To the average new home buyer, a subdivision sales person, out there in a beautifully decorated model home sales office or dudded-out sales pavilion, must look like a well-dressed order taker, especially in a good real estate market like today's. They seem so removed from corporate office setting or a noisy, bustling real estate office environment.

Of course, new home sales personnel can be just as talented or untalented as any other pool of sales professionals. They can give you so much information and such a great feeling about their new homes that you literally can't recall just when you made the decision to buy there, because you don't even remember being asked for the sale! By the same token, others may do nothing more than wave their hand, pointing to a stack of brochures on a "topo" table, with one hand covering the telephone, while you are told that you are "welcome" to tour their models. If you find nothing worth remembering about the model homes, you may never even remember how you liked the community, because the sales person literally gave you nothing to go on except a price list and packet of floor plans.

How are new home sales people expected to act when you walk through the door?

In my experience, builders expect their sales professionals to be the ultimate pro-active authority on their homes, no holds barred. Their attitude is supposed to be one of "If I don't know the answer to that question, I'll sure find out and let you know!". They should know their builder's "story", special methods of construction that are a cut above their competition, financing programs to make it easier for you to buy, and what every standard or "included" feature is in their homes, in addition to every architectural option to every floor plan. Good new home sales personnel can walk you through a model or inventory home that you have shown an interest in and give you even more reasons to buy. Great new home salespeople can actually sell a house with nothing but blueprints, enthusiasm, and confidence in their builder's ability to create your dream home.

So how are these people evaluated? How does the builder know how they are being represented out there? It's called the "Mystery Shop". Most builders who care about the quality and appeal of their sales staff will call upon the services of a professional "shopper". This is an individual who, armed with almost no advance information about the builder's communities, will go out there and act as if he or she is in the market for a new home. They look just like you and I, and are usually friendly, talkative, curious, and, so to speak, ready to buy a new home.

The Mystery Shopper may begin shopping by making notes on the ease with which they found the community (signs, flags, monuments, etc) for the builder's use in improving their "drive-by" numbers and marketing efforts. As they enter the sales office, they will either turn on their concealed tape recorders or make mental notes of their greeting by the sales person. Everything from that point on is usually evaluated -- from rapport building by the agent, to sales questions leading to specific buyer needs. What is a buyer is looking for in a home? Bedroom and bath count, square footage, exterior elevation, lot size, price range, down payment ability - you name it, the shopper is duty bound to either ask or eventually document being asked about it. Talented new home sales people paint "pictures" for their buyers, using elaborate descriptions, printed collateral sales materials, computer graphics or sales office displays. They will not let you leave until they are convinced you have seen everything you need to see in order to get you back there when you are narrowing down your search. Some shoppers will go so far as to permit the sales person to show them a specific home or home site and reserve it if the sales professional takes them that far. They will put a real phone number on the builder registration card and make the sales follow-up phone call a part of their evaluation.

Sound shifty? It really isn't. Mystery shops are generally not used for "witch hunts" for bad apples in new home sales. They are used as a sales training tool, and even a "wake-up" call for their sales team from time to time. Some shopping reports are carried out to compare the builder's sales efforts to those of the competition, which may also be shopped at the same time. And a builder who engages in this type of quality control when conducting his business may have the cutting edge on those who don't bother.

Published: April 9, 1999

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.