Video Mystery Shopping Tip: Romance the Home, Don’t Sell the Stone!
Have you ever heard the saying ‘Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak’? For all of us in the new home building industry, I prefer to say ‘Romance the Home, Don’t Sell the Stone’. It means that benefits, not features make the sale.
Truly, this is what your job is as a new home sales person! When prospective buyers come in to your sales office….they have a certain ‘lifestyle’ they are envisioning. They aren’t just interested in buying four walls and a roof, no matter how energy-efficient it is or what the standard cabinets look like. Your job is to *paint* a visual picture for them that will enable them to see themselves living in that home, enjoying that lifestyle! Your job is to have them ‘fall in love’ with YOUR home, in YOUR community.
So, how do you do this? Here are my 4 Matchmaker Tips to get your prospects to fall in love with your home! I call it Melinda’s LOVE Potion!
Listen – Ask your prospects about their lifestyle and what they enjoy doing. What do they like about their current residence? Why are they leaving? What is most important to them in a new home and a neighborhood? And then, shut up and LISTEN to their answers! I mean REALLY listen to them. This is going to give you the most important piece of information. This will allow you to craft your sales presentation to meet their desires and dreams and get them to fall in LOVE! Sort of the new home industry’s version of ‘whispering sweet nothings into their ear’!
Omit the Feature Dumping – As tempting as it is to tell your prospect every single bit of information you can about the homesite, the quality construction, the building materials, and every single standard feature in the home (feature dumping); selectively create your presentation to focus of what is important to them. Your job here is to get them to fall in love with the home, not become an expert on the entire home building process!
Visualize – Paint a visual picture of your prospects living in the home. Ask them if they can see themselves celebrating the holidays in their new family room. Find out what type of furniture they currently have and how they would place it in their new home. When you take them to the home site, have them stand in their *future* backyard envisioning the big cook-out they are having with the neighbors! If they have children, discuss where they would put the swing set.
Engage – Get your prospects physically involved in your model demonstration! Before entering your model home (through the front door, of course!), hand your prospect the keys and allow THEM to unlock the door. Ask them to open the cabinets to feel the quality of the wood. Match your tempo with that of the prospects. Allow them to be the first to enter and leave each room. Let them set the pace of the model walk. Let them linger! The longer they linger, the closer they are to LOVE.
