Secrets of the Sales All-Stars

See The Stars

All good home building organizations have them: "A" players whose consistently high performance drives their company forward, year in and year out. These perennial all-stars excel at what they do, wherever they go. Lucky are the builders with standout performers in the critical roles of construction superintendent and new home sales specialist.

Of all the trades and professions involved in home building, sales and superintendent pros are special. They are role players whose contributions directly affect short-term profitability and whose daily interactions with buyers put them in a position to dramatically affect customer satisfaction and ultimately the company's reputation.

The following pages are devoted to the stories and processes of sales all-stars. In its September issue, Professional Builder will present the superintendent all-stars.

We chose to highlight just sales and superintendent all-stars because turnover in both of these crucial fields is the highest in the home building industry, according to management consultant Martin Freedland of Organizational Development Associates in Atlanta.

With this in mind, PB partnered with Organizational Development to arrive at fair criteria by which to identify 12 sales and 12 superintendent professionals whose talents and skills best represent the hundreds of all-star-caliber players in the industry.

The Selection Process
Our 12 sales all-stars were selected from a group of 50 nominated by several well-known new home sales consultants: Rick Heaston of R.A. Heaston & Co. in Greenwood Village, Colo., Tom Richey of Richey Resources Co. in Houston, Bob Schultz of New Home Specialist Marketing Group in Boca Raton, Fla., Beverly Koehn of Beverly Koehn Associates in San Antonio, Bill Herring of Herring Institute in Merritt Island, Fla., and Freedland.

Each of the 50 and their managers were interviewed using quantitative and qualitative criteria (see box on page 48). The goal was to find individuals who are well-rounded high performers in every area of new home sales.

The resulting dozen is a group whose collective wisdom on selling was the subject of a July 15 roundtable discussion that can be heard on the Reed Residential Group Web site, HousingZone.com.

Similarities Abound
Some of the 12 sell in red-hot markets, while others stay on track despite slow traffic and weak market conditions. In locations as diverse as Orange County, Calif., and suburban Philadelphia, and with price points ranging from less than $100,000 to nearly $1 million, a handful of overarching successful practices emerged despite the differences.