Credibility Gap
Much of what consumers read and hear in new home advertisements or even sales presentations lack credibility. Today’s consumer is skeptical and confused when he or she sees a builder advertise or hears a sales pitch that says, “We build the best quality homes. Our service is tops. We have the best warranty. We do things right,” and so on. Such statements are perceived by customers as mere platitudes. Why? All competitors say the same thing. Yet, builders and salespeople seem unaware that such catch phrases and slogans lack significance or meaning to prospects.

You know you are good and do a lot of things right as you build, sell and service homeowners. The problem is that most builders, realtors, and new home salespeople are not experts in communication. The goal of this book is to help you tell your story and get your message across to buyers in a way that makes you, the builder and your homes stand alone from your competitors.

Most new home sales books deal exclusively with the tactical side of selling. They tell you what to do once prospects are face-to-face. This book adds the strategic side of marketing and explains how to construct your message to attract more prospects to sell.

Drive More Traffic, Close More Sales

To get your message across, attract and convert more prospects and referrals in today’s market you must do four critical things.

First, you must learn your customer’s expectations. Exactly who is the target for the product you build and the experience you provide? What expectations are obvious and which are implied? What makes your home and experience better? What do you do that is not expected but more than satisfies a homebuyer and creates positive momentum? What do today’s consumers want to avoid when buying and owning one of your homes?

I have discovered that many builders and salespeople honestly believe they understand the customer’s expectations. However, experience shows that even with the best of intentions builders and salespeople are so wrapped up in the details of their business that assumptions pass for a true understanding of expectations. As Michael Gerber’s landmark book the E-Myth asserts, most business people are so wrapped up working in their business, they rarely take the time to step back and work on developing the business. This is addressed under the chapters that deal with marketing your homes and developing your Concept Statement.

What Makes You Remarkable?

Second, your job is to understand what makes your product and experience remarkable in the customers’ perception. What key factors give the builder and salesperson a clear competitive advantage?
I have closely observed builders (even the large, sophisticated national builders) and their smart, well-trained salespeople mistakenly have faith in their advertising slogans. Yet, “hollow claims” such as quality, service and warranty mean little to the average prospect.

Advertisements and slogans meant to attract buyers do not. This book will help you sort that out to drive more qualified traffic and sell more with fewer cancellations.

You will generate a strategy to attract more prospects. As you begin to truly understand your key competitive factors, you merge them with your customer’s expectations and individual hot buttons, and then educate and provide evidence to demonstrate that your new home hits your prospect’s targets and provides the best overall value. You will put your strategy to work in print, on the web, weave it into the fabric of every sales interview and into your follow-up plan.

Beyond the Critical Path

The third factor is the sales process itself. Today’s skills must go beyond the conventional critical path model. This book explores selling from a customer-driven paradigm. A paradigm is a belief; it is your internal map. It’s how you interact with customers in the selling process. Salespeople who listen less and talk more are at risk, especially in tough times. They tend to be more transaction and product focused than customer-driven. The result is a poor understanding of the customer’s needs and a perception of product-pushing by the customer.
The focus of the sales process in this book is to confirm, clarify and understand your prospect’s needs in ways that lead to greater satisfaction, more sales and drive referrals. You will also see the outcome in positive survey scores. You will explore and discover methods to shorten the time it takes to develop trust and rapport with fewer breakdowns in communication. More than a sales transaction and demonstrating a product, it is about developing relationships that go beyond mere satisfaction, which creates delight and customers for life.
I provide no tricks, no manipulation, no killer closes or fancy techniques. No “magic bananas” here. You will find common sense, sound principles of human behavior and respect for the individual customer, team member, trade and supplier.

Build a Seamless Experience

The fourth idea is to build a seamless team. You will discover strategies on how to work together more effectively to minimize errors and prevent communication breakdowns. Moments of truth will reveal the right impressions that help prospects decide in your favor to build loyalty and drive referrals. You will explore sales follow-up, how to resolve customer problems and maintain vital customer communication. In the absence of effective communication, customers create stories and rumors that can kill future sales. It is essential to build a seamless system, to develop long-term relationships that lead to an enhanced brand image and referrals that keep your sales pipeline filled.

Incentive, Discount and Price Wars

When your strengths and advantages are not fully communicated to the customer, then all builders and salespeople are perceived as the same. The customer does not see any difference so they stall, the cycle takes longer or simply exclude you from their search. The result is demand for incentives and discounts. Fallout comes in eroded margins and lower commissions. It doesn’t have to be that way and this book will help you innovate a more effective strategy, selling process and an operating philosophy to boost sales.