I did my own brainstorm and came up with various songs for various topics, but I’m sure you can improve on this list, can’t you???? Let’s have some fun!

• For Demonstration: “Isn’t She Lovely”
• For Objections: “Get Back”
• For Closing: “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”
• For Work Ethic: “She Works Hard for the Money”
• For Commissions: “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”
• For Contract Errors: “Oops – I Did It Again!”
• For the Market: “Welcome to the Jungle”

For these topics and for others, what would you suggest???

Realtors who work resale face a challenge that we don’t have in the new home industry.  They have to show a home that has already been lived in by someone else.  Realtors have to convince their clients that they can make the house their own; to look past the previous owner’s decorating choices and styles and not feel they are restricted to them.  To reach a broad spectrum of clients, a realtors will highlight the universal features of the houses rather than the personal little quirks.

Or not.

If you saw this actual real estate photo and your first reaction was GHAAA!!! then congrats on being a normal person.  Okay, okay, the doll is a little creepy but if I guess if that’s what the fireplace looks like then…

Uh… ok, that is a LOT creepy.  Why would a doll in a bathtub incentivize anybody to buy the house?

Oh, okay. Now it’s on the sink.  That’s not really any better.  Why do I get the feeling that if you were to buy this house, then the doll would…

never…

leave…

you…   

alone.  

]]> http://jeffshore.com/2012/02/be-a-doll-and-buy-this-house/feed/ 0 Carrie-at-fireplace-611×458 Bad-MLS-listing-Creepy-Carrie-bathtub-611×458 Carrie-on-sink-611×458 Carrie-on-second-sofa-611×458 Carrie-at-desk-611×458 Carrie-and-mannequin-611×458 Carrie-on-sofa-611×458 http://jeffshore.com/2012/01/worlds-worst-listing/ http://jeffshore.com/2012/01/worlds-worst-listing/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:00:48 +0000 jeffshore http://jeffshore.com/?p=6910 Read More...]]> This week’s item was found on the blog http://photographyforrealestate.net.

Houston Realtor Traye Wise had no idea the photos taken for one of his listings,  would cause such a stir. But with interior photos like the one pictured here how could they not?

Here’s the story Wise told Houston Agent about this property: the current tenants are being evicted, and therefore, were uncooperative in making the home look attractive to any other buyers. They refused to clean it for showings and, clearly, even refused to move when Wise and his assistant stopped by to take interior photos for the listing website; Wise said he asked the husband if he could rouse his wife from bed so they could take just one photo of the bedroom’s interior sans tenants, and while the husband allegedly told his wife to get out of bed, she refused.

“This was in no way done on purpose,” Wise said about the bedroom photo. “It was supposed to be edited to take (the woman sleeping in bed) out. It was supposed to be Photoshopped, and my assistant put it up by mistake.”

Though this photo, which has since been removed from the listing’s photo gallery and replaced with an edited one, was the worst photo of the bunch, the other interior photos aren’t all that great either – photos of the kitchen, dining area, den and other bedrooms showcase messes that prevent anyone from seeing appliances and qualities of the home. Wise admitted he knows those photos don’t depict the listing in the best light, but again, the tenants were uncooperative and refused to clean (in spite of having various cleaning products, including a mop, broom, paper towels and Clorox wipes, which are also shown in these photos). His thought was to put up the interior shots he had and return after the tenants had moved out at the end of January to take nicer ones.

However, since this listing and the bedroom photo in particular has gone viral, Wise said he plans on removing all interior photos and leaving the exterior photos only, for now.

Wise had no idea his listing would get this type of attention, and reiterated to us that he did not mean to post the photo with a tenant still in bed. “Photos of a messy house is one thing, but a person in bed is another. It was supposed to be Photoshopped.”

Watch the restaurant commercial and see where the real focus is: on patrons laughing and enjoying a good time. Watch a Nike commercial and you won’t see a demonstration of the shoe; you’ll see people doing amazing things while wearing the shoe. Check out the car commercial and you’ll notice the smug satisfaction of the driver.

Advertisers understand a very important principle: the product isn’t about the product – it’s about how the product or service improves the user’s life.

What about you? Are you selling a product, or are you selling a better life? Take some time today to consider how to apply that lesson to your own sales presentation. It will go a long way towards changing someone’s world!

Do I see a small sign in that picture, “Mother in Law Entrance” ? ~ Bob Knorr

Another Great Entry:

Honey, I found the perfect pet for our brand new home, a giraffe! ~ Amy

I have never been a huge fan of the “thank you” note in the real estate sales process. The way I always looked at this gesture, it was one of those dated sales tactics that tracked back to when snail mail was one of the best ways to communicate with your prospects.

One of the reasons I wasn’t gung ho on the idea was because it was too slow (hence, the term “snail mail”). I like fast. The faster, the better.

The other reason that I wasn’t running out to buy note cards was because I’d have to ask someone for their mailing address. That can be awkward, particularly when you’re not yet “there” in the sales relationship.

My preference for this type of follow-up has been to send a video email that included a video tour of the home or a picture of the lot they looked at. A not-so-subtle reminder of what they could have.

Lately, I’ve had a change of heart and been kicking it old school…with a twist. Several apps make it easy to blend smartphone technology with the personal touch of snail mail.

Apple just released an app called “Cards” that lets you take a photo on your iPhone or iPod Touch and turn it into a notecard, with your personal message. You then click on an address in your Contacts list and the card will be printed and mailed, all for just $2.99, including postage! Postagram offers a similar service, producing postcards for 99 cents. You can customize your design and message, and your cards are automatically saved.

It’s fast, personal, and effective!

Think about the cool things you can do:

• Snap a photo of the home your prospect is considering
• Take a picture of a “Sold” sign
• Send a photo of the lot
• Take a picture of steps in the construction process

Yes, you still have to ask them for their address, but it will be a lot easier to obtain when you say, “Hey, can I send you a super cool card with your photo on it?”

Here’s an example of a notecard I produced with the Cards app. I sent this to my wife to encourage her that our new home is almost done. Let me just say, that $2.99 was money well spent!

We want to thank you for your loyal readership.  This is something I recorded two Christmases ago.  I hope you enjoy it.  God bless!

Here are three things you can do in a slow traffic community:

1) Set your goals. Pick up Brian Tracy’s excellent book “Goals” and read through it (it won’t take long). Then take some time to set your 2012 goals, or at least goals for the first quarter of 2012. You’ll find that the year starts off stronger when you go in with purpose and intention.

2) Commit to learning a very specific skill. Read an article, pick up a sales book, look through your training material, or talk to your manager. But come up with something very specific and then practice it (out loud!) over and over again. This is a great time to perfect your presentation when no one else is around.

3) Stay in touch with your referral base. This is a great time to wish Christmas greetings to your past buyers. In so doing you’ll likely have a conversation about how things are going in your community (the answer: “Great!”). You just want to stay in the forefront of people’s minds so that when they do hear of someone who is looking to make a move they’ll think of you first.

Don’t let the month happen by default. Take charge of your efforts and you’ll improve your results!

Jeff

iThrone ~ Richard

Another Great Entry:

Am/Fm and BM ~ Ed Barber

Take pride in the details of your office. Your customer probably won’t notice when everything is in order, but they’ll surely see it when things are amiss.

The “Selling Season”, as it is called, is actually a buying season. It’s a matter of historical record. From late January through May, in good markets and bad, there is always a surge in buying activity. That has happened every year for decades. It will happen again in just a few short weeks.

How do you take advantage of that today? Two strategy points:

1) Explain the “buying season” phenomenon to your December prospects.

2) Ask them if it’s better to buy just before everyone else does, or to wait until everyone else has purchased?

Of course, the answer is a resounding “NOW”! If you wait you’ll be purchasing when all the best locations have been picked over. A surge in sales usually means prices go up and deals go away. Not to mention where interest rates could be.

You need to perfect your pre-season sales pitch. It’s a great way to boost those December sales!

Unemployment? Nope. There are still tens of millions of would-be homebuyers who can easily afford a new home.

Financing availability? Not that either. The qualification process has definitely become (appropriately) more complicated, but there are still plenty of programs out there, and at phenomenally low interest rates.

Fear of price drops? Not if you look at the numbers. When you look at the average price of a new home in the United States over the past 24 months you’ll see relatively little movement.

No, the masses are not buying because of the ongoing crisis of confidence. No confidence in the economy. No confidence in the government. No confidence that the dream of homeownership will be something other than a nightmare.

Where do you fit into all this? Well, let me ask you this question. How confident are you in today’s buying opportunity? And if you are confident, does it show? Can a customer see your enthusiasm?

Think about it from the customer’s perspective. If the salesperson is not absolutely ecstatic over the buying opportunity, why should the customer be so?

Put another way, confidence is contagious. Is your confidence level worth catching? Something to really think about….

Click the link below to find resources that will help:

http://www.samspurlin.com/14-links-to-make-you-a-more-intelligent-persons/

Not just for resourceful squatters, container architecture is taking the world by storm. Recycled freight containers bring efficiency, flexibility and affordability to innovative green buildings, from small vacation cabins to movable cafes, schools and skyscrapers.

Some photos are below, and you can read the whole article here:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/shipping-container-homes-460309#ixzz1eV6fYctH

Our customers must recognize that the toughest of markets presents the greatest of buying opportunities. In fact, it is incumbent upon us as sales professionals to point out to our prospects that they are, in fact, future geniuses. It is true that these prospects will need to fly in the face of the nay-sayers if they choose to purchase when the market is challenging. But in the long run, people will look back at the wisdom and extraordinary foresight of their decision. All one needs to do is to consider previous real estate downturns. Everyone who purchases in a down market is eventually rewarded by a positive correction. They are the “future geniuses”!

I can answer that: they are coming into your sales office! Many top professionals have incredibly strong months in November and December. While their traffic totals drop, their conversion rates increase.

Those top professionals know something: November/December home shoppers are the most serious of all.

Think about it. How many distractions do people have during the holidays? Tons, that’s how much. So with everything that is going on in their lives why would they be taking the time to visit new home sales offices?

I can tell you why. Because they have a serious need, and therefore a serious urgency.

Take these people seriously, my friends. They might be the best quality prospects you’ll see all year!

5 Tips on Selecting and Using Keywords
By Brian Flook, MIRM, President of Power Marketing

Marketing new homes today has changed radically. Some builders are keeping up and some are not. The Internet should be the centerpiece of your marketing efforts and your website is the epicenter of your Internet marketing campaign. But, the lifeblood of a successful Internet campaign begins with keywords. Keywords are the terms searchers (or in your case prospects) key into a search engine like Google, Bing or Yahoo. It’s easy to believe that the correct search terms are the ones ‘you’ would use. That is rarely the case and can lead to disastrous results.

Finding the correct keywords is an art and a science that demands proper skill and attention. In this article I will give you some insight into the process of selecting the right keywords. Choosing the proper keywords means your organic search results (SERPs) will improve and your Internet traffic will increase.

As I discussed in my March Power Points article, Ride Relevance to the Top with SEO, correctly identifying your keywords and using them strategically will dramatically increase your search engine ranking. The more relevant your keywords and keyword phrases are, the more buoyant your website will be in an organic Google search. Consequently, if your keywords are wrong, your results will be poor at best.

That said, the heart and soul of Internet success is keyword selection. Using the proper keywords correctly is the foundation to any improvements in organic search engine results.  Note that a keyword may have one word or many words. Typically, the longer the keyword tail, the higher the conversion rate will be. For instance, the word ‘builders’ may seem like an obvious keyword, but the term ‘builders Baltimore’ will yield better results.  Consequently, the term ‘builders Baltimore condominiums’ may even yield more.

Here are five tips on selecting and using keywords:

1. Focus on 10-20 keywords first. If you try to optimize too many, you will likely frustrate yourself and not see the success, even if it’s there. You can utilize Google’s FREE keyword program to see if your keyword ideas have value. Go to Google Keywords Tool.  A valuable keyword has low competition, high search and can be any length that indicates interest.
2. Don’t waste time too much with one-word keywords. Take a candy store in Frederick, Maryland, for instance. The keyword ‘chocolate truffles’ will generate them literally millions of interested searchers. Unfortunately, the term is so broad that those searchers could be looking for chocolates in Florida or Texas. Or maybe they’re looking for recipes to make at home. BUT, if they use the keyword ‘handmade chocolate truffles Frederick, MD’; now they have something.
3. Use your keywords everywhere: social media posts like Facebook and Twitter, blog entries, online press releases, your website copy — anywhere and everywhere online you can. Remember the Internet lives and dies based on words.
4. ALWAYS use your keywords in your on-page optimization. Page optimization includes your URL, Title Tag, image file name and alt tags, body text, H1 and H2 headers.
5. Sign up your website on Google analytics or another analytics program to track the success of your keywords so you can update and improve them as you go. But give them time, SEO isn’t an overnight sensation. It takes time and patience.

SEO is a powerful force in gaining web traffic, sales and brand awareness for your business, but it’s not something you start today and see results tomorrow. Successful Internet marketing is a very dynamic process that takes time and financial investment. But, properly executed it pays great dividends.

When a client hires Power Marketing for their Internet campaigns, we start by selecting the right keywords for their unique business. Then, we execute an SEO campaign using powerful inbound and outbound marketing techniques to build an influential online presence. Results don’t happen overnight — successful SEO optimization is a strategic process — but clients often experience results as early as 4–6 months.

Best of luck as you pursue your success online. Please subscribe to our Builder Bulletin for more tips about strengthening your keywords, SEO and your overall marketing strategy. To learn more about the ideas in this newsletter and others, visit our website at www.Power-Marketing.com or contact us at info@Power-Marketing.com.

Here’s a quick fix. Grab your iPod, put on the headphones, find your favorite high-energy song, and crank that bad boy up. Upbeat music has a way of giving us energy. So take a three-minute recharge and get back on your game.

Some of my favorites for the occasion:

“Start Me Up” – The Rolling Stones

“Feelin’ Alright” – Joe Cocker

“Smooth” – Carlos Santana

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” – Marvin Gaye

“Back in the USSR” – The Beatles

“The Hills have Eyes” by Sandy Dunes ~ Carol Stiefer

Those smiley Lennon-style glasses on that glassy knoll are the legit windows of a legit house, and said house was carved into a dune in Atlantic Beach, Fl. Built in 1975, Dune House is the brainchild of architect William Morgan, who didn’t want any interlopers messing with the character of his block — to this day, he lives next door. “I’m very particular about the buildings on either side of my own home.” he says.

So what, pray tell, does life inside Dune House look like? Each 750-square-foot apartment consists of a two-story living area with one bedroom and one bathroom and built-in furnishings designed to fit the space. “I built it like a seashell,” Morgan says. “It’s a little like being in a submarine. When you go down the stairs, you go along the curved side of the shell to descend into the main living area, which looks out through very large glass doors onto the oceanfront. So you have a sense of being in the dune and looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean.”

As for heating and cooling apparently this part of Florida is ideal for this sort of living arrangement because the grass roof assumes the temperature of the ground water there: 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidifiers in each unit control the humidity. Sounds heavenly!

Now, about that buyer: “I think it could be a weekend retreat for someone who lives elsewhere—a seasonal retreat,” Morgan says, later adding, “It’s very quiet, by the way. You don’t hear rain when it’s raining, because there’s earth that covers the roof and the walls of the house.” Thus concludes today’s moment of Zen.

This is the back:

Submit your best captions in the comments below.  The winner will be declared next week.

While customers are visual, sometimes this works against them. They see the model but they only see the model furniture and it’s placement. Have them move that furniture out and start over again.

“It might be easier if you think of this as an empty room. Now move your furniture in one piece at a time. Tell me what goes where.”

You heard me correctly. It is perfectly acceptable – even healthy – to ask that question. It just depends on your tone and your intention.

You see, you can ask that with a sneer and a snide attitude and it becomes your own personal pity party. But change the tone and the context and it becomes one of the most important questions ever.

Think about asking the question “What the heck am I doing here?” from a perspective of intense introspection and curiosity. How would that approach change both the tone and the meaning?

The fact is that we should always be challenging our own motives and actions. As a means of staying connected to a purpose and a vision the question forces a deep look at our motives. It also gives us a guidance gut check.

Now take the answer and turn it into a mission statement.

“What the heck am I doing here? I am here to change people’s lives by connecting, understanding, and advancing this sale to the farthest possible target.”

So let me ask you – what the heck are you doing here?????

Oh, that it were so easy. Alas, the simple solution comes at a heavy cost: profit margin. Every dollar that comes off a price is a dollar removed from the bottom line. A salesperson might say, “If they lowered my price by just $5,000 I could sell these homes all day long.” Again, that might be true – but at what cost? If your company’s business plan is to deliver 300 homes this year, a $5,000 price drop on each of those homes will cost the company $1.5 million dollars of direct profit!

I know I might alienate some salespeople with this statement, but it is not your job to set prices! There are business considerations that are broad, deep, and not always apparent. The builder sets the price, and that’s just the reality of it.

This is not to suggest that the salesperson should have no voice on this issue; quite the contrary. If the salesperson can empirically prove that the homes are overpriced, he/she has an obligation to make that case. That said, once the case is made the decision to adjust belongs to the builder alone.

Salespeople, advise your builder on the correct price point. Then let it go. Prove that you are doing your job as well as it can be done, and that you are taking every prospect as far as they will go. When you do that, the builder will have no choice but to correct any price discrepancy. Focus on that which you can control – it will save you a great deal of mental anguish!

Think for a moment about a book you have read in the past that provided you with a healthy dose of inspiration. It might make the most sense to pick that book up off the shelf and reconnect to what inspired you way back when you first read it.

I have to confess, to this day I still browse through two books I read decades ago in order to get a quick mental snack: “See You at the Top” by Zig Ziglar and “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. What about you? What treasures are right there in an arm’s reach???

“Homes by M. C. Escher. Just try going upstairs.” ~ Jim Suth

Another great entry:

“Did you say your mother is coming over?” ~ Lisa

So, above is the house.  Below is what happens when something spooks the inhabitants:

There’s nothing anywhere saying it was specifically designed to be zombie-proof, but what else would the owners possibly be trying to keep out?  The Safety House lacks no essential feature for the paranoid psychotic: The exterior walls open and shut at the touch of a button so that the residents can live somewhat normally during the day, then shutter up for the night (or whenever the trees start whispering).  The immovable walls are made of pure concrete, while the sliding portions are made of lighter — but plenty strong — steel.  And until the zombie apocalypse does arise, the massive security door doubles as a projection screen!

I know I said this about the treehouse homes, but… can I live there?

Prospect (me): “Are you really going to let me walk away from this deal over a lousy thousand dollars?”

Salesperson: “Are you really going to walk away from your dream home over a lousy thousand dollars?”

He went on to point out that walking away meant buying a different home that was clearly not my number one choice. The implication was that if I took the deal from another builder who offered a higher incentive I would be flat out buying the wrong home!

The message to me is this: we have to come to grips with the fact that customers act in the manner they have been trained, but that doesn’t make it right. The sales professional must always consider the question, “What is in the best interest of this customer?”

Sometimes, it’s in the best interest of the customer to save them from themselves!

I happen to like Wikipedia.org as a resource to learn new and interesting things. I can go to the site for a mental snack and walk away with an interesting education.

Try it. Go on the site and enter in a search term from the list below. Then follow the hyperlinks (in blue) to trace some pretty interesting stuff. Here’s the list:

-       Post-tensioned slabs

-       Reverse mortgages

-       Net zero energy homes

-       Electricity

-       Realtors

-       Housing markets

Wooden knew that you cannot always control the outcome, only that you can control your actions that lead to the outcome.  His entire philosophy can be summed up into one simple yet profound phrase: Play Perfect!

This is all he ever wanted, from himself and from his team.  Just play perfect, and everything else will fall into place.  From that simple philosophy pours an excess of application.  In the world of the new home sales, if I “play perfect” it means I….

• Show up with a high, positive energy every single day;
• Greet every prospect as the most important person on the planet;
• Carefully craft my sales presentation to maximize every opportunity;
• Take every sales conversation as far as it will possibly go;
• Take exceedingly good care of my backlog;
• Dedicate my best efforts to being an incredible teammate;
• Seek to improve my skills and performance every single day;
• Strive for excellence in all areas of my life.

Look over that list.  Would you agree with me that the person who “plays perfect” in all those areas will find an abundance of success?  Take a look once more.  Are all the things listed above in my realm of control?  They are – and that’s good news!  I cannot always control the scoreboard, but I can always control my own efforts. I can always choose to play perfect! You can’t always land a sale, but you can always do the things you need to do in order to land a sale.

“I’m going to swim. I might as well swim fast.” Michael Phelps

“I don’t try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.” Mikhail Baryshnikov

“I always wanted to be someone. I guess I should have been more specific.” Lily Tomlin

Your turn. Share with the world your own great one-liner, will you please????

One way to prevent that is to check in with the customer from time to time and ask a mindset question. I prefer, “How are you doing? I know I’ve shared a lot of information. Are you taking it all in OK?”

Give your customer the opportunity to slow down a bit, or to slow you down!

* Realtor: first you folks tell me what you can afford, then we’ll have a good laugh and go on from there.

* The dream of the older generation was to pay off a mortgage. The dream of today’s young families is to get one.

* If you think no one cares you’re alive, miss a couple of house payments.

* My buyers went through debt consolidation. Now they have only one bill they won’t pay.

* The trouble with owning a home is that no matter where you sit, you’re looking at something you should be doing.

“Sleepwalkers beware!” ~ Ccbaldwin

Remember last week when we told you that these treehouses weren’t just built for kids.  We weren’t kidding.  The above picture is just one example of the typical dwelling used by the Korowai tribe of New Guinea, who had no idea the outside world even existed until 1970. The Korowai build their treehouses in the best way: To the finish, and up to 165 feet in the air. They do this to avoid predators, floods and ant swarms, and also because, well, its cool right?

Ok, but seriously, can I live there?

How do you work around Feng Shui objections, particularly those objections related to the number “4”?

We’d be most appreciative if you would take just a moment and offer your input below.

Thanks in advance!

But sometimes I’m in the mood for more of a “mental snack” then a long reading passage. For these times I try to read actively, scanning just a couple of pages for a real gem of an idea.

Reading actively always gives me a spurt of mental energy. Try it some time!

By Carol Ruiz

The news seemed to come out of nowhere: Steve Jobs, stepping down as CEO of Apple, due to increased concerns about his own health.

Followers of the company were perhaps less surprised, since he had taken a medical leave earlier this year, but the finality of the news left a bittersweet feeling. Bitter, because a deadly disease continued to ravage his body; sweet, because Jobs left Apple absolutely on top, capping the most successful second act in the history of American business.

At face value, this has little to do with selling and marketing new homes. However, the philosophies that Steve Jobs brought to Apple resonate across industries and products. Here are a few lessons you can take from the example of a true innovator and agent of change.

Corporate culture matters.

Outside of perhaps Disney, there is no corporate culture that is better defined or maintained than that of Apple. When you walk into an Apple Store, you immediately know the kind of experience you will have–an exceptional one defined by great customer service and efficiency.

Your buyers know your corporate culture as well, even if they do not consciously realize it. Every contact with your company influences their perception of the overall experience, and thus, their image of your company and brand. From the top down, and from the initial sales center visit on through contracts, construction, and closing, it’s important to encourage employees to deliver quality service and products to help define that corporate culture and the public perception of your brand.

Handle crisis with class.

Apple’s had its share of PR crises, most recently “Antennagate,” in which the iPhone 4′s antenna allegedly interfered with call reception when the phone was held a certain way. Jobs and his team acted decisively, holding a special press meeting to explain the problem and announce their response.

Apple’s handling of Antennagate serves as a textbook example of how to handle a bad situation in the public eye. The message Apple sent to customers and the media was clear and put buyers first. It was immediately framed not from a corporate perspective, but from a customer service one–here’s how the customer was impacted (possible dropped calls), and here’s what we will do to eliminate that impact (free cases).

Marketing is about selling an experience.

Apple’s marketing is amazing; it’s almost unnecessary because their products receive so much coverage and hype from the media. It’s also focused almost entirely on a single medium—television commercials.

But in those commercials, Apple focuses on selling the experience of using their devices in the most tactile, personal, relatable way possible. There’s no detailed rundown of technology specs, or clips of celebrities playing with devices. Instead, the messaging is far more simple and direct—families using the iPad to communicate via Facetime camera, or a reader flipping through a volume in iBooks while rain pounds against the window.

Although feature lists are important for buyers, real estate marketers should never forget that what they are ultimately selling is an experience—the idea of what a buyer would see when they imagined their own family in the home. Effective real estate marketing is about creating and selling those experiences, and not just coming out with the cheapest granite countertops.

The impact of Steve Jobs and his work at Apple will continue to be felt for decades, not just in the consumer electronics industry but in the culture at large. As a business leader, his work provides a great template for anyone who wants to reach consumers with a powerful message and a quality product, including real estate sales agents and marketers.

Carol Ruiz is the Principal of NewGround PR & Marketing.

All too often I encounter Online Sales Programs that aren’t running on all cylinders. When I talk with builders about the possibility of a 20% conversion rate from leads to appointments, many people will say, “How is that possible? We have an Online Sales Counselor and we just can’t seem to get there.”

This is when you need to look intently at your process and perform a checkup on your program. Here are some of the most common reasons we see an Online Sales Program under performing:

Wrong Person – This position requires someone with the right drive, ambition and organizational skills. They don’t have to be a computer geek, but they do need to understand computers and programs. They also have to be motivated to pick up the phone and dial for dollars, plus be a wiz on email.

No or Low Support From Leadership – Does the manager even know what the OSC does? What about the owner? Sometimes this position ends up as the redheaded stepchild. Not quite sales, not quite marketing. Make sure your online sales counselor is deeply integrated into the sales team and recognized for sales that come from appointments.

Not Enough Leads – You can’t just drop in a person and expect your leads to magically increase. You have to generate leads from every source possible; SEO, SEM, PPC, third party listing services and more. Spend some money to drive traffic and watch your appointments go up (want a quick start, click here)

Holes in the Lead Funnel – Do the numbers on your website still ring the onsite sales agent’s phone? If so you are missing opportunities. In most phone shops, we see onsite sales agents answering about half of the calls! Don’t let the best leads go unmanaged. All new leads and first contact, both by phone and email, should go directly to the OSC. I have some clients who even have the numbers on their signs go to the OSC team.

No Defined Process – It takes a consistent and persistent process. Online prospects require a unique process with the sole goal of setting an appointment. Make sure you have that process defined and everyone understands why this process is important.  The last thing you need is confusion on the part of the site agents on why it’s important to treat online sales leads like VIP visitors.

CRM is Non Existent – What, you are using some Excel spreadsheet you created and Outlook reminders to manage your leads? The right CRM can save you literally 1,000’s of hours and allow you to manage your leads more effectively.  Having no CRM, or an outdated inefficient CRM, can cost you a lot of sales. Prospecting is tough – generating appointments is no easy task. Don’t send your OSC to a gunfight with a squirt gun.

Rewarded for the Wrong Activities – It’s not about tasks – it’s about appointments and sales. Make sure the bonus structure covers the right activities. This position is not a butterflies and rainbows customer service role. Your OSC needs to have the drive to create that appointment and ultimately the sale. They are not just there to make friends on the phone. A proper bonus structure can increase your appointments overnight!

Handoff Process Falls Flat – Are you loosing momentum after you set the appointment? Does the sales executive even contact the prospect before they visit? In our shops, the answer is usually, “No.”  Make sure that onsite sales executive is both calling and emailing with an introduction and an appointment reminder. You should see at least an 80% appointment kept ratio if the handoff process is done correctly.

A Divided Mind – Is your OSC the warranty person too? Huge fail. We might as well just have them be the assistant to the manager too. Not gonna’ work people. Trying to lump too many “other” tasks on their plate will remove their focus from the task at hand. Sales.

Telephobia – Call reluctance is epidemic. Yes, we call this position the ONLINE Sales Counselor, but most appointments are set over the phone. Make sure they know how to dial for dollars. The more people they connect with the better chance they have for setting appointments. (In many cases, it takes 20 outbound calls to set 1 appointment)

BONUS REASON: Onsite Sales is ”Not so Hot” – Finally, it doesn’t matter how good your OSC program is, or how many appointments you set – if you have a lousy sales team, the closings won’t happen.

Some of these are a quick fix, but most require time and attention to get your OSC Program to the level that creates additional sales. It’s easy to cherry pick the best leads and easiest customers. It is a true art to get that “on the fence buyer” to take the next step. I encourage you to print out this checklist and review it with your team.  Remember, 50% of your leads are going to buy from someone at some time.  Do everything you can to increase your chances of that “someone” being you.

See much more from Mike Lyon at www.doyouconvert.com

Telephone conversation will never be as influential as an in-person conversation. And email follow-up cannot replace the phone. Sometimes though, your best or only option to reach a prospect is email, and in those cases you want that communication to be as effective as it can be.

The most common feedback I hear from salespeople about communicating with prospects via email? “They never respond.”

There’s a huge list of possible reasons someone doesn’t respond to an email you sent them. What if they never get the email? Maybe their computer crashed, or they forgot to pay their Internet service bill, or maybe that new spam filter they just installed blocks everything. Those are all things we cannot control, so forget about them.

When prospects do receive your email (and trust me, most of them do), but they don’t respond, there can be a number of reasons. One of the most common? They never opened your email.

No matter how compelling and personal the content of your email, your prospect will never get to see it if they never open it. Next to having your prospect recognize your name or email address, the subject line is your best opportunity to get your email opened.

Nothing says, “this is an email I don’t want to open,” like a subject line that reads “Thank you for your visit,” “The information you requested,” or something similarly generic and bland. And no, including your community name isn’t sufficiently unique either.

Consider the noise and clutter that is likely found in your prospects’ inbox. If they’ve been doing a lot home shopping, your email is not only going to be one of 100’s of emails begging for attention, but one of many from new home salespeople begging for attention. What makes your email standout?

The subject line of your emails needs to be personal in a way that sets off bells for them and/or intriguing enough to spark their curiosity. How exactly do you do this? The answer is not the same for every prospect, of course

Let’s say you’ve met John on Thursday in your model. You spent only about 15 minutes with John, as he was on a rare midday work break. You were able to learn a bit about him during that time. You know he has kids that like to swim. You know his significant other and he only share Wednesday as a day off (you learned this when asking about when he might have time for a more thorough demonstration of the community). Among other things, you also learned this would be a new commuting route for him, as his current home takes him a different direction to work. Knowing John’s limited time, you secured his agreement and your reasons for following-up. You did not get a phone number on the registration card, as John says, “the best way to reach me is email.”

Now that its time to draft your follow up email, you could use the “Thank you for your visit” or “It was a pleasure meeting you” subject lines, but they’re not likely to get much of a look. Think different, and get John’s attention. Consider some of the following subject lines more likely to get clicked:

“Swimming pool, Wednesdays, and your commute”
- Together with your name, this should be enough for John to know this is no form-letter email. This was drafted just for him. Also, the unusual structure of subject lines like this can sometimes be enough to get the click.

“You’re going to love this answer…”
- This is a more interesting way of saying “The information you requested.” You’ve got the answer to John’s question, and its good. Show some enthusiasm.

“Exactly 15.6 miles to your office.”
- You know John’s commute will change when he moves to your community. Not only can you help his research, but you can share some of what you learned in the subject line. It has the element of unusual to spark some curiosity and its certainly lets John know right away that the email is going to have information relevant to him.

Certainly, if John was ever going to open a “Thanks for your visit” email, he’d open one of these. This means your chances of a response can only improve.

There are limitless possibilities here. These are just a few samples .

You’re a sales professional. This means the responsibility to be a better communicator rests on your shoulders, and that includes email communication. Use all that you know to make your communication more impactful and more memorable.

Dennis O’Neil is president of
O’Neil Interactive.
www.oneilinteractive.com

Charles Schwab once said that you’re either in sales or sales support.  Salespeople are leaders and influencers. And those at the top of the profession are fearless. As a sales professional first and new home sales trainer second, I believe in fearless selling. I believe salespeople have more influence than price, competition, or any other circumstance.

Among other things, fearless salespeople:

1. See themselves as problem solvers…they are the experts who guide prospects to their goal.
2. Are never victims of circumstance…rather than relying on the housing market and other conditions to line up, the fearless see tough circumstances as an opportunity.
3. Do not rely on passive communication (email, social media, etc.) to communicate or get people through the door.
4. See objections as opportunities to educate a buyer and help them see things differently.
5. Engage customers and lead the process rather than being led by it.
6. Ask questions to find out the whys behind a customer’s desires.

Are not afraid to be salespeople.

The stigma of manipulating, self-serving and pushy salespeople does not apply to my concept of fearless selling. Fearless selling is the opposite actually. It’s about seeing yourself as the most capable and qualified person to help your customer accomplish their goal (to improve their life) and being unafraid to step into that place of leadership.

“Cozy one level with a  back yard full of tree.” ~ Jdean

Dai Haifei is a Chinese architect. He works for a company whose slogan is “Our Buildings Are Eggs Laid by City,” and apparently nothing was lost in translation there — seeing as how Dai now lives in an egg-shaped house small enough to fit on the sidewalk.

He built this pod on a bamboo frame insulated with wood chips, with bags of sprouting grass on the outside. Total Cost: $964. Though quite small, the pod is big enough to house a bed, a water tank, a night table and a crushing sense of claustrophobia. Dai says he typically works at his architectural firm until midnight and only uses his home for sleep anyway, allowing him to save a ton of money.  Money that will probably not go towards furniture.

]]> http://jeffshore.com/2011/09/caption-contest-winner-10/feed/ 0 egg-home-sidewalk 68420 68422_v1 68423_v1 http://jeffshore.com/2011/09/closing-when-a-decision-maker-is-absent/ http://jeffshore.com/2011/09/closing-when-a-decision-maker-is-absent/#comments Sat, 10 Sep 2011 05:00:11 +0000 jeffshore http://jeffshore.com/?p=5698

“I am looking for the most impactful verbiage for the initial handwritten note that I send out following the 1^st visit to the models.”

All right, sales pro’s. Let’s hear your best responses. Go!

My opinion is that your objective should be to persuade this person to bring in the kids and spend a little time. Here’s my approach:

“I totally understand. Let’s do this. I can give you just the thirty-second overview of the community – just the top level stuff – and you can decide at that point whether you want to bring in the family. Fair enough?”

If the prospect balks, there’s really nothing you can do but try to make a good impression. But if the customer is willing to listen you have 30 seconds for your most exciting overview ever. Make it count! The good news is that if they come in after all, you’re in a great position!

Yes. It’s real.  The explanation is coming next week when we declare the winner of the caption contest.  Submit your best caption in the comments section below.

Now add to that the fact that the feeble rewards aren’t what they used to be. And the stress levels are higher. But at least we have to work longer hours to make up for it.

And then there’s the sales manager, who clearly wants to harass motivate you to even higher numbers, all so he can protect his own backside interests. And we won’t even get into the often-tyrannical demanding division manager. Don’t even get me started!

And for all that, I STILL love sales. Because at the end of the day a possibly lunatic stressed-out prospect still has a problem, and we as definitely lunatic sales professionals get to help them solve it.

Somehow the “yes” still makes it worthwhile, and completing the sale still brings a rush.

Dontcha think?

I read a conversation among realtors on Active Rain who are a bit confused about their job description–they believe their job is to show and tell and that they should show customers home after home until the client finds something they can live with. Once they do, the answer to any concern is to then to lobby for lowering the price until the customer is willing to accept. I could not disagree more.

A realtor with this approach is FAR from earning their 1-3% keep and really makes him/herself unnecessary. Sellers may as well use a for sale by owner (FSBY) approach and buyers may as well contract on the home with the lowest cost per square foot.

If you’re representing the seller (either the builder or homeowner), your job is to find a way to sell the home at the price the homeowner wants to sell it. The whole point of your contract (and your fee!) is for you to sell the value of the home, not to spend your time convincing the homeowner that they need to lower the price.

Let’s say you get a $3,000 commission. If you spend time trying to convince the homeowner/builder that they should lower their price by $5,000 so that they can have the lowest price per square foot for what they’re giving, the total cost to the builder/homeowner is 3K to you (in commission) and 5K to the buyer (in lower price). So you just cost the builder/homeowner $8,000 out of their pockets. And for what?

They might just say, “If we’re 5K overpriced, we’ll lower it 5K and get you out of the picture.  That’ll save us 3k and we can put $1,000 of that towards a for sale by owner marketing kit.” So, y taking yourself out of the deal, you save the homeowner/homebuilder 2K. Be careful what you ask for.

Now I understand that realtors and builders can be confused about the value of their homes, but this is a conversation that needs to happen before you sign the agreement. Don’t sign and then come back with your comps a month later saying it’s overpriced. Let the seller know what they’re getting into up front. And once you agree to market and sell a property, sell it at that. Don’t come back later and change the rules.

Earn your commission. Show and sell.

Yes … it’s The Little Mermaid’s house. Prince Eric wasn’t too happy but Sebastian loves the joint! ~ JSuth

This settlement on Tatooine — sorry, this “totally a home on Earth, for real”– called the Bubble Palace was conceived in the 1970s by architect Antti Lovag. He was commissioned to design the home near Tourrettes-sur-Loup in France by an eccentric wealthy industrialist, but when the deal fell through, designer Pierre Cardin, the fashion guru who created the bubble dress, took on the house in 1989. That’s right: Not one, but two separate people not only immediately loved the idea of living in a bubble bath but also were actually in the position to finance said sprawling bubble compound.

All the rooms in the villa are round, with no straight edges anywhere in the house — not even the beds. Cardin says it’s because, “The circle is my symbol; the sphere represents the creation of the world and the mother’s womb.” The architect who built the house says it’s because straight lines are “an aggression against nature … human beings have confined themselves to cubes full of dead ends and angles that impede our movement and break our harmony.”
Okaaaay. But, in all honesty, we like the Little Mermaid idea more.

Home Builder Website Performance Statistics

This, believe it or not, is a house.  It is, believe it or not, located on THIS planet.  We will be providing it’s backstory next week when we announce the caption contest winner.  Submit your best caption in the comments below.  Stay tuned!