THIS IS MY 52ND POST ON UNDERSTANDING MONEY TOOLS
In this Blog let’s talk about selling as it’s importance in
today’s world to get a job, or to do better in the job we currently have.
Everyday selling is very important whether it is selling yourself, a product or
service.
What brought my attention to this topic? A week ago one of the large
homebuilders told me they adopted a certain book on selling homes and wanted
all the people in their national company to read it, which I also did. In my
opinion it left 95% of true selling out of the picture. I won’t mention the
name of the book or author, in respect for him and his theories.
In light of my finding the book incomplete, I thought I
would hit upon some key points on selling that I have learned over the past 45
years. Sales are sales so it
really doesn’t get outdated much.
There are two types of sales people, one with the born,
innate ability to sell and the trained salesperson. I guess I am of the trained
ilk. I have attended sale’s seminars, been sent to national sale’s seminars,
been forced into sale’s seminars, so you can imagine how dear I am to them.
Each sale’s guru has a gimmick. Many put on costly sale’s seminars because they
can’t make a living in the real world.
Okay, let’s jump into this. I am going to hit on several
basics, some may seem too obvious, but I’ll cover them anyway. First we start
with “you” and selling yourself. Let’s look at the company interview. Take a
look in the mirror, do you like what you see, as the person you are selling to
is going to see you the same way. The competition in the work place is
incredibly tough so a person needs to be one step better.
- Are
you overweight and frumpy, get on a diet. It is proven the leaner more attractive
person makes more money.
- How
is your personal hygiene?
- Women,
are your gray roots showing, have your hair dyed. Men, you might try a little
hair touch-up also. I am not kidding. It is against the law to discriminate
about age, however many companies won’t hire over 50. Companies know exactly
how old you are from resumes and social security numbers.
- Is
your hair clean or brushed?
- If
you are a woman put some make-up on, but not too much.
- Men,
a bit of after-shave is okay, but most people are turned off by too much
perfume or cologne.
- If
you have tattoos cover them up, corporate America is very conservative.
- Dress
appropriately for the interview or the job. You can over dress and under dress.
Dress to your market so they relate. If you are going to an interview and in
the past have done well, it is still best to leave the Gucci purse, or Rolex at
home. You are being interviewed, you want the job, you want the money, you
don’t want the interviewer to be jealous of you, but relate to you. A friend’s
son was recently hired by a large tech company. Once he had the job and inside
his working environment I was surprised to find that he and others could wear
shorts, T-shirts and sandals to his work place. Tech today has come a long way.
They realize the most important thing for many employees is freedom, once the
basics of money is covered.
- Do
your homework ahead of time. The company has an opening because they have a
need or problem. You want to know what the problem is ahead of time, and you
can solve the problem.
- Do
not bring up salary, but talk about
the position and the company. When appropriate the human resource person
or interviewer will address compensation and then it is okay to discuss the
topic.
A common thread to all good salesmanship is that you
maintain control of the sale’s process without your customer feeling the least
bit uncomfortable.
We are going to relate a lot of selling to new home sales
because of the book I mentioned above, but it is the same for most sales. The customer needs to be able to trust
you and relate to you; want to have you over for dinner type of relationship.
First, back to basics, dress to your market. Are you selling $200,000 homes to
families, $2 million dollar homes, resort homes, or perhaps time-shares. Let’s
leave time-share selling out of this, as it normally is very high pressure
selling and unique. One shot at the market and you better sell them something.
Before the sales process begins we need product knowledge.
You need to know every aspect of the product. You need to like your product or
service and respect it. If you don’t have this attitude go on to another
product, company or service.
The selling technique of “product features”, “benefits for
you” lacks an emotional sale and can be used for selling such items as
hardware, insurance, and other products normally less expensive and utilitarian
in nature. Interestingly,
insurance is sold more out of fear. What will happen to you and your family if
you die or are hurt in an accident? We are going to stick to the emotional type
of sale, so we need to “paint the pictures”.
The term salesman, even though it shouldn’t, has a negative
connotation as far as a profession with the buying public. I try to get my customers to know that
I am a knowledgeable “guide” through “the process of purchasing a home”. You do
not want buyer’s remorse in the end. One negative comment will negate a hundred
positives remarks. Referral business is very important. I knew a very
successful salesman of insurance products, who won tons of sales awards and
made a lot of money, but on the other hand he had the most cancelled policies
in the agency; he over sold to his customer and when they found out, they
cancelled their policies. To me this is not success, but immediate
gratification.
There are several types of home sales. Let’s stick to new
home sales and a new customer. The book I read defined a customer as one
currently “dissatisfied” with their home or living situation. Right there I
disagreed and would say it was one small part of the whole market place. I
started in real estate in 1970 in Vail, Colorado, and have been in high end
sales, land development or consulting.
My “clients” weren’t dissatisfied with their current homes, many had
several, they just desired another home, or something new/different. Take for
instance, the person who has a Rolex and Cartier watch. They may want an Omega,
but are they dissatisfied with their other watches, no. I have friends who buy
the latest high tech thing as soon as it comes out. Are they dissatisfied with
their one month old I Pad, no, they just want more or something different and
still keep the others.
Let’s relate it to an actual customer. The customer walks
through the door. First, if you have an office, don’t approach too quickly or
too soon, meet them half way. This
is one problem I have with car salesmen. They all stand around like vultures
with nothing to do, except lunge when a customer drives into the lot.
Next, look the customer in the eyes, welcome them and
introduce yourself shaking hands, be sincere, don’t be too rushed. If it is a
couple you shake the hand of the man and woman, not just one. After that back
off slightly from your position as you’ve entered their “space”. Leave your
hands down to your side, or behind your back, this opens you up. Rarely should
you fold your arms across your chest unless you want to end it with your
customer, this will close off the relationship. Stand straight, don’t lean
against walls. Through dialogue and comfort you will then come closer to one
another and feel comfortable with that situation.
The next step is to talk about something other than
business, small talk like nice day, you drive a car I admire, you have a very
nice family with you, etc.
Here’s the scoop. The people who just walked in, walked in
for a reason or purpose. You need to find out “why”. Remember when you were 5 years old and you kept asking the
question “why”? After some small
talk you need to ask important questions,
the first step I take is to ask the customer if I may ask questions, I
am entering their “space”. This is polite and also gains access to them. This
is necessary for effective selling. For instance, “why are you looking at gated
communities”? Oh, you want quiet streets and safety for your children. “Why do you want a large lot”? Oh, you
want a swimming pool and have two dogs”.
“Why did you select this area of the city”? Oh, you want your children
in this A rated school system.
Etc. Why, why, why!
Many people are professional lookers at real estate, some
people are redecorating and just want ideas, however some really have a want or
need to buy. I am trying to find out three things about them. These three
important things are, “are they ready, willing and able” buyers. If any of these are missing you need to
have a strategy. Most buyers are not ready, at least for that day, so you need
for them to sign a “guest card” or sign in so that you know how to contact them
in the future; who they are, how they came by the project, etc. This also
monitors your marketing effectiveness. To some people this is an intrusion of
privacy, but if you’ve gained their trust to this point they most likely will
sign in.
Here is where we go with “ready, willing and able”. Is the person able, by this I mean can
they afford to buy or have they been pre-qualified by a bank to afford the
home. This is a major obstacle in today’s financial world. Most people are not
ready and willing today, so that is why you have them sign in so that you have
their email address, mailing address and phone contact. You are going to wait a
few days and send them a nice thank you for coming in letter with more
information on the development.
You have time to talk with people while you are putting a
package of information together for them including floor plans/optional floor
plans, exterior elevations, price sheets and a subdivision plat. If multiple customers arrive at the
same time have a few pre-made to hand out. Now, you have one on one time with
the customer and it affords you more time. They are a captivated audience, use
the time well.
True customers of any product are normally never a 1 nor a
10 on the scale ready to buy, they are in the 4 to 6 range. One class on
selling I took year’s ago said people are somewhere between 48% “no”, to 52%
“yes”. What you need to do is educate them to the product or solve their needs
so they shift from the 48%; (I have the money) to the 52% (you can have my
money for the product).
I always use the total respect approach and mean it. I will
use “sir” or ”miss” or their first
or last names to reinforce the relationship. Honesty and sincerity is what
creates sales and repeat business.
If you are not totally positive on an answer, tell the
person you don’t know or are uncertain, and will find out and contact
them. Too many “I don’t knows” and
you don’t know your product like you should and you will lose a sale.
Know the percentage of customers you need to meet to make a
sale. The sale’s manager will know. On less expensive homes you may have more
lookers and more people not qualified to buy so it could be a 1 to 2% closing
ratio. I have found that on expensive homes, wealthy people don’t want to waste
“their” time, they may waste yours, but not their own! This closure percentage
might be about 5% of the people who look at new expensive homes.
I introduce the customer to the front door of a model and
then back off telling them that I respect their time between themselves to
discuss the home in private, however will be there when they finish the tour to
talk about any questions they might have.
Before they leave I recommend they come back another time of
day to see how different the lighting is in the house, they should sit down,
spend time and feel comfortable in the home. You are starting to “paint the
picture” of how great it would be to live there.
I hope you received some benefit from this Blog. There are
zillions of books on selling, but these are a few ideas that I hope will help
you.
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