The Greatest Opportunity in Marketing Today!

by Joe Adams

6 Tips and more to make it your own

So, what is the Greatest Opportunity in Marketing Today? Read On….

There's a definite problem, or opportunity as some would like to say, in today's marketplace. As I travel throughout the country, I hear comments like:

• "My salespeople are making very few appointments from the leads we receive."
• "All I hear from my salespeople is that the quality of the leads is not very good."
• "No one ever responds to my calls or emails."
• "I'm paying for and receiving more leads but we're not converting them to sales"
• "I'm just not confident my lead-generation, marketing methods are a wise investment."

Before making a decision on the quality of your marketing methods, let's first define the role of marketing. The role of marketing is not to make sales. The role of marketing is to create the right environment that causes people to want to visit your sales center.

Thus, you might ask about your business, "Are we, are my salespeople, creating the right environment that causes people to want to visit our sales center?"

How do you create the right environment? The process begins by becoming an Internet Concierge. What's an Internet Concierge? Well, let's look at the definition of a 'concierge.' A concierge is a person who is in charge of special services, one who opens the door, answers questions and makes reservations. A concierge is the owner's representative. You can use this definition of a 'concierge' to relate to how you are responding to the leads you receive.

How do Internet Concierges secure more appointments? And, by the way, the name Internet Concierge is a generic title for anyone, including a salesperson, who makes contact with potential leads procured from any source. Internet Concierges go beyond making the initial contact and continue to build a relationship with a lead until the prospect makes the commitment to visit. To obtain that appointment, or commitment to visit, may require more than one contact. As long as the prospect has not yet visited, the successful Internet Concierge continues to make value-building follow-up calls.

However, whether it's an initial contact or a follow-up, the need to be prepared on what to say, or send in an email, is paramount. Tracking customer comments allows you to prepare for subsequent contacts that build on previous information you discussed. The major objective of every call is to provide more reasons for people to visit. Most prospects appreciate and look forward to a call or email that is filled with information or pictures that will help them make a wise decision. Similar to a sales-person job that is closing the sale, an Internet Concierge's ultimate responsibility is to make and confirm appointments.

In doing the job of lead follow-up, the Internet Concierge must always maintain an attitude of helping others. Some of you may remember Zig Ziglar who said, "You can get whatever you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want out of life." To best help people get what they want, an Internet Concierge needs to know all the facts and benefits of their product. They must be able to relay all the benefits a customer receives by visiting and buying from their company. Knowing all the facts begins by building and maintaining information files. The consultative concierge is the expert on almost any subject relating to his or her product.

Here's some proven techniques used by experienced Internet Concierges.

1. First, the most successful Internet Concierges use auto-responder emails. They know the value of replying quickly to every inquiry. Statistics reported by the National Association of Realtors reveal that 80% of the people who searched for a home on the internet and eventually bought a home, bought a home from the first person who contacted them and stayed in contact with them. So, it's important not only to be the first person to contact an inquiry, but maintaining contact is also essential.
2. Second, top Internet Concierges use pre-designed email templates that address the major reasons why people buy homes - i.e., space problems, financial reasons, ego gratification, lifestyle desires, location concerns, and/or life change issues. Using pre-designed emails that target specific benefits will increase your appointment-making close-ratio.
3. Third, creating the right environment includes building and using a digital library of photographs. Pictures truly are worth a thousand words. You want to focus on emailing pictures that appeal to an individual's stated interests by using snapshots of various interior rooms, exterior elevations, available options, décor choices, community amenities, and scenes of the surrounding neighborhood. You should also have pictures that depict the major reasons people select an area to live. Major reasons include sending pictures of social, cultural, or sporting events in the area, nearby medical facilities, schools, and various stores and restaurants. And, always have a variety of pictures showing people enjoying their home and their lifestyle.
4. Fourth, trained Internet Concierges use a conversation guide that outlines the benefits a customer receives by visiting the sales center that extend beyond simply saying, "Come in to see the models." Positive benefits may tell a prospect how they will receive help in finding land or a community for their home, that they will receive information about schools in an area, that they will be shown how to identify quality construction in a home, that they will learn what to expect from your company, that information will be provided on how to save money with various financing programs. The Internet Concierge can inform prospects that during their visit any current promotion will be explained. And, your list may include site or company-specific additional benefits received by visiting the sales center.
5. Fifth, an excellent method to improve professionalism is to use a common question-and-answer book. This tool allows you to use 'talk-scripts' or bullet points on how best to answer 85% of the questions prospects commonly ask.
6. Finally, to secure more appointments, use a planned, not canned, presentation that is filled with numerous reasons to visit… don't simply 'wing-it.' To evaluate call effectiveness, after every call, ask yourself, "How many reasons/benefits did I provide?"

To enhance professionalism always follow respectable phone etiquette and telephone skills which include:

• Having the ability to qualify prospects without using riveting questions
• Being able to match your personality to that of your prospect
• Knowing when to end a call that is going on without purpose
• Recording notes after each call with action plans for follow-up
• Always remembering to end every call by asking, "By the way, do you happen to know of anyone else who may be thinking of moving?"

No matter how many leads you receive, management is ultimately responsible for an Internet Concierge's success. Management's accountability and support should include:

• Checking that every lead is contacted
• Monitoring phone calls to ensure callers are providing prospect-specific reasons to visit
• Confirming that follow-up calls are being made
• Checking emails for value building data
• Examining daily call reports, database comment fields, and follow-up sequencing
• Ensuring your people are always asking for the appointment
• Listening if they are, "Creating the right environment that causes people to want to visit your sales center."
• Summarizing the changes in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
• Providing caller compensation packages that create qualified prospects' visits
• Designing flexible work schedules
• Evaluating callers weekly to improve methods
• Using adverting that attract the type of person best suited for working as an Internet Concierge
• Employing interviewing techniques to hire best suited people (Interview methods are totally different with hiring an Internet Concierge versus a salesperson.)

The bottom line is, it is management's job to resolve the problem causing the opinion of bad leads.

To improve lead conversion, you have two major choices. Invest in training to help your current salespeople acquire the skills of an Internet Concierge. Or, invest in creating a separate Internet Concierge marketing program with a dedicated person or persons to handle all incoming leads. The choice is yours, and if you want some help…. The Housing Marketplace can train your salespeople or help you create a separate Internet Concierge Program. But, whoever you select to help you get started, or improve your existing program, training should include:

• Understanding the role and expectations of an Internet Concierge
• Ensuring the job description is clarified
• Identifying the primary benefits of your company, your product, and the area
• Setting up and maintaining information files
• Preparing before making each call
• Training to improve telephone skills to convey professionalism
• Increasing listening acumen to focus on each specific customer's needs and desires
• Understanding the value in 'marketing with reason'
• Providing more reasons why prospects should visit your sales center
• Building relationships and trust before the visit
• Identifying the most important pre-qualifying questions to ask on the phone
• Using consultative marketing to understand buyer motivations
• Employing role playing exercises to develop and improve call flow
• Scheduling the frequency of follow-up
• Creating urgency for why prospects should visit now
• Appealing to today's 55+ buyers' lifestyles
• Assembling conversation guide outlines
• Designing templates for auto-response emails and voicemails
• Showing how to increase the quantity of calls
• Determining maximum lead banks
• Writing an Internet Concierge training manual
• Developing a common question and answer book
• Confirming appointments
• Implementing a turnover system to increase subsequent, on-site visit close ratios.

Successful concierges are always improving their skills. Keep in mind, that no matter how knowledgeable or skilled you become at securing appointments, the goal is to increase the quantity and quality of the prospects who visit the sales center.

So, what is "The Greatest Opportunity in Marketing Today?" Learn how to convert more leads to sales center visits.

(This article is taken from a live presentation. To receive the PowerPoint CD with synchronized audio, visit www.TheHousingMarketplace.com and order for $125.00. Or, since you are reading this article on www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com, you can get it for FREE, ($6.55 for postage and handling). Send check or money order ($6.55) to The Housing Marketplace, PO Box 15408, Asheville, NC 28813; ask for the "Internet Concierge CD.")

Joe Adams, President
The Housing Marketplace
Asheville, NC
(828) 891-3911
TheHousingMarketplace.com