If builders think they are in the real estate business, they might be missing the boat. Selling a home these days is more like a retail business. Rather than just having a bunch of product samples thrown into a room, today's design centers should exude the ambiance of a well-appointed retail sales center with merchandised vignettes and an able sales staff.

"Selling a home is not about a house; it's about the experience," says Bob Schultz, president of New Home Specialists Inc.

Jane Meagher, president of Success Strategies adds, "Search for every opportunity to get buyers emotionally involved, and the sale will follow."

Schultz and Meagher are consultants specializing in builders' design centers who presented a seminar at the 2006 International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla., in January. Together, they shared their proven strategies on maximizing design center profits, including hiring competent staff and creating a winning training program.

It's All About the Staff

"To succeed in business, you need to increase revenue and decrease your costs without sacrificing quality, integrity and good business judgement," says Schultz. While design centers can provide decorating services, that isn't the main goal, he says. "The design center is a retail operation focused on streamlining a customer's buying experience and producing extraordinary revenue and profits."

One way to accomplish these goals is to hire competent people and ensure they are well trained. "The last competitive edge you have is recruiting and hiring the right people," says Schultz. "This is an area so many people are bad at. The biggest resource a company has is the people it employs. If you can't learn to hire right, at least learn to fire right."

To identify quality employees, Schultz offers the following tips:

• Your design center staff doesn't need to be American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) certified. It's nice if they are, but not necessary.
• Set high standards. Look for someone who is smart, has high energy, is self motivated, has a positive attitude, is coachable, open-minded, has integrity and is socially and emotionally mature.
• Always be recruiting. The best design center sales person is anyone who is successful in any type of retail sales environment, especially furniture and appliance sales.
• The person's resume must be clean (no typos, etc.) and he or she must have marketing savvy. This should be evident in the resume package, initial telephone and face-to-face interviews and behavioral style assessment.
• And once you find great people, be sure to compensate for extraordinary performance.

Schultz cautions against utilizing your regular home sales staff as design center sales people. "This situation just isn't good. It takes up too much of your regular sales staff's time, they aren't good at the design center duties, they won't sell as much as they should, and the more time they are spending on design equals time they aren't selling another new home."

Training Your Staff

"Improving customer satisfaction and maximizing design studio sales and profits are two goals that are inextricably intertwined," says Meagher. "In the quest of reaching one of these goals, I guarantee you will reach the other. They work together. Every touch point you have with your purchasers and prospective purchasers is an opportunity to set an expectation, fulfill one, or both. Touch points come in formats as varied as conversations with your personnel, marketing materials, models homes, etc. Every touch point is an opportunity to get one step closer to your goals."

To meet these goals, Meagher has created an eight-step training program for design studio personnel. She has labeled the steps: What Did You Expect?; Pass the Baton; Follow in My Footsteps; Whatever Turns You On; Take It at Face Value; A Cheap Knock-Off; To the Best of My Knowledge; and Post-Game Wrap Up.

What Did You Expect? -- The first step covers the critical role of expectation-setting, because satisfied customers are those whose hopes have been met. It's the builder's job to make sure the buyers' expectations are realistic. To do this, the builder needs to identify and explain everything, including policies, fees, timeframes, responsibilities, deadlines and how every step will get done. Don't just assume everything will fall into place.

Pass the Baton -- The key to this second step of the training program is a seamless customer transition and continual customer focus. "You've got to get on the train to treat customers like valued guests. Someone who is willing to spend $20,000, $40,000 or more on extras, on top of the purchase price of the home, deserves to be treated like a valued customer," says Meagher.

A seamless customer transition is mainly about how you treat that customer, she says. From the time the buyer steps into your sales office through the design and construction phases, that person should be given consistent information from everyone he is in contact with. All of your documentation should have a cohesive look and none of the information should be contradictory. Buyers should have the opportunity to meet with the design staff before their appointment to become familiar with them.

Follow in My Footsteps -- This third step of the program focuses on a comprehensive and well-planned preview program, which is the most critical expectations-setting opportunity you have. Meagher recommends including the following sections into the preview program:

• Introduction. This should include a heart-felt welcome and congratulations. Make sure to reinforce the builder's credibility, explain your state-of-the-art design studio, tell them about the exciting personalization program and introduce key design studio personnel.
• Setup. Give an overview of what is going to occur during the tour and the balance of the preview time, review key policies and procedures, confirm the appointment schedule and review all documents and instructions.
• Begin the tour. This should be strategically planned ahead of time. As you enter each zone -- flooring, kitchens, bath, etc. -- identify your trade partners, explain the included features and available personal choices, provide general information such as maintenance and warranties, share trend information to show you're on the cutting edge, identify special purchase opportunities or packages, and point out where products are shown in realistic applications. Repeat this information for each zone.
• Result. Even if buyers don't remember everything, you've provided them with the necessary foundation to make some preliminary decisions and prepare for a productive appointment. "A well-run tour will prompt buyers to rave about your company," says Meagher.

Whatever Turns You On -- What motivates someone to buy a home and what can you do to sell to someone with that motivation must be understood for the fourth step of the program. "The design studio staff will be more effective if they are privy to all the information the sales team had on the buyer's decision-making process," says Meagher. "Did the buyer compromise on an aspect of the floor plan? If so, your design staff can create solutions to counter and solve that dilemma. Are there lifestyle needs your design staff can accommodate? Create a lifestyle or design-style questionnaire so your design staff can become problem solvers."

Take It at Face Value -- For this fifth step, you need to search for every opportunity to get buyers emotionally involved. "People buy on emotion and justify on facts," says Meagher. "A 12-inch cabinet and countertop sample can't possibly create the same emotional impact as beautifully merchandised vignettes. You should encourage your customers to open the cabinets, climb in the tubs and use the appliances. This helps create a mental ownership of the products."

A Cheap Knock-Off -- Anytime people are faced with spending great quantities of money, they will look for ways to cut back. The sixth step of the program addresses different ways to overcome these pricing objections.

When a reluctant customer talks about doing a particular job himself, one salesperson Meagher knows will say, "That sounds like a nice weekend project," and let that sink in. Another salesperson says, "Why would you want to move into the home of your dreams and start ripping things out from day one? Don't you finally deserve to enjoy the home you've worked so hard for?"

The do-it-yourself method might sound good to homebuyers until something goes wrong. Again, it helps to understand lifestyle needs. Does the husband travel frequently? Is the wife pregnant or have small children? If so, you need to account for the "hassle factor."

To the Best of My Knowledge -- Your trade partners should also be included in the training program. That is why this seventh step of the program covers training with them.

Before the beginning of a training program, Meagher suggests you tell them what you want to achieve, how long you've allocated for the presentation, what materials or documents you'd like them to bring, and remind them to summarize the key points and follow-up with your design consultants afterward.

Post-Game Wrap Up -- Often, after making their design decisions, the homebuyers are transitioned back to the sales team and don't have any further dealings with the design staff, except to make changes, so in an ideal world, you'll use this eighth and final step of the program to keep the ball rolling.

Meagher suggests creating a post-design studio visit questionnaire, sending a post-closing thank you and creating a follow-up program.

8 Key Sales Tips

Bob Schultz, president of New Home Specialists Inc., offers the following sales tips for design center staff to maximize profits and keep clients happy:

1. Buying options isn't about how much it costs but about how little per month it will cost. When the options are bundled into the mortgage at 5 percent over 30 years, that $10,000 granite counter upgrade translates into maybe $50 per month.

2. Purchasing upgrades from the builder are not only tax deductible, but are covered under the builder's warranty. If a buyer is planning on staying in a home for five or more years, they should be encouraged to get more upgrades -- up to the limit of their buying power.

3. Have buyers go through the mortgage process before the design center appointment so they know what they can afford to spend on upgrades.

4. Place a placard on all model homes stating the model's floor plan, number of bedrooms and baths and square footage. List the price range for the model and the "as shown" price for this specific model. List all available upgrades in the model and their prices.

5. Develop a sales-oriented mindset. The interaction with the customer is not a social event, but a business event where the salesperson must be sociable.

6. Manage objections by planning out in advance what they might be and figuring out appropriate answers. Don't try winging it.

7. Don't overwhelm the buyer, but do try to steer him into making appropriate decisions.

8. Close with tact and poise. Ask the buyer, "Do you have anymore questions before we conclude the paperwork?"