Well I will try to keep this short and simple (lol). Today I made some follow up calls and on each one of them I did exactly what the dare said to do.
This is what we have covered thus far…
This is the next step….
Wound Sat or Sundsay work better for you.
I am usually pretty darn consistent with making my follow up calls and emails….but not nearly as focused or clearly defined going into the call as this dare would have me to be.
I usually call my folks….and say the typical how are?, just checking in with ya….etc…etc.. So this dare really helped me remember that I need to get back to having more purpose behind my calls and follow up. I booked one appt for this weekend. That was out of about 10 follow up calls I needed to make. 5 of those I was only able to leave a message for….2 of them are out of town and not ready for the next step….and the last one already bought another home elsewhere (DARNIT!).
I did not have any traffic yesterday….BUT we just started hosting a happy hour event for the community here at our model home once a month….and I asked a bunch of people from the party the 3 questions proposed by this dare….just to see what there responses would be…ie why did you buy their new home. Today I havnt had any traffic yet but I already feel pretty comfortable asking these questions.
Some of the responses I got were: (most of responses I got seemed pretty circumstantial)
- Our house was just to small and needed something larger becuase the family has grown
- Some had relocated to the area
- A couple of them were unhappy with the current schools that their existing community offered
- I did have one husband & wife tell me that they hated the HOA they came from
Yesterday I went out and shopped some of my competition and was able to stop by another community of ours. I think that by walking into some of these other models…in particular the other community model of ours…it helped remind me of that excitement I had when I first walked into my model home. I hope to carry this same excitement througout the week and transfer that excitment and enthusiasm to the next buyer that walks in the door.
After reading my counter parts blog today from yesterday I can totallly relate to the domineering type of parent(s). My dad always spoke negatively toward me growing up. But I believe that motivated me even more to prove him wrong….and I have been proving this ever since.
Again my on worst enemy / competition / critic is myself. It can be seen as a curse and a blessing at the same time for me. A blessing in that it keeps me on my toes striving to get better and better at whatever I do…including sales. It can be a curse in the sense that every step forward I take…I feel I have taken two backward at times.
I defientely need to improve upon this. I believe Im good….but its my curse that keeps me from being GREAT!
A lot of the times I will get down on myself with a really good prospect that is inches away from closing….and I start telling myself its probably not going to happen anyway. I think I do this as a defense mechanism to prevent me from experiencing that loss I may potentially get.
My competition (myself) doesnt think he is going to make the sale. vs. I believe that I will make this sale….I believe it down to my bones.
Well I did not have any fresh traffic today to take on my Sendero Springs tour guide. None the less I did drive my community and wrote out the description of the finer points of interest for my tour guide. They are:
- On our way out to look at a home or homesite. I like to always try to take a somewhat longer route to make sure and drive by some of our larger showcase homes that we built…that are a little closer to the model.
- I also like to drive by the the greenbelt and point out the hike and bike trails.
- And then there are the amentities that I have bad a tendincy lately not to physically stop by and get out of my (our) car to walk them to the playscape, picnic table…pool area. The amentities are such a great selling point…that I always mention…but seeing and feeling them is total different then taling about them or pointing them out on a map. I have recommited myself to make it a point to start doing this again.
- Another really good point of interest is the private trail that was recently installed at the back end of the community that allows the kidos to walk directly to the elementary or middle school.
Wow what another busy day it has been today. I took two hold checks…..I think my counter parts theory on positve carma is coming true for me as well lately!
As busy as it has been today….I still managed to dedicate my hour to calling my prospects. I love and pride myself on follow up….but boy I have been putting some of my prospects on the back burner for to long. Im glad that I sough this dare all the way through.
I was able to talk to around 15 people and booked two appts for this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today was a pretty busy day today. I did have an older couple that came in today that was looking for a home for themselves and their son. They want to be right next door to each other or right behind each other. They had a pretty vague idea of what they are looking for but I did not have anything on the ground to look at that fit the bill perfectly. So what I did was show them what I did have and use that as a starting point to build off of. They were able to tell me what they liked and didnt like and I was able to build upon that. One thing that really jumped out at me on this dare is asking the question, “Why is that important to you?”. What a powerful question! The feedback from this question usually digs into the emotional aspects of their buying decisions….and this is in my opinion what we are after!!
Ok folks….its round number two for me. As I said in my last blog statement, I have decided to go back through the 40 Day Sales Dare challenge again.
Both yesterday and today have been super busy for me at the office. But none the less….my FIRST priority as soon as I get up and get my cup of coffee, I read my dare for the day right off the bat. That way Im thinking about it from the start of my day onward. Before I kept my book for the most part at my office and had every intention of reading it as soon as I got to the office. Well you probably already know how that scenerio played out. As soon as I got to the office I had tons of stuff to do right out of the gate…so reading my dare kept getting pushed further and further back in my schedule…..and I was lucky to get it in by lunch time at the earliest. Now I have commited to myself to start my day off reading and reflecting on my dare for the day as soon as I get up and going for the day. I do a lot of my day planning thinking for the day when I take my morning shower in the morning….so its nice to already be thinking about the dare….refecting on it…so when I get to the office my mindset is already on it from the start.
Now as far as Dare #1 A Spoonful of Sugar. In my opinion there are so many different ways that this dare can be looked upon. I still dont feel like I am bringing up to many negative or stressful statements. I think that the bottom line here is that we need to give the person an opportunity to emotionally attach themselves to the home we are showing them. Whether you are brinking up negative or stressful statements to over feature dumping on them….the bottom line is that we sometimes need to get out of the way and allow them the opportunity to fall in love with the home and emotinally attach themselves to it.
Here is another spin on it. One thing that I was doing a lot of before when I went out and showed my homes is follow them around the house pointing this out and that out….showing them all the features and adding my two cents in every step of the way. I now try as best as I can to walk to neutral points in the house and let them look and feel their way through the home….
When they go upstairs I dont follow them up stairs….I stay down stairs. 90% of the time that’s when I can here them talking about the house…..where this will go….where that will go….etc…etc.
Again the bottom line for me with this dare is let them / allow them the opportunity to emotionally attach themselves to your home.
Well folks…its definetely been a learing experience none the less. Looking back, and reflecting on some of the dares…I feel that I have learned and experienced a lot that will without a doubt help me to be a better sales person. If anything else Jason Forrest always temps ya to go beyone your comfort level and dig a little deeper….be a little different and think a little different. Test yourself…stretch your sales imagination.
We had our last conference call yesterday….and I made the admission that I fell a little short in the latter days of the 40 day challenge. I have re-commited myself to starting back from day one and going throught the challenge again with a sales associate here at Streetman Homes. So be on the lookout for a Bob Brock. He has set many of records in sales for the entire Austin TX area. And more importantly he is still open to new challenges and bettering himself as I know most of us want to do.
So if you ever start slacking off a bit…get back up on that horse and ride again. As long as you dont give up…and keep the forward momentum. I promise ya….Jason Forrest wont letcha down. Thats what is so cool about our jobs…we can always get better and learn new interesting things. I like to think of it like a game of chess. You will never know every possible move or perfect the game…but you can always strive for progress.
This book is great! The first few chapters are pretty light…but man does it get into the nuts and bolts the further you get into it. I promise you!!!
Aside from the renown Bob Brock starting a blog…I plan to go back and blog a second time. I think it will be interesting to see what changes…or what differences I will experience the second time through.
The better each of us do out there….the better we all do in this industry….and the more money we can all make. I wish everyone the very, very best!! Until next time…..sell lots of homes!!! Go out there and change someone’s life! As Jeff Shore says.
I was sick as a dog this day….so I did not complete this dare. But it sure reminded me of some things. There is a floorplan we just built for the first time in my community that I really do not like very much. I have steared away from it…but this dare or chapter has helped me to start rethinking my attitude toward it. I think it would be a great idea for me to contact my sales manager and possibly even the architect to discuss this floorplan and even our other floorplans. I say way to many times that “I” like this or “I” like that. I think knowing what was the thinking behind some of our floorplans will help me stop saying that and start using more neutral statments and we statements….as well as better explain the reasoning on why we chose to design the floorplan this way or that way.
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