Increase Home Sales with Intake System, Outreach Strategy
Numerous studies have been done, all pointing to the necessity of responding to a new lead within minutes of receiving it and attempting a minimum of six more times over the next 48 hours if you want to maximize the results you get from your marketing efforts.
We are currently in a seller’s market reminiscent of the post-crash era just about 15 years ago. Everyone is busy, lots of orders are being written, factories have long backlogs, and there is a fully justified feeling of overall optimism.
Volume hides a multitude of sins and these times are no different.
In the best of times, we prepare for the worst of times. In times as these, we solidify our internal systems and processes, minimize slippage, and maximize the bottom line.
For retailers experiencing an increase in home sales and abundant opportunity, as is the case in the southeastern U.S., Florida, Texas, and other states, their systems may deteriorate, sales efficiency drops, all under the cover of ever-increasing home sales.
One reason is the lack of lead management efforts. Salespeople simply do not understand the impact technology has had on the way people shop, the way people buy and, consequently, the way we have to sell.
How Technology Has Affected Manufactured Home Sales
The internet has given customers access to more information than they can possibly sort. All one has to do is Google any random query and thousands of pages appear within seconds.
Between mobile phones, web browsers, and e-mail, we can instantly connect to anyone anywhere, and at any time.
Here’s the catch. With instant access comes the expectation of immediate response. We want the information we ask for NOW… not later today, not tomorrow, not next week.
Immediacy & Frequency in Manufactured Home Sales
The two terms I mentioned in the title have an impact of biblical proportions on your organization’s ability to increase home sales. Immediacy is the speed at which you respond to a lead, measured in minutes, not hours or days.
Frequency is the number of times you reach out to a lead after having received it. Whether you reach out by telephone, text, or e-mail is determined by the information they provide in your lead intake system.
Here is why most retailers will never maximize internet marketing. Both immediacy and frequency must be measured and managed. Even well-meaning sales professionals slip into apathy with regards to lead follow-up and management, and before you know it, potential buyers rarely hear from your organization. Even if they do, they will hear from them once after a few days, and very likely after talking with one or more of your competitors.
Many retailers live under the assumption that their salespeople follow-up quite well, and therein lies the beginning of the illusion.
Test your hypothesis. Have a friend contact your company via your intake system and see what happens.
If you think it’s an anomaly, do it a second, third, fourth and fifth time. Soon you will have some meaningful statistics.
Here is what most business owners and salespeople fail to realize. Even the most technologically challenged individuals will browse their desktop, tablet, or smartphone looking for information on what they want to buy. They see the places they can go, which as I stated earlier are way too many, and so begin the process of reducing this list to a more manageable number.
They eliminate retailers by distance, floorplans, lack of information on the website, and many other reasons. The websites that do pique their curiosity, they will either call, chat, or e-mail with a representative for further information. You can only guess what happens to those retailers whom they never hear from, or if they do, only once.
Put Yourself in the Place of the Home Buyer
Here’s the bottom line. We’re living in a radically different world compared to when many of us came to the industry. People today think differently, shop differently, and they buy differently.
If you’re successful today, but you’re not 100% sure as to why, then you can’t replicate that success, and you’re not preparing for the downturn.
Take this opportunity you have right now, as you have plenty of sales and decent profits, to prepare for the downturn we hope doesn’t come . Regardless, you will benefit.
Learn to maximize your internet leads and start by implementing procedures for following up with those leads. You have to keep your manufactured home sales leads fresh. Measure immediacy and frequency and hold your team accountable to meet predetermined standards.
Always remember… The hardest business to measure is the business you lose.
Would-be customers don’t call to let us know how your team dropped the ball. They just disappear, never to be heard from again. Don’t let that happen.
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