Builders: Grab Your CRM Tools for Spring Selling Season!

Might be Frightful Outside but..Spring Selling Season is Here!

We have to admit: the weather outside -- whether you're on the East or West Coast -- doesn't exactly encourage getting outside and going home shopping. Even if you're in Las Vegas -- it's snowing!

Take advantage of slower traffic today & get ready for Spring!

But, why not take advantage of the slower traffic and take stock in preparation for your Spring marketing efforts?  We have some ideas to start generating visits to your sales offices and engaging home shoppers once they arrive!

Start Reaching Out to Realtors & Other Neighborhood Sources, Now

There's a great, recent Frank Anton article in BuilderOnLine noting, "Remember that knowing the ground is a decisive factor not only in warfare but  in homebuilding as well."  

Do you know your local Realtor community? Why not get acquainted and start putting together a "Get Ready for Spring" open house and offer a "spa event" raffle for attendees? Or, a "Wine & Cheese" evening with a case of your favorite? Keep the buzz going: don't stop with one event! If you start now (in dreary February), you'll be ahead of 90% of your competition!

Here's where your CRM system can step in and help! Make sure your local Realtors are in their own section so you can easily email and measure your success in terms of visits, home shopper tours and sales.  Not sure how to do this? Let us know: CPS CRM is laser-focused on co-op agent features!

Start Thinking About Demographics, too!

Don't forget: many Realtors focus on specific demographics or groups -- relocations, ethnic or religious groups, 55+ buyers, etc.  Try reaching out to the demographic-centric agents, often.  They always have a group of interested buyers available to visit your community -- provide them with a reason to stop by -- again and again.  CRM will help here, too: establish Rating groups so you can sort through your database and focus on specifics.

Work to Create a Great Buying Experience

You want to be your customer's #1 choice: what can you do to make that happen? First, embrace the idea that home shoppers are visiting today because they're interested in buying one of your homes. In many cases, today!

Next, we'll suggest that it makes sense to start looking at your sales office as a customer does.  What will help you stand apart so the home shopper rates your community #1?

Think about: what are you doing to create a great buying experience? From the minute a prospect drives (or walks) up to your office, they're using all of their senses to evaluate the experience...from smell to sight to touch!  We'll talk about touch in the next Solutions Blog but.. make sure that your "curb appeal" is upfront, clean and appealing!

Followup!

Have you seen the stats? Only 50% of home shoppers hear back from the sales office they visited! Even a simple Thank You! gets you in the top 50%! Think about the value of  an automated & templated followup with a short, cell phone video with a quick tour -- you're in the top 10%!

Do you recall an earlier Solution Blog with Ryan Taft's CRM tips? Take these quieter times to start a top performer habit:

1. Do it!
2. Personalize the Heck Out of It!
3. Be Consistent!

Your Home Shoppers Want to Hear from You!

Interesting article recently in Realtor suggesting agents might want to reassess their follow-up efforts with home shoppers.  Keeping in contact not only puts you "top of mind" with active home shoppers but can also be a referral source, as well.

The key thought is many home shoppers don't have a "specific" interest in mind when they first start looking at homes and staying in touch is possibly the most underrated and underused sales process in the industry.

Software facilitates staying int ouch!

Of course, all of us have many, often competing priorities for our time.  Yet, 36% of home owners say they find it beneficial to receive communications -- even if they aren't in the market for a home, today.

Topics of interest range from what's for sale to home maintenance pointers.  Why not have a set of pre-established emails that go out on a periodic basis to everyone in your prospect file?

CRM systems are designed to facilitate this process -- from registering your prospects to creating a set of followup emails to actually sending them on a scheduled basis.  Once you have the followup details down, your home shoppers will receive tips and pointers from you on a regular basis -- without any additional work needed.

And, why not apply the same process to your home buyers?  Here's a group of people living in a new neighborhood, using different appliances and concerned about their new home.  Remind your homeowners that you're available for warranty questions --  and encourage the "warm and fuzzy" by sending out an email with the closest restaurants (coupons might be a possibility, too) -- or a trail guide to local recreation hot spots. There's always room for info regarding the new appliances, HVAC systems and electronics, too!  After sale communications are another key referral source!

Not quite sure how to get started with this process?  Contact us to discuss CPS•CRM and WarrantyWatcher customer service software -- easy-to-use and cost effective ways to communicate with prospects and buyers!

What To Do to Get More Customers?

Traditionally, salespeople would answer this question by saying: have a good product, put together a great marketing program, cold call leads...you get the idea!  All over the place, in other words.

Leo Widrich, in a BufferApp blog available here, suggests we need to spend time understanding how our customers think -- and increased sales will result.

SalesTouch: Light Up Their Brain..and Go Green, too!

He talks about 10 things you can apply today to get more customers; we've narrowed his list down to 3:

(1) Use Urgency the Smart Way -- creating a sense of urgency or scarcity is known to drive up sales (think: iPad, Elmo, Wii). 

What Howard Leventhal suggests is critical: people tend to block out urgent messages if they aren't given information on how to followup!

There's a message for every builder: put your CRM to use! That means schedule follow-up activities for your agents (emails, phone call reminders, hard copy mailings) -- whether agent-generated or automatic. 

(2) Make Their Brains Light Up 'Instantly" -- It's your brain's frontal cortex that is highly active when we think about waiting for something.