On behalf of my staff, and myself, I would like to introduce the latest addition to the Shore Consulting team. Please help me welcome Amy O’Connor, our new SCI Certified Sales Trainer.

Your prospect has seemingly endless possibilities in their search for the right product from the right person.  For many, the search is long and tedious, and they’ll speak with countless sales representatives along the way.

Will you win? Why?  What will make you stand out?

I’ve been learning some interesting applications lately in an out of the ordinary venue.  On Sunday nights I have been leading a course through my church called, “Practical Advice for Tough Economic Times”.  We deal mostly with people who are out of work or fear that they will soon lose their jobs.  Many of these people are in despair over the search and are seemingly out of answers on how to land a job… any job.

Now, if you know anything at all about me, you know that I relate virtually everything to the sales process. (Can’t help it – occupational hazard!)  I find myself telling these fine folks on Sunday nights that the process of the job search is really a sales presentation. They are the product. Their résumé is the brochure. The interview is the sales presentation.

What advice do I proffer to those people who are trying to find jobs in a time of high unemployment and fierce competition?  Stand out!  You’ve got to find a way to be noticed, and you’ll never stand out so long as your approach looks like everyone else’s.  If you’re simply going to place a generic résumé on a job posting site and hope for the best, you’re going to get eliminated.  And why?  Because you are completely unremarkable.  In the job search, being unremarkable (definition: no one bothers to remark about your very presence) is a ticket to prolonged vocational obscurity.  You must get noticed…period.

Here’s an example.  One of the best meals I’ve ever had was at a restaurant called III Forks in Dallas, Texas.  The food was incredible, right down to the creamed corn.  When all the food was on the table and we had begun to enjoy the meal, the waiter walked up.  You know the question, don’t you?  “Is everything OK?”  Now, if “OK” is what you’re shooting for, I suppose that is a legitimate query.  But if you’re going for perfection, wouldn’t you ask a different question?  Our waiter said, “Is everything perfect?”  Wow!  Did he really just ask me if everything is perfect?  That’s a high standard to live up to.

How memorable was the presentation?  That restaurant visit took place five years ago, and I’m still commenting on it.  All because a waiter desired to stand out from his peers.

So what about you?  What are you doing that really stands out in the customer’s mind?  What is different about your approach?  What is remarkable?  Why will a prospect feel differently about the experience with you than with any other stop on the shopping tour?  Seriously, give that last question some serious consideration.

It’s time to take chances.  It’s time to go a few extra miles.  It’s time to stand out.  It’s time to be memorable.

Alright, glad you’re back. After I wrote the article, I couldn’t get the title out of my head. So instead of fighting it, I embraced it.  I hope you enjoy.

Oh, and in case you feel like you just have to sing along, the tune is to “Dalmatian Plantation” from the old Disney cartoon.  I don’t blame if you don’t remember it.  I hope you enjoy the song anyway.

“We pulled up to this one house with an immediately obvious… well, lets call it a ‘feature’. That feature was a close proximity to a freeway… a very close proximity.  The house was nestled at the bottom of a hill, and just up at the top of the hill laid the 78 freeway.  We could see the cars zipping past. It wouldn’t have been difficult to hit one with a 7-iron.

The sales agent, who I will call ‘Don’ (because I can’t remember his real name), came right up to us and started talking about the thing that obviously must be on our minds: the freeway.  He pointed out the benefit of living so close to North San Diego’s main thoroughfare. He touted the advantage of knowing that nobody will be coming in and doing any more developing around my home.  He even gave an amateur physics lesson to help us to understand that being below the freeway is far better than being above it because sound travels up. He said all these things.

But, what had we said?

We had said: NOT A SINGLE WORD! We hadn’t mentioned the freeway. We hadn’t even told him our names. Yet, his entire sales presentation had begun by refuting an objection he only assumed we had.  And the truth is, I didn’t even care about the freeway! Neither did Amanda!  Yeah, we noticed it, but it didn’t really bother us at all.

Don was projecting his own objection onto us.  He assumed we would immediately be turned off by the freeway and thought that combating that negative opinion was of premier importance.  In doing so, he sacrificed his chance to make a good first impression and build a healthy relationship with us.”

Don’t ever counter an objection the customer has not raised.  Be disciplined in this.  It’s too easy to project the things you don’t like about your community to the buyers.

Think about your community. Are there any items about your homes or neighborhood that you would consider a problem? Now ask yourself, do you ever find yourself guilty of projecting that problem to a customer who was otherwise undaunted by it? Tell us about your objection and how you avoiding projecting it in the comments section below.  And remember, you can never refute an objection that they don’t have; you can only create one that they previously didn’t.

* Ask salespeople you know in Phoenix and they’ll tell you the biggest problem is low inventory.
* I talked to a salesperson in San Francisco who is selling WAY upper-end luxury condos, and buyers are swarming!
* The city of Irvine, CA has an inventory of less than 500 homes…for a town of more than 200,000 people!
* Similar stories coming in from Florida, the mid-Atlantic and Colorado.

Things are changing, and it appears that they are changing quickly. You need to prepare your mindset accordingly. That means:

* Sharing the message of market energy with enthusiasm
* Updating your “Why Buy Now” message
* Expecting a 50% sales pace increase from 2011

That last point is most important. One sale per month might have been acceptable way back in ….. 2011! But it ain’t 2011 no more. It’s a different day and a different market.

Are you ready? Really ready?

I say BRING IT ON! Let’s change someone’s world!

What’s Your CQ?

Amy O’Connor

While IQ tests are designed to assess intelligence, and EQ tests measure one’s ability to identify, evaluate and control the emotions of oneself, of others and of groups, I believe that salespeople have a CQ or Closing Quotient measurement.  When I talk about a sales person’s CQ, I am referring to a set of competencies and skills that drive performance and ultimately make deals happen.

The CQ is a measurement, not just in success as it pertains to the raw numbers of your weekly sales report, but of your ability to drive a deal from beginning to end. Just like following driving directions on the road, driving a sale happens in steps.  Focus on how well your perform each of those steps to determine your CQ.

To score a high CQ, there must be a union of these four competencies:

Connect  x  Understand  x  Advance  x  Serve = CQ

1. Connect – People who rate high in Connect have the ability to build trust with customers and make them feel at ease.  They pay special attention to the relationship that forms between themselves and the prospect.  We establish relationships with people very quickly, be they good or bad.  If you score high in this competency, you realize that building a rapport and becoming liked by your prospect is essential to drive the sale forward.
_
2. Understand – You need the ability to identify the customer’s current dissatisfaction and their ultimate goal of improving their life.  Discover what it is about their current situation that needs to change.  This can only happen when a good relationship has been established, because it demands trust. The customer must trust you enough to share their story with your and then trust that you have an accurate and empathetic understanding of what that story is. If they don’t think you understand, they won’t think you can help them and the sale stalls.
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3. Advance – This third skill is the ability to demonstrate the home, overcome objections and ask for the sale. This includes the ability to use vision agreements in the beginning, get small “yesses” all the way through the demonstration, and finally ask for the sale at the end of the presentation on the very first visit.  Sales people who score high in Advance adeptly take a customer through that series of small agreements and arrive at an inevitable concluding point where it is completely natural to ask the final closing question.
_
4. Serve – Depending on the customer’s answer to the final close question, Serve manifests itself in one of two ways:
   1. If the customer buys the home, then Serve becomes about providing them with the appropriate level of service throughout their closing process and even after they close, affirming their purchase decision and ultimately asking for a referral.
   2. If the customer has not made a purchase decision, then Serve becomes about implementing a strategic follow-up plan, inviting them back, and asking for the sale again.

In either case, to score high in Serve a sales person has to have a strategic, intentional plan of action for every customer.  It is tempting for sales people to cut that process short, but there is much more value to be had when you continue in your relationship with the buyer.

Sales people with a high CQ are fully engaged in every aspect of the sale.  They realize that closing is not just moment in time at the end of a presentation, but a culmination of all of the processes leading up to the final question.  Remember the formula above.

I challenge you to determine which ability needs to be developed in your presentation to bring your CQ up as high as it can go!

I’m back! It was a great trip, but it is REALLY good to be home. It’s been a thrill to share my experiences via Facebook over the last week (go to www.facebook.com/JeffShoreCommunity to see videos and pics). Hope you enjoyed the updates.

A few random thoughts from the trip:

1) Selling in Abu Dhabi is remarkably similar to selling in North America. It’s still all about connecting, understanding, advancing and serving. The cultural nuances fit quite well into my existing sales process.

2) The people in the United Arab Emirates are wonderful! Gracious, fun, interesting, eager to learn – everything I could have hoped for.

3) Selling in the UAE is about patience. People move at their own schedule. Even our 9:00 sales training sessions started at 9:40ish (or whenever people showed up). Frankly, it made me appreciate the punctuality I am used to.

4) Saadiyat Island (www.saadiyat.ae) is the single most amazing development I have ever seen. The Manarat Experience center (http://www.saadiyat.ae/en/cultural/manarat-al-saadiyat1.html) is truly remarkable. The theater-in-the-round shows you an amazing look at the future of the community. The interactive 3-D displays were breathtaking. Everything about the place spoke of energy and excitement.

5) The upscale homes were not substantially different than what you would see in a higher-end community in the United States. Well-appointed kitchens, spacious master suites, large family rooms with high ceilings. I could have been in North America. The separate en-suite rooms for maids, nannies, and drivers were a nice touch!

6) There is a high premium on quality touches throughout the Abu Dhabi infrastructure, often through a no-expense-spared approach. The freeways are lined with landscaping, trees and flowers for miles on end. Of course, none of the vegetation is natural. It’s hundreds of freeway miles all neatly planted and irrigated with desalinated seawater.

7) If you’re interested at all in architecture, put Dubai on your “bucket list”. The buildings and layout are spectacular. We are so used to cities that morphed into what they are today. In Dubai it’s all from scratch and all new money. Oil changed everything about this place.

I come away with a new and profound respect for life in the Middle East, but also for an appreciation of my own country. It was a pleasure to be there…and to change a whole different part of the world!

This sign might as well just read: “THIS IS A SIGN” or “THERE’S TOO MUCH MONEY IN OUR BILLBOARD BUDGET”

“Ceiling Fangs” really tend to hurt your resale value… unless you’re in Transylvania!
BA-DUM-CHING!

He’s not just a realtor, he’s also the life of the party!

I’m betting there’s a connection between this picture and the last one. Mr. Cuervo is up to no good at all.

That’s a strange way to spell “Stewart”.

Wait, where? On a roof? On a sign? How can “there” and “here” be the same place? My head hurts.

Six years ago, selling a home may have been as easy as handing someone a pen and pointing to the dotted line. But after the market turned, you were forced to up your sales game dramatically. If you’re still in this business today, it means you adapted to survive. But if you are merely surviving, producing just enough to keep you employed, then you aren’t truly market-proof.  I want to talk to you about how to thrive. Does that sound good to you?

What are you looking for? Do you want to hone your skills? Do you want to make more money? Do you want be the top seller in your division? Whatever your answer, it’s time to stretch yourself.

I wrote Tough Market New Home Sales –now available as an audiobook– at the request of salespeople like you who struggled to make adjustments to a tough market. I encourage you as I encouraged them: the sales person who is truly market-proof is so well rounded that they know how to thrive in any market. Embrace and practice solid techniques, such as are found in my book, and watch as this difficult period elevates you to an entirely new level of sales performance! There are lessons to learn in times of adversity that cannot be learned in times of prosperity. You can grow from here, and it’s entirely up to you!

You must always keep learning! That’s the only way you can be market-proof. That’s the only way to change someone’s world!

If you’ve begun doing this already, good for you! Now I’ll let you in on an acting secret: the intent of the line is more important than the line itself. In your sales office it’s okay to allow for organic, off-book dialogue. You are still following the pattern of your “plot”, as long as you are asking the right questions with the intention of understanding the answers.

This is what my son, Kevin, said about acting once your lines are memorized:

“When we had our lines down solid, when show time came our focus wasn’t on ourselves, but on each other. We, as our characters, were listening to what the other characters said. We responded naturally, and it was as if our rehearsed lines were the most sincere things we could say at the time. Acting is reacting, not reciting.”

Acting is reacting. You aren’t just waiting for your acting partner to stop talking so you can say your next line. You are truly listening so that your next line makes complete sense. Then, whether the next thing you say is your line or not, you show them you understand. Stephen Covey put it this way:

“Most salespeople don’t listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to respond.”

Don’t let that happen! Really soak up every answer and see if you can learn more before you move on to your next question. Your job as a performer is to draw them in. The best way to do that is to empathize. Show them you are on their side and that you understand. They will know it and appreciate it if you truly understand where they are coming from.

While I’m there, I will be taking pictures and video of my trip and posting them to my Facebook page. I hope you’ll come on over to Facebook.com/JeffShoreCommunity and hit the Like button. I have a feeling I’ll be posting some pretty cool stuff!

Click the button below to go to Facebook. When you get there, click “Like” to stay updated on my trip. Thanks!

The Home of the Month! Somebody took it!!!

Beautiful, completely legitimate landscaping.

Oh my… Holy Cow! 1% Commission?!?!?!

Will go fast! …After a strong wind.

Can’t the lice pay some of the rent?

No, seriously. We could get our first price if we wanted it. We decided we want less money.

You are a salesperson, and therefore you are an artist. Sales is a performance art. As such, it is subject to a plot, and you get to pull double duty as both the performer and the writer of this piece.

My son, Kevin, spent a lot of time in college acting in plays. I have a background in theater myself and one day I was having a conversation with him about the rehearsal process. He shared something about line memorization that I thought was incredibly applicable to our sales presentations.

“I wanted to get my lines memorized as soon as I could so that I could focus on the acting more. If I didn’t have my lines memorized by the time the show would come around, my performance would be nothing but standing on stage waiting for my cue, and then simply reciting the line I had just memorized.  That makes for a very wooden and dull performance. But if my fellow actors and I memorized quickly and practiced often early in the process, then we had valuable time to spend honing our technique.“

If you know your go-to sales lines inside and out before the customer comes in, you will have a clearly designed path to the sale. Memorize, and then rehearse.  Practice with a colleague or manager.  Eventually, you’ll find you are able to give a performance to wow any audience.

“The views from this home are just heavenly!” ~ Sandie

Another great caption:

“You should always expect a little settlement the first year…” ~ Bob Litterilla

You can see more about Saadiyat Island by visiting this site: http://www.saadiyat.ae

You might also enjoy this video showing the vision of Saadiyat Island:

I will also be planning to post video updates from the trip on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JeffShoreCommunity.

What do you have to say?  Or, how would someone try to pitch this home if they had to sell it? Submit your best photo caption in the comments below.  The winner will be announced next week.

I actually worked with a couple for just over an hour, priced out the home and simply asked “So do you want to buy this home today?” It was totally natural and she said “Yes”….I sold a home in an hour and a half….incredible feeling. She justified later by saying “We’ve been looking for over two years, we know what’s out there”.

Pay very, very close attention to that last line. In it you will find your justification for closing on visit one. Today’s customers have been in the market for years. They have been thinking about this for a long, long time. They have been all over the Internet. They know what is out there!

What is your philosophy on this? Do you think this is an isolated incident, or do you have success in getting the sale on visit one?

Because, clearly, construction is not for everybody!

But to put a spin on the old saying, what goes down must come up. The fact is that economic markets are cyclical, and a rough season is followed by prosperity in the same way the bust followed the boom.

I don’t know about you, but everywhere I go I am hearing more stories about a shifting of the economic winds. It’s not that anyone expects a major boom anytime soon but it seems consensus favors the idea that the bust is over.

Which is why I believe it is time to bury the limited thinking of the past several years and start expecting big things. If you are in new home sales it is time to get past the idea that one sale a month is good enough. It’s time to start thinking about one sale a week!

I know for many of you that sounds like a radical concept. One sale per week?! Are you kidding me?! No, I’m not kidding at all. I believe it is time to start expecting more – from the market and from ourselves. Top sales professionals should approach each and every week with the expectation of a new sale.

Look – what do you have to lose? You approach the week with the expectation of selling a home, and you line up your activities accordingly. Is there some downside to this approach? Worst case scenario: you increase your chances for a sale next week. Where is the harm in that?

Hey new home sales pros – THINK BIG!!! You can crawl out of this thing or you can sprint out. Change your paradigm….and you’ll change someone’s world!

__________________

Follow me on Facebook for daily updates, posts from the road, polls, inspiration, etc. Visit Facebook.com/JeffShoreCommunity and “like” the page. Thanks!

“Always wanted to live in a dinosaur or robot? With our interchangeable options, you can change the look with your mood.” ~ Jennifer Hafer

The Lego house was up for sale if someone had the gumption to by it, dismantle it, and move it to their own property.  Unfortunately, there were no takers and the house was demolished.  At least they got some cool destruction pictures.

We’ll have more on this house next week.  But in the meantime, there’s got to be some good captions for this one!  Submit your best caption in the comments section below.  The winner will be announced next week.

Some have said that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. In his (excellent!) book The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy offers this amended and more complete description of “luck”:

Preparation (personal growth) PLUS

Attitude (belief/mindset) PLUS

Opportunity (a good thing coming your way) PLUS

Action (doing something about it) EQUALS

Luck

Here’s my question for you. In which area do you need to be “luckier”? We can improve our chances of obtaining such luck when we improve in the factors that bring it about.

Where are you? What needs to be better? Figure it out, and it might just change your world.

Read the story here.

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/ 3 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!

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!

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?