Bob Schultz, New Home Specialists, www.newhomespecialist.com
Q. The new home market in Northeast Florida is coming back. What does that mean to you?
A. A "reemerging" market on the surface is a good thing. It means that the perception in the market place is that economic conditions are better than in recent years, homes will sell faster and overall, that's good. But, having been actively engaged in this industry through past recessions of the early 70's and 80's and having also experienced the "boom times," I have always said that "It's not about what the market does, but what you do within the market that you find yourself that matters".
A "reemerging" market can provide a false sense of optimism and perception of success. It has been said that "a rising tide floats all boats". So does a reemerging market. As more homes begin to sell, all that are involved in sales will eventually get some benefit from that. To keep everything perspective, you should always be asking, "Doing what I am doing, the way I am currently doing it, how many sales am I missing?" It means that if you stay completely focused, continue to develop your sales skills to a mastery level, be consistent with lead development and maintain a PHD attitude, - "Professional, Hungry & Driven", you may very well outperform the market.
Q. What is it that keeps good sales people from becoming great sales people?
A. Some succumb to status quo. As Zig Ziglar said, "Don't gauge your success by comparing it to the failures of others". Meaning, if you sold six and someone else sold five in the same selling situation, it may appear that five is "success", but what if five is gross underperformance? Some are not focused on engaging in high ROI activities.
"New home sales is a contact sport. The more contacts made, the more sales conversion that is achieved. Some consider new home sales as a social event in which they sometimes conduct business, rather than it being a business event in which they must be social. I see way too much emphasis being placed on social media — in particular, Facebook — as being the panacea, the silver bullet, the one thing that can lead to more sales. Not true. Being liked is highly overrated if it does not lead to contacts that lead to appointments that lead to measurable increases in sales."
Q. What should a real estate professional be focused on in 2013?
A. You should focus on activities and events over which you have control, and not to worry about things over which you don't. For example, we cannot control interest rates, but we can control how we influence customers' perception of interest rates. We cannot control what the customer does, but we can control our sales process. We cannot control the attitudes of those around us, but we can control our own.
Q. What are some benchmarks to measure sales success?
A. The most important is completed sales that ultimately close and the builder is funded. Leading indicators of what that number will be are conversion ratios of sales to the number of potential buyers with whom you interact. The source of a lead can determine that conversion ratio potential.
For example, someone who has visited your website and then contacts you is NOT a first time visitor. Realtor-accompanied prospects, over time, have a higher conversion possibility in the short term than, for example, someone who has just started looking, has a house to sell, and is not sure that they even want to stay in the area.
Become intently focused on implementing the correct process and measure those benchmarks, all of the time, and the end result will be just fine. Then when you ask yourself "Doing what I am doing the way I am presently doing it, how many sales have I missed", your insight to the minor adjustments you need to make will become abundantly clear.