By Melinda Brody, MIRM Melinda Brody and Company

Recording artist Lady Gaga, with her bold, weird and wacky show, recently sold out her concert at the UCF Arena in Orlando — after moving the show from a slightly smaller venue because, as she says, she knows her audience, worships her fans with a vengeance and knew she would need a bigger arena.

Can you imagine that level of dedication and loyalty from your buyers and prospects?

Actually, you can become a new-home sales rock star and achieve that Lady Gaga kind of loyalty and following among buyers and prospective buyers — and it won't take loud music or weird costumes to do it.

The following are three diverse businesses I frequent that each now count me as one of their loyal fans.

See what they have in common:

• AlphaGraphics, a business design and print center in Lake Mary, Fla.
  I recently put in a rush order for new business cards from the company because I was heading out of town for a speaking engagement. I planned to pick up the cards before 5:00 p.m. on the Friday before I left town. But I got sidetracked and when I looked up from my computer, it was already 4:55 p.m. — and I was a half hour away from the store.
  
  I called the store in a complete panic but the folks there reassured me that I would have my cards in time for my Monday morning presentation. When the person in charge started making arrangements to deliver the cards to my home, we both discovered that I would be eating at a restaurant that night that was halfway between the store and my home. Not too much later, I was eating dinner when Danny, the AlphaGraphics representative, arrived with the cards, had me approve them and then drove off.
  
  Was this rock star service? Was it ever!
  
  
• My local UPS Store
  I have my business mail and packages delivered to my local UPS store and the staff always takes care of me. When I’m out of town, they not only notify me by e-mail that I have received a package, they often leave me a message that lets me know who the package is from. Not too long ago, two heavy boxes with my new “Sales Rock Star” T-shirts (do you see a recurring theme here?) arrived and they loaded them into my car for me.
  
  Does service like that make me a happy fan of the store? It sure does.
  
  
• Tim Jones, handyman
  I have so much trust in my handyman, Tim Jones, I don’t need to be home when he’s working on projects for me. We go over his to-do list of projects and then I head off to work — leaving behind a signed blank check on the kitchen table and a key to lock up my house.
  
  Jones is fast and efficient. He gives me a fair price, cleans up once the work is done and he does the job correctly the first time.
  
  Am I a loyal fan? Yes. Do I send him referrals? Of course.

How to Build Your Fan Base

One overriding theme among the three businesses is attentiveness to the customer. It’s important to almost every business — no matter the type. It’s crucial to ours.

Prospects must be continually contacted in creative, unusual ways so that you can stand out from your competition and show prospects why they should become fans and buy from you.

Follow-up ideas like these will stick with them:

• Help them sell their former home by suggesting a few top Realtors® who aggressively sell homes in your town. Also, recommend staging companies that can help them get their home in ready-to-sell condition.
  
  
• Send them follow-up notes that are quirky, creative and informative — and that they are likely to show to friends.
  
  
• Send follow-up notes to their pets — even their fish. They’ll remember and pass along notes like these, too.
  
  
• Don’t close the book on your buyers after you’ve handed them the keys. Invite them to home owner seminars. Consider inviting your good prospects to the seminars, too.
  
  Buyers who become fans refer their friends to their builder. 

The following activities are fun ways to stay in touch with your buyers once they have moved in:

• Stop by their home occasionally just to say hello.
• Send a monthly e-newsletter.
• Give them landscaping tips.
• Offer them budget-wise decorating tips.
• Bring by holiday cookies or goodies.
• Help organize a neighborhood cookbook.
• Organize a community pet parade.
• Conduct home owner seminars on topics of interest to them.

When developing your fan club, go out of your way to do things that will keep your song stuck in their heads.

Melinda Brody, MIRM, is president of Melinda Brody and Company, Inc., a sales training firm, and TheVideoShoppers.com, based in Orlando. Working exclusively with home builders, her firm has evaluated more than 10,000 salespeople through her time-tested, professional mystery shopping service. She motivates builders’ on-site sales teams through high energy, real-world sales seminars and state-of-the-art video shopping. For more information, e-mail Brody at Sell@melindaBrody.com or info@TheVideoShoppers.com, or call her at 407-294-7614.

This article originally appeared on the NAHB Sales and Marketing Channel. 

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