You may have heard about Gamal Ibrahim, the 20-something Egyptian man who named his newborn daughter “Facebook” in honor of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, which was almost totally organized on the social-networking site. The father said he named his child Facebook to “express his joy at the achievements made by the youth” in ending the 30-year reign of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11. The child received many gifts from family, friends and youth who celebrated her birth and name.

Being named after a popular Website is one way to get people to like you. But there are other ways that will probably work better as you try to establish a rapport with potential buyers. Here are some suggestions:

• People want to feel appreciated, so thank them enthusiastically for taking the time to visit your model home.
• Make sure you’re approachable. Don’t greet them then walk away and bury yourself in your iPhone or laptop.
• Remember their names.
• Don’t act overeager and patronizing.
• Check your personal hygiene throughout the day.
• Find common ground.
• Don’t interrupt.
• Make eye contact.
• Establish an open, relaxed conversation by synchronizing your body language and speech rhythm to theirs. Make sure your words, actions and the tone of your voice all relay the same message. Saying “May I sell you a new home today?” while licking your lips and rubbing your hands briskly together sends a different message than saying “May I sell you a new home today?” while greeting them with a warm handshake and a smile.
• Have a positive attitude.
• Compliment. Don’t criticize or complain.
• Put others first. Remember, what’s good for your buyers is good for your business.

According to the Harvard School of Health Sciences, people decide how they feel about you in the first two seconds of seeing or hearing you. If they like you, they will unconsciously tend to see the best in you and look for opportunities to agree and say “yes.” If they don’t like you, the opposite is true.

Posted In: Customer Service

Tags: eye contact, facebook, Harvard, like, potential buyers, social networking

Referrals are the lifeblood of a sales career. They are the reported number-one source of new leads for builders and Realtors alike. Selling to buyers who were referred by happy customers are the least expensive leads and the easiest to close.

In spit of this, however, the majority of salespeople don’t ask for referrals. Instead, once that contract is signed, they head in one direction and their buyers go in another.

What about you? Do you scurry off to your car or do you hang around long enough to pick up some referrals?

If you’d rather gather than scatter, here’s how to do it effectively.

At closing, after all documents are signed and business is complete, say to your new home buyers:

YOU: “Bill and Jane, you now own a wonderful new home. Are you excited?”

BUYERS: “Oh, yes! We can’t wait to get moved in and settled!”

YOU: “So, tell me, who will be the first people you tell about your new home?”

BUYERS: “Well, our family, of course. Then, our friends who live in the same area. It’ll be nice to be close to them … maybe even have them over for dinner and to show off our home.”

YOU: “That sounds like fun. I was wondering … are any of your relatives or friends in the market for a new home?” By mentioning family and friends, the buyers will focus on certain faces of people they know.

Write down the names your buyers give you. Get any specific information you can about the housing needs of these referrals. Ask for contact information. If your buyers are willing to call them on your behalf, great! If not, ask if you can use their names when you call.

Get in touch with all referrals within a week and follow up with your buyers to say “thank you.” Repeat the cycle with every buyer all year.

Remember…don’t scatter. Gather. And benefit from a little name dropping.

Posted In: Customer Service, New Home Sales Training

Tags: myers barnes, New Home Sales Process, New Home Sales Training, referrals

Perhaps you saw the June Consumer Reports magazine, which rated retailers based upon customer surveys. When it came to service, Dillard’s was the readers’ top pick and Kmart, Walmart and Sam’s Club were at the bottom.

The magazine quotes Jack Abelson, president of Jack Abelson & Associates, a retail-consulting firm in Kansas, as saying that service is deteriorating industry-wide because of retailers’ fixation on low prices.

“The trouble today is that the staff is not trained to be anything but glorified cashiers and security guards,” he is quoted as saying.

Do you hear the message that shoppers and buyers are sending? They want good customer service and are willing to pay more to get it. If that’s true in housewares, it’s also true in houses.

Customers aren’t always after who has the best deal, biggest discount or blaring promotion. They aren’t always concerned with which builder is reducing their homes by $20,000 … or is including granite and hardwood at no additional cost … or has the lowest interest rate … or is giving away a free washer and dryer with every new-home purchase.

Buyers want to be appreciated and the best way to let them know they are is to deliver consistently good customer service that goes above and beyond what’s expected. Home buyers don’t want glorified contract-writers. They’ll spend $400,000 for a new home; but having a salesperson who knows how to demonstrate the features of the home and honestly tell them what a value it is? That’s priceless.

Posted In: Customer Service

Tags: customer service, Dillards, Kmart, Sam's Club, value, Walmart

In memory of those who lost their lives, and commemoration of those who are fighting for our freedom, I am republishing this letter that I wrote on September 11th, 2001; the day the World Trade Center fell to the ground and the Pentagon was attacked. My beliefs are straight forward and strong. GOD Bless America, and GOD Bless Our Troops.

The original letter follows:

Like you, I am confounded by the senseless and horrific “attack of war” on our country. Both Lorena and I send our prayers to the families of the victims and to those who are experiencing direct consequences of the action.

During this time of turmoil and transition, I make an impassioned plea to professionals engaged in new home and neighborhood sales to offer your unyielding support to the nation in three ways.

First, in your prayers. Properly understood and applied, your prayers are the single most potent form of action you can take.

Second, offer your financial support to the disaster relief funds. Regardless of your financial situation, you cannot afford to miss the opportunity to contribute. Two places to start are with the American Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3433) and the Salvation Army at 1-877-RED-KETTLE (1-877-733-5388). A Web site providing links to organizations that have established a Sept. 11 Fund and to a variety of resources is www.helping.org.

Finally, go straight to work and sell.

Red Motley is famous for having said, “Nothing happens until a sale takes place.”

Think about that. The salesperson sells cars, tractors, radios, televisions, refrigerators, computers, homes, health and leisure products, ambition and fulfillment. By knocking on doors, answering phones, responding to questions, and demonstrating products and services, he or she enriches billions of lives. Without salespeople, there would be no American ships at sea, no busy factories and no jobs. Everywhere they go, they leave people better off.

If we were to stop selling, someone would stop buying. If someone stops buying, then someone else stops making. When someone stops making, someone stops earning. And when people stop earning, they stop buying.

So you see, as a salesperson, you are very important to the productivity and success of this country. In addition to that, nothing happens for your company until you sell a home or a home site in your community. When you do, everyone — from the stockholders, to the president, to the support staff, to your own customer — benefits from your sale. At the same time, you flip on a switch activating factories across the world that determines the entire direction of the economy.

In 1997, an article in Forbes magazine included these calculated statistics: The average American salesperson keeps 33 men and women at work — 33 people producing that one product — and is responsible for the livelihood of approximately 130 people.

Every economic indicator makes reference to the level of sales in a particular company or industry. Our stock market and price indexes center around the goods and services being sold at any given time, and you — as a community salesperson — help fuel the entire social and economic process.

As trite as this may sound — you have a massive responsibility to go straight to work. Only this time, not just for your personal goals, but as a contributor to this magnificent nation.

Our free enterprise system is part of what makes this country strong. Like many of our other freedoms, it has been threatened — but not thwarted. We will not be deterred from focusing on our goals and accomplishing our purposes individually and as a nation.

As psychologists are telling us, returning to a routine in the aftermath of a tragedy provides solace to others and aids the healing process. So, give what you can — do what you can — and get back to work.

Be productive. Set an example. Exhibit hope. The discovery of a new America is before us and our course is far from run.

“I find the great thing in this world is not so much where you stand as in the direction you are moving. To reach the part of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

God Bless America and Your Efforts,
Myers Barnes
Myers Barnes Associates

Posted In: Customer Service, Leadership

Tags: American Red Cross, freedom, God, New Home Sales, pentagon, prayers, Salvation Army, September 11, Troops, World Trade Center

Brand loyalty is the holy grail for marketers. Building a relationship so strong with a consumer that he goes out of his way to buy your product is the key to success. We know that it’s far more cost-effective (about seven times less expensive!) to retain a customer than to find and cultivate a new one, yet so many businesspeople fail to invest in this hidden treasure. They make assumptions that one purchase will lead to another, ignorant to all the threats and challenges that could alter the relationship—whether it from a more aggressive suitor/competitor or the customer’s dissatisfaction with your product or service.

Loyalty is an emotion. It comes from the trust that is built over time. A single purchase cannot instill that level of commitment. Brand loyalty arises from a relationship where you continue to deliver quality, in the form of service and personal attention after the sale. You build a loyal customer when you call a few months after your happy customer made the purchase to see if your buyer is, in fact, still happy. You inquire as to anything further you can do.

You nurture loyalty by exceeding expectations—and in a culture where most people fail to live up to their word, all you need to do to exceed expectations is to actually deliver what you’ve promised!
Loyalty is not an entitlement. It is the result of being the best you can be. And remaining committed to your customer’s 100% satisfaction is not just smart business, but a moral obligation.

Posted In: Customer Service

Tags: brand loyalty, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, loyalty, marketer, retain a customer, success

What if at your next management meeting your company owner sat down in the conference room and announced to everyone that in 30 days every customer would have to pay an extra $500 "experience tax" that would be tacked on to the bottom of every contract? How would you react? How would your other managers react?

Now no one likes taxes, so instead how about we call it an "experience fee." This fee is going to be rather substantial, perhaps up to several percentage points of the final sales price — now how do you feel? My guess is that most people in the room would say that it would cause lower customer satisfaction, that it would increase customer expectations, slow down construction time, and increase your costs (because you’d have to offer something extra to justify it). Here’s the reality — your company already has an experience tax, and it’s built into your current price.

Now the question is are you delivering a good enough experience to justify your higher price? If not, there is always another company down the road that is willing to cross out that experience tax (or substantially lower it) and offers a similar product for a lower cost. If profitability is a chief focus of your organization (and it always should be) then now is when the light bulb should be going off in your head. On many McDonald’s menus they used to say "smiles are free." Yes, smiles are free to produce, but they create an experience and emotion that cause people to buy more or pay more.

Note: I first learned of the concept of an experience tax from What’s the Secret to Providing a World-Class Customer Experience by John DiJulius. I’ve attended his workshops as well — and I highly recommend both.

Author BIO:
Kevin Oakley is a branding and marketing expert specializing in real estate. He is currently the Director of Marketing & Sales Training at Heartland Homes — a top 100 builder. You can interact with him on his blog at www.brandpossible.com.

Posted In: Customer Service

Tags: discipline, Kevin Oakley, management, Marketing, myers barnes, New Home Sales, new home sales management, New home sales marketing, New Home Sales Training

Football Hall of Famer and philanthropist Gale Sayers once said that if you’re early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re late. And if you’re late, you’re forgotten.

In this day and time when every minute seems to be accounted for, you can’t afford to compromise someone else’s busy schedule. A few minutes could cost you the sale of a new home, because lateness is a sign of disrespect. The ultimate way of gaining respect is by delivering on time, whether that means showing up a few minutes ahead of schedule or providing the follow-up when you’ve promised it, not a few hours or even minutes later.

Too many people have become casual about promptness. I’ve seen this problem with salespeople in model homes. They show up 10 or 20 minutes late to open the sales center, or leave a half-hour before the posted closing hour. These times are promises to your prospects. When no one is there to greet the potential buyer, you’ve already broken a promise and compromised your respectability. As a manager or developer, this is crucial for you to understand because every person on your sales team reflects you and your brand. Even if you are vigilant about timeliness, one slip-up with a salesperson at your model reflects poorly on you.

Can you afford such a cavalier attitude? You’ve invested millions on developing your project, including the infrastructure and model, as well as countless hours of your own. Why would you then ignore the lack of consideration your team is extending to your potential homeowners? I guarantee that while a few might tolerate it, they will not accord you the respect you should command.

Posted In: Customer Service, New Home Sales Training

Tags: attitude, Gale Sayers, lateness, model homes, respect, sales center, salesperson, timeliness

Think about where you were ten years ago. How does your daily life differ today? You’ve likely switched to faster Internet connections, a faster, more powerful computer, wifi, a smaller cell phone with Bluetooth technology, a more energy-efficient car, and you watch what you want on television, whenever you want, because of Tivo or DVR. Your collection of CDs hasn’t grown much in ten years because you mostly download your music to your mp3 player. And I imagine your fax machine has become a bit of a dinosaur in your office, replaced by scans and emails that don’t require a paper trail.

Paper trail. Remember those?

It doesn’t take long for "progress" to change the way we think, act, live, and work. We’re living at the speed of life a blend of rapid-fire news blasts, messaging, demands, and calls that can reach you in even the most remote or private locations.

Why is it then that so many people have failed to upgrade their thinking plans as often as their phones? Assuming that yesterday’s solutions can solve today’s problems is a mistake. Such rigid thinking will leave you behind while the innovators surge forward.

We can certainly learn from the past, but we shouldn’t remain there. If you want to excel, don’t slow yourself down because the world is moving too fast. Take the time to learn and explore. Keep your mind open to new ideas and technologies. Ask questions. Ask "why?" Read.

Flex your mind to prevent rigid thinking. You’re never too old to take a new look.

Posted In: Customer Service, Personal Development

Tags: learn from the past, myers barnes, problems, progress, solutions, technology

We all appreciate the value of referrals. This positive word-of-mouth marketing opens more doors than any other lead generation tool.

But whether you realize it or not, you’re getting referrals all the time. You just don’t know who is saying what!

Let’s say you decide to try a new restaurant. Everything is exceptional: the service, food, hospitality, dacor, location, and parking. How many people will you tell? A few, I’m sure.

This is the result of repetitive selling” doing what works, over and over again.

Conversely, imagine walking into the new restaurant and waiting while a grumpy hostess deals with the crowds she hadn’t expected. She seats you with abruptness and hurries away. The frazzled server is not much more pleasant. The food takes forever to be served and it’s only lukewarm. Nor is it served with any apologies.

How many people will hear about this second experience? Probably far more than will hear the sour story of the bad restaurant. Why? Because you don’t earn points for doing things right.

The complaints resonate through word-of-mouth that travels through Twitter, on blogs, and in texts. Bad news travel farther and faster than the good.

The second scenario is an example of competitive selling, where you have to just be better than the competition. Is that really what you want? Do you want to measure your success from the failures of others or do you want to elevate your game and keep it there?

It is your job to recognize the value of good customer service. It’s not just a business strategy, but rather a moral obligation. People are trading you their money for your good service. And you don’t deliver that quality for the pure desire of attaining a positive referral. You are fending off the bad ones!

Posted In: Customer Service, New Home Sales Training

Tags: competitive selling, good customer service, myers barnes, New Home Sales Training, referrals, social media, Twitter, word-of-mouth marketing

Everybody wants the easy sale the person who walks into your new home sales model, checkbook in hand, and says, "I’ll take it." The pure ease feels like a gift, perhaps a reward from the universe as payback for all those other difficult prospects who have challenged you along the way.

In truth, you should be more thankful to the tough ones because they taught you far more about closing a sale than those who made your job easy. The tougher the prospect, the better the teacher and the greater the sales lesson. You don’t learn by having things handed to you. That’s not the real world. At some point, you’ll be faced with a challenge and ill equipped to overcome it because you have never had to stretch your capabilities.

Tony Robbins says that obstacles do not come to obstruct, but rather to instruct. Don’t curse the person who makes you jump through one hoop after another. You will learn more about selling from this one "teacher" than the countless ones who came before. Physical endurance can only be built by putting yourself through a strenuous workout regime. The same is true for your mental toughness. Distressing situations, although not pleasant, are a blessing in disguise. The setbacks you overcome and the mistakes you learn from pave the way to your success. Getting lost on a roadway teaches you another route to somewhere that will come in handy in the future.

Learn from the person who stubbornly insists, "I’m not buying." Celebrate this opportunity because this prospect has given you the biggest objection possible. When you have conquered a difficult sales prospect, you’ve earned your masters in selling.

Posted In: Customer Service, New Home Sales Training

Tags: challenges, mental toughness, myers barnes, New Home Sales, New Home Sales Training, sales prospect, Tony Robbins

Last year, I went to a car dealership a few miles from my home to buy a car. The salesman showed me a brochure with beautiful pictures. Then I test-drove the model that interested me. I told the salesman that I liked the car but wasn’t in love with the color. He responded that he only had two on the lot and that if I wanted the car, I had my choice of white or white.

I was ready to buy. The only hurdle was the color. And I knew from many prior buying experiences that auto dealers use an online locator and switch cars to make a sale. But the lazy salesperson wasn’t ready to make the small leap to get the sale.

I walked out of showroom, drove home, and did my own locator search. I found a dealership 15 minutes away that had four cars in the color of my choice. I drove there that afternoon and bought the car. And I also return there for service, even though it would be more convenient to use the closer dealership.

The same laziness that I experienced with the first salesman is a chronic problem with many new home salespeople. They need a jolt of a sales strategy I call "GOYA" or "Get Off Your Anatomy! You don’t close deals by sitting behind a desk and taking the “take-it-or-leave-it attitude” not in any economy, but especially not in a down one like the present. Get out of the sales center. Show them the homesite where they can envision their new life. Help them experience the dream and then make it happen. And it doesn’t happen when you don’t take control of the situation and guide your buyer to the purchase decision.

Put a little GOYA into your daily routine.

Myers

Posted In: Customer Service

Tags: Get Off Your Anatomy, GOYA, myers barnes, New home sales marketing, sales strategy

If you’re thinking that all you have to do is present the benefits and amenities of a new home in order to entice a sale, stop.

There are four key questions you must answer whether the buyer asks them or not when making a sales presentation.

1. Why me? As a salesperson, you’ve got to nail this one because if you aren’t crystal clear as to why you’re the person to buy from, your prospect won’t have a clue either. You are the conduit to the home buyer realizing a dream. But you must first instill the confidence that you are the right person to make it happen. Share your track record. Let them know you excel in your field. Talk about long-term relationships that have developed with other buyers.

2. Why us? In addition to your stellar record, you need to communicate the value of the company you represent. A buyer purchases from you but that company looms largely in the background. Are your guarantees etched in stone? Does your company have a record of compelling value and a service department that is second to none?

3. Why here? You’re asking this buyer to invest in a community of homes and its owners. Give them the motivation to choose this location over another. Point out the town’s investment in the infrastructure, the recognized quality of the school system and local health care facilities. Draw attention to the value of the neighborhood that surrounds the home so they can envision not only living in the home but in the community as well.

4. Why now? This is a tough one, particularly in light of the "sit and wait for the prices to drop" game that’s going on. Sell the urgency. Is this the last home on a desirable cul-de-sac? Are other buyers showing serious interest? Is there a time-sensitive purchasing incentive dangled by the builder?

When you are prepared to deliver these answers, you should also be ready to close the sale instantly.

Posted In: Customer Service, New Home Sales Training

Tags: builder, home buyer, New Home Sales Training, purchasing incentive, sales presentation