Saturday afternoon on a development. Two sales advisers are with families, three more groups are walking the site, and the enquiry form is filling up with people who could not get anyone's attention and are driving to the next development up the road.
By Monday, when someone reads those enquiries, a proportion of them have reserved somewhere else.
Step 1: say plainly how visits work
Whether appointments are needed, whether walk-ins are welcome, the opening hours including weekends, where to park and whether children are fine on site. A buyer who drives an hour to a closed office does not come back.
Step 2: publish what is actually available to see
Which show homes are open, which house types they represent and whether the plot someone is interested in can be viewed. Buyers are often disappointed to find the show home is a different type to the one they are considering.
Step 3: capture plot or house type
Interest in a specific plot is a far stronger signal than a general enquiry. Capturing it lets an adviser prepare before making contact rather than starting from nothing.
Step 4: capture the buyer's position
Whether they have a property to sell, whether it is under offer, whether they are a first-time buyer, whether they need a mortgage in principle and when they want to move. This determines whether a plot with a short completion suits them at all.
Step 5: answer at weekends
Weekend enquiries are the highest intent contact a developer receives, and they arrive when nobody is free to read them, which is precisely the problem set out in the weekend enquiry problem.
Step 6: book the appointment immediately
An enquiry that converts into a booked appointment while the buyer is still deciding where to go next is worth many times an enquiry answered two days later. Appointments also spread visits across the week and relieve the Saturday crush.
Step 7: prepare for the incentive question
Buyers ask about contributions, upgrades, part exchange schemes and assisted purchase. Publishing what is currently offered, with the conditions, avoids an adviser being ambushed and a buyer feeling misled.
Step 7b: explain what is included in the price
Buyers walking round a show home assume what they see is what they get. Publishing which flooring, appliances, lighting and landscaping are included as standard, and which are upgrades shown for effect, prevents the disappointment that surfaces at a much later and more expensive stage of the purchase.
Step 7c: answer the management and charge questions
Estate charges, management arrangements and what they cover are increasingly the first thing informed buyers ask. Publishing the figures and what they pay for shows confidence, and hiding them until reservation guarantees a difficult conversation.
Step 8: be clear about timing
Completion dates, build stages and what happens if a date moves are the anxieties covered in reservation and completion date questions from new-build buyers.
Step 9: handle off-plan differently
Buyers reserving from a plan need reassurance a show home cannot give, as described in off-plan buyer questions for new-build developments.
Step 10: treat the visit like a venue would
A show round is a scheduled, prepared appointment, which is exactly the discipline in show round requests from engaged couples.
Step 11: set it up once
Adding the assistant takes a few minutes following install the widget, and pointing it at your development pages is covered in train your bot.
Getting started
Publish visit arrangements, what can be seen and current incentives, then capture plot interest and buyer position every weekend. SpideyChat for property businesses answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site.