Aug 27 2007 11:31AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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One of the hardest things to sell is value. Builders facing deep discounting from their competition are experience this difficulty on a very visceral level. How do you convince prospects that the value of your property is greater than the competition, when the whole sales equation is being set by price not value? Even in good times, builders tend to focus on price to the exclusion of value and quality.

There is a good model for this dilemma and it comes from professional remodelers. Quality home remodelers – and by that I mean contractors who consistently deliver remodeling great services and projects on time and on budget – know that their potential clients can always find someone do to the work cheaper than they can. The homeowner can easily find the brother-in-law of a friend who will do the work without permits, insurance, or approved plans. These fly-by-nighters are the scourge of the industry and undermine the ability of professionals to sell based on value.

Fortunately, home builders do not face such bottom drawer competition, but that in itself muddies the value equation. How can you sell the quality of your product when it’s so hard to define for the consumer in comparison to your competition.

The answer from the remodeling industry is “Trust.” You start your sales process by establishing a trusting relationship. There are many models for selling based on such a process, but the simple answer is that you can’t sell value or quality unless you have established trust between the buyer and seller. Is you’re sales staff doing that? Do their prospects trust them? Do they begin building that trust from the initial contact to the very end?