"You never get a second chance to make a good first impression." This
time-honored statement is ever so true when answering the telephone at
communities that lease homesites and/or sell new and pre-owned homes. The
first contact staff members have with prospective new residents occurs in one
of two ways: someone either calls or visits our community. Therefore, when
the telephone rings, what can employees do to "get that person excited" about
visiting your community?
1. Answer the telephone on the second or third ring. A slight delay in
answering the telephone gives the person a few seconds to "put a smile on
their face".
2. When answering the telephone:
b. identity the community and
c. state your name.
Unenthusiastic or mumbled greetings and "I'm busy, your bothering me" verbal
body language does not send a positive message to the caller. Consequently,
all employees must be trained, coached and constantly reminded to use an
enthusiastic greeting when answering the telephone. Sample greetings
include: "It's a great day at (name of community), this is (your name), how
can I help you?" "Good morning/afternoon and thank you for calling (name of
community), this is (your name), how can I help you?"
3. During the course of the telephone conversion, you want to accomplish the
following:
a. Obtain and record the person's name, address and telephone number.
b. Determine how the prospect learned about your community.
c. Identify the prospect's housing needs.
d. Set-up an appointment for the prospect to visit the community.
How do you get this information? Simply ASK. After the initial greeting,
ASK the person their name (and write it down). "I'd be glad to help you,
what's your name?" Most people are hesitant to give their address and
telephone number at this point because you have not earned their trust.
Callers become "guarded" when they "sense" someone is using a form to obtain
this information. When you call a company about a product or service, do you
provide your address and telephone number to a "stranger" who has not earned
your trust or told you how their product or service meets your needs?
Therefore, "you must earn their trust and respect prior to asking for their
address and telephone number." How do you accomplish this?
i. ASK the caller how he/she learned about your community. Their response
provides you with valuable information to measure the results of various
marketing promotions.
ii. Identify housing requirements. Use open ended questions (a question
that requires more than a "yes" or "no" answer) to learn about the prospect
and their housing needs. If the caller is looking for a homesite, ASK about
the size of the home being purchased. If the caller is looking to purchase a
new or pre-owned home, ask about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms needed,
price range and monthly budget for housing costs. You MUST have a clear
understanding of the prospect's housing requirements prior to presenting
solutions.
iii. Inquire about family members. Do they have school age children? This
information can be used later in the conversation to sell the benefits of the
local school district, school bus stops in the community and community
amenities and activities
iv. Avoid the "commercial". Frequently, when we telephone shop a community
and state that we are looking for a homesite or for a new or pre-owned home,
we immediately hear a "commercial" that includes the size of the community, a
list of amenities and activities, the monthly rent, price ranges of homes for
sale, an overview of rules and regulations, etc. Sometimes, the "commercial"
goes on for over one minute and the tone is "authoritative" rather than
enthusiastic. Therefore, when the caller says, "I am looking for a homesite
for my new home", enthusiastically reply, "You've contacted the right place!"
and begin to ask about the home they are buying. If the caller says, "We're
looking to purchase a new or pre-owned home", enthusiastically reply, "You've
contacted the right place!" and begin to ask about their housing needs. Once
you determine and understand their needs, you can tailor your enthusiastic
"commercial" to focus on what is important to them.
v. Schedule the appointment. If you've done your job to identify needs and
enthusiastically responded with SOLUTIONS, ask for the appointment. Schedule
a time that is convenient for the prospect. In some cases, this may mean
during the normal lunch hour, after normal business hours or on a Saturday or
Sunday. Offer easy to follow directions to the community and the office.
Throughout the conversation, frequently use the prospect's name. People like
to hear their name used during the conversation. This technique builds
rapport which leads to "trust" and sends a positive message that you are
interested in helping the prospect. Always give the prospect your undivided
attention. Interruptions and/or being placed "on hold" disrupts the flow of
the conversation and sends a message that the prospect's needs are not
important.
Over the years, we have telephone shopped numerous communities. We have been
greeted by managers and staff with excellent telephone selling skills and
those needing training. There are a variety of seminars and training courses
that employees can attend. However, let's examine an inexpensive and easy
way to improve telephone skills. We call this training method - "Putting
Yourself in the Shoes of the Caller." First - call us for a free copy of our
"Shopper's Evaluation Report". You can use this form for the following
exercise. Next, identify 5 manufactured home communities that are leasing
homesites and selling new and/or pre-owned homes. Telephone shop each
community. At the end of the conversation ask yourself, "Am I excited about
visiting this community? Did the person I spoke with make me feel important,
ask questions to learn about my housing needs and enthusiastically offer
solutions?" Then, contact 5 of the newest apartment communities in your area
and repeat the process. Compare the responses of the manufactured home
communities with the responses of the apartment communities. Who did the
best job? What did the best respondents you spoke with do to get you excited
about visiting their community? As a prospective new resident, how did you
feel after each call? Using their reponses to the shopper's questions, what
will you do differently the next time the telephone rings? Will you earn
their trust and secure the appointment, or will the caller reject your
technique and call your competitor? Only YOU can influence the outcome!
John Turzer is the President of JLT & Associates, a Real Estate Market
Research Company specializing in pre-acquisition and development market
research, due diligence, problem property turnaround, marketing and sales,
on-site sales skills evaluations (shoppers reports), sales training,
budgeting, financial analysis and resident relations. He can be contacted at
(808) 283-3380 or by email at
a. use an enthusiastic greeting,
JLT & Associates is committed to providing excellent customer service. We stand ready to do "Whatever It Takes" to meet the needs of our real estate clients.
