Round Table Summary | Key Discussion Points

We were so pleased to host our first roundtable discussion this month and catch up with some key Sales Managers & Sales Directors in the industry!

We have pulled together a brief summary for those who couldn’t attend with some of the key conversation pieces we discussed and have linked them below for you!

1. For your sales teams:

As managers, how much training have you done with your sales teams about “Generational Behaviours”? Understanding that all customers are different is paramount.

Think about this...

💡Gen Z and Millennials prefer email, text, and social media. So using online marketing material works for these people.

💡Boomers often prefer face-to-face meetings and will prefer real-life marketing material handed to them.

It’s a skill in itself to be able to understand the best way to interact with clients.

Sales Consultants must listen, understand, support, emphasise, and be patient. And the BIG one, don’t be too pushy if your client isn’t quite there yet.

2. Brand Awareness:

There is so much competition in the market right now so knowing your company's brand and offering is more important than ever before.

To Sales Leaders, one key tip is ensuring your team has the right onboarding plan and enough time to learn. In particular around the brand, products available, company USP's, promos etc.

Also investing time into regular training to make sure they stay up to date and fully equipped to sell properly.

3. Build confidence with buyers:

We are seeing the highest level of insolvency in construction than ever before.

This is naturally a concern for any buyer when thinking about which builder they sign up to.

So to get ahead, think about gathering the key stakeholders in the business. Ask the group. "what can we do to put buyers at ease when it comes to reputation and financial position".

Depending on what your company is comfortable sharing this can include history, track record, financials etc.

4. Opportunities in the market:

A number of builders have opted to expand into KDR and custom homes.

Advice consistently from the companies who have tackled this already was to ensure you have the right skills in the right people.

For example, you may have sales consultants who are skilled with H&L sales; asking a sales consultant to sit with clients to design a custom home, be able to amend plans, and have a high level of technical knowledge is unrealistic – so if you are considering expanding, commit to hiring the right skills first before jumping ahead with a plan.

5. Getting homes built:

Securing home sales is one challenge, building homes is another. There is no hiding from the fact we have huge labor & material shortages. There is no quick fix to this.

But what can you do to help counteract this:

* RELATIONSHIP BUILDING WITH YOUR TRADES AND SUPPLIERS

* OFFER COMPETITIVE RATES AND ENSURE SUBBIES ARE PAID ON TIME

* THINK ABOUT INNOVATION – ARE THERE ANY NEW PRODUCTS COMING OUT TO MARKET YOU CAN GET AHEAD ON - THAT COULD HELP WITH MATERIAL SHORTAGES

The above is a wrap-up of the key points discussed, there were heaps more!

I'll sign off this blog sharing a phrase that our guest speaker Hans Kunnen, Principal Economist used which I thought gave an interesting perspective: “Good people and good businesses survive the cycle”.

If you have any questions surrounding our roundtable event or want to connect to chat more then please reach out to us!