2016 ibs real world lessons from award-winning sales ...€¦ · field&tested)sales)leadership)...

FIELD-‐TESTED SALES LEADERSHIP

Real-‐World Lessons from Award-‐Winning Sales Leaders

International Builders Show | January 2016 | Las Vegas, NV

Presented by

Jeff Shore President, Shore Consulting

Alisa Poncher

Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Mountain Vista Holdings, LLC. Gold Award Recipient, NAHB 2015 Sales Manager of the Year

Bryan Degabrielle

Vice President of Sales, Eastwood Homes Silver Award Recipient, NAHB 2015 Sales Manager of the Year

Chris O’Neal

Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Goodall Homes Professional Builder Magazine 2014 Builder of the Year

© 2016 Shore Consulting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1

About Jeff Shore

Jeff Shore has been training and coaching real estate sales professionals and leaders for over three decades. He is the founder of Shore Consulting, specializing in sales strategies for many of the largest real estate firms in the U.S. and Canada. His innovative, research-‐driven and real-‐world approach is more than just another sales technique; it’s a fundamental shift in how to approach the sales process that transforms the way we make connections and creates meaningful, lasting change. A fellow of the National Speakers Association’s exclusive Million Dollar Roundtable, Jeff is a highly sought after keynote speaker who inspires audiences across the globe to change their mindset and change the world. He is the author of four real estate sales training books and his work has been featured by NBC News, Fox Small Business, Success

Magazine, Entrepreneur, and a host of other leading publications. His most recent book, Buying the Experience: Real Life Lessons About the Way Real People Buy Homes, is now available at jeffshore.com.

www.jeffshore.com | [email protected] |Twitter: @jeffshore


Field-‐Tested Leadership Principles 1. In 60 seconds or less, how do you stay focused on ensuring that the main thing is the main thing?

2. What are the key metrics you use to measure the strength of the market at any given time?

3. How do you strategically approach a community that is underperforming? Do you use any kind

of system to evaluate, find, and fix the problem?


4. How do you balance the need for velocity/sales pace with the ever-‐present need for profit

maximization?

5. What are you doing to continually improve the skill level of your team?

Best Practices

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Do You Have a Core Group Challenging You? by Jeff Shore I want to talk about mastermind groups. I believe very strongly in the concept, strongly enough that in 2015 I participated in four different mastermind groups. For those of you who are not quite sure, mastermind groups are like-‐minded individuals who come together on a regular basis to share ideas, frustrations, best practices, etc. At times they are organic and self-‐led, but more commonly they are paid programs. In 2015 my own mastermind groups included:

• Strategic Coach, an entrepreneurial program that I have been a part of for years. I attend a mastermind session once per quarter and work on the concepts all year long.

• Million Dollar Speaker’s Group, comprised of some of the more successful members of the

National Speaker’s Association.

• STA, a tribe of sales leaders from different industries around the world. We share best practices, pose difficult challenges, and cross-‐promote business.

• My own Sales Leadership Roundtable, a quarterly live meeting that I facilitate with a continual

deep-‐dive focus on advanced sales leadership topics. Why four different groups? Well, for one thing, I consider myself to be a complex person (who isn’t?) with different needs that are met by different groups. But more importantly I believe that when I invest my time and my money into something, I’m probably going to take it more seriously. No one pays me to go to a training session. No one brings in speakers or consultants for me to hear. This is my time and my money, so I MUST get something out of it. What about you? What are you doing to intentionally push your own learning curve? What are you willing to pay for out of your own pocket in order to go all in and to maximize your investment? Or, are you waiting for someone else to dictate your career success??? My challenge to you: DO SOMETHING! Take control. Make a move. Act. Now. NOW!


How to Make Sure You Are “Protecting the Locker Room” by Jeff Shore I am so fortunate to work with an amazing group of sales executives each year in my Sales Leadership Roundtable. My role is to instruct, but inevitably I come away learning so much from these talented leaders. At one of our recent quarterly sessions, the discussion led us to the idea of creating a positive environment whenever our sales team gathers together. Jeff Japhet, one of my Roundtable members, suggested that one of the more important things we can do as managers is to “protect the locker room.” Jeff owns a homebuilding company in San Antonio, Texas. As a die-‐hard San Antonio Spurs fan he knows a thing or two about what a healthy locker room looks like. The Spurs are a true dynasty in every sense of the word, and any insider will tell you that the performance on the floor begins in the locker room. This is one of the most cohesive teams in professional sports, not just in the NBA. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area so I’ve watched the Golden State Warriors struggle for the past forty years before finally winning an NBA championship in June. It’s not that the Warriors haven’t seen any talent in the organization over the past four decades. The problem was not the talent on the floor but rather the dysfunction in the locker room. Once they fixed that…look out. NBA Champions. Sales leaders I work with on a regular basis know that the weekly sales meeting is the equivalent of the locker room environment. The performance takes place on the sales floor but what happens in the locker room greatly affects that performance. In fact, I encourage sales leaders to rename their sales meetings, “sales rallies.” Immediately this puts the (appropriate) pressure on the sales leader to provide a better, more positive, more uplifting experience for the sales professionals in attendance. You might consider establishing some “locker room rules” for your own team in order to construct a healthy and positive environment at your own sales rallies. Some examples: • Check your ego at the door • We have our teammates’ backs – 100% of the time • Contribute something positive at every meeting


• Get comfortable with being uncomfortable • Make each other better every day • In this room we perfect our craft Those are just a few examples but you really should start with a blank slate and craft your own. Your team, your locker room, your rules. Protect the locker room, my friends. And you will change your sales team’s world.


10 Steps for Hiring Stellar Sales People by Jeff Shore

1. Remember that you are hiring for a team.

Bringing just one new person on to a sales team can dramatically change the culture of the entire organization, and the entire organization is counting on you to do it right. Remember…your standards are not what you desire; your standards are what you accept. Are you truly willing to accept this person into your culture?

2. Start recruiting before you need to hire. The time to look for new salespeople is long before you have a gaping hole in your sales organization. Look for new recruits as a part of your regular routine, not as the rare exception to the norm. This simple habit will help you avoid the dreadfully painful experience of hiring a substandard salesperson because you ran out of time to recruit properly.

3. Cultivate referrals. Your sales team knows how to spot potential rock stars, so ask them for referrals...regularly. But if a referral candidate isn’t an upgrade to your current team, pass! Even if it means ruffling the feathers of the referring team member.

4. Look for a history of success. Check potential employees’ online personalities and histories for signs of success. Don’t think of social media as a place look for "gotchas", but rather an opportunity to seek positive stories from a person’s past. Search for signs of achievement, drive and vocational wins.

5. Pre-‐interview your candidates over the phone (or via Skype). How many times do you ruefully recognize within the first two minutes of an interview that you will never, ever hire this person? Avoid these painful interviews by spending five minutes over the phone together before setting up a face-‐to-‐face meeting. If a simple phone conversation is a struggle, well...


6. Plan for interviews in advance. Failure to spend adequate time reviewing a candidate’s résumé makes you look both unorganized and disrespectful. Don’t miss out on hiring rock star salespeople because they turn you down! Prepare for the interview the same way that you expect your candidates to prepare.

7. Abandon the cliché questions. Candidates know the standard questions and are fully prepared to give you their standard answers. Don’t waste valuable interview time asking the same stinking questions asked during every other stinking interview. Focus on behavioral-‐based questions that relate to the actual job ("Tell me about a time when you had to...") and you will gain fantastic insight.

8. Gain team consensus. The responses of your team members -‐ positive, negative, or neutral -‐ can tell you a great deal about a candidate's potential fit. If you sense tension even before you hire someone, that might be all the information you need.

9. Check references. This sounds obvious, but it is shocking how many people skip this step. The key is listening for the things you DON'T hear! If past employers and colleagues don't speak knowingly and glowingly about a candidate, then keep looking.

10. Follow up with every candidate. Everyone you interview deserves a follow-‐up phone call or letter. You can safely assume that most candidates experience a fair amount of anxiety in the days after the interview. Show some respect, and protect your brand in the marketplace, by giving them a clear and timely answer.

2016 ibs real world lessons from award-winning sales ...€¦ · field&tested)sales)leadership)...

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