3. Who are the targets pre-listings vs. at time of sale?
It may seem obvious to you, but let's look again. I want to take a retail example to make a point.
In many cases, the consumer is not the shopper:
Think of a mom. Could be your mom.
A loving mom who wants to please a teenage son. She is going to buy energy drinks for her young, thirsty teenage son. Why, because he needs the extra energy to compete in the athletic arena. It is important to him and she not only believes it, but she wants to take care of her child.
Communications (advertising & marketing) can introduce the brand to both the mom and her son, motivate the son and lead the mom to the category in her favorite store, while convincing her that "G" is the only brand to buy.
Side Note:What a great job the marketing guru's have done with Gatorade. The teenage buyers today use the letter"G" meaning gangster (cool). The dress, the bling, the shoes, etc. The marketers were on their game and captured this market for least 3 to 5 years. Gatorade is the new "G". Drink up!
Back to the line. "The consumer is not the shopper."
The Sales and Marketing campaign requires insights about the mom, the son, the brand and the retailer. It requires an understanding of barriers and bonds to trial and to purchase. Finally, one must uncover where and when to best reach the mom and the son, which is most likely in different places and at different times.
Break this down to:
•· the pre-listing client
•· the buyer client
•· the real estate agent
You need to have insight on each one.
Your main focus may be on the Real Estate Agent but there may also be an area of development of your brand for the client. Within your brand the opportunity exists to capture the client.
By finding the separation and learning where the decision is made you will be well on your way from Machete Innovation to Jungle Growth.
Today I'm going to share with you a simple shift in your thinking that conservatively, could multiply your income.
Yep, I've seen it time and time again... a slight shift in the way you see yourself and whamo! Unbelievable increases in your profit potential and your business.
Do you know what it is?
It's simple, but powerful - you need to shift from the "provider" of your product or service to the "marketer" of your product or service.
From the doer to the seller.
Most Home Inspectors mistakenly see themselves as the "provider" of what their business provides with the job of getting customers as a necessary evil. And boy-oh-boy is that a mistake.
Stated more simply, seeing yourself as the "doer" blocks you from: -- systemizing your business so it no longer needs you -- full out marketing of your business and products -- having the time and space to enjoy your life while your business grows
Yet, when you see yourself as the marketer, however, your main responsibility is acquiring, retaining, and maximizing the value of the customers as your primary role, and the "provider" of the product/service as the necessary evil.
So which one are you? A provider or a marketer?
You see, how you define yourself, has tremendous impact on how you allocate your time and energy.
And while the delivery of a quality product or service is certainly important...it's not nearly as important and critical as the ability to market and sell those very same products and services.
This is a great question because unless you have researched this question or brought in focus groups, you are probably not sure of the #2, #3, #4, and #5 answers.
Please re-read the question. I did not say "Who" made the decision, but "Where" was the decision made.
Now go ask everyone you know. Whether it's a Realtor, a Vendor, a Leeds Group or online. Find out where the purchase decision is made.
In the Car, at the Realtors office, in their home, at the barbershop, in the gym, at a social, etc. In order to be relevant to your client or buyer, you need to know where this decision is made.
This research is just as important as who made the decision and why. Innovation and growth come from research and gaining an understanding of the trends and events of the client.
I'll bet the answers will surprise you and these answers will shape your sales & marketing efforts and ignite your growth.
EBay has been referred to as the fashion capital of the internet, and with good reason. According to one ratings website, EBay's Clothing, Shoes & Accessories category is the #1 website for fashion. The site attracts well over one million buyers a month who are specifically looking for fashion-related items; these same buyers spent $2.4 billion last year alone on items from the CS&A category.
EBay is often the first port of call for buyers looking for unique, rare or limited edition fashion items that no one else has. So if you're thinking of expanding your business into another area, the fashion category of eBay is definitely worth considering. Not to mention the fact that hunting out and selling unique items that people want is actually FUN!
Let's look at what can be learned from the Ebay fashion industry.
•1. In Fashion, be as specific as you can in your description of the item, including any flaws, color, size, measurements (waist and bust measurements are two of the most important), any history to the item (buyers love a story attached to an item), and any other details you can think of.
A good rule of thumb with descriptions is that they can never be too long; buyers want to know everything (and more!) about an item. Just make sure that your descriptions are nicely laid out in a way that's pleasing to the eye and with a natural progression.
Lesson: Be specific and detailed. Remember every home has a story. You will need to write it.
•2. In Fashion, take good photos. It cannot emphasize enough how important good photos are in any listing, but especially in a category such as fashion.
Many items of clothing are truly unique so the importance of a good photo that shows the true color, pattern and style of an item cannot be overstated.
Lesson: Today we look online before we leap. Use great pictures to let me know what you have to sell.
•3. In Fashion, make your shipping and return policies clear. It may seem scary to offer a no-quibble money-back guarantee on all your items, but it will boost potential buyer's confidence which in turn prompts higher bids on an item.
Lesson: Think about it - how many REALTORS do you know of that offer a guarantee. Not only will you set yourself apart from others but you will earn yourself loyal customers who will buy from you over and over.
The Fashion industry is unique, colorful and sexy. Why not the real estate business?
Last week I made an early morning trip to a seminar/book promo breakfast. After breakfast I decided to check out other areas of the facility and I caught a few moments of a morning with Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE.
As I stepped through the door, a question and answer session was in progress. A woman stepped up to the microphone and asked "Is the client always right?"
Jack smiled and said, "You might not think so, and they may believe so, but if you don't make it so, you're dead!"
That is a pretty strong consequence. . . Dead.
But let's face it. Who will come to do business with you again after you argue with them about their dissatisfaction? I think most people will just go somewhere else.
Isn't it just common sense that we let our customer complain and then make it right? Well for the business owner, we usually just grin and say " what would it take to make you happy today?"
But what about our employees? Our independent inspectors? Our associates?
If we have not taken the time to train them how to deal with an unhappy client, how will they react when one attacks them with "you missed this and that on my inspection and it cost me money" or "I only had it for three days and HVAC fell apart!"
It is important that as part of training anyone who has contact with the client they have training on dealing with complaints as well as how to work the computer software or take the order.
As a business owner you probably have already thought of that.
Is there a piece of this puzzle missing?
The missing piece might be empowerment. The employee or inspector or associate can be trained how to be calm and not take complaints personally. But what if they are not empowered to take action and correct the problem immediately themselves?
What if you have instructed them to get you if there is a problem and you are on your way to the bank to make a deposit? In most cases an angry client will not wait for you to return.
This would mean that if your employee or inspector or associate is not empowered to make a correction or offer a compromise to make the customer happy, you would lose their business forever.
How much does it cost to get a new customer? How much does it cost to make them happy when they are dissatisfied?
The difference on paper is staggering.
Therefore, as part of the training, it should be taught what is possible to do to make a client happy when they are complaining.
A quick response to a problem is appreciated almost more than the actual solution in most cases.
You see in life, we are all clients at some time or other, and I don't know about you, but when I am an upset client, Maverick is always right!
When Procter & Gamble first championed brand management, astute marketers quickly boiled it down to four things:
•· Superior understanding of the consumer
•· Product or service differentiation
•· Strategic marketing
•· Innovation
Great strength resides within the simplicity of these core principles.
Service providers (home inspectors/Realtors) need an understanding of consumer relationships with the brand (The Company) within the context of their everyday lives, as well as how they - or someone shopping for them - relates to the brand. This means gathering and applying insights at every touch-point along the path to purchase.
Now let's not go to deep.
Let's face it, good marketing is easier said than done, however. It demands two kinds of expertise.
•· Brand (The Company)
•· Service (You)
They need to converge to create experiential brand ideas, and not just advertising or promotions.
In short . . . Innovation!
Next I sat down behind my computer and built a process of questions. These questions must be answered to drive our brand to the market. Although deceptively simple, if these six questions are left unanswered you might as well pull out your machete and start whacking, because it's a jungle out there.
These 6 questions will not only help you focus, but will clear a path of innovation and growth. Yes innovation and growth not only comes from the corporate level, but it also exists on the service level.
I will cover 1 question each day and hope that you will also dive right in and let your mind "ponder" (that's my Grandfathers word) on the possibilities that are endless.
Let's get started!
1. What is the brand's and the company's key source of separation?
The differentiation is the "engine" of any successful brand effort. While this is true, it can no longer stop at an understanding of the brand's equity.
The value of marketing the "Brand."
The goal here is to create communications, (advertising, press releases, discovery boxes, builder programs, etc.) that serve both, the brand and the franchise, by expressing what is unique about both, in each blow.
GEICO was a great example of separation. There brand essence is all about saving money and insurance. In the industry insurance quotes and estimates were typically handledby phone with a visit to the local representative.
GEICO was separated from the buyer by the "rep" of the insurancebusiness and the "buy local" mentality for customer service.
GEICO made 2 moves.
The first was 15 minutes could save you $500.00.
The second was to open local offices with local representatives.
The new sport in town is team marketing, between brands and franchiseesand franchisees and vendors. By focusing on what consumers need to know and what buyers need to do to drive growth for the brand, the franchise and the vendor.
You are part of this team. Think about what separates you from the brand. What separates you from the public. In these separations comes innovation and growth.
Instead of "divide and conquer" we will "separate and grow".
Many inspection businesses are in an awful "groove" these days.
They don't know the steps it takes to tap into "bad economy wealth." There's much more economic activity going on, even now, in the midst of what many are calling the worst economic downtown since the 1930s.
I am going to share with you 7 ideas, real things that successful businesses are doing in order not just to ride out the recession but to grow and flourish as never before.
•· Break down your numbers. Not just month to month, year to date, and year to year, but also into categories like how many leads, how many new sales by product, average sale, and average product-source. Then, find your focus by analyzing the data. You are nimble. Make the move.
•· Strategic Process. Have a systematic, strategic process in place that is designed in a predictable, sustainable, and continuous manner to bring in prospects and first-time buyers. You know what works and what doesn't. Now just do it.
•· Produce not just incremental gains but exponential gains by recognizing how your business really makes money. Example: Sam's Club studied its numbers and realized it made more money from selling memberships than from selling goods in its stores! Now advertising and marketing is designed to bring people back into the stores to purchase on a regular basis...in order to keep their memberships in good standing.
Is your income on the inspection side of the business and not up-selling. If that is the case raise your prices and give away a Termite Inspection or Radon Testing. Try it, market it, track it and evaluate it. What happened to your schedule? What happened to your business? What is the noise?
•· Be transparent about all of the factors that affect your business. Understand and believe that none of the problems are impossible. In fact, the vast majority can be improved upon. You need to see the potential income in any business situation and how to make it work for you in a most enriching manner.
When ads no longer work, you know how to get free media. When consumers aren't spending as much money, you know how to find alternative propositions to which they can't say no. If marketing at local events or trade shows stops working for you, then you develop a distribution channel none of your competitors know about.
•· Understand your competitors' appeal, advantage, and differentiation in the market. Research and know how to pre-empt these advantages, or successfully position yourself against them. Take the time and trouble to learn why certain Realtors and clients schedule or buy from your competitors and not from you, and learn how to change that.
•· Learn about the alternative products and services that your prospects can buy in lieu of your stuff, including taking no action at all. Focus on proving to your prospects that choosing you represents the most astute decision any buyer could make. They need you and you want them now as a client.
•· Incorporate growth thinking into everything you do, every action you take, every investment you make, every contact you forge with your client, your Realtor and your marketplace.
These steps are fundamental to finding your groove. Now go shake your "groove thing" into the night and back to success!
A home inspector friend and I were talking one afternoon about how to improve his selling skills. He has been an inspector for 13 years, but as of late his business has been slow. He was telling me how bad he felt because he wasn't getting many appointments. People weren't returning his phone calls. In addition, the few people he was speaking to weren't interested in hiring his services.
In the next sentence, however, he sparked up and said - with a great deal of pride, 'I'm a great closer. Just put me in front of a prospect, and I'll walk away with an order eight out of ten times."
"Then why isn't your business growing by leaps and bounds? Why aren't you making tons of money? Why aren't you spending more time with your family and friends instead of spending so much time at the office?" I asked?
A perplexed look crossed his face as he pondered my question, the kind of look that says "If I'm this great, why then aren't I rich?" He looked out the window and pondered this question. He stared at the ceiling. He gazed at the floor. And in a soft voice said, "I don't really know why I'm not doing better. I guess I'm just too busy to be calling on people."
And that's precisely his problem. He didn't realize that selling isn't about being a great closer.
Selling is about being a great opener.
It's about creating opportunities. It's about discovering what people want and need, and then giving them the solution to their problem.
Selling is about making the customer's life better, easier. But when you're not opening customers - creating opportunities - you've nothing to close. "What kind of customer contact records do you keep?" I asked.
I then asked him these seven questions:
1. How many times do you dial the phone each day for the sole purpose of scheduling an appointment with a Realtor?
2. How much time do you spend dialing for appointments each day? Do you block out time to call on your calendar?
3. Where do you get your leads?
4. How many times do you attempt to reach a person before you decide they aren't a prospect and move on?
5. How many new people do you call each day? People you've never attempted to reach before?
6. How many people are you calling from your database that you've called on five, ten, fifteen times but have never bought from you? How do you feel calling on the same people who - even though they may be friendly - always tell you that they aren't in the market for a new home inspector?
7. What are your annual sales goats? Quarterly goals? Monthly goals? Weekly goals? Daily goals? What daily activity must you generate to achieve these goals?
With each question he was getting more nervous. His body language told me that he didn't have any systems or methods for looking for - and finding - new customers. "What's keeping you from looking for new Realtors?" I asked. "What do you do every day?"
He explained that he comes into the office at about 7:45 am each day and spends most of the morning doing paperwork and reads e-mail. He then goes on a scheduled inspection and works on the report.
Next is lunch. Then on to another inspection and more paperwork.
By the time he leaves at about 5:15 pm he's put in a full day of doing "stuff," but there is one thing he never gets around to doing: Calling on new prospects. He avoids the phone like the plague.
Ever since I started in sales, I always wondered why bright, talented, knowledgeable and successful home inspectors never continued to grow in their businesses and further their careers.
Why were they always struggling?
Why were they always experiencing high peaks and low valleys?
Why were they living a feast or famine existence?
I've watched inspectors start their careers like a rocket roaring into outer space. But within a few short years their business had leveled off. Their meteoric rise to stardom had stopped, and their sales volume never grew by more than five, ten or fifteen percent a year... at best.
With the passage of time their business started a slow decline as their best clients moved on.
Why did this happen?
He stopped looking for new business.
He stopped being a hunter-gatherer.
He stopped prospecting.
• Sales is about being a great opener, not just being a great closer.
• Sales is about looking for prospects every day.
• Sales is about getting on the phone every day.
• Sales is about solving problems every day.
He tried everything he could think of so he wouldn't have to get on the phone. He sent out letters, post cards, flyers and other advertising, promotional and marketing pieces, and then sat by the phone waiting for it to ring. It didn't!
Every once in a while he would phone some people he had called on before, but more often than not, they weren't around. So he would leave a voice mail message.
But they never called him back, nor did any of the other people that he left voice mail messages for. This got him even more discouraged. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that a salesman's job is to track down the prospect.
And in today's busy world most of us don't have time to return the calls of the people we do want to talk to, let alone return the call of someone who leaves a poorly worded message that basically says, "Please call me back."
So we went to work.
1. We changed his attitude. He began to see the telephone as his friend, instead of his mortal enemy.
2. He developed a great Elevator Speech which enabled him to keep his conversations going. His days of having five to ten second "We aren't in the market." phone calls were over.
3. He started prospecting and looking for new people to call on. He attended networking events. He began asking for referrals. And even started calling on people whose names and photos had appeared in the business sections of the local paper.
Within a month he had turned his business around. He was meeting with new people, asking great questions, solving problems, closing sales and making money.
Yup, it's Girl Scout Cookie time in our part of the world. [And, yes, my English teacher DID tell me never to start a sentence with the word "Yup."] For those of you who are unfamiliar with the sights, tastes, and overall experience of helping your daughters sell Thin Mints, Samoas, and Do-Si-Do's, you're missing a fundamental and wide-ranging education about the dynamics of sales, selling, and salespeople.
Here are some points I've garnered while helping my daughter, Nicole, age 12, and Troop 429, make their sales numbers. These pointers are hard-earned, field-tested, and as applicable to you and your business as they are to Nicole and hers.
1. It's who you know. It's true: the cookie business is a relationship business. Our next-door neighbor bought 9 boxes - Bam! Neighbors on the other side, 2 boxes, then 3, then more. Why? Because Rebecca had something to sell. What's your personal brand doing these days? If you switched products, services, or companies, would people buy from you JUST BECAUSE IT'S YOU?
2. It's not about the product. It's time to get the lawyers upset. Ready? Girl Scout Cookies, for the most part, taste terrible [Thin Mints are the one exception, in my humble opinion]. And they have enough fat, calories, and cholesterol in them to power a small Japanese alternative fuel vehicle. You want good cookies? Buy Oreos, Mallomars, Ginger Snaps, Nutter Butters, Grasshoppers, Deluxe Grahams, Fudge Sticks, etc. etc. Yet Girl Scout Cookies sell like crazy, year after year, donating millions to the bottom line of Girl Scouts of the USA.
3. It's not about price. Girl Scout Cookies cost $3 a box. The smallest box, by weight, is 7 oz. and the largest is 10 oz. Most retail cookies come packaged in a "small" size of around 12 oz. and cost about $2.49. Girl Scout Cookies even give premium brands, such as Pepperidge Farm, a run for their money when it comes to high cost. Did I mention one of our neighbors bought 9 boxes at a clip?
4. It's not about competition; it's all about contacts and referrals. So who is selling to all those customers who "have Girl Scout Cookies at home - more than they need?" Naturally, it's their Girl Scout. What are the chances of Rebecca selling a box of cookies to someone whose daughter is also selling the same cookies for the same price? You got it: less than zero. Is Rebecca going to bang her head against the wall bemoaning those lost sales?
Of course not.
She's going to tap into her network of networks - neighbors, cousins, kids and parents at the Y where she plays basketball, my former colleagues at my old job who have become good family friends (and Rebecca's customers in previous years). Do you know how to fill your pipeline when things seem dry? Do you know how to move your prospects along to becoming customers, satisfied customers, and then customers-for-life - not of the product or service you're selling today, but of YOU and whatever value proposition you might be offering now and in the future?
5. When times are tough and things look quiet, that's the time to push harder than ever. Cookie sales end at a certain time each year. Right now, we're about two weeks away from the ending date, and there are Girl Scout Cookies being sold everywhere you look. We'll probably have 10-12 boxes left over by the time the deadline comes. Are we depressed that we didn't meet our goal? Are we failures as salespeople?
Only if we quit when it's over.
Don't you see that as soon as everyone else stops selling, stops marketing, and stops with the "Cookie Shop" setups -- these cookies move up from a commodity to a valuable asset? It's the same thing in your business: when the market is down, your competition has pulled their ads, it's "hunker-down" time, get back to basics, and cut, cut, cut! However, that's the worst time to cut - you have everyone's attention! There's actually much less noise out there for your message to compete against. Push now and you'll be heard!!!
What does this all mean to you and your business?
It's simple -- now is the time to get back in the saddle and ride your sales and marketing activities harder than ever. You've got the floor. You've got more relationships and more people rooting for you than you realize, and if you cut through the old excuses about your product, price, competition, the economy, and all the rest of it, you'll see the sales breakthroughs that lie ahead.
When Mick Jagger belted out this tune for the Stones, I do not think he could have envisioned anything like the kids of today!
I've heard them called by many names as of late: Generation Y, Gen Y, The Plug-and-Play Generation, The Gotta-Feel-Good Generation.
What they're all referring to is the new young generation - our current 20-somethings. Every generation "deals" with the generation who comes after them. Their different views, their different ways of doing things, and so on; this generation is no exception.
Why is everyone talking about this new generation now though? They've been coming along for years. They're in their 20's now, after all! Because now they're starting to impact the workforce and because we couldn't predict their group characteristics until we saw them in action. In some ways they're changing the landscape for the better, in some ways we oldies would say for the worse.
Regardless of the nostalgia we feel for the "old days" this generation is plunging headlong into the workforce and will impact you and your business at some point. There's really no sense fighting it. No generation has ever changed the generation which came after it; not once that generation reached its 20's anyway. These are the kids we raised and we did raise them this way, so let's figure out how to work with them. To work with them we first need to understand them.
What makes this generation tick (or turn off) and what is the impact on businesses looking to hire them?
Problem: They're not called The Plug-and-Play Generation for nothing. This generation grew up on video games and television while their parents were out working and making (what they viewed as) better lives for their families. This led to a whole generation of children, now entering the workforce, who need instant gratification in whatever it is they do. Whether its work or play, the satisfaction must be immediate.
Solution: What this means to the business owner looking to hire qualified workers is that you need to be diligent in assigning tasks to (or rather asking the worker if they'd be happy to do the tasks) that they enjoy doing. You must challenge this generation to the capacity in which they want to be challenged.
Problem: This generation waits for nothing and no one. If they don't like the game, they find a new game to play and new people to play it with - now - not tomorrow or next week. Simple as that. Think pulling the PS2 game out of the player and inserting one they think they may like better.
Solution: This goes back to speed again. They're used to moving at the speed of the internet, not the speed of the horseless carriage. You're going to have to give this generation what it's looking for or prepare to lose them. Regular check-ins individually to gauge their interest and excitement is critical to keeping this generation happy and buying from you.
Problem: The Generation Y's demand that they feel good about what they're doing. If they don't feel good about it, they're not going to do it. Again, simple as that and no amount of money will convince them otherwise. Remember: they watched their parents work and work and work to earn a few extra bucks and what did it get them? Absentee parents who were rich. This generation wants quality, not necessarily quantity.
Solution: Sometimes the buying process isn't all that gratifying. However, you can combat that by showing your gratitude in the research and time they have spent working with you. Often the sheer pleasure of helping someone else and that person being grateful is enough for the buyers to receive the gratification they need that will help them to buy.
Problem: The generation of ADD. Oh yes, this is where ADD became popular. The Gen Y's are not going to pay attention for long. They want their information fast and to the point.
Solution: Don't waste time with long drawn out memos and information. Just shoot it straight and fast!
Problem: Lack of etiquette. Unfortunately, the new generation may not even know they're breaking the rules! Etiquette in their world is far different than that of other generations.
Solution: As my wife says, "But wrong is still wrong and right is still right". However, with the internet and a new generation, is this perhaps the new "right". Maybe, maybe not. If most families are dysfunctional, doesn't dysfunction become the new "normal"? Unfortunately I think the new generation has us beat in sheer numbers folks. In this writer's opinion there's not much we can do but learn to deal.
Yes, this (generation's issues) results in a higher mental impact on the sales business, different than we have experience in the bricks and mortar world.
And pretty soon they will be "Talk'n ‘bout that new generation".
Mentoring by creating business platforms and structures that foster ideas and innovation.
Advice on Real Estate sales strategy development through visualizing innovation and streamlining its implementation.
Sales and Marketing tips for the Home Inspection Industry.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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