When I was growing up and watching my father, Spike May, and his buddies at the resorts celebrating their hard work week ending, I often would hear the other top producers make comments such as “Spin to Win” and “No Heat, No Eat”.
My brother Steve Taylor, was the first of the two of us to begin his timeshare career with my fathers aid and guidance. Steve immediately climbed to the top of the sales line. As we all do, he would rise and fall like a roller coaster through time, but at the end of the day his deals were clean and solid, and they still are.
When I was old enough to drive, I started with my fathers’ version of “training”. Literally, I had my sales pitch put together before I graduated high school and I could not wait to get out there on “the line”. After a few years of working in the tour centers, the condo models, the telemarketing offices and where ever else I could work close to the sales agents, I finally got my chance to give my presentation. Though I was not always the top producer (but I was a few months throughout each year and earned my “Million Dollar Ring” from G.E.R.C. the first year), I was solid and consistent. I held a very low cancellation rate. My sales were solid and good. The family purchased a vacation for their families to enjoy each year. The package they purchased was designed to their current budget and vacation styles. When they returned the following year, I was not hiding in the back room from them but instead was meeting them in the lobby accepting the plate of cookies they brought from home as a gift to me.
To those sales people who think that they have to stretch the truth or lie to make their sales, here are a few pointers from me! Or perhaps they are from my brother.. or my father.. maybe they trickle down from Jim Lambert or Bruce Polansky of the Berkley Group and Great Eastern Resorts where we came from and whom we learned and trained with. Take them for what they are worth and trust me, you will be more satisfied with your career.
Old Presentation: “This is a real estate deed. You can do everything with this that you can do with your home. You can rent it out, deed it to your children, sell it.. whatever you want!”
Problem: This implies to the client that just like their home, once they have used it for awhile it will increase in value. They believe then that they can sell it for a profit down the line. They also begin to think of rental income. They often begin immediately calculating in their minds, how much extra they can bring in each year if they do not use this, but instead post it for rent.
Solution: “This locks in your vacation prices so that you are not facing inflation the way renters do. It is locked in under a deed so once you have paid it off, all you worry about it the annual maintenance fees. Just like your other possessions, you can give this to your children when you pass away and they will never have to worry about being able to take their families on vacations! Imagine how much of a struggle it was when you were younger to be able to afford to take the family for a week in a condo at a nice vacation spot! At the rate of inflation today, how much of a struggle do you think your children will face with their family vacations? This is a gift that they will be able to tell your grandchildren came from you every year when they are making their memories together!”
Reasoning: You are not showing this as a short term investment, it is long term. It implies at no point that the buyer should be considering this for themselves for a few years. Instead, it paints a picture of this being kept in the family for generations and used as a legacy from them. You are also not implying any source of revenue off of this purchase nor are you suggesting that they can “sell” this just like they do their homes. If the client later finds a need to have to sell or rent their timeshare, it will not be quite the insult to them.
Old Presentation: “You don’t have to own your resort in Orlando just to see the big mouse every year. Buy here and never travel here. Use your week strictly to trade and go to Hawaii, or Paris, where ever you want each year.”
Problem: You are placing a lot of happiness for your customer in the hands of an exchange company who can only maneuver inventory as it is available. You have promised on the behalf of a third party and you have made your home resort sound less then desirable. The client now calculates his purchase price with the cost of making exchanges, and if that calculation is still within his budget, he also views his purchase as the exchange companies directory instead of the vacation deed he is really buying. He will spend the next year soaking through the directory and staring at a map. With the world open to him, he decides where he wants to go. The call is placed to the exchange company and often, the exchange company now has to inform the client that the week and resort he wants is not available. You just became the liar, and the exchange company has to try to soothe your client over for you.
Solution: Sell your home resort!!! Believe in your home resort. Build the value of your home resort. Sell it as if it were one of those dream vacation spots. (Remember that your developer did market research and built that resort based on the fact that there really is a desire and need for it in that area. You are actually the one who hasn’t believed it to be a worthy location, not the rest of the world!) Then, at the end, when the client is almost sold and almost ready to buy… mention that “oh yeah, one more thing I forgot to mention”. Pull out the exchange directory and lay it on the table. “This is an exchange directory that you will also receive. What this means is that if at some point in a few years, you decide that you want to vacation somewhere else, you can put in a request to stay at any of these areas in one of the resorts in this book for just the exchange fee. Tell them you want to go to Hawaii, and they will let you know which of these resorts (flip to the Hawaii section) are available for you to choose from”. Then stop talking, offer them 3 to 5 minutes alone to discuss it and walk away. When you get to the coffee pot, turn around and look at the look on their faces. It is unbelievable how when you drop this bomb on them so gently and quietly and without flair, they are amazed. But when you start off with the world, the exchange world, and present that the entire 90 minutes, you have no more real bombs or bullets left, and you have sold everything except for the deed at your home resort. Also, you have set yourself up for an unhappy client who does not get exactly the exchange they wanted when they get home and calls to book next years stay. By presenting it as a bonus, which is what it is, and having them understand up front that it is the area and the exchange company will help them pick the resort, the exchange company has the means to make your client happy.
Though there are many more “pitches” that get a sales person (and a resort) in trouble, and that cause a bad reputation for our industry, the idea I am trying to point out is the truth does work. The sales persons mentality about what he is presenting is what matters. You have to understand that though it is not perfect, though it is not the top resort in the industry, though there are many faults within the system, if you present the truth it is still a viable worthy product that deserves much better from your presentation. It’s all in the “presentation”.
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