industry as a sales person between 2000 and early 2005, you are potentially experiencing sales shock – or should I say lack of sales shock. You’ve only ever experienced the best market we have seen… ever! You may be a great sales person, but now you need to begin using the sales tools at your disposal more than ever. If you’re not a CSP or a MIRM, there’s never been a better time to step up and take the classes offered by the NAHB.
I offer three suggestions. All three are proven fundamentals that you likely know, but haven’t needed to practice in quite some time.
The first step is to take the time to really understand your buyers. I’m not talking the sidewalk assessment (summing them up based on their cloths, car, and attitude); I mean you evaluate every buyer and every visitor and take notes. You need to know who is buying your homes today, which have bought your homes in the past, and equally as important, who isn’t buying your homes. Buyer preferences, motivations, and buying practices are changing daily and you need to understand your buyer in order to sell to them. I believe that buyers who visit your model are more prepared to buy than ever. That’s for another blog.
Secondly, everyone needs to accept that the marketing department isn’t solely responsible for sending qualified leads. Yes, they’re tasked with delivering qualified traffic. But, you are tasked with selling homes, and that means if times are tough, you prospect as well as sell. You interact with hundreds of people on a regular basis. From your child’s school to Rotary to your church, you interact with “prospects” every day. Leads are rarely the problem, exerting the energy to pursue them strategically is! It’s time to revisit prospecting and networking as critical sales tools.
Lastly, sales people need to be able see through the CNN, MSNBC and all the other gloom and doom reporting. Interest rates are great. Job growth – at least for now – is holding. And, prices have stabilized in most markets. Historically the sales and marketing teams are the leaders that lead us out of tough times. This time can be no different. Every sales person needs to go back to the basic selling skills they have learned, apply them and sell us out of this mess.
The maxim goes, “Tough seas make a good sailor.” These are tough times, but we’ve seen them before and the sales people who persevere and go the extra miles will continue to sell homes in spite of the national, regional or even local market. Now that the tide has receded on our glory days of selling homes, don’t lose sight of the basics and you won’t be caught swimming naked,
Best of luck.
Brian Flook, MIRM
What do I do now? We’re hearing builders ask this question everywhere. We’re roughly two years into the current housing industry predicament and the NAHB leadership at the Seattle Fall Boards says this downturn may still have some bite. According to a presentation by Bernard Markstein III, NAHB Staff Vice President; the “NAHB forecasts residential bottoming in the first half of 2008.” So what do you do now?
I believe there’s only one way out of the crisis besides riding it out: smart sales and marketing. This is no time to pull back or as some have said, pull out. The market is what it is and you need to make the best of it in order to enjoy the good times that will inevitably come. Oftentimes, opportunities are lurking behind a crisis. Today I’d like to talk about the sales team and their capacity to lead us again.
I am often requested by builders to look at a market or specific product and offer advice that will “pick up sales.” I am always amazed at what I find. Most of the time the answers are quite obvious and simple to remedy. I recently visited a builder’s community to assess the reasons behind the lack of sales. The answers were so obvious; I wasn’t sure how they didn’t see them. Warren Buffet once said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.” Too often builders are swimming naked and don’t even know it. Somewhere in the sales process you’ve been exposed and you may not even recognize it.
Let’s talk about how to trust our sales team and how they need to lead us. In years past, when the market sank, sales teams rose to the occasion and led the way out. Here’s what my friend Bonnie Alfriend, a nationally recognized sales trainer and consultant, recently said, “Normally, sales people lead us out when the market falls short of our expectations, this time I’m seeing them lagging behind.” I’m convinced they need to lead us once again.
When asked to review a community and assess the situation, the last place I am inclined to point my finger is the sales person. But, we can never overlook this essential link in the new home marketing program. I recently sat around a table with several leading new home sales and marketing consultants. There was an overwhelming consensus that some sales people are spoiled. There you go, I said it. I don’t mean spoiled like a brat who always gets what they want. But, if you entered the building industry as a sales person between 2000 and early 2005, you are potentially experiencing sales shock – or should I say lack of sales shock. You’ve only ever experienced the best market we have seen… ever! You may be a great sales person, but now you need to begin using the sales tools at your disposal more than ever. If you’re not a CSP or a MIRM, there’s never been a better time to step up and take the classes offered by the NAHB.
I offer three suggestions. All three are proven fundamentals that you likely know, but haven’t needed to practice in quite some time.
The first step is to take the time to really understand your buyers. I’m not talking the sidewalk assessment (summing them up based on their cloths, car, and attitude); I mean you evaluate every buyer and every visitor and take notes. You need to know who is buying your homes today, which have bought your homes in the past, and equally as important, who isn’t buying your homes. Buyer preferences, motivations, and buying practices are changing daily and you need to understand your buyer in order to sell to them. I believe that buyers who visit your model are more prepared to buy than ever. That’s for another blog.
Secondly, everyone needs to accept that the marketing department isn’t solely responsible for sending qualified leads. Yes, they’re tasked with delivering qualified traffic. But, you are tasked with selling homes, and that means if times are tough, you prospect as well as sell. You interact with hundreds of people on a regular basis. From your child’s school to Rotary to your church, you interact with “prospects” every day. Leads are rarely the problem, exerting the energy to pursue them strategically is! It’s time to revisit prospecting and networking as critical sales tools.
Lastly, sales people need to be able see through the CNN, MSNBC and all the other gloom and doom reporting. Interest rates are great. Job growth – at least for now – is holding. And, prices have stabilized in most markets. Historically the sales and marketing teams are the leaders that lead us out of tough times. This time can be no different. Every sales person needs to go back to the basic selling skills they have learned, apply them and sell us out of this mess.
The maxim goes, “Tough seas make a good sailor.” These are tough times, but we’ve seen them before and the sales people who persevere and go the extra miles will continue to sell homes in spite of the national, regional or even local market. Now that the tide has receded on our glory days of selling homes, don’t lose sight of the basics and you won’t be caught swimming naked,
Best of luck.
Brian Flook, MIRM
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