By Aaron Wagner, Director of Organizational Learning - New Home Star//
We’ve learned that linear models for selling often fail in real-world application. For decades, new home salespeople have been trained that the critical path is the only means of selling success. In reality, no two buyers are the same. Each person has their own set of unique preferences, desires, and motivations. Therefore, trying to make each potential buyer follow a strict, linear path when purchasing a home is not only inefficient but can also be ineffective.
At New Home Star, we’ve developed a set of guiding principles that help sales associates navigate their way through the non-linear interactions that they have with customers in their model homes and their communities.
The first of these guiding principles is to “guide the customer through the most favorable thought process.” Creating the most favorable thought process takes a lot of thoughtfulness and practice. It can take sales associates years to master the nuance of this guiding principle. When creating the most favorable thought process for customers in all aspects of the sales presentation, it’s important to remember the following four ideas.
- Master the Fundamentals. To often newer Sales Associates veer too far from the basic ideas of effective sales training when trying to create a favorable thought process for buyers. It’s essential that a Sales Associate is a true master of the foundations of the selling process to understand exactly how to lead each customer individually. Creating a favorable thought process for a buyer is not a license to ignore proven methods of success.
- Understand the Buyer. The more a Sales Associate becomes a student of people, the more effective they will be in creating unique and effective selling presentations. Understanding personality types and learning how people are truly motivated is the key to creating a favorable thought process. It’s important to not just listen to what a customer says, but rather listen to reasons behind what they are saying. It’s impossible to create the most favorable thought process for buyers when Sales Associates lead sales presentations according to their own preferences instead of focusing on the deeper motivations of the buyer.
- Practice the Process. Only through repetition and practice can Sales Associates consistently create the most favorable thought process. The best Sale Associates practice giving their sales presentations to different types of people. Only through controlled practice can Sales Associates genuinely learn how their words and actions affect people who are different from themselves.
- Mind the Details. Creating the most favorable thought process is contingent on the details. It’s all too common that Sales Associates start to lose focus in regards to creating the perfect environment to sell homes. Does the home smell good? Is the bathroom clean? Is the toilet seat down? Is the lawn mown? Are the flags outside the model un-ripped? Is there music playing? When working with people rapport can be instantly lost when details are neglected. In high selling real estate markets, homes sales can be won and lost by the tiniest of errors.
All of these guidelines and points bring us as new home Sales Associates back to the very basics in the sales process: our first guiding principle, “guide the customer through the most favorable thought process.” Without following that first guiding principle, many experience a real disconnect and can lose sight of the chance to perfect their sales presentation and the opportunity to leave their customer feeling that they have finally achieved the American Dream. Use these guidelines as a basis for each new customer interaction and maintain consistency throughout each step in the sales process and you may be surprised at what kind of an impact it can make to your performance!