Editor’s note: This month’s “Helping You Sell” stories on pages 45-48 are provided by Dennis Walsh who, with his wife Teresa, is the creator of the certified New Home Specialist program and Residential Construction certified certification programs, which have helped more than 25,000 professionals increase their success in all areas of new home sales and marketing. The CNHS course, presented in a convenient interactive CD-ROM format, is approved for 11 Florida continuing education credits as well as two units of credit towards NAR’s presitigious Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation. For more information, visit Mr. Walsh’s website at www.sellnewhomes.com or call 800-428-1122.
by Dennis Walsh
Special to Realty/Builder Connection
It’s a statement I’ve heard many times woven into the presentations of sales trainers: “In any given year,” they say, “there’s only so much market share available - if you want a greater share of the business, you’ve got to take it from someone else!”
Their message is, of course, that you’ve got to be better, faster, stronger, etc. than the competition to increase your sales success. It’s a valid message, and few of us would argue its inherent truth.
From another perspective, however, this message can be seen as founded on a “scarcity mentality.” Unfortunately, those who base their thinking on the idea that there’s only so much business to go around may be missing another powerful viewpoint. In contrast, an “abundance mentality” would suggest that there’s a lot more business out there if we only knew what to do to capture it.
I once heard the story of an office manager who decided it was time to have a little “come to Jesus” conversation with an agent who had been “working” for two years, but had not yet sold a square inch of real estate. “Shirley,” she asked, smiling calmly across the desk from her, “don’t you like real estate?”
“Are you kidding? I love real estate!” she gushed. “I’ve made the most wonderful friends here. I really enjoy the seminars we attend and the office meetings are fun, too. I look forward to caravan day every week and the best part of all are the wonderful parties we have during the holidays. Getting involved in real estate has changed my life!”
“If you love this business so much,” the office manager responded with a puzzled look, “wouldn’t you like to actually sell some real estate?”
Shirley looked around for other ears and leaned forward.
“The truth is,” she softly answered, “when you sell a house, it’s really a hassle. There’s so much paperwork to fill out and so many things that can go wrong. I hear the stories all the time - it really scares me. I like real estate a whole lot better if I don’t have to sell anything.”
At this point it was clear that our manager had gotten to the bottom of Shirley’s little problem with sales success. As I thought about it, however, I realized that this story carried more significance. Here’s someone who is professionally trained and presumably “in the business”, and yet she finds the real estate transaction terrifying.
And she’s not alone.
The reality is that many potential homebuyers find the process even more terrifying than Shirley does. In the case of buying a new home, we face the normal homebuying fears and then throw in the additional fears of dealing with a builder, construction delays and the myriad of choices and decisions to make. My point is that every day there are millions of people who would love to buy a new home or live in another neighborhood or community, but they’re simply afraid of what they’ll have to go through to get there.
Based on this reality, one of the most important messages I share in my Certified New Home Specialist(tm) training is that to really succeed in this business, we’ve got to find the ways to make it easier for our customers to buy. Anything we can do to make the real estate transaction less intimidating will work to bring buyers into the market who are held back by fear. As obvious as this may seem, relatively few in real estate fully appreciate the significance of this idea.
My Golden Rule of Real Estate: Organization, Organization, Organization - Use organizational systems and forms to help prospects understand steps in the process, organize design information and selections, detail specifications and track their progress.
Create a New Home Owner’s Manual - This makes it easier for customers to learn the realities of building a new home and understand their role in the process. The manual also includes the organizational forms, selection information, and contact numbers.
Deliver Outstanding Customer Service - Analyze every aspect of the customer experience and identify the many ways to make it more efficient, simpler and more easily understood.
Educate Your Customers - The more they understand the realities, both challenges and benefits, of the home buying experience, the less intimidating it becomes. Share this information in brochures, advertising, on your web site and in new homebuyer seminars.
I’m sure you’ll agree that the day-to-day practice of real estate sales offers many opportunities for us to improve the home buying (and selling) experience. Rather than focusing all of our energies on taking business away from our competition, we should adopt an abundance mentality and take our success to a higher level by making it easier for our customers to buy.