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Showing posts from 2012

Using technology to sell homes

I remember being one of the first in my division in 1999 to get a digital camera to aid in selling homes. It was so painful uploading pictures with the dial-up modem, but my customers LOVED it! I would make a point to take a picture during almost every demonstration, then I would email them the picture as follow up - "remember how much you loved this homesite?" (or kitchen, master bath, etc) NOW the possibilities are endless. Videos, virtual tours, the sky is the limit! Here's a couple I recommend incorporating immediately: 1) Sherwin Williams virtual house painter - for those that just can't picture how the paint would look on their preferred elevation, you can now upload a picture onto their website, tell it the SW colors, and the computer will allow you to "paint" it! Beware, this takes patience, but worth it for your buyer to spend time doing if they are just that uncertain 2) Autocad for iPad. Not for the faint of heart, but now you too c

The 5 Laws of Value

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One of my favorite things to hear as a sales leader is when a salesperson is presenting the terms of a potential deal, and throws in..... "...and, they've gotta have an extra $2000.  It's a deal killer!" You know, Ben Affleck said it best in Boiler Room.   In every interaction a sale is made, just sometimes the Buyer sells the seller on why they can't or won't buy!  As a sales professional, you are responsible for both how the value of the product and/or transaction is portrayed, and in my humble opinion, the deal killer is usually.... US! I'll let you off the hook... slightly... and acknowledge that SOMETIMES customers can get price fixation, and thereby overlook the true value of the produce you are selling.  We've all been there - the buyer has been given or set a specific price in their mind, and all logic, begging, and value-adds cannot budge them.  What I am suggesting today, however, is that this is rarer than we like to believe.  That t

Put an Odometer on it!

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As I've shared with you before, If you're not growing, your shrinking (I'm in trouble!).  Each of us should spend part of our week sharpening the saw- gaining knowledge, insight, and abilities.  We should challenge our thinking, techniques, and style to always lean into our personal and company strengths. On that note, in some of our more established communities, we face resale and foreclosure challenges that are unique because they are the same floor plan!  The buyer struggles to not see that as "same-same" because their eyes tell them they are the same. Well, when you pop into a straight-off-the-showroom- floor new car, your NOSE and eyes tell you it's brand new compared to a "same body style" version of the car that's 3 years old.  The leather has some visible sings of three years of wear. But more than this, The ODOMETER of a new car tells you it has 3 original miles versus the 52,000 miles on the used one.  In other words, even a novi

Ask a better question, part 3

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How heavy are your questions? Part 3 of Ask a Better Question is actually a question - "How heavy are YOUR questions?"  In this installment, we investigate which question you are reaching for, and what response you are likely to solicit.  Buckle in, because this topic is HEAVY! This will be the last time I write on questioning for a while, but I felt it was worthwhile to cover one more facet.  You see, we have an opportunity to filter or improve the actual answer we are seeking, and phrase it as a better question - one that actually is likely to help us towards a positive response.  Before I get specific, how about an example? Let's say YOU are shopping for a luxury item for the first time - one you are not that familiar with - we'll go with a boat.  You have made it clear that you are an amateur by the nature of your dialogue - you've asked about anti-lock braking (on a boat, really?), cruise control, and "where does the waste from the toilet go?&quo

Ask a better question, part 2

This topic of questioning is so near and dear to me, I figured I'd fire up the writing machine to remind you again just how important the power of questions are.  Today, I want to remind you that you are communicating great volumes by the nature and type of questions that you ask. First, did you realize that your customers realize where you place your value by the type of questions you ask?   For example, if you begin by asking them ABILITY or QUALIFYING questions, you are communicating that you are most concerned with whether or not they can afford your product.  It doesn't matter where you are in life, imagine walking into a Porsche dealership.  The sales person gives you a once over, and immediately begins with "Hi!  Isn't this Carrera gorgeous?  So, where will YOU be driving this to work?"  On the surface, it seems harmless, but here's what he's really asking "Will I be wasting my time if I help you?" Now, if this same hypothetical salesp

Have Housing Prices Bottomed Out?

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I thought you may find interest in the article I’ve attached.   A couple of things to note: When they speak of investment from HUD, they are talking on 2 different planes: 1.        One, HUD reports out partially because housing is a large component (in typical years) of the investment side of our GDP.   Since you don’t “use up” houses, and they typically gain in value, housing is calculated as an investment, where shoes, televisions, cars, and most other physical purchases are in the “consumption” bucket.   So, it is monitored closely, as improvement in housing makes a big difference in our GDP 2.       They are also in the last line of this report (which I’ve bolded and underlined for you), speaking of investors in the construction industry, as opposed to the guy who is talking to you about picking up a couple of specs for rental.   This is huge, as it ties to our sales meeting a couple of weeks back.   Again, I don’t perceive that we will see what is referred to as a “hockey st