by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Can you get into a prospect’s head?
That’s the best strategy in these times, and those who attended last month’s meeting of the Sales and Marketing Council heard all about it from motivational speaker Bob Hafer.
His presentation on “Working With, Not Against, Home Buying Process” gave tips to salespeople of how to approach this new and different market.
“We are in difficult, demanding and tough times,” said Hafer. “Now, salespeople need training. Before, all they needed to do was to show up.”
According to economists, he said, we are about nine months away from hitting the bottom.
“They say we will start to feel some of the industry coming back to us in the third quarter of 2009,” said Hafer. “Is this cause for alarm? No. What’s happening is we have foreclosures entering into the market and they are going to compete with us. There were 84,000 foreclosures last month. That’s a lot of foreclosures. That’s a lot of competition.
“We have to figure out how to sell against a foreclosure.”
Hafer said it is really important for salespeople to be in the experience with their buyers. He attended a conference recently and shared what he had learned.
“People drive this engine,” he said. “It’s not going to be product. We have the product. It’s not going to be price. We know the price. It’s going to be people.
“On top of that, it’s going to be presentation. When that customer comes in, we actually have a presentation that is well-thought out and is not centered on ourselves, but is centered on our customer.”
Customers are changing, he said: they want more and if you want to succeed you have to give it them.
“Do not blame your customer if they want to negotiate,” said Hafer. “If you were in their position, you would do the exact same thing.
“What people are looking for from each and every one of us is justification and rationalization to go forward. If we can give them that justification and rationalization, they will buy homes.
“The third leg of the stool is participation. We have to participate with our clients. You need to be in the experience. You have to participate in the experience from the moment they come in until the moment they leave.”
Hafer gave the audience some tips from Dr. Wayne Dyer, an author and speaker in the field of self-development.
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change,” he said. “It’s very important for us to look at our customers from a different point of view, from a different perspective.
“The way we approach our customers today must be different. They expect something different. It’s no longer about doing something to someone. It’s about doing something FOR someone. That’s what they are looking for. That’s what they expect and that’s what they deserve.
“For too long we have done things to people. We made the attempt to control. We cannot do that. We have to look at selling very differently. When you change the way you see what it is you do, you will change the way you sell.”
Hafer introduced the idea of using Neuro-Linguistic Technology when dealing with customers and defined Neuro-Linguistic Technology as taking the perspective of looking at things from another person’s point of view.
“That technology is truly the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “It will help you immensely.”
Another perspective he discussed was in order to lead, you must be willing to follow.
“Meet them exactly where they are,” said Hafer. “When someone comes into your model and says they are just looking, meet them exactly where they are. Thank them for looking there and let them look. Let them look, let them contrast and compare. When we do that, we must get into the experience with them. When you let someone do what they want to do, they will let you do what it is you want to do.”
Sales people have been taught to control, qualify and ask personal questions.
Hafer said you have to earn the right to ask the questions and understand what the people want from you.
“When you understand what they want from you, they will give you exactly what you want,” he said.
He said not everyone coming into a model home is serious, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t participate.
“People are scared. They’re afraid to make a decision,” he said. “But, they came to you. You didn’t go to them. They came to you because they had a reason. Whatever that reason was, if you can understand that reason, then you can move forward together.”
The third perspective is to understand to be understood.
Hafer said you do this through discovery. You ask questions, understand their motivation and build rapport. He cited a study reported in The Wall Street Journal that said fifty-seven percent of the reason people buy a home is because they like the person.
“It was not because of the product,” he said. “It was not because of the price. It was because they liked the person selling it.
“When someone knows you are there for them, and you are there to understand what is important to them, they move forward with you if they are serious. And most people that come into a model home today are, guess what? Serious. They wouldn’t put themselves into the experience if they weren’t serious.”