Paul Desmet is a long-time friend of mine and former sales competitor from way back. He sold in a new home community several blocks from my own. We were targeting the same buyer base in the same price range. Hats off to Paul, one of the classier people I know. Paul never degraded my community, my company or me in his sales presentation. The competition for sales was fierce, but it was never ugly.
A different salesperson who shall remain nameless was a competitor in my very next sales community, but his tactics were far less admirable. He slammed my community, my builder, the quality of my homes, and even me personally. He was ruthless and unashamed.
In the long run, Paul was not only more ethical but also far more successful. Prospects were turned off by the second salesman, so much so that his sales pace was consistently lagging. He is out of the business now (and perhaps in jail somewhere!), while Paul is a very successful executive. Read more…
I recently stumbled upon this very powerful talk given by J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. It is the 2008 Harvard commencement address. The video is 18 minutes long and worth watching from beginning to end, but for now I just want to focus on the first 12 minutes as Rowling talks about the benefits of failure. It is a gripping story with some very powerful advice.
Don’t speed through this – watch it when you have time to take it in and think through the ramifications. Be honest with yourself as you consider how much of our lives we avoid risk for fear of failure, and how much of life we might have missed because of those decisions.
Here is one of her thoughts to live by:
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you failed by default.” J.K. Rowling
I found the discussion gripping. Hope you do as well.
This article is specifically written for my out-of-work friends. If you’re pleasantly employed without a care in the world, good for you – be grateful every day – but right now I’m talking to those far less fortunate.
If you’re trying to land the right job (or for the time being you’re trying to land any job) it might help you to find a new perspective on the search. You might consider the search to be a sales and marketing presentation.
You = Product
Get your mindset straight from the very beginning. You are a product, and as in any competitive environment you need to look good for the prospective buyer (employer). So consider from the start what that buyer/employer is looking for? If the search is for a sales position, the buyer/employer will be looking for positive energy, assertiveness, drive, and goal clarity. Do you show these things? Are you attractive to a shopper?
Prospective Employer = Shopper
Like any prospect on a shopping mission, the basis for that mission will be a need. Taking care of that need will come at a cost. Will the value that you bring exceed the cost? If you cannot prove that in the interview you’ll never get hired.Read more…
I received this e-mail from a sales professional in Utah, who asks a very good question:
I’m finding that there is a disconnect between what the Buyer wants – what solves their dissatisfaction – and what they can afford. It’s because they think the bad economy will give them a $600K house for $375K. It means I have to solve their dissatisfaction in two ways: by what they want AND by the price they can actually afford and then try to bring those two aspects together. The problem I’m encountering is that I can do all kinds of educating but it still ends up being a disappointment – and some actual disbelief. They end up refusing to make a decision because they’re certain that what they want for what they can afford will be out there if they just look long enough. Any suggestions?
Getting in touch with this concept we call “reality” is a normal part of the homebuying process. The only difference between the prospects is the length in that journey towards acceptance of the facts. The good news is that all builders are playing from a level playing field; the homes are priced on the same platform so you’re not going to lose a buyer to another builder (or even to the resale market) in the scenario you described.
The biggest issue however is whether the buyer wishes to move at all. I can fight the battle over timing, and I’ll take my chances in persuading that I have the best home for that prospect. But if the prospect is considering staying put the battle becomes much more difficult.
Your first order of business is to identify both the motivation for moving and also the urgency to make a move. If they simply cannot stay where they are at based on their current situation, you know they’ll quickly come to grips with the realities of pricing and terms.
If they are stuck on the perception of a $200,000 discount from your at-market pricing, we have a name for that person: Non-Buyer!
We all hit sales slumps. They are universal in the sales world. It’s not a matter of if, but when. The important question is what will we do about the slump when it comes our way? If you fail to act quickly, a sales slump will have deep and long-term impact.
Is a sales slump affecting your mindset? Start with a mental check-up. Do you see yourself in any of the following descriptions?
- Lack of positive energy
- Lack of motivation / determination / drive
- Increased discomfort and lack of confidence in sales conversations
- Coming up with excuses for why you can’t sell
- Creating a negative impact on others
Allow me to offer two pieces of advice to help you out of a slump.
First, you must be aware that your next customer has no idea that you are in a slump! Every new customer is a fresh start. As far as they are concerned you’re writing a contract every two hours. So don’t show the new prospect anything but positive energy. Read more…
How do you sell a home to someone when there is absolutely nothing wrong with the home and the situation they’re in right now? You don’t, actually. You cannot sell a home to people who have no dissatisfaction in their current situation. We call those people “non-buyers”, and they don’t even make it out to the sales offices. People aren’t in your office because they have nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon. Talking to salespeople for kicks is not exactly high on the list of non-motivated customers.
But every real prospect has some sense of dissatisfaction in their current home or situation, even if they don’t yet realize that! And that’s the key. The great salespeople will help a prospect to clarify that dissatisfaction. They will help the customer to understand how their life can be improved. (If life improvement is a possibility, it must mean that a dissatisfaction lies waiting to be found.)
So how do we help the prospect identify a dissatisfaction? There are a number of ways to do this, but perhaps the most effective method is to show them something spectacular that they don’t have now. Surely you’ve fallen in love with a kitchen (or a pair of shoes, or a golf club) and before you saw that kitchen there was no dissatisfaction with what you had. The emotional pull of what you saw created a dissatisfaction with what you had.
Don’t take a prospect at face value when they tell you they’re “just looking”, and they have no intention of purchasing. Give them a chance to create an emotional attachment to your product, and then see if that attachment doesn’t all create a dissatisfaction in their current situation!
The futurist Joel Barker offers an interesting perspective on a phenomenon that he calls “Paradigm Paralysis”.He says,
“Whatever our current level of success, we accept it as ‘normal’ and so continue with the activities, actions, and behaviors that keep us at that point.”
That is paradigm paralysis – being crippled by our own limiting self-perspective.Do you accept your current level of performance as being all you are capable of achieving?If so, your actions and behaviors will follow suit.Our actions and behaviors are always consistent with the way we see ourselves.
This phenomenon works both ways.Think of something that you are really good at:listening skills, or golf, or demonstration technique.If you think you are successful in any of those things, a very large portion of your success is based on your self-perception. Read more…
We are somewhat conditioned to have an automatic negative response to our environment when it relates to limitations.We fret and complain about a limited amount of prospects.We struggle with limitations from our customers (“I’m in a hurry”; “I’m just looking”; “We can only afford $150,000”).We feel limited by our location, or our product, or our processes, or appraisers, or financing, or any number of different restrictions that cause us angst.
Perhaps we are looking at things with the wrong perspective.Perhaps there are opportunities within the limitations if we would only seek them out.We consultants talk a lot about “thinking outside the box”.But are the times when we would be more effective by thinking inside the box?
When you get a chance, rent the movie Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks.Pay particular attention to the scene where the NASA engineers on the ground are trying to figure out how to keep the crew alive in a damaged ship. Read more…
(Note: For this article, it might be helpful to have something in mind that frustrates you about your own performance – a hang-up, fear, or general sense of inadequacy.Think about that for a moment before you read on.)
If you’re like… well, everyone, you’ve got your fair share of hang-ups and frustrations that affect your performance in the sales arena.When we face a challenge or a doubt about our own abilities we have two options: 1) Work around it; 2) Work through it.The natural tendency is to work around it – to compensate by applying a strength in another area.
For example, perhaps you find that you are really strong in a face-to-face conversation, but not so strong on the telephone.Your tendency will be to rely on electronic communication (e-mails) and stay away from phone calls as much as possible.
This could be related to any number of different topics: closing skills, model demonstration technique, overcoming objections, listening skills, difficulty with certain buyer profiles – we all struggle somewhere. Read more…
This article is specifically written for my out-of-work friends. If you’re pleasantly employed without a care in the world, good for you – be grateful every day – but right now I’m talking to those far less fortunate.
We all hit sales slumps. They are universal in the sales world. It’s not a matter of if, but when. The important question is what will we do about the slump when it comes our way? If you fail to act quickly, a sales slump will have deep and long-term impact.
The futurist Joel Barker offers an interesting perspective on a phenomenon that he calls “Paradigm Paralysis”.
We are somewhat conditioned to have an automatic negative response to our environment when it relates to limitations.
(Note: For this article, it might be helpful to have something in mind that frustrates you about your own performance – a hang-up, fear, or general sense of inadequacy.
