MH Marketing Sales Management

by Michael Depure

There are many meanings to the word quality.

Let’s get down to the basics right in front of us. Quality of the Sale should mean the quality service you give to the buyer. Quality means the quality of service you give your seller if you are selling a listed or brokered home.

I have seen through the years that to some ‘quality’ means how fast can I get out of here, how fast can I get my commission, or how fast can I pass this issue – whatever the issue happens to be – on to someone else. I am here to say Wrong, Wrong. Remember this may be the most important purchase an individual can make. Its their life, family, career and their pursuit of happiness. It is a privilege for a sales professional or operation to serve them.

Sales pros, listen up! Now I'm not going to say that you must do it this way, but I will say it can only help you and others when you do.

We must deliver quality to all our customers: to the internal customers and the external ones too. If you consistently deliver quality, you can have a long term successful career with your company or in this industry.

Your customers who deserve quality include:

• Your company. Help them deliver a quality product to your customer, by doing your best and communicating accurately at each stage of the sales process with your associates
• Your lender. Help them qualify and fund by giving them accurate information as promptly as possible. If you become aware of an issue, you raise your hand and let your lender; they are the life-blood of your company, necessary for most customers and are a key to the future of our industry.
• Your suppliers and vendors. Communicate and be fair, and a quality supplier or vendor will be there for you when you need them too.
• Your retail customer. At the end of the day, it is all about the retail customer. The better they are treated and handled the better it is for you, your company and the industry at large. Quality customer care would go a long way towards improving our industry’s image issues. If there were 20,000,000 happy manufactured home customers out there, that would rapidly lead to millions of more customers. Enough said.

Delivering quality to your customer should include:

1. Make sure the buyer gets what they need in the home.
2. Follow through with service and maintenance of the customer’s home.
3. If you are in a land lease community setting, always work with your community manager on the status of their residency.
4. Guide your customer to the right important added requirements that are needed. Be a one stop information or shopping resource for them. Insurance, regular maintenance, mortgage tips and contacts for service, etc..
5. Introduce the new residents to neighbors, schools, community services.
6. Give them options and referrals for services in their areas. That means cable, internet, phones and other vendors or contractors.
7. Directly guide the customer to the right person every step of the way. Let them see and feel that you care. If you do, they’ll be happy and bring you more business.

We all like payday. But there is nothing more rewarding to me than a customer happy with the entire package. My former boss Richard Klarchek always said your selling them a lifestyle. Let them show and experience the best of that lifestyle and then watch the double win work for them and for you.##

Michael K. DuPure, M.D. Marketing, is an 11 year veteran of the Manufactured Home industry, plus years of other sales and management experience. As noted last month, Mr. DuPure was a catalyst in a 3 man sales team that closed 75 Manufactured Home contracts in 90 days for Capital First Realty at a single location! These were on homes on the upper end of the industry’s product offerings and with site fees in the upper end in the area they were working in. That impressive result occurred not years ago, in some heady boom era, but in 2009 – during this long ‘housing bust’ and in a downward economic spiraling market. Mike has sold in Manufactured and modular homes at retail sales centers and in manufactured home community based sales environments. He has not only set sales records for the firms he works for, but has also ignited record sales for the teams he has worked with. You can contact Mike via his comment post box below this column. Contact him via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by phone at 586-838-0047 or Post your comments, questions and feedback below.