It’s imperative that any organization in the business of selling manufactured homes, including manufactured home dealers and well as manufactured home communities, aka mobile home parks, has a sound process for handling all leads that come in, no matter the source. For this article I’d like to focus on some steps that must be included in that process to have best results with manufactured home sales leads that are generated over the internet.

Internet shoppers have a different approach to researching products on the Internet compared to traditional shoppers, in that they have access to more information, reviews, opinions, and news stories, and therefore have a much deeper understanding about available products. Likewise, they have an increased expectation about how quickly and in what fashion they should be followed up with by somebody who they have contacted via the internet.

Over the last several years, Manufactured Home Source has generated hundreds of thousands of prospective home buyer leads for manufactured home dealers and communities. In this time, we have talked with hundreds of manufactured and modular home dealers, mobile home park owners, and manufactured home industry experts about leads, follow-up and sales. It is clear that dealers and communities with effective follow-up processes sell far more homes from internet generated leads than their counterparts who lack such processes.

Here are some steps that we feel should be included in your process:

Initial Phone Contact:
It can be said that the three most important rules of good Follow-Up are:
1. Call each prospective home buyer IMMEDIATELY upon receiving the
referral.
2. Call each prospective home buyer IMMEDIATELY upon receiving the
referral.
3. Call each prospective home buyer IMMEDIATELY upon receiving the
referral.

This may sound excessive, but it’s true. Manufactured home dealers and mobile home parks with the highest conversion of leads into home sales are the ones who call prospective home buyers immediately upon contact. It is a fact that the best time to talk to a prospective manufactured home buyer is when they have just learned about your company and expressed interest in your homes by taking the time to request a followup to gather more information. The lead is ‘Hot’ and there must be a sense of urgency in contacting the prospect immediately. The impact of a phone call within minutes of a prospective manufactured home buyer submitting their information is far more powerful than sending them a packet of information in the mail or by email response some time later.

Be sure that your company has a scheduled plan of phone calls to follow up with each prospect on an ongoing basis. Again, your sales staff must call the prospect immediately when the lead first comes in. Emails and mailings can support these efforts, but that immediate phone call should be your first follow-up tool. Try contacting the prospect up to 3 times on the day they initially contact you, and at least once when most people are home from work. Your goal should be to connect with the prospect and arrange an interview or a tour of your manufactured home community, factory or sales center within the first week of initial contact. You can leave emails and voicemails if you want to, but don’t expect any call-backs. Catching them live on the phone is the key to success. If you don’t reach the prospective home buyer right away, try to make contact for the next 3 days. Your goal is to connect with the person and arrange an interview or a tour of the company within the first week of receiving the referral. If after 3 days no contact is made, try calling once a week for the next 4 weeks.

Maintain a list of leads that are close to buying a home but not quite there. Be sure to schedule calls and emails to these people to propose new incentives for them to buy. Keep them informed of special offers, new models or listings and other creative enticements that may encourage them to buy.

Send periodic email newsletters or announcements to further keep your business at the forefront of the prospects’ minds. There are a number of very inexpensive services that can help you to maintain your email list and easily put together professional-looking e-newsletters, such as Constant Contact. This is an inexpensive and efficient way to keep in touch with everyone who has expressed interest in your company. One of those emails could wind up being the deciding point for a prospective home buyer who has been close to buying a home from for a long time.

Lead Tracking: What process or system do you use to keep track of the prospects and your
follow-up processes?
• Many manufactured home dealers and mobile home park owners/managers use a database system or lead-tracking software package to organize and manage their sales lead follow-up. Whatever system you choose, be sure it is user-friendly, designed for your specific needs, and that all your sales staff are comfortable enough with it that they actually use it. Also, be sure that your system is flexible, so that as you improve your follow-up processes, it can change in parallel. Note: your sales lead tracking and follow-up system can be as simple as a shared Excel spreadsheet, and notes in a calendar about when to call or it can be one of the more advanced Customer Relationship Management software packages that are available. Specific to the manufactured home sales and mobile home park markets is Prospector Pro from Rainmaker Software, other more general CRM systems include Salesforce.com and ACT.
• Be sure to implement a system that includes reminders of when to call each prospective home buyer again as well as notes to track specifics of previous conversations with the prospect such as what individual questions or needs have been discussed.
• Be able to track the progress of the prospects through the home-buying process so that you can learn what methods work best for your customers and your team. Each conversation you have with a prospective home buyer is a great chance to learn more about your team’s follow-up and sales approach. If you learn from each lead, your process and success will naturally improve over time.
• Know your conversion statistics: for each dollar spent getting prospects in the door you should have a good idea of how much your business makes so that you can allocate resources appropriately.

Who is Managing the Follow-Up of Leads?
Most manufactured home dealers and mobile home park owners/managers have a staff of people who Follow-Up on leads. Make sure you feel completely confident in their ability to effectively sell your homes. Consider these points:
This is Sales work: It is easy to have anyone hand out information about your home, but you must have a staff that is properly trained and skilled at sales and that understands how to present and sell the manufactured homes and manufactured home communities that you are selling. It is absolutely vital that your sales staff is motivated, inspired and effective at selling what your company offers.
What are you telling people about your company?: Have a set list of points that your sales team knows to tell each prospective home buyer. Be sure that it is inspiring, brief, and that it ‘sells’ your company. When the selling points of your company are solid with each sales person, dialogues with prospective home buyers are more effective. Keep in mind that the end goal of the initial phone contact is to get the home buyer to your manufactured home sales center or manufactured home community for an in person interview and tour of the facility along with plenty of time to answer questions. Remember your ABCs: ‘Always Be Closing’ the sale.
Interview the Prospective Manufactured Home buyer: Find out where they are from, their goals, needs, questions and concerns. This will deepen your dialogue and create a more intimate interaction overall and will help establish and build on a relationship with the prospect.

Remember, increasing your conversion rate by just 1% could mean several new home sales each year. Happy selling!

Derrick Hachey is a member of the Manufactured Home Source team, the factory-built housing industry leader in Internet Marketing. Please visit us on the web at www.manufacturedhomesource.com, email us at sales@manufacturedhomesource.com, or phone toll-free 866-700-2156.

Chad

Please send me pricing information on your product.

Thanks

Have you ever received e-mail like this and wondered, “What am I supposed to do with this?” That’s exactly what I thought when I opened this e-mail a couple of weeks ago

The first problem is the word “products” – just what does that mean? With language like that, I couldn’t even tell if this person had reached the company he was looking for.

Second, even if he does know he is talking to the right company, I have no idea what he is asking about. We have a lot of different products – just as you do.

Third, everyone knows you are not supposed to send pricing information out without building some kind of rapport and doing some qualifying. Doing so is almost always the kiss of death for the sale.

As a sales person working with Internet Leads, you probably get this type of inquiry on a regular basis. However, my guess is that none of your sales training has ever explained how to respond to this type of e-mail. Since we do this kind of training with dealers, I thought I would share the steps used to turn “Internet Leads” into good prospects.

Step #1 – Assume this is a Valid Prospect. Dismissing a prospect that leads with this question is going to cost you a sale. The fact they are asking the price question shows a real interest in – but a lack of information about – your product.

This prospect is trying to avoid being embarrassed by asking you to do a lot of work if they aren’t going to be able to afford your product in the first place. The price question is a gateway question that opens the door for discussion. It is an important question for them, but not for the reasons you would assume.

Step #2 – Respond A.S.A.P. You want your prospect to feel you are sincere and that you care about helping them. Even if you respond with a quick e-mail asking for permission to contact them later, that will help. Taking a long time to respond will turn your prospect off and make your answer – no matter what it is – feel contrived.

Step #3 – Don’t Answer the Price Question Directly. I said earlier, “Giving price without building rapport and qualifying the customer is the kiss of death.” I meant it. If you answer this price question directly, the prospect won’t need you anymore. Once they have this information, they will move onto another sales person, not because they didn’t like your answer, but because they will now have what they need to feel smart when they talk to that other salesperson and everyone would rather feel smart.

On the other hand, you don’t want to annoy the customer by ignoring their question so you need to give an answer in a format that gives you a lot of flexibility such as, “Our homes can range from between X and Y per Square Foot”; or “We have homes starting at $20,000 and we’ve custom built homes into the hundreds of thousands.”

Step #4 – Explain Why You Can’t Answer. Give the prospect two or three real reasons why you can’t answer the question yet. You don’t have to make these up. You need to know more about what type of home they are looking for, where they are going to put the home, what zoning requirements there will be for their home, etc. etc.

Step #5 – Solicit Their Help. Almost everyone lets his or her guard down and reaches out to someone who says, “Can you help me?” Ask your prospect to help you by giving you more information so you can do a better job answering their question. Give them a specific list of things you need to know, but make sure they are open-ended questions, not a punch list that will force you into a corner when they respond with answers.

Step #6 – Promise to Answer the Question in Detail. Yes you are going to give the customer a specific answer, but you don’t have to do it now. Really you can’t do it now anyway. Promise the customer that you will give them a specific and accurate answer to their question as soon as you have all the information you need. The act of gathering this information will give you the chance to talk to the prospect and build some rapport.

Step #7 – Ask for an Appointment. If you’ve followed the steps this far, it should be pretty easy to get the prospect to give you their phone number or to give you a call. Try something like, “It might be easier to help get you the information you need if we could talk. What’s a good time for me to give you a call?” or “Would you mind giving some time to better understand what you need in your home and get you the exact numbers you are looking for?”

Remember to Follow Up. If they don’t respond with a call or a phone number, ask again. They may need a little encouragement to come out of their protective shell. Internet prospects could be looking to make a short-term decision or they could be months away from being ready to talk to a sales person. If you want to be successful, you have to be prepared to follow-up over the long haul.

Remember when you follow-up to always be nice, be polite, be honest and be sincere.

From now on, when you get e-mail from leads asking for price, follow these seven steps and you will significantly increase your ability to convert leads into good prospects.

Chad Carr is the President of Rainmaker Consulting, a second-generation family business that provides Retail Management Software and Consulting Services for the Housing, RV and Trailer markets.

Rainmaker works with dealers ranging in size from five to six people up to some of the biggest and most well recognized names in the industry. For more information about their services, visit their web-site at www.getRain.com or contact Chad at (800) 336-0339 or chad@getRain.com.