Successful Manufactured Homes Sales Management

Recruiting, retaining, and developing successful salespersons can be a difficult proposition for a typical manufactured home retailer. Often, salespeople are recruited from other manufactured home retailers or other big-ticket industries, such as automobiles or real estate. Unfortunately, these recruits often find it difficult to adjust to the unique aspects of manufactured home sales processes, including selling homes to be built in a factory, product knowledge, delivery, site preparedness, financing, insurance, etc.

The more successful retailers of manufactured homes will recruit individuals with the aforementioned inherent personal characteristics that are capable of being trained in the sales processes specific to manufactured housing.

To represent and sell manufactured homes, the salesperson will have an advantage knowing the history of manufactured housing, how they are built, and truly believe in the personal and societal benefits realized from becoming a homeowner. Why is this important? Purchasing a home is probably the most important and consequential decision that most of us will make in our lifetime. A salesperson who understands that importance will produce more profitable sales to satisfied homeowners.

A successful salesperson will be the retailer’s number one asset. Typically, a retailer will be fortunate to have one outstanding salesperson who will produce a higher sales closing ratio than the combined results of the other salespeople at a sales center. The retailer will want the prolific salesperson interacting with as many potential home buyers as possible, even if that requires a reduction in the number of salespeople employed.

Note to retailer: A professional manufactured home sales producer cannot thrive and survive in an overly managed environment. A successful salesperson will be an entrepreneur-type personality that functions within the confines of non-overly restrictive guidelines.