by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and interest rates had jumped to 15 percent? Would you still be able to make it in the real estate business?
About 150 attended June’s Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council breakfast meeting at the Jacksonville Marriott to hear Lynda Keever, publisher of the Florida Trend Magazine, give tips on staying alive in the real estate business, no matter what the rates are.
“Does the success that new home sales are experiencing now have to do with the extraordinary market conditions or the sales agents?” asked Keever.
She said that many agents could be getting complacent because they are lulled into a sense of security by the active market.
The market could change overnight, leaving many agents to depend on their marketing skills and creativity rather than the rates to sell homes.
“If you are not thinking about the next new marketing idea, there could be a problem,” said Keever. “You should be thinking about it and planning how you would implement it if the market situation changes.”
She said agents should be looking at what buyers are demanding now and what will they be demanding five years from now.
If the market would change, Keever said you need to think about what you could do differently, better or that you are not doing today to stay in the game.
“Better follow-up, explaining financing a little better, better presentation, improving demonstration skills and knowing your competition better are all things you could do,” she said.
According to Keever, registration cards which are filled out by those visiting model homes need to be revamped. She did a study a few years ago of registration cards from all over the nation and found that many of the questions were inadequate to help the sales person turn that prospect into a sale.
The purpose of the registration card is for sales person follow-up, but many builders use them to find out if their advertisements are pulling customers. They have such questions on them as “How did you hear about us?” and “Where did you see our ad?”
“No media advertising ever sold a home,” said Keever. “You are the one who will sell the home.”
She suggests asking the question, “As a serious new home shopper, what tools are you using during your housing search?”
Then she said to add, “Check all that apply” and put down every conceivable tool they could be using.
That way you can find out if what you are doing is working or if you are not doing something you should be doing, she said.
“You are asking them to tell you all tools that they are using, not how they heard about you,” said Keever. “You will get a better response. A response that you can use to make a recommendation to the builder about where his money ought to go.”
It will also help you to find out where you should be advertising and if the way you are advertising is reaching prospective buyers.
Keever noted that many buyers today are list makers and car drivers. She said they use the Internet to do the research and then get in their cars and drive.
“The use of websites in terms of people gathering information on new homes is up 50 - 60 percent from what it was three or four years ago,” she said. “People shop for new homes by process of elimination. They want to eliminate the places they don’t want to go see and your website will either lure them to your place or it will do something to cause you to be one of the ones eliminated.”
Keever explained that you need to respond to inquiries within an hour. If that is impossible, she suggests an auto response that says you will contact them as soon as possible.
She also suggested looking through your own and other websites to see how user-friendly they are and how yours stacks up against the competitors.