TRANSCRIPTION:
Hi everyone, Kimberly Mackey here with New Homes Solutions Consulting. Welcome back to our three-part series, Fantastic Salespeople and Where to Find Them. Today is our third and final episode. If you will recall, or feel free to refer back to Part 1 on our YouTube Channel or our Blog site (NewHomesSolutions.com/blog), in Episode One, we discussed what to look for when hiring salespeople. What are the right attributes and attitude? In Episode Two, we discussed some “secret” locations, where you can go to recruit. Today, we will reveal how to maximize your investment with all this great talent by giving them the tools they need to become successful.
Set the right expectations from the start. Make sure you have a well-written job description with the hours the sales professional (or any position) is expected to keep at a minimum. Clearly define tasks, goals, and results you expect them to fulfill along with how they will be measured and compensated. If they are going to be mystery video shopped, you should add the legal disclaimer that is required by your state as part of this document. It is better to get it out of the way now, rather than to have to go back to get it later and cause paranoia. Even if video shops are not part of your practice now, they should be, so I recommend adding it while you are in the process of fine-tuning your job description and expectations. If you have hired a “Junior Sales Associate” or a trainee, what will they need to prove before they can earn a promotion?
Be prepared to “On-board.” There is nothing worse to make a new associate feel unwelcome than to show up on the first day and not have anything ready for them. Make sure there is a place for them to work (that does not appear to be an afterthought or the corner of someone else’s desk), have their name badge or uniforms ready for them to wear.
Business cards should be sitting proudly on their desk, along with log-in information for all company software and computers that are necessary. If you are providing an office cell phone, have it ready to turn on and work immediately. Your new hire should not spend the bulk of their first day trying to figure out who does what and how they can get things to work!
Additionally, please show them around and introduce them to everyone. Arrange to take your new associate to lunch or for someone with whom they will be working closely to take them to lunch. In short, make them feel welcome!
You need a QUICK-START PLAN! A Quick-Start Plan is a training plan for the first 30 days. So whether they are a Junior (Trainee) or a Seasoned Veteran Sales Professional, you need for them to learn the right way to do things in your company. Quick-Start Plans are well-thought-out training guides and schedules for each day and should include all aspects of your company, its software, as well as shadowing all departments to learn critical dependencies and procedures for each. Salespeople need sales training, contract training, construction training, mortgage, and title training, and much more.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Program is a MUST. If you don’t know who your prospects are and where they come from, you are in grave peril. No, I am not trying to sound grim; it is just a fact. How can a business thrive when they don’t know who their buyers are? A great CRM integrates with your web site and automatically populates when prospects fill out the “Request More Information Form.” It allows seamless communication and tracking so that if a hypothetical salesperson were to drop off the face of the earth tomorrow, anyone would be able to come along behind them and pick up right where they left off, so the customer experience isn’t affected in the least. A great CRM sets up and allows for automated drip campaigns to go out to prospects so that no one is neglected and all are educated and invited to own.
I get asked often by smaller builders if they need a CRM. My answer is always YES! I may need to qualify that with items that need to be accomplished as a priority first, but the answer is still YES!
Motivational Accountability is NOT an Oxymoron! For you sales managers out there, this means to get out and stay out! Sales happen in the field, so you need to be out there conducting Planned Encounters, and supporting your sales team. Roleplay with them and teach them how to do a better job with relationship-based selling. Review those registration cards and help them to figure out how to help people to own your homes. Help your sales team to understand the buying process so that they are setting the right expectations and walking your prospects through every step of the way. If you find that you are spending too much time in the office on administrivia, figure out how to delegate, delete, or organize with better tools. I have quite a few training sessions on strategies to help you overcome these challenges. I know it can seem like you are drowning much of the time.
Unfortunately, our time is not long enough to coach you through every scenario, but I hope you have found the “Fantastic Salespeople and Where to Find Them” series helpful as a foundation of what you need. As always, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to schedule a no-obligation consultation with me by visiting https://NewHomesSolutions.com/contact. Thank you again for joining us. Don’t forget to look for SOLUTIONS in your inbox on August 21st when our Guest Blogger Series continues. As a reminder, SOLUTIONS is a free e-learning tool that arrives in your inbox two times per month when you sign-up to receive it. To make sure you don’t miss any, please register at https://tinyurl.com/NewHomesSolutions or on the buttons at NewHomesSolutions.com.
Kimberly Mackey is the founder of New Homes Solutions Consulting, and has the reputation as someone with real-world SOLUTIONS in a competitive and rapidly changing sales environment–SOLUTIONS like “50 Sales per Year before Any Walk-in Traffic”. Her primary business is that of a Sales & Marketing Management Consultant. Companies call on Kimberly to set up the processes and systems within the company so that sales is the engine that drives the train rather than running it off the tracks. Because she has such a depth of experience in all disciplines within in the building industry beyond the sales and marketing world, she is highly sought after to help companies to create a Customer Experience Process from potential lead to customer and throughout the building process into the warranty period and beyond. In other words, by creating a smooth transition and communication processes, she helps builders to create “Raving Fans.”
She is a keynote speaker and published author of many Sales and Leadership articles with 20 years of experience as an executive in the residential home building and real estate industry. She has a proven track record working with Builders and Developers of all sizes –from the local/regional companies to the publicly traded nationals. She also works with Brokers from across the country and is the architect and director of the highly successful Preferred Builder Partnership with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Properties Group where she works with 32 builders, 22 offices and over 650 agents.
For more information, or to book Kimberly for your next event, visit www.NewHomesSolutions.com. While you are there, please be sure to subscribe to SOLUTIONS e-newsletter which comes out twice a month with free training and best practice sharing from across our industry. You are also invited to connect with Kimberly on LinkedIn,www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlymackey; Twitter,www.twitter.com/KimberlyDMackey; and Facebook,www.facebook.com/NewHomesSolutions or on YouTube, www.youtube.com/c/NewHomesSolutions
