24 | FEEDBACK Your shout YOUR FEEDBACK
www.opp.org.uk | FEBRUARY 2011 What are you thinking?
Here at OPP, it is really important to us to fi nd out what you think are the most important issues of the day. We want to be at the heart of the debate in the overseas property industry and your opinions and concerns are the best way to help us get there. Write to us on paper, email us via
amit.katwala@richmondgreengroup.com, join our Linked-In group or follow us on twitter @ oppnews - we really don’t mind. All we want to know is, what are you thinking about today?
The Upside of the New European Timeshare Directive
Many fractional developers have expressed fears that the new European Union Timeshare Directive could deal a fatal blow to the industry. I would like to respectfully offer a different point of view. Philosophically, I resist government intervention and regulation. At the same time, however, as a
business-oriented attorney and myself a fractional developer, I advise my consulting clients to find ways to comply with regulations. Then, they can use that compliance to place their business in a favorable light and gain the trust and respect of prospective buyers. After all, the Directive is designed to protect purchasers of timeshare or fractional property.
Developers in compliance with the Directive can announce their compliance in all marketing materials, on their website and with displays in their sales offi ce.
In this way, they can enhance their credibility
and develop a bond of trust with customers—the necessary foundation on which sales must be built. In a way, the “cooling off ” period can be used to reinforce the decision of prospects to buy. It is the
ultimate “negative sell” for agents to declare to prospects up front that they will not (and in fact may not) sell anything to them today. The discussion is merely exploratory, to analyze their needs and get a feeling for what they want. The fact that no money may change hands for fourteen days can serve a good purpose. It relaxes the
sales atmosphere, lowers the natural resistance to being ‘sold’ and allows customers to be more receptive to the sales message. With attention diverted from rapidly and immediately closing the sale, agents now have the
opportunity to open a relationship with their prospects. They now have time to discover their prospects’ vacation needs and desires and help them see how the property can provide what is currently missing in their current vacation lifestyle. The post-appointment “cooling off ” period can be used to “warm up” prospects by continuing the
Directive | will not be destructive to fractional industry
person-to-person relationship established at the resort. Agents need to fi nd creative reasons to contact their prospects personally via email and even phone, as appropriate. This keeps fresh in customers’ minds how much they enjoyed their vacation at the resort. Relationship selling and training agents in techniques of relationship selling has never been more important than now. Most experienced developers and sales
directors agree that the relationship of trust and respect that agents open up with their customers is the key factor in successfully closing sales. Once prospects leave the “ether” of their vacation experience, their memories may slowly fade as they re-enter the real world. What can remain, however, is their great relationship with the sales agent who stays in contact with them. In a way, the cooling-off period is positive for the image of the fractional industry. It can discourage all those
hard-sell pressure tactics that can make the sales experience unpleasant for customers. If people know that they won’t be coerced into buying in one day, they will be less reluctant to stopping in to a sales office just out of curiosity. Even if they ultimately choose not to own, they can still refer friends or spread some good word for the property and the industry. The bottom line is: “Don’t fight City Hall (or whatever you call it in the EU). Comply with the new Directive, and
turn your compliance to your advantage. Train your sales team in how to open relationships before attempting to close sales. As Dale Carnegie once said, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
David M. Disick Author of Fractional Vacation Homes: Marketing and Sales in Challenging Times USA
@oppnews Tweet us your thoughts and opinions Spain off ers lifeline
Very Interesting, having lived in Andulucia, something really needs to be done to clean up the property market and it’s associated taxes. On a different issue does anyone know of a reliable company which deals in REO’s and Bank owned properties in the Mijas area? Posted by Malcolm Calladine
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