I returned from the International Builder’s Show in Las Vegas last Friday at 1:20 in the morning. It rained for 4 days in the desert causing delays at the airport.

The weather inside the convention center, however, wasn’t all rain. There were some beautiful sunny ideas. Here is a list of the 7 best thoughts from the show. Enjoy!

~Rick

The Best of the Best

J Van Rose Jr. of Rose & Womble Realty New Homes Division on the key traits of salespeople in today’s housing market…

Tom Richey of Richey Resources commented on what type of training salespeople should be focusing on…

Brian Flook of The Brian Flook Group commented on how it’s more important to have quality names in your database vs. quantity.

This reminds me of a quote from another trainer…

Set a goal to build a list of 100 Qualified leads and make sure you know everything about them and they know everything about you and your company.

Mike Lyon of Do You Convert had 4 great ideas…

On how fast to follow up with e-leads…“5 minutes or less. Try to get back to them when they’re still on your website.”

Mike also commented on what percent of e-leads are viable, “80% won’t do anything so don’t get frustrated.”

On how long to follow up with leads…“Most salespeople don’t follow up for more than 1 month. Most buyers won’t buy for at least 3 months. Make sure you have a dedicated 12 week follow-up program.”

On social media…“Focus your social media efforts towards Realtors. Most of them are already using social media and will follow you or become a fan.”

Honorable Mentions

Myers Barnes of Myers Barnes and Associates was as dynamic as ever. He has been one of the most motivational and educational mentors of my past.

Jeff Shore of Shore Forrest did some great presentations and always has a unique and fresh perspective on the housing market.

You can watch a short video courtesy of Mike Lyon on Jeff’s perspective below

This is THE question- isn’t it?

What’s the answer?

Two remodelers and a home builder contacted me last week asking the same thing and here is the answer I gave them- one that you may not expect…

~Rick

Is it the Market or Me?

I was speaking with Mike from Michigan this morning- a second generation remodeler who does NOT operate in the Detroit market.

Mike explained his situation- a situation that may be similar to yours. His business is down over 85% from its peak. He had to lay off most of his staff and is now doing everything himself.

Mike read my blog post on the importance of appealing to women in order to increase your sales. He could relate to the mistakes I had made and now his question was, “Is it the market or is it me?”

Your challenge in 2010

Your challenge in 2010 is no different than Mikes. I’ll bet you’re operating with less staff, have been forced to cut your advertising budget and seem to be constantly competing on price.

For most of you there are less people buying, building and remodeling homes in your market. There are less builders and remodelers you have to compete with but the ones still operating are pretty darn good.

You’re probably working longer hours and making a lot less…

This still begs the question- Is it your market or is it you?

The Answer

The answer is both.

Your changing market is to blame for your sales being off (aren’t I a genius to figure that one out!). Yet, the fact that you have been relying on the market to bring business into your company is your fault too!

“Wait a minute Rick…I’m working harder today than ever before. The business just isn’t there!”

You’re partially correct. You ARE working harder than ever before but are you looking in the right places for the business?

Is it the Market?

In my discussion with Mike I asked him how many other remodelers there were in his market. He told me 2-3 (at his level) but there were also home builders that were now remodeling (surprise surprise).

I suggested he visit the building inspectors office and get a list of permits from 2009.

The first step in identifying if the market is your problem is asking the question, “IS there a market for what I am selling?”

I suggested to Mike he take a look at the type of work being done in his market.

What type of remodeling projects were people building?

How many new homes were built? Where were they built and at what price point?

Assuming there is a market for your services, the second question is how do you get MORE of it?

Getting More Market Share

Now here’s an oxymoron for you- in order to get more market share you need to focus on doing less.

What?

You read that correctly. In order to get more market share you need to focus on less.

I’m not telling you to stop what you’re doing right now. I’m playing devil’s advocate and asking (as a consumer), ‘why would I choose to have you build or remodel my home?’

Unless your company is positioned to specialize in a certain geographic area, lifestyle offering or demograhpic/psycographic profile- you’ll come across as a jack of all trades and master of none.

To use an analogy, if you just had a heart attack would you want to see a general practitioner or a cardiologist? Of course it’s the heart specialist! And was your decision based on who costs less?

When you’re company is positioned as a specialist people will seek you out for more than just the lowest price.

3 Steps to Determining if it’s Your Market or if it’s You

Step 1: Review building permits and MLS sales for your market. Are people buying what you’re selling?

If they AREN’T buying what you’re selling can you offer something different or can you move to a different geographic market where they are buying?

If they ARE buying what you’re selling but you have a low market share, go to step 2.

Step 2: Specialize, specialize, specialize! If you’re in a small market and can’t move, you may need to specialize in 2-3 things.

The key to specialization is understanding your target market’s problems better than any of your competition. More on this to come at a later date…

If you HAVE a market and are perceived to be a SPECIALIST- go to step 3.

Step 3: Focus on Managing Tasks- NOT Time.

There’s no such thing as time management. We all have the same amount of time in a day.

Because you are doing more with less, are you focusing on the things that will get you your next sale? With all the extra duties you’ve taken on, you may have lost focus working ON your business vs. working IN your business.

Most people tend to spend the majority of time working IN their business. That’s where their comfortable- working on tasks they know.

But these tasks aren’t the same ones that will bring your next buyer in the door.

What you need to focus on each day is the tasks that will lead you to your next sale.

Over the last 20 years I’ve broken down these tasks into 3 categories- Preparing, Prospecting and Presenting.

You can download “Task Management for Housing Professionals” for FREE with the link below…

Download the Task Management List Here>>

Thoughts, questions, other ideas? Tell me what you think by leaving your thoughts at the bottom.

Happy Selling!

How to use the “pain at the pump” to pump up your sales!

I’m taking a one-month break from my “8 Ideas for 2008″ series to talk with you about a subject that’s on everybody’s radar these days – ENERGY. 

With any market downturn comes a great opportunity to expand your business in new areas. Right now, if you are not repositioning your business to focus on energy, you are missing the boat! Our industry is historically slow to change, but for those of you who are open to some new ideas, this is a subject you want to jump on.

How long do you have to watch the news, read the paper, browse the Internet or listen to the radio before you see, read or hear something on fuel prices? The answer is, don’t blink. With skyrocketing fuel prices on the minds of nearly everyone today, we have an incredible opportunity to use this mindset for selling energy-efficient homes and remodeling projects. As with anything else, it all depends on how we present it to the consumer.

Click here if you want to take advantage of this budding trillion dollar industry and I’ll show you step by step how to do it!>>

More than saving the planet green, let’s talk saving some greenbacks.

Price vs. Cost

We all have a story about trying to save money only to have it cost us more. My story is about a stupid hose reel (really, I’m not bitter).  A few years ago, I visited my local garden store to buy a hose reel. There were three kinds: the $40 plastic model, the $60 tougher plastic model and the $85 steel model. Of course I figured I could get by just fine with the $40 reel and promptly purchased it and brought it home. 

About two months later, as I was reeling up my hose, I heard a “snap” and the plastic handle broke off. Hose reel number one landed in the garbage can.

So back I went to the garden store to purchase the $60 tougher plastic model (much stronger I figured), brought it home and put my hose on it.  That worked for another summer, and the following year “snap”- hose reel number two ended up in the garbage can, too. 

Now if you’re keeping track, I have “invested” $100 in reels so far, and I still don’t have anything to hang my hose on. Twice I bought on price, but paid a much higher cost than I would have had I originally purchased the $85 steel model. I still haven’t bought my next hose reel, because I am too ticked off at myself!  

The used home and the SUV

If you’ve been paying attention to what $4/gallon gas has done to the automobile market, specifically light trucks and SUVs, you know anyone trying to sell these types of vehicles is taking major hits. The Toyota Prius Hybrid has emerged as the top selling vehicle in America getting nearly 50 MPG on the highway. But is the Prius a low-price car or a low-cost car?

What the Prius has going for it is frequent fueling. Most of us must fill up our vehicles each week brutally reminding us of the fuel cost realities. What’s a consumer to do? Trade in the SUV, take a bath on it and buy a Hybrid, no matter what the price, because now we have lowered our ongoing cost.

Used homes are just like SUVs that get 10 MPG. They were designed during a time when energy was cheap, and they no longer fit the reality of today’s energy prices. So if you don’t show a home with a radical alternative – like as the Prius does for cars – you will go the way of the SUV and be forced to massively discount to sell your homes. 

It’s already happening…

Here is some information from a recent NAHB newsletter:

According to a survey, remodelers have installed a number of efficiency-enhancing products in recent months, including:

- Windows – 73 percent of surveyed remodelers installed more energy-efficient windows that are insulated to prevent outdoor heat exchange.

- Insulation – 65 percent made upgrades such as insulation replacement and spraying foam or fiber insulation into enclosed walls and roof cavities, while 27 percent insulated foundations and 52 percent installed insulated exterior doors.

- High-efficiency HVAC systems (56 percent)

- High-efficiency kitchen appliances (47 percent)

- Water-saving faucets and fixtures (46 percent)

“Newer technologies are also quickly gaining in popularity,” says said NAHB Remodelers Chairman Lonny Rutherford. “Thirty-five percent of remodelers reported installing tankless water heaters, which save on energy costs by heating water on demand instead of continuously eating energy.”

For more information about remodeling, visit www.nahb.org/remodel.

Would you buy a home that is a major energy guzzler?

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential buildings alone account for 21% of the nation’s energy consumption – nearly as much as transportation (27%). 

If your buyers are spending almost as much on natural gas, electricity and water for their homes as they are in fuel for their vehicles,

you need to do what Toyota has done –

become the beacon of hope for beating high energy costs.

Here are some steps to capitalize on this opportunity:

• Educate yourself on energy-saving ideas. Read everything you can. Take classes. Ask your suppliers and trade partners what products they have for saving energy. Look to the NAHB and your local HBAs for guidance.
• Build an energy package or several energy packages. Most of you are familiar with option bundles. Create 1-3 energy bundles and show the energy savings of each as a percentage and dollar figure. Sell them as an investment in reducing monthly costs and enhancing resale value.
• Promote your energy package under a third party such as Energy Star. www.Energystar.gov is a great resource to help you get started. Your energy package will have instant credibility behind a well known third party.
• Incorporate your energy package into your next model home. Don’t be afraid to take a bold step. Chances are, most of your builder competitors haven’t done anything like this yet. The key to promoting an energy package is to show products and techniques your buyers can see, touch and feel.
• Talk about your energy package on your website. Devote 1-3 pages on this subject alone. Speak as an expert!

Want more ideas like these?  Click here for 100′s>>

What will your buyers be looking for, a used home with 10 MPG or a brand new home with 100 MPG?

We already have a leg up on the used home market. Most people would rather own a brand new car or home if they can logically justify the price. Our job as salespeople and marketers is to use the pain at the pump as a reason to consider a new home for all the cost savings.

Happy Selling!

From BUILDER Online — By: Alison Rice — A fresh approach to marketing, customer service, and home design brings business to small firms during a incredibly difficult market.

When a handful of small Minneapolis-St. Paul builders decided in 2008 to join forces on a woman-centered marketing campaign, they had no idea how timely a decision that would be. “What started out as a marketing strategy turned into a survival strategy,” Rick Storlie of New Home Sales Coach told attendees at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas Tuesday.

Read the entire post –

http://www.builderonline.com/sales-and-marketing/minnesota-builders-know-what-women-want.aspx

Wow what a ride 2006 was! As homebuilders and new home salespeople our bellies are full of humble pie. The new home market in 2006 reminded us all that we have plenty of improvement opportunities ahead of us. If there is one thing I hope you took away from 2006, I hope everyone realizes that our previous rate of sales and income levels were not so much based on how terrific we were as salespeople and builders, but rather, how terrific a seller’s market we were in.

Ask yourself this question, ‘if I could do it all over again, what would I change?’ As a professional sales trainer, consultant and salesperson, here is my list of seven ideas I hope you incorporate for 2007:

Idea #1- Develop a Marketing Plan. Your marketing plan should encompass the following items:

            1. Identify your target market- Who are you trying to sell to? What do they need and want in their homes? Where do they live and how much will they spend?

            2. Corporate marketing strategy- What will you do to drive walk-in traffic? One third of your sales should be from walk-in traffic.

            3. Realtor Outreach Program- What will you do to increase your co-op sales? Another 1/3 – ½ of your sales should be Realtor generated.

As I talk with home builders and new home salespeople in our local marketplace, I often see a look of “Shock and Awe” in regards to how our current market is changing. I’m often asked, “What’s happening” or “Where is the market going?” Since my crystal ball broke many years ago, I must refer to facts and trends.

Facts:

            1. You can’t sell the way you used to.

            2. The majority of our new home salespeople have been selling for less than five years and have no idea what a normal market is. Selling to most of them involves taking orders.

            3. Waiting for someone to walk through the door is not a strategy.

            4. Continuing to build models and inventory homes in areas that have a 12+ month supply of homes is not a strategy.

            5. Without proper and continual sales, product and process training, our new home salespeople will not make it in today’s market.

Trends:

            1. Home inventory levels are continuing to rise on a monthly basis.

            2. Top builders and new home salespeople are continuing to take customers away from those that are struggling.

            3. Training and education continues to be a popular subject in many home builders’ offices.

As of the date of this writing, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service of the twin cities, closed sales are down more than 8%. Pending sales are down 9% and home inventory levels are up 42% over one year ago. While this may sound like the sky is falling, keep in mind these figures are compared against the best real estate market in our history. Even with our current inventory levels, we only have a 5.5 supply of homes (less than 6.5 months is considered a sellers market), on average, in the 13 county metro. Yes, some areas are much higher but some areas are much lower!

Get in the game!

Unfortunately sitting on the sidelines will not get us out of this current market; we must get in the game. Getting in the game involves different levels of commitment from home builders and new home salespeople so I will write a bit of this article personally addressed to each.

Wow what a difference a year makes! Please understand these changes in the market are necessary and you can pull yourself up, dust off and still become an all pro. Please consider:

Issue #1: You need to prepare everything. You need to know your community and be able to communicate the benefits. You must know your neighborhood and why your prospects would want to live there. Prospects don’t buy features, they buy the benefits.

Issue #2: If you do not hold your model open everyday, you can be sure you are missing opportunities. We are not in the real estate business; we are in the retail business. Tell me, does Target have a note on the door to call for assistance on weekdays? Bottom line, if you aren’t open you can bet your competition is and they will take the business.

Issue #3: 95% of your success depends on what you do when you are not in front of the customer. What are you doing on a daily basis to improve your sales skills? Can you list 10 feature/benefit points about your homes? Are you prepared to answer your top 10 objections? What does you model home look like? Would you buy a home from you knowing that there are over 40% more choices today than a year ago?

Issue #4: You are responsible for traffic and leads. If your builder’s marketing is not delivering 5-15 traffic, phone, Realtor^® and email leads a week, you need to make up the difference. What is your Realtor^® outreach program? What is your referral program? How are you tracking and following up with your database? What are you doing to generate new leads?

Issue #5: Face it, you don’t know everything; nobody does. All pro salespeople know they need to strive for perfection everyday. They understand they must reinvest in their education over and over again. Just like a sports team, success in the game is determined by the efforts made on the practice field. It’s not an option; you must schedule learning and practice every week!

The extra mile is a lonely stretch of road. Take time each day to learn, understand your market, and improve your sales operations. Do this on a continual basis and your company will be in the winner’s column on game day!