Having been through Creating Urgency and focusing on the Just Looking buyer this dare was a good refresher to get back to prying deeper into this customer.
This is still a challenge because so many people try to use this as a put off. Once you get them into the model and treat them just as you would someone that tells you they need a home immediately the Just Looking customer often opens up and becomes more than a looker.
It’s interesting how many Just Looking buyers want a lot of information about what makes us different, what energy products are we using, etc. They often time seem to be looking for a reason to get in the market.
Really loved this dare. The five questions are perfect for digging into the customers needs. Had one couple that was very evasive and would barely answer the first question but had good success with two others. Opened up the conversation and made them think about where they had been and how much time they had spent NOT making a decision.
Interesting how few when asked about choosing a home today could not answer this question. I think most customers end up confusing themselves and it requires us to re-focus their attention on what their real needs are versus wishes.
I really liked this dare. Getting the customer to open up and explain what their housing needs are is a key to finding the right home for them. Stating back to them the information they provided reassures them that not only are you listening but that you understand what they are really wanting in their new home.
This dare makes you listen and it really helps to take notes. The customer may be a little uncomfortable at first when you write their thoughts down but if you explain to them your intentions they actually appreciate the sincere effort to find the right home.
This is a tough one, recording in not much fun!
The twinkle in the eye is a great way to tell if the buyer is connecting with your product and your presentation. Being excited about your community and product takes additional focus each time a new client walks through the door. I have to constantly kick myself in ther rear to get re-energized about the way we present ourselves and our product.
Listening to my voice and how I change my tone is a real eye opener. I seem to have better success when I slow down and lower volume rather than being all charged up and high energy. I don’t know if this is due to the customers feeling less pressured when I do this or if it by slowng down my presentation is more comfortable for the customer to listent to.
This is a great way of getting people to buy into the home your are presenting. We have been asking customers to step back outside the model and demonstrating the community amenities, elevations, and street scape prior to going back into the model so that we can get their first reaction to our home.
It has worked great for getting feedback and asking people for their opinion is a great way to get them talking. Haven’t found anyone yet that doesn’t want to give their opinion.
I really liked this exercise as it made me more focused on my follow up calls and having a prepared purpose for the call. It forced me to get to the point instead of tap dancing around before getting to the real objective of setting an appointment.
The questions in this particular assignment are great but will be better with a second time visit or with a client that has time to spend doing a longer presentation. Trying to get through these steps on the first visit was difficult for me. I look forward to using this on a second visit with future customres.
Week one started out a little slow and I didn’t have a lot of traffic. Fortunatley by Day 3, 4, 5 in the office things picked up a little and I was able to work more on using the scripts.
Dare 3 was great. Blocking an hour and making myself sit down to make phone calls was much more rewarding than attempting to do follow up throughout the day when it is hard to catch people, you get interrupted by other things going on in the office and its hard to stay focused on the task at hand. I used the last hour of the day, which with it getting dark early is slow for traffic, and had a pretty good success rate of actually getting to talk to clients. I ended up with one appointment that resulted in a sale and several others that got the customers back to the community for additional visits.
Dare 5 was good to make sure I got back to asking the basic questions we tend to get away from or we try to put them in our own sales routine and end up missing them in the conversation. Took a couple of tries to make sure I got all three but once I did this it seemed to help get the customers to open up more, rather than doing the typical feature overload. I think customers were almost taken aback that I was actually asking questions of them that they had not experienced in other sales office visist.
Hopefully Sunday will be busy and I can capture a few more with this weeks scripts.
I am looking forward to this training opportunity. I am very excited about being a part of the first training session as it will be a blast to be involved and help to evolve how this program grows in the future.
Having been in sales my entire life I am constantly looking for ways to improve my ability to persuade people to my point of view. Whether it be in home sales, family issues, involvement with friends and family or in day to day life experiences we are all constantly selling. By improving and sharpening my skills on a regular basis I feel that I am better prepared to handle situations as they arise.
I hope this class will continue my development in being a better persuasive speaker and a better sales person in all facets of my life. Being able to improve in this area is a key to continually setting and reaching new goals. As I set new goals I am constantly questioning myself and how I will be able to attain these higher standards. It is through this type of training that I am able to constantly stay motivated and focused on where I am going, instead of trying to figure out what happened in the past that I cannot change.
Regarding new home sales in particular I hope to improve on my ability to take the Just Looking customer and converting them into true home buyers. This has always been the largest segment of the shopping public and if we can learn how to convert them then our ability to sell more homes will go up astonomically.
I look forward to sharing and learning from each of you in the class.
Follow me as I begin the 40 Day Sales Dare beginning in early November!
