Ken Gore has been the field sales manager for Beazer Homes since January.
HAVE WHEELS,
WILL TRAVEL
As the field sales manager, Gore spends most of his time in the field with the agents. “One of the things that they brought me over was for training and developing of the sales staff. In that plan, I was going to spend the majority of the time in the field. I come in the office mainly to check my e-mail and for meetings.”
WHAT ARE YOUR TRAINING GOALS?
“We want to make sure we are bringing all of our sales people to a more professional level, so that is where I am spending my time. I am using professional training techniques to get them up to the speed that they need to be.” He spends time in the office listening to the interactions between the sales staff and customers. Later, he sits with the agent and critiques the interaction and talk about what they did wrong or right and what they might do better next time.
AREAS HE COVERS?
Gore will be handling north and west of Jacksonville. His communities include Seaside and Ocean Cay on Amelia Island, North Hampton, Amelia View, North Creek, Silvergate, Bridgeview at Watermill, Northwood at Watermill and Thornhill at Fleming Island Plantation.
WHERE WAS HE
BEFORE BEAZER?
He was with Pulte for 11 years starting as a loan officer in Orlando. In 1996, he was transferred to Jacksonville as the branch manager of the mortgage division. Three years ago, he decided he wanted to try site sales so he became a site agent, but not for long. He did so well as a site agent that he started training the agents. “I was a trainer at Pulte and so I am using my experiences in training here at Beazer.” One thing he has found is that the top 10 builder’s training programs are very similar. “If you’ve been to one of the different training seminars, you’ve been to most of them because they are all very similar as far as the critical path mentality when dealing with customers.”
AWARDS
After only a year in site sales, Gore won the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Laurel Award for “Top Sales Dollar Volume Employed by a Builder” and “Salesperson of the Year” in 2001. He then went on the next year to win the Florida Home Builders Association’s Excel award for “Salesperson of the Year.”
HOW DID YOU EXPERIENCE AS A LOAN OFFICER HELP YOU IN SALES?
“The biggest advantage was that with that knowledge, I could identify those people who could or could not buy a home very quickly. Then I could help and counsel the people on what they needed to do to be able to buy a home. I had quite a few people who were told they could not buy a home and after they did what I suggested, they later came back and bought a home.”
WHY LEAVE SALES
TO TRAIN?
“It’s a new challenge. It was a really good opportunity here. I loved Pulte and really enjoyed that company, but this was a new opportunity. I’m excited about Beazer, it is a very progressive company. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
BEFORE REAL ESTATE?
He was a manager of a TGI Friday’s and a Steak and Ale. “I ran restaurants which is a constant training job. It’s very customer service-intensive industry. A lot of those skills that I gained in the restaurant business made it an easy transition into the real estate business.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR JOB?
“The opportunities with Jacksonville and all of the new projects that are coming online. It’s real exciting.”
WHERE IS BEAZER?
Beazer is in 16 communities throughout Jacksonville as far north as Fernandina Beach and as far south as South Hampton and the CR 210 corridor.
ADVICE TO NEW PEOPLE IN THE BUSINESS?
“Get as much information as you can and make sure you know exactly what you are doing, as far as what you are getting into. It is a profession, a highly skilled profession. A lot of people will take a look at it and think it is easy to do and that everyone is capable of doing it [selling]. The reality is that there are very few people who can actually do this job and there are fewer people who like it. It turns out to be a lot more difficult than people think.”
CHALLENGES IN
REAL ESTATE?
“The consumer is more educated than ever been before, which means we have to be more educated than we’ve ever been before. You have to be knowledgeable in finances, real estate law, construction and what your products are. You don’t stand a chance at being successful unless you are a professional and a professionally trained person.”
BIRTHPLACE
Orlando.
FAMILY
He has been married to Teresa, who works at Cendant Mortgage, for nine years. They have one son, Kenny Jr. who is 3.
RESIDES
Southside, but he is building a house on the water in Julington Creek.
MORE TEACHING
He is an instructor of the Certified Site Professional course offered through the North Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council.
HOBBIES
He and his family enjoy boating on his 23-foot hurricane deck boat.
FAVORITES
His favorite restaurant is Clark’s Fish Camp. Since he has a three year old, he hasn’t seen anything but G-rated movies in a long time. Therefore, the most recent movie he saw was “Jungle Book 2”. A book he highly recommends is “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey which he has read many times. When traveling, he likes to go to Orlando to see his family. When relaxing at home, he enjoys tuning into “West Wing” and watching all Florida State games. “I am a huge Florida State fan.”
— by Michele Newbern Gillis