Blue M & M's & Betenbough Homes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roland@newhomespecialist.com

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

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

“Tell me more about that.”

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

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

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

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

Remember “Telling is not selling!”

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

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

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

ROLAND ON THE ROAD

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

Sunrise Homes, New Orleans

Sherrick Development, Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Minto Communities, Sun City Center, Florida

Betenbough Homes, Lubbock, Texas

Sales Heroes
From Handbags to Moneybags!

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

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

Thanks,
Gary Wisniewski

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

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

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

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

Truly,

COACH ROLAND

Written By,

Roland Nairnsey

Senior Vice President Training and Development

Bob Schultz and the New Home Sales Specialists

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

Roland@newhomespecialist.com

Newhomespecialist.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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




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

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


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







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

Truly

Coach Roland


www.NewHomeSpecialist.com

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

Tel: 561-368-1151

Roland@newhomespecialist.com