Completing the 40 Day Dare program was like graduating from Part 2 in my sales training. It really played well off of the ideas and concepts I had been exposed to through my previous Shore/Forrest training, “Creating Urgency”. For me, 40 Day Dare was not just another sales coaching book to read. It was a “hands on” training process. There’s alot to remember in selling. A tremendous amount of information-gathering and application goes into becoming the best sales person you can be. However, there’s only so much information a person can absorb through any one vehicle of learning at any given time. I feel there’s almost too much information in most of the sales books I read (or seminars I attend) for me to remember and apply all of it. 40 Day Dare is a program that simplified that learning curve for me. It has provided a way that I can manage crucial sales training information, breaking down the intricacies of the sales process into an easy to understand, hands on practical learning experience…ONE STEP AT A TIME! The daily Dares really helped seal the concepts of the particular Dare of the day. I was able to change behavior and bring in new ideas into my sales approach; creating urgency and also counseling customers in a more effective efficient manner. 40 Day Dare and my ShoreForrest trainings have provided new insights and ideas, especially important in today’s challenging market. I know I’m a better sales person than I’ve ever been because of the investment in time and effort to the Dares, and I believe it shows in my overall performance. We have had 3 new contracts recently, and I attribute that success to this program. Just days ago, I spoke with a competing site, and they have had no new sales during this same period of time. Thanks to 40 Day Dare and Jason Forrest…I’m very encouraged and looking forward to increased success with our prospects in 2010.
Dare 39 talks about investing the extra time and effort to improve the sales skills that we aren’t as strong in. It also touches on how negative, defeating attitudes or “self-talk” can result in giving up before we’ve even really tried in an area we’re not as strong in, consequently finding ourselves avoiding tasks or parts of the sales process that we aren’t as comfortable with. For example, I know if I don’t make the effort to spend at least a portion of most of my evenings trying to follow up with customers when they’re most accessible, I lose the opportunity for a sale or sales velocity. Rushing out the door the minute the project closes won’t allow me to succeed in making contact with customers or reaching them as quickly after their visit. So making the time and putting in those extra hours of effort is important, particularly in this challenging market. But I also think that checking our attitude, and thinking positive and “up” before we communicate or follow up with a customer is equally as important.
I have always taken notes on more concrete factual information at the end of the tour and compiled it with their packet. However, I haven’t made a detailed list of everything I learned that they wanted in a home while touring…until a few days ago. I tried this with a customer really struggling with what he wanted in his living situation. Creating the list (focusing on the unique attributes of our community), and going over it verbally (again and again I might ad, over the course of several days), helped. At one point he decided he was going to wait on a purchase till he had saved more money for the down payment. Then a few days later he decided he was going to make an offer. He said he couldn’t stop thinking about it and felt he might be missing an oppurtunity if he waited. I’m sure the list helped, as the items and positive pointers kept coming up here and there in our conversations over the phone. I’m sure it’s much harder to back burner a home you like when all the positives are staring back at you on a piece of paper! And there’s so much to remember when shopping for a home and it can be very confusing and stressful. Having a list to keep all the ideas straight is a useful tool in shopping for a home.
I will have to admit that I don’t do this routinely. I isn’t that I haven’t ever called a prospect within an hour after they’ve left, but I’ve usually had a specific piece of information that I needed to get right back to them on that I was excited about. I normally call the very next day, unless there’s a reason not to (which is rare). I will incorporate this into my day and see what the reaction is. I agree that customers leave and wish that they’d asked a certain question while in for a tour, but don’t bother to call later. And it’s true that those questions are freshest in their minds shortly after leaving while left alone to discuss. I can see the logic in this so I will work on this in the future. I’m sure it will be helpful and appreciated by most customers.
I know I feel better about my day and more balanced emotionally when I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Pressure vs. stress points that out. I know that when I’ve truly given my day the best effort I can to produce, then yes, I might have pressure, but I don’t feel stressed. I can walk away from my desk at the end of my day feeling good about the effort I made. This dare was also a reminder to go through a mental check list of sales objectives that I need to improve on every day before I start working with a customer.
I will definitely try to focus more on presenting intangible situations to customers while introducing amenities. Getting them to picture a way of life and how that would look if they were to make it their home is so important to making their emotional connection to the home. One example of this was a few days ago when a couple came in on a search for their first home. They didn’t fit the typical stereotype first time home buyer. They were probably early 50’s and had no children. I did ask them if they had a pet and as suspected, they had a dog named Max. Knowing they didn’t have children, my guess is that Max was pretty important to them. We have a home with an extra large patio that I knew they would love for Max and also fit what they were looking for in a floor plan. On our way to see it, I told them we were going to look at a home that Max would like. Keep in mind they have a very broad search and were more focused on house rather than condo. They stumbled upon our site by driving around Mukilteo. We were not originally on their search list. While they were certainly impressed with the overall project and the homes I showed them, I believe that one home for Max and playing out scenarios on the patio that Max would enjoy really helped so much. They just loved it! They went from being sort of “cold” on condo living, to putting us on the top of their list for a home, and Max’s home is their #1 choice. It works to help people imagine how their daily living needs would be met in the homes and community that we offer.
This dare got my attention and I’m going to really focus on it with my prospects. Getting them to come up with their own solutions on what they would change in a color scheme or finish level allows them to prove to themselves that their ideals are attainable rather than hearing it secondarily from the opinion of the salesperson, which doesn’t capture their attention as much. I would say this goes back to the bigger picture in the sales process as well. Taking time to guide my customers through questions forces them to come up with their own solutions and answers leading them to make a decision that is right for them and that they are excited about. In the case of the color scheme or alterations to the finish level, they convince themselves that with slight modifications here and there, they are one step further in making a buying decision for the home they are considering.
“Spend the Time” is a concept that’s working for us. Spending more quality time with the customer is something we just couldn’t do at the beginning of our project because we had such high volume. For quite some time now, our traffic numbers have decreased allowing me to spend alot more time with customers and really be able to give them a quality tour. I believe this has made a difference for us. I have made more sales this fall spending more time with less traffic than I did in the spring with more traffic but less time devoted to the tour. So if you’re able to create that extra time and/or are staffed for it, there’s no doubt that you’re going to see a higher ratio of sales to traffic.
“Don’t wait for Urgency goes back to that sound principle of making sure we’re creating urgency, especially since so many prospects are coming in with no sense of urgency at all. Since my studies with Shore Forrest creating an emotional sense of urgency is something I’ve really tried to stay improve on during the tours. We recently had a sale where this came in to play. This was a single woman, widowed about a year earlier, who was still attached to her home on the lake (although very lonely). By creating emotional urgency centered around something she loves, which is golfing (we’re on a beautiful golf course) along with painting a picture in her mind of the great community and company that she would have here, I was able to and give her examples of how her day would look living here vs. staying in the big house on the lake she currently owned. This overcame her fear of change giving her the courage to move forward with her life. She purchased a wonderful home here and will be moving in a few weeks, happy and content with her decision.
Asking these few easy questions has always given me a wealth of info right from the beginnig to be able to tell where the customer is at on their buying journey. Not asking these questions doesn’t mean a sales person couldn’t eventually find some of this out as he/she went along, but the tour would be much longer and could become tedious, with the end result being a worn out customer looking at homes they might not really be interested in and the sales person having to work harder to keep them engaged in the process of narrowing down their choices.
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