How to Capture AND Convert More Leads

To paraphrase the cartoon on the left, The greatest technology in the world won't guarantee you better lead conversion. You need to leverage the latest technologies alongside tried and true lead generation techniques to truly maximize conversion. This post is the first in a series that will help you generate and convert more leads. This post comes from Blair Kuhnen, VP of Marketing at BHI.

Simmons Homes is the leading builder in Tulsa. Tulsa, Oklahoma is a small, but good, homebuilding market. Being a smaller market, with limited relocation and easy commutes, lead volume for builders tends to be low. Many home shoppers are reluctant to give up their contact information and prefer to just visit communities without ever becoming a lead. Simmons has no problem generating lots of leads and converting a great many of them into sales. Here's how they do it.

First a little background. Simmons created an OSC program in October of 2005. When Simmons started their OSC program they were generating well under 100 leads per month. Since that time, they have added NewHomeSource.com, Move.com, NewHomeguides.com, and pay-per-click campaigns to drive up their website leads and third party leads. They have improved their monthly lead volume by 491%, plenty for an effective OSC program.

Simmons sees 20-25% of their total sales coming from their Internet leads. I spent some time this month with Mike Lyon, OSC for Simmons Homes, about techniques for converting more of these leads into sales. Mike is a master of online sales. His strength is in setting appointments. You can order his book on the subject here. After reading it, I would consider buying it just for his phone scripts. Continue reading this post. Click on the link to see the rest.

While, Lyon's most effective channel is his own website, he measures everything. According to Lyon, "I measure performance basically on the amount of leads, the conversion rate on those leads, and what we spend. Ultimately it comes down to the cost per contract. Ultimately, it is the contract that determines the value."

Lyon is pretty aggressive with all of his distribution channels, but he cautions, "See which ones works the best for you and gives you the most bang for the buck."

So, Simmons has several channels and great conversion rates. How do they do it? Their key is appointments with approximately 20% of leads converting to an appointment. Lyon's best friend is the phone. "Ultimately on the phone, because on the phone, you can talk with them, qualify them better, learn more about their needs and ultimately set an appointment."

He shared with me a few of the scripts he uses. Here's one: "I'd like to set up a time for you to come see our model home. What works best for you, the weekend or the weekday?" Lyon states, "Just by asking, your scheduling rate can go up immediately."

Did one or two of you out there cringe when I said scripts? Lyon is not scared of scripts, "It is all about the delivery. Learning a script is not about delivering a canned message to a buyer, because that is going to turn off anybody." Lyon sees scripts as somewhat liberating. "The benefit of the script it that you know the information so well that it comes off friendly and allows you to handle the objection." According to Lyon, getting the objection is half the battle. Here are a couple of Lyon's objection scripts:

Prospect: "I have to check with my husband or significant other.
Lyon: "Well that's great, it sounds like you are interested. If it were up to you are you generally more available on the weekdays or weekend? Let's just set it because we are so busy I want to make sure we have a time scheduled. You can call me if that does not work and we can reschedule it."

Prospect: "We are just looking or just started looking..
Lyon: "That's great. Just looking is the fun part. While you are, you don't have any pressure. What I want to do is set a time so you can see our models first hand and determine which home is going to best fit your needs so you know it now. There is not going to be any pressure on you and I will tell the sales reps you are just there looking."

There's a lot more in Lyon's book. You can get more leads by expanding your distribution. Once you get those leads, leverage these conversion tactics and see your Internet related sales volume rapidly improve.

Comments

[Rebecca D. Levinson]

This is great information, I will be sure to pass along to our organization to share with our clients, as they alway are seeking valuable information on converting their online leads...online leads have a value, I have always felt it is the systems in place, response time and approach that will harvest those results.