A couple decides on Wednesday evening to look at a development on Saturday. They fill in a website form at half past nine at night.
Nobody replies until Friday afternoon. By then they have visited two other developments, one of which booked them in for Saturday morning within minutes of their enquiry.
1. Publish the opening hours accurately
Including the days you are closed. Buyers arriving at a locked sales suite on a Tuesday do not come back, and the hours are frequently wrong on map listings.
2. Answer the evening enquiry immediately
This is when buyers plan their weekend. A reply on Friday afternoon is a reply after the weekend has been arranged around somebody else.
3. Offer a booked appointment rather than a general invitation
An appointment converts substantially better, because somebody is expected, prepared and given dedicated time rather than shared attention.
4. Ask what they are looking for before the visit
Number of bedrooms, budget, timescale and whether they have a property to sell. A sales adviser who knows this beforehand has a completely different conversation.
5. Check plot availability before they arrive
Nothing wastes a visit like falling in love with a plot that was reserved on Thursday.
6. Say what to expect at the visit
How long it takes, whether they can look around freely, whether a plot walk is possible and what documentation they will receive.
7. Offer a plot walk where possible
Standing on the actual plot is considerably more persuasive than a show home, and safety arrangements permitting it should be offered.
8. Be clear that the show home is upgraded
Before the visit rather than at the specification appointment, which is the honesty that prevents the disappointment later.
9. Ask about their timescale
Somebody who must move in three months and somebody browsing for next year need different conversations and different plots.
10. Ask whether they have a property to sell
This determines whether part exchange or assisted move applies and it shapes everything about the discussion.
11. Cover the mortgage position
Whether they have an agreement in principle, and offering to arrange a discussion. Buyers frequently have no idea what they can afford.
12. Handle the weekend volume deliberately
Saturdays are when everybody visits, and appointments spread across the day are better than four families arriving at eleven.
13. Follow up after the visit
The same day, with the plot details and the specification. Buyers compare developments from memory and the one that sent something is remembered.
14. Capture the weekend enquiries properly
These arrive when the suite is busiest or closed, which is the ground covered in show home visit requests and weekend enquiries.
15. Keep the purchase questions joined up
Buyers ask about reservation and completion in the same conversation, as covered in reservation and completion date questions from new build buyers.
16. Take the viewing request at half past nine at night
An assistant that gives the opening hours, asks what they are looking for, notes the plots they want to see and takes a request for a Saturday appointment for the sales team to confirm wins the weekend. The same appointment filling is described in AI chatbots for dental practices filling the schedule, and the appointment handling in valuation appointments and insurance questions. See pricing, run the numbers on the chatbot ROI calculator, and the sector view sits under real estate.