Start building your Legacy in 2010

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"

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

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!

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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