In our last blog post about One Team, One Experience I talked heavily about alignment. If the move from online to onsite is done well, it should feel natural from the buyer’s perspective. Exciting, even. The OSC should be building anticipation, not creating confusion. It should sound more like: “I’d love for you to meet my good friend; they’re going to have a much better handle on those specific house questions and help you take the next step.” That is a handoff. Not:…
How to Grow Your Online Sales Department
By now, and if you’ve read my last two posts – Don’t Break The Process and Can’t an Online Sales Counselor Just Take the Lead Through Sale? NO! – then you may be starting to consider growing your online sales department. Before a little thing called COVID, most walk in traffic really was digital traffic. Did I just blow your mind? Everyone in sales now is saying they’ve always had walk-in traffic. True. But…
Can’t an Online Sales Counselor Just Take The Lead Through Sale? NO!
I saw this question recently asked in a forum. This goes right along with “Don’t Break The Process.“ You don’t want to take leads generated by marketing (The seed) and hand them off directly to the agents before they go through lead development for reasons discussed previously in Don’t Break The Process. Likewise, if your OSC became responsible for the entire buying process, it would be the same thing as handing off that lead to…
Quick Tip Tuesday: Don’t Forget About Proper Lead Nurturing
If we don’t do our lead nurturing correctly now, we will be regretting it later. While in the ever changing landscape of online sales, so much more has been thrown on the plate of an OSC, it’s important that we don’t forget the basics. The reasons why this position exists in the first place. To nurture leads and make sure that they are getting the feeling of a personalized experience with the builder, well before…
Hiring the Right OSC Requires A Social Media Check
In today’s digital world, it’s important to be careful about what you put out in the world, especially publicly. Time and again we see people removed from their jobs because they’ve expressed a stance that their companies cannot abide by, nor do they want to be held accountable for in society. As online sales counselors in the new home building industry we are especially susceptible to this sort of scrutiny. the online sales counselor is…
Quick Tip Tuesday: One Size Doesn’t Fit All in Online Sales Counselors Programs and Training
It’s important to understand that a one-size-fits-all approach for online sales counselor programs is not beneficial to new home builders across the industry. First it’s important to see that training doesn’t happen in a bubble. There is an entire program set up required in order to create a successful online sales program. Sometimes we think if we just hire an OSC and train them, we’re good to go. To set yourself up for success you…
I’m Not Just an Online Sales Counselor Trainer, I’m an OSC Advocate
Look. This post COVID climate is crazy. First it was crazy when everything went online and builders FINALLY started to embrace the role of the OSC, and those that had them thanked their lucky stars that they were able to pivot quickly. And now it’s crazy with the rising cost of materials, interest lists 100’s deep, and sales being limited because we can’t keep up with the backlog as we sell more homes than we…
Hiring is a Value Driven Proposition: Adding New Online Sales Programs or Revamping Old Ones
Lately, as I have been helping builders hire online sales counselors – either growing their teams, starting new ones, or revamping old programs – we are not only matching the right skill sets that are needed to become an OSC (Hint, it’s not the same as your site sales people.) We also are making sure they will fit with the company culture. My father taught me long ago that when your values align with the…
Change Isn’t Easy – But It’s An Important Part of Growth
Recently, I’ve undertaken a huge task. I’ve been updating all of my training materials and my online sales counselor training program. From the way it flows, to the way it’s presented – it’s undergone a complete refresh. But most importantly the content is the most up to date and progressive online sales training program I can possibly put out there in the world. The first online sales counselor program I ever created was 14 years…
Performance Vs. Stress: How to Create Peak Performing Online Sales Programs
I was talking with my father the other day and Performance vs. Stress is one of the topics he discusses with his mentees. My father has spent several decades mentoring CEOs of companies and provides great insights to help them improve their company culture and grow their businesses. So, it’s great that I have this wonderful insight in my own backyard. We were talking about the change in the market and how much more many…
Online Sales Counselor Training Isn’t About the Hours or Canned Packages
I get asked all the time by builders if I have an hourly rate or an hourly package they can purchase. I also have builders that ask me if I have a recorded set of lessons. The thing is I can’t track hours, and I can’t feel good about putting together pre-canned “education.” If someone wants something that is only 30 days or 3 months… I can’t in good faith do it. That’s just not…