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Intro – How Likeable Are You?

Are You Likeable Over The Phone? – Part 1

Are You Likeable Over The Phone? – Part 2 

We are finishing up the video series  “How To Be More Likeable Over The Phone And Email”. In the past two series (see links, if you missed them), we discussed how to be more likeable over the phone. In this portion of the series, we’ll discuss how to be more likeable via email.

When using email, it is even more important to communicate effectively. Not only are you stripping away all visual cues, you are now losing the benefit of voice tone and inflection as well.

Do your emails convey to your customer that you care? Does your conversational tone convey the right message, and match the tone of your customer? Does your spelling, grammar, and punctuation show your customer you care? Find out more about how to communicate effectively via email in this video.

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Lots of positive news out there. Let’s hear it from someone with “street cred”. Van Rose has seen it all and gives us some insights from trenches. The Real Estate market has made a drastic shift, and Rose & Womble is using this to their advantage! Van Rose, speaks on how they plan to “capture the buyers at the first portal”.  As soon as buyers begin their home search on the internet, Rose & Womble will be there at the front lines to take them by the hand and guide them through the process. This first class treatment doesn’t stop after the web search is complete! When that customer is ready to visit the homesite, they will be handed off into the equally eager hands of a real estate agent ready to “welcome them with open in arms”.

Van speaks about the research on today’s buyers, which shows that they are coming into the game serious about buying. Van’s message to everyone selling homes today; “It’s NEVER been better than right NOW to sell homes.”

Hear more of Van Rose’s Message Here>>

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Intro – How Likeable Are You?

Are You Likeable Over The Phone? – Part 1

Are you Likeable Over Email?

We are continuing along in the series of “Are You Likeable Over the Phone and Email”. In Part 1, we discussed the two tips extremely important for being likeable; using the customers name over the phone and having a good call cadence (listening as much as you talk).

In Part 2 of the series, we discuss the importance of your “Phone Voice”. It’s critical that the inflection of your voice conveys your excitement to the prospect. Does the person on the other end of the phone feel like you are excited and they are your main priority, or do they feel you getting distracted and drifting from the phone call?

Find out how voice inflection, your posture and positing play a huge role in your likeability over the phone.Similar Posts:

• How Likeable Are You?
• Are You Likeable Over Email – Part 3
• Are You Likeable On The Phone – Part 1
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• You should recruit this guy! (video)

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The “How Likeable Are You” series is in full swing, and in this video I will talk about being likeable over the phone. You may be aware of some of the common techniques for successful phone interactions like smiling while you talk and having good posture. I will be focusing on some additional tips to increase your likeability over the phone that you may not have thought of. By the end of the call, your customer should be saying “Wow, that person really listened…really cared…I really like them”.

Check out Part 2 here >>

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Anthony Grasst of Home Street Bank, prepares to speak at the Sales Central International Builders Shows in Las Vegas, NV. Grasst will be speaking about what sales people need to know about financing. He takes a whole new approach to this subject, skipping the technical aspect and focusing in on how to speak emotionally to people based on their demographics.

Jeff Shore shares the biggest take away from the pulse report he just delivered at IBS in Las Vegas. Jeff’s advice “protect your margins, lower your incentives, go back to value purity”.

Sonora Munks, Steve Bunce, and Tom Vetter introduce Sales Central. Steve describes Sales Central as a destination for those hungry for sales and marketing ideas in the new home residential industry.

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View the video here

Here is Part 1 >>

Here is Part 2 >>

How Likeable Are You Via Email>>

Being “likeable” is one of the key factors in selling. This is something that all sales people know and understand. Likeability is easier to accomplish in person….but what happens when you strip out the face to face component? Are you likable to your customers over email? Over the phone? Via text message? In this series, we will be discussing the skills and tips necessary to be more likeable.

Similar Posts:

• Are You Likeable On The Phone – Part 2
• Are You Likeable Over Email – Part 3
• Are You Likeable On The Phone – Part 1
• Email Hacks for the New Home Sales Executive
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Video Transcript: I am a high utilitarian type of person. This means that every decision I make is based on the question “Is there a return on my investment of time?” The things that I’m talking about here today aren’t “new” or “geeky” things. What I am talking about today is things that we should already be using right now, and right here. The first one is a follow-up schedule. Looking at a good example of a follow-up schedule shows you that it’s a lot of stuff. You need to be borderline abusive with your customers! I say, you’ve to take those prospects, and “ride them like a pony!” You do not let them go!

Sales Managers: The biggest problem is that this is not happening. Do you have the phone ringing off the hook with people complaining about your sales agents, saying, “They will not leave me alone”? Does anybody, any sales managers, get these calls? What if you did get that call? What if they called and said, “I can’t believe it, Elizabeth will not stop calling me. She will not stop emailing”. Of course you would respond, “I’m so sorry. She’s just young with a young family. She’s just trying to make it work. She’s just trying to make a living. I’m so sorry.” Then you’d hang up the phone and call her up and say, “Elizabeth, THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!!” But customers are not out there blasting all of us and saying, “TOO MUCH FOLLOW-UP!” It’s not enough follow-up, and the question is why. Why do we not have enough follow-up? Why is this not happening with our customers? Because we don’t have a system, and we don’t have a process. No system, no process, no tool.

It is logistically and humanly impossible for you to do this on your own with a paper system, with a note-card system. One builder said, “Yeah, I’ve got a great follow-up system. It’s called the sicker system. To this I ask, “What do you put the stickers on?” The response? “On paper.” It doesn’t make any sense. You’ve got to have a CRM system. It’s a learning curve. In fact, it may be a culture shift. Here is the biggest challenge I see, because I work with sales agents and sales teams all across the country. They should be able to use it. But a lot of us think, especially IT, “What man? You can’t do it? What’s wrong with you?” Am I right? They speak one language, and your salespeople speak another language.

User adoption of these tools is probably the biggest challenge that most sales teams have, and here’s the other problem with it: We don’t even focus enough time getting our agents comfortable with it, getting our sales team comfortable with it. We say “You should be able to use it and do it on your own”, but guess what? A lot of agents can call B.S. on you. Why? They’ll say, “I don’t know how to do _____ (fill in the blank),” and you’re like, “Oh shoot, well I’m sure we can get that figured out. “ followed by “I’d love to help you, Hey…. What’s my password?” Think about that. We don’t log in enough. We don’t use it enough. There is so much power there, and we don’t use it. I encourage all of you to take the time and train your sales agents on the things that are going to create sales, because…..they will create sales.

You have to do it. You have to set time aside to do it. You teach them closing skills right? Teach them CRM skills. You teach them demonstration skills, right? Teach them CRM Skills. You see what’s happening? You teach them how to build rapport? Teach them how to follow-up. Show them the best use of email. When they should send emails. How they should send them. How to use video email! How fast they should you be? What they should you say on the phone? Let’s record their calls. Let’s coach.

COACH, COACH, COACH. TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN! I heard another company I work with say: “Coach them up, or coach them out.” That’s a good term, isn’t it? Write that down. Coach them up, or Coach them out. It should happen here too.Similar Posts:

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My wife was recently browsing on Pinterest and showed me a photo of a shelf made out of industrial pipes.

I said, “Cool! Where is it from?”

She clicks through to Etsy.com where the craftsperson is selling these really unusual bookshelves. If you’ve never been to Etsy, it’s an online marketplace for craftspeople, and the best place to go for something out-of-the-ordinary.

Any way, I told my wife, “Buy that thing. It’s awesome!”

And just like that, I’ve got this great bookshelf in my office.

I’ve been a bit skeptical of the value of Pinterest. A lot of people ask me about this newcomer to the social networking universe, but I’ve withheld enthusiasm. They got all excited when this bright, shiny object caught on and thought it might be the next great thing on the heels of Facebook’s social network success.

My first Pinterest purchasing experience made me think about this social networking site as a possible marketing tool. The thing is, I didn’t buy the bookshelf off Pinterest. It was a conduit to Etsy, which wouldn’t have any bragging rights if it weren’t for the cool content posted there by someone else.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. The key to online success is content, content, and more content. Make it interesting, entertaining, informative, and noteworthy. It doesn’t have to be brilliant, but your content should be worth reading and you should be consistent in posting it. Get the word out there. Use posts, tweets, blogs, videos—whatever it takes to connect you with potential buyers who like what they see online.

Whether you’re a sales executive, marketing director, or other professional who is responsible for building interest in your products or services, you’re in the content creation business, aiming for building buzz. Places like Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter are platforms for your message. You still have to craft and deliver it to these places.

If that guy were just building his bookshelves in his basement and not posting it for sale on Etsy, his cool factor would be his own little secret.

Pinterest might actually be the next great thing. And Facebook might file an IPO and fizzle over time just like AOL. It doesn’t matter. You will have other platforms for distributing your content. As long as you have something postable, pinnable, tweetable, and shareable, you will be noticed.

New things come out every day. A new app for your mobile phone. A new website. A new social network. Google+ was supposed to be the next great thing. How’s that working? A report released by the market research firm ComScore in February 2012 said that Google+ users spend only three minutes per month on this site, as compared to those Facebook users who spend an average of 405 minutes per month on that site.

Any source can be useful if you choose to work them, but you have to ask yourself, what is the return on your time investment?

Don’t be so distracted by the latest, greatest, coolest social network that you forget that it is a channel. No matter what app or social networking tool that comes out, we need to focus on this objective: How can I use this to increase my business?Similar Posts:

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Many of you have a growing database of prospects. It’s filled with leads who have visited, called, or emailed you. This database should be the lifeblood to your sales efforts, but what are you doing with it? Are you just looking for more prospects to file into your database or do you actively cultivate the possibilities that are tucked in there?

Don’t just focus on the here and now. Avoid the temptation of the bright, shiny object that could detract from tending to this database that is chock full of potential sales. In other words, breathe new life into your leads.

There are three easy ways to resuscitate your dormant leads:

1. Organize your database. Keep your database up-to-date. Take one hour a week to clean it up and tend to the list. Segment the leads into areas so that when you go to do your follow-up, you can easily focus on specific groups, like those who have either not responded at all or just not lately.
2. Create an email. Develop a follow-up email that you can personalize to your prospects. Using this format, you can follow-up more often with more leads. For example, take a chunk of leads that are six to nine months old and craft an email marketing message. Make the email appear as personal as possible—without getting too specific—and mail it to the group all at once. Done! Now you’ve maximized your time and potentially revived some of dying leads.
3. Pick up the phone. Yes, go old school. Make personal contact with those people you just emailed. Combining the one-two punch of email and phone follow-up is like charging up those defibrillator paddles and zapping those leads with your sales pizzazz.

You might be surprised by how many of those prospects are still in the market. You’ll probably also encounter many who have had a change in their situation and, because you’re the only one following up, you hit them at the perfect time to convert the lead into a sale!

Don’t let your valuable leads die. Shock them back into the home-buying mode. I promise, it won’t hurt a bit.

I hope these tips are helpful, and welcome your thoughts and ideas!

Similar Posts:

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