Video Mystery Shopping Tip: Identify with the Prospect, not the Product
On average I watch about 10 video shops per week. It’s good stuff! In some cases it makes for better television than reality shows like The Amazing Race, Survivor or even the Real House Wives of New York!
One thing that I have noticed however is many of the new home sales presentations tend to be Product focused instead of Prospect focused. What does this mean, you ask? Well, let me give you an example. A couple of years ago I was shopping for a new car. I was interested in the Lexus crossover model. So, off I went to my local Lexus dealer to get more information, test drive the car, etc. The salesperson at the dealership was very informative but he immediately went into a long dissertation about how the Lexus was made, the environmental benefits of the crossover model, and the miles per gallon I would save with this model. Not once did he ask ME what I was looking for in a new car.
If he had, he would have quickly learned that my primary buying motivator had nothing to do with what was under the hood! I wanted to know about the leather interior package, if the sunroof was standard and what cool exterior colors were available. I’m not saying the other information was not important, in fact it was. However, I had already done my homework, so I knew about the inner workings of the car. I was, in fact, ready to buy. But because this salesperson seemed more interested in selling me the product instead of discovering what my buying needs were, I left the dealership without the cute Lexus.
Unfortunately this is all too common among new homes sales people. They tend to explain every aspect of the new home and community, but they never identify with what is really important to the prospective buyer! I often wonder how many potential home sales have been lost due to an overeager sales person who never took the time to truly connect with his prospect.
Here are 3 tips I’ve developed to help new home sales people in the Prospect discovery process.
- Be Interested, Not Interesting – The art of asking questions! This is how you discover what your prospects are interested in. Remember, this process is all about THEM, not YOU.
- Listen First, Talk Second – Once you’ve asked the questions. Stop Talking. Allow your prospects the time to quietly think about what you’ve asked them. Don’t be afraid of a little silence. As salespeople, we are by nature quite a talkative bunch. We feel a need to fill the silence. But, this can be intimidating and even a turn off to a prospective home buyer.
- Don’t sell them twice – You had me at hello! Once you’ve identified what their key buying motivators are, you can easily direct your conversation to those specific hot buttons. Keep your focus on what they want. Don’t revisit things that don’t have any impact on their buying decision. For example, if your prospects are a couple without children, chances are they really don’t care about the tot lot located in the community.
Every prospect that walks into your new home sales office is in there for a different reason. Your job as a new homes salesperson is to identify that reason, discover what their buying motivators are and then sell them a new home. The process becomes a lot easier when we shift our sales presentation from the Product to the Prospect.
