SELLING: Sales Shorts

Overcome real selling challenges
Meaty—and meaningful—closing gifts
Get elected to list and sell homes

Overcome realselling challenges
Have you ever sold a home that was without heat or electricity? Heather Lutz, ABR®, does that all the time. Amish home sales make up 30 percent of her business.

To sell them, the sales associate with Century 21 GoldFire Realty Inc. in Garrettsville, Ohio, places ads in an Amish newspaper and uses lenders who make loans on homes with no utilities. “Since Amish people buy homes from other Amish families, some lenders take cows, horses, and buggies as collateral,” she says.

Amish homes sell for $100,000 to $200,000, about 10 percent less than other area homes, Lutz says. That hasn’t hurt business. She grew her sales 50 percent in 2002.

The key is understanding the Amish way of life, Lutz says. For instance, when she calls her clients she lets the phone ring for a long time, since many Amish families share an outdoor phone.

And when she sells homes to non-Amish buyers she has to overcome the misconception that Amish homes are fixer-uppers, because they don’t have heat or electricity. “I point out the homes aren’t run-down; they just need utilities.”

Meaty—and meaningful—closing gifts

If you’ve ever dismissed the idea of spending the time to give personalized closing gifts, Catherine Ulrey may change your mind.

The sales associate with Windermere Pacific West Properties in Salem, Ore., knew only one closing gift would suit a buyer who’d just purchased her dream farm: baby farm animals. “I wanted to give her something special, but within my price range,” says Ulrey. She chose a piglet and a kid for about $25 each.

The buyer was overwhelmed with emotion. “She cried and hugged me,” says Ulrey, who didn’t know at the time just how much the pig would be appreciated: “The owner later told me the pig grew up to be big, healthy, and good bacon.”

Get elected to list and sell homes

Anthony Nudo is out to win votes—votes of confidence from buyers and sellers. The sales associate with RE/MAX Kenosha Inc. in Kenosha, Wis., posts election-style signs in the yards of his friends, neighbors, and past clients. The signs read “Elect Anthony Nudo as your real estate pro.”

When he runs the promotion, people call him, asking, “‘What are you running for?’” he says. “I tell them I want to be their real estate salesperson. People laugh. They say it was driving them nuts not knowing about an election.”

That curiosity has brought in the “votes.” He received about 10 calls a day during the first couple weeks of his 2002 promotion. “I attribute two closed deals and $4,200 in commissions to the campaign,” he says. That’s well worth the $750 investment in 250 24-inch-by-12-inch signs. Nudo plans to run the promotion again. “I hope for an even better response now that people have seen it once.”

Do you have an innovative, business-boosting selling or marketing tip that you’d like to share? Please tell us about it at greatideas@realtors.org.