311 Mastering New Home Builder Sales Negotiation - Roland Nairnsey Mar 18 2026

Greg Bray: [00:00:00] Hello everybody, and welcome to today's episode of the Builder Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse.

Greg Bray: And we are excited to have joining us today, Roland Nairnsey. Roland is the founder of New Home Sales Plus. Welcome Roland. Thanks for spending some time with us today.

Roland Nairnsey: Thank you so much. I'm really honored to be here. Thanks to both of you.

Greg Bray: Roland, I know that this is not your first time with us, and we're excited to have you back, but for those who haven't had a chance to [00:01:00] meet you, let's still give that quick background and introduce yourself.

Roland Nairnsey: Okay, great. Yeah. I'm Roland, as you said. I founded my sales training company about eight years ago. I do come from England originally, hence a bit of an accent still. But I started selling new homes a long time ago and managing new homes and sold almost a billion in new home sales or sold and managed. So, I started my training company to share that info with others, and I'm very blessed.

I have builders all across North America that I work with on a daily and weekly basis through Zooms and onsite visits. And now I'm really into writing books and sharing that knowledge with as many people as I can. So, just really blessed to be in this industry and sharing some provable stuff that will help you make more sales.

Kevin Weitzel: Well, a little birdie told me we're going to be talking about your book a little bit today, but before we do that, an interesting factoid about you that has nothing to do with work or family.

Roland Nairnsey: Okay. I was hit by lightning when I was selling homes in Sarasota. How's that?

Kevin Weitzel: That's pretty good.

Roland Nairnsey: That's a pretty good one, right?

Kevin Weitzel: Was it real lightning or just touching the doorknob after walking on?

Roland Nairnsey: No, [00:02:00] no. I was zapped. I was literally zapped. It was a rainstorm. When you're in Florida, we get a lot of storms. And my receptionist said, don't go out in the rain, you might get hit by lightning. And I made a very foolish statement, Greg, you'll appreciate this. I said, well, if God wants me, he knows how to find me. Like what is wrong with me? I challenged God. Like stupid. Right? It is just like a stupid man. So arrogant all the time. Anyway, as director of sales thought I was impervious to God's whims.

I walked this guy out. I had an umbrella, it was raining, and he took forever to get in his Cadillac, and his leg was poking out. And all of a sudden lightning came, went down my umbrella and went down my arm. I screamed like a woman. I ran back inside and the receptionist was like, told you so. She tried to warn me not to go out there. But I told my family and I bought a lottery ticket on the way home thinking maybe my luck is really, it's a sign, you know, I should invest in the lottery. So, there we go. Was that a good one?

Greg Bray: I firmly believe that God has an incredible sense of humor.

Roland Nairnsey: Yes. Thank you very much. I hope so. Yeah. Kept me around for a purpose, I hope. It was a little scary.

Greg Bray: I'll show him.

Roland Nairnsey: I'll show that dude [00:03:00] that thinks he knows everything. Yeah. No good deed goes unpunished. Right? Because there I was there I was walking out a bunch of people in the rain. I didn't have to do that.

Greg Bray: We're glad you're okay.

Kevin Weitzel: Now you did say? You’ve had over a billion dollars in sales, which is very impressive. But what builder did you touch base with before you went into the sales training side of things?

Roland Nairnsey: Yeah, mainly Florida. So, that really is why there's a good volume there because, you know, I think Florida, sort of like California, has always had new home sales in their DNA. I started selling in a place called Wellington in West Palm Beach. My family came from England in the early eighties, and there's a place called Palm Beach Polo and Country Club, which is sort of famous now for horse riding or was then it still is. So, I got into new home sales for a builder in 1987 before many of your viewers or listeners were even born. So, I know that's how old I really am.

And then I went to a place in Boynton Beach called Aberdeen Golf and Country Club. It had this hypnotic commercial that when they called me, oh, Aberdeen Golf and Country Club, fine Country Club Living, come home to Aberdeen. So, I worked there for 10 years. We had [00:04:00] 2000 sales. I was one of 10 salespeople. That's where I really wet my beak. I love that expression because the company that owned it, really invested in training. And I was one of 10, so you couldn't sell enough if you weren't trained, if you didn't follow a process. So, after two or three years, the trainers came along. I was doing well, but it was the training that made it really sort of gel, if that makes any sense.

So, I did that, and then I managed in Orlando and Tampa. Recently, I went back and managed for luxury home builder in Naples and Sarasota for four years. Homes from about 2 million to about 10 million, but a sweet spot of about five. So, all over. Yeah. And that was fairly recently in the 2012 to 2017, 2018.

Kevin Weitzel: Do you find that sales were more systematic then, like you had to follow a system? Whereas today it's more about understanding needs and wants and product availability, et cetera, to be able to be successful.

Roland Nairnsey: It's a great question. and the art to it. I mean, I think, no, respectfully, it is just make it seem seamless. It shouldn't feel like you're following a process. It [00:05:00] should feel like this right now we're having a conversation, I hope. I'll do my best not to interrupt and to listen, you know. I'm working hard on it. I have to count to three to make sure I don't interrupt. But no, I don't think it's really that different. I mean, I think the training maybe, yeah.

There's an awareness that you can't make it look structured, but the basic format of asking really good questions, being really interested and really listening to people and proving that you're listening, that hasn't changed. How they find you through both of you, you do an amazing job with generating leads and everything. So, yeah, maybe they know more when they walk in and so you're going to meet them in the middle for sure and be more adaptable.

And you probably need your own social media game, I think, as a new home salesperson or manager. But the process itself, I don't believe it's all that different. I think it's understanding there is a process and have you covered all those points, but just make it seem like it's a conversation and not some structured, you know, paint by number system.

Greg Bray: So, for me, that's a very interesting segue into the book that you've just released that we wanted to learn more about. Because your new [00:06:00] book is about negotiation. Quite often, you're talking about a process where we're learning and we're working together. And when I think of negotiation, often that becomes a thing where there's two sides and there's more of a conflict or a battle or a back and forth. Is that congruent with the idea of partnership and working together, and then all of a sudden, we become adversaries and we're negotiating.

Roland Nairnsey: Yeah.

Greg Bray: So, what made you want to write this book? What was it about negotiation that said, I want to talk more about this?

Roland Nairnsey: Yeah, no, a great question and I sort of jumped the queue. So in my mind, since I started my training company, I want to do seven books on each part, each facet of new home sales. So, I did the hard work of Mastery of Selling first, which is like the chicken stock for a soup. It's the foundational 400 pages with the A to Z and a lot of stuff. And then I was going to do buts, I was going to talk about objections. You know, I would buy, but I want to think about it. I would buy, but rates are too high.

But then all of a sudden when the market changed, I thought that negotiation seemed to be something that was more valuable for [00:07:00] people. And I got very lucky. And I think to actually to Kevin's point, we had this sort of structured training in the nineties. I got a lot of training on negotiation because people did expect it and I was able to implement it in practice. Sort of like Groundhog Day every day where you try it, fail, rinse, repeat, improve, you know, that kind of stuff. So, I learned to negotiate firsthand.

So, I just thought, wait a minute. There's so much info that people don't know. And then to get to your point, Greg, people definitely have a bias against the word negotiation, which I love. I mean, I love to embrace that fact that shocks people. The big takeaway for me is it has to be a win-win. I was thinking about it today that the hashtag negotiation might scare people, but hashtag win-win is a whole different proposition.

I think that's the problem with people's perception of negotiation. They think it's adversarial, they think it's price apologizing. There's all these buying heuristics or biases that we have that I don't have because I'm functionally had to sell a lot of homes. Buyers expected something. So, I learned how to negotiate, but I negotiated out of empathy [00:08:00] and to always create a win-win where both sides feel happy with the outcome and that they got something special from it. Does that help at all? Does that make any sense?

Greg Bray: No, absolutely. So, where does negotiation suddenly land in the sales process? Is this something that happens once we finally get to talking about price and features? Is it something that's a little earlier? Is it something that you hand off to the manager and so you don't have to do it?

Roland Nairnsey: It is a great point. So, I wouldn't bring it up if the buyer doesn't expect it, then you don't have to negotiate. But if you're in a market or an environment where negotiation is expected, then you definitely need to know how to do it. So, the reason I wrote the book, I want put all the salespeople and sales managers in the driver's seat. So, whether it comes up when the buyer walks in the door or when they start to like a model home or when you walk the home site, or when you come back to recap, wherever it happens, I want the sales person to be in the driver's seat to know how to handle it and move the sale forward. Does that make sense? In other words, I wouldn't want to mention it upfront, if it's not needed.

The first part of my [00:09:00] book, actually, surprisingly, the first a hundred pages, which if people don't want to read that, they can skip to the strategy part. But the first a hundred pages is teaching you how to evaluate your market, how to build value, how to create natural, authentic urgency, and how to have a pricing strategy that may or may not include negotiation. So, if you don't need it, I'm not advocating you should negotiate. I'm just saying if your buyer is skilled at it and you know, certain cultural buyers, certain price ranges, the buyers are good at negotiation. I want to even the playing field for the salespeople and go, here's how you do it, here's how you can implement it.

But you know, the outcome has to be always from a place of empathy. You want to care about your customer and genuinely know about their needs, and you want to get a win-win. It's not, you are better than them. We don't want a win-lose, lose-win. It's got to be both sides are really happy that means you make a sale. That's the big thing is you get more sales by learning how to negotiate.

Kevin Weitzel: I do have a question for you because, I see something that to me as the old sales guy, I am alarmed at what I see and I'm just curious if you see the same thing. Coming from [00:10:00] the motorcycle side, it was always, I want to increase that arsenal. What do I have in my toolbox to be able to pull out and, you know, pump some artillery in the cannon and shoot it back.

Do I have the free t-shirt to give away if somebody signs today? Do I have the free tire wheel program that I can give away with the bike if they've signed for a service? You know, if I sell the bike and I sell a leather jacket with it, can I throw in a free helmet? I see an alarming number of builders that on their homepage is just incentives. Here's our interest rate and here's our buy down. They're selling these incentives and not selling homes. So many of them doing that out of, is it just desperation? And then two, do you think that it's a strategic mistake? Because I personally do.

Roland Nairnsey: It is a great question, and I don't want to be dull, but I'm not going to judge whether it's right or wrong. If you are doing that, I want to teach you to be really good at it. So yeah, if you're in a marketplace where incentives are out there, you're absolutely right, an incentive doesn't make people buy, it just makes real buyers buy more quickly. You know, after the great recession of 08, we saw people giving away free swimming pools, whatever. It didn't matter. People didn't want to buy their homes. So, you can't bribe your way to a sale.

[00:11:00] So, what I want to try to teach people is to have a strategy. There's different strategies out there. Some is to have a published incentive that drives in traffic. I'm preaching to the choir with the two of you because that's where you come from. So, to be equal to some other builder, you have some kind of incentive. Is that it? Is that all you need and the lower price points in a hot market? Yeah. Why would you have anything more than that, or even need that?

Some builders have no incentives and are fine. Or is your buyer going to expect some kind of a back pocket incentive so you have nothing published and it's all back pocket? Or is it some kind of a hybrid? Where you're promoting, let's say hypothetically your home's a 500,000, you have a 10,000 incentive on your website, use as you choose, or whatever. And your manager says, look, Roland, you got up to 5,000 in your back pocket, you know, play it out and you don't need to call me, blah, blah, blah, but that's what would be.

And that, from a lot of my builders, is a very typical scenario, depending on the price point and the popularity of what they're selling is to have a strategy. But what I want is clarity with the sales manager, marketing and the sales team to know where we're going. With my salespeople, as a sales [00:12:00] director, we mapped it out. I taught them how to negotiate.

They would sometimes call me and go, you know, don't worry, Rol, I've got a buy here and we know where we're going, we're just having a fake conversation. They're watching me through the window here, the French doors or something, and they go back in and negotiate. Which doesn't sound, I know that sounds a little unhand and I apologize, but the buyer wants the game of negotiation. They want to look like they win something, so we positioned it where we could give them a win without impacting negatively our profits.

And so, that's a long answer to short question. You got to be intelligent. You got to analyze your market, evaluate it. I want a clear strategy on where we're going. Could it be some part incentives, some part back pocket? And then you got to train on the negotiation factor to make sure that you get it across the finish line without negatively impacting profits and improving the buyer experience.

Greg Bray: So, in today's market, do you find that buyers are coming in expecting to get something or very unique and individualized? Or is there some general trends around that?

Roland Nairnsey: I think over 80% of builders have some kind [00:13:00] of a published incentive. So, if that's what's out there, that's fine, but it is not going to be enough to make the sale. You've got to train your salespeople how to utilize that and deploy it effectively. I just want to live in the real world of what we're in, not my hypothetical world. And I've sold a bunch of homes because I was able to be practical and pragmatic and adapt to the buyer's conditions, the buyer's expectation, that kind of stuff. So, yeah.

Greg Bray: So, leaning into that expectation idea, right? Buyers walk in with certain expectations and we as marketers have influence on those expectations. That's what we're supposed to be doing, right? Is we're supposed to be helping set expectations. What are you going to get with this home? Why should you have this one instead of that one? Things like that. Where are some opportunities for marketing to help sales with better expectation setting and things there, that sometimes the salespeople get caught, like, why did you think we offered that? And there's this page on the website that nobody took offline because it was over or whatever.

Roland Nairnsey: Yeah, no, no. It's a really good [00:14:00] point about marketing and sales being on the same page. As you get bigger in a company, there tends to be this sort of detachment where marketing operates almost in a vacuum. I can't tell you how many salespeople don't even go on their websites to see what marketing is offering, and the buyer says, well, it says it right on your website. I mean, I've gone into offices and found that. So, I think all being on the same page is important.

But, again, I sort of want to come back to having a strategy to improve that client experience. In America, in Britain too, we're not naturally good at negotiating. And so, there's this sort of negative idea. It is sort of considered price apologizing. I've worked with builders, for example, Well, we don't negotiate and I say, well the buyer didn't buy, so you did and you lost, right? You actually had a lose-lose. You did negotiate. You said, no, we don't do that and we have an incentive and that's it. Well, buyer leaves doesn't buy your 2 million home, so you lost the sale. Or that same builders we didn't negotiate, but then that they allow realtors to drop off offers. Which is not in my book to do. That's the opposite.

You know, one of the first rules is it's going to be face-to-face, as uncomfortable as that's going to be. And I can hear half of America [00:15:00] going, you are crazy, you don't know my market. Well, I do. I'm in them. I'm in your marketplaces and you're going to get scolded when you tell the realtor, no, we don't negotiate. Verbally for sure, but we don't also want your dropped off offers. We want to meet your client face-to-face with you and your client together, and we'll work it out.

That's really where it begins, because buying is a emotion about biologic. You know, give me 10, 20, whatever the number is, that doesn't make the sale. I've got to be back in the home that I'm in love with, in the neighborhood looking at the view that I like, perhaps whatever the hot buttons are. You've got to be brave enough as a frontline salesperson to bring them back, not give them what they're looking for, you know. We come back with a low counteroffer and they go, what? That's crazy. Well, at some point when they're ready to put it in writing.

But yeah, you got to bring them back. You got to be brave enough to get them back in the door. So really, I think your job in marketing is to be on the same page, create that emotion to get them in the door. You can't be responsible for everything. I think the salespeople and the sales manager have got to be responsible for bringing it across the finish line. What do you think in, you know, your experience? [00:16:00]

Greg Bray: Oh, I, completely agree that this idea of getting together and having that conversation changes it. People are different in person than they are on email or phone or passing Post-It Notes, whatever it is.

Roland Nairnsey: They're so brave in their cars, they're angry at everybody. Get out of the car. Let's have that conversation. Let's get an elevator. You know, and all of a sudden, we're best friends. There's no way. There's no way. You're going to be so aggressive and give me this deal.

Greg Bray: When these customers are there and like you said, sometimes they just want to feel like they got something, that they pushed back a little bit. What is the right way to kind of deal with that first request that might come from a customer? Because, you know, the guard's kind of up at that point. What's he going to or she going to do when I ask this question or want this discount or want this special, whatever? They're on guard. So, how do you teach to deal with that?

Roland Nairnsey: Yeah, it's a great question. I totally agree. What I've seen a lot is the opposite, where a buyer says, Hey, are you negotiable [00:17:00] and the sales person negotiates against themselves. Oh, yeah, we'll work with you. We've literally seen it on video shots. Well, how much do you want? I'll go to bat. You know, so instead of that, what we say is. Is this a home you're interested in owning? Is this a home you'd like to own? If they say yes, great. When we go back, I'd be happy to sit down and we'll see what we can work out. If you know you have some kind of back pocket to work with.

What normally happens is that there's this embarrassment over the whole topic of negotiation. We don't know how to handle it. A buyer says, are you negotiable? Yeah, sure, or whatever, or No, we don't. And either way, that's a lose-lose because it doesn't move the sale forward. It is smart to say that, you know, we don't negotiate, we don't encourage it. How would you feel if you moved in and find out that your buyer's got a better deal than you?

However, is this a home interested in owning? Yes, it is. Great. Let's pick out the home. The home site. We'll sit down and review it and see what we can do. If you have a little bit of a wiggle room, what that's going to be. It's smart to sort of position yourself, we're not really negotiable. However, are you interested in owning this home? If they say no, they're not interested, then why are we even going there with people? Why are you undermining that value? Does that make sense? [00:18:00]

Kevin Weitzel: Yeah. And you're also not talking about something that's commoditized. Like when you're talking about a Honda Civic with this trim package, you're negotiating dealer to dealer to see who is going to give you the best deal. When you're talking about a home, there's so many different facets that go into that. You can't compare they're all using the same carpet and padding. There are not all using the same, you know, insulation material, they're not all using the same roofing material. They don't all have the same exact square footage, so you're negotiating against yourself or you're negotiating against competition.

Roland Nairnsey: There's so much to unpack in everything you're both saying, I get overexcited, I got to make notes. First of all, I think, I think what you're referring to is are you building value correctly? And I'm not going to be mean. I'm not a mean person. Normally it's, no, and I know that because I work with literally thousands of salespeople. We've loving on each other, but I'm pretty tough to say, You didn't give me the benefit of what you just said.

I don't know what Hardy Plank is. I do know what Hardy Plank is, but I want you to tell me about it and why is that good for me? You know, it's got a lifetime warranty. It means I can go out and spend time with my 17-year-old son, Max, because I've got to maintenance. You know, are you painting the picture of the benefit and then involving me? Are you building value for everything, the carpet, the padding, the gourmet [00:19:00] kitchen?

That word included is one of the most powerful words, free and included, but your home would include, you get this. Because once you build value, maybe the buyer doesn't need to negotiate. A lot of buyers, from my personal experience as a sales manager, they're actually negotiating out of confusion. I would come in as a sales director and just take notes. So, you know, Sally, my salesperson says, you want this, you want this, you want this, and I'll total it up. And it's like, we're actually there. You don't need anything. But people get so confused. That's one thing that the salesperson really isn't building value.

And then the other thing is that they start negotiating against themselves. They don't have control of the situation. And you got to close before you negotiate. Well yeah, but I want to get a better price. Oh, okay, well let's sit down and review everything and then you go to have the right questions. Well, what did you have in mind and how did you arrive at that? There's so many tactics that I get into, 22 golden rules.

But first you've got to have them fall in love with it and have built value for it. And then we all know, as you said, that it's a game. They want the experience. They feel like they won something. And my goodness, I said there was a lot to unpack there. But I don't think it's really about what's included. [00:20:00] It's the buyer's personality style that is going to dictate how you negotiate with them.

I get into that in part three or four of the book, part three. Part one is evaluate, that's a hundred pages. Part two is all the strategies, the 22 golden rules. Part three is now forget all that and adapt. Are they a driver? Do they want just to win something? I got the biggest fish, or I got the best deal kind of stuff. So give them a win. What does it hurt? Influencers, where they're expressive and fun loving, where they just pretend to negotiate, just want to take it home because it's shiny and they love it and they want to have friends over.

If they're an ask for steadiness or an amiable, then yeah, you got to go slowly. They hate negotiation. So, you got to understand that and focus on family and integrity. And if they're analytic, then they're going to be looking cost per square foot. So, have you built value? Are you showing them other comps? That was a bit over explained probably. I apologize if it was too much for one podcast, but there's a lot to unpack, you know? But I want to put you in the driver's seat, so you understand how to adapt for your buyer.

Greg Bray: Roland, you talked about these 22 rules. Give us just a couple examples of what some of [00:21:00] these rules are.

Roland Nairnsey: Sure. Okay. Win-win. I said it already, but that expectation. That means a sale. That means a great experience. In person is another rule, which is very uncomfortable. With the exception, if they're serving our great country, they're overseas, then of course we'll do a Zoom. If they're really out of the state and can't come in, then yes. But if they're within 30 to 50 miles, I'm just going to be stubborn and say, let's get together and work this out.

Because they're investing in their dream home for, now I think it's up to 10 years that you live in a home, not seven years, and so surely you can come in and spend some time and we can work this out together. And then you choreograph that experience. Let me pick some of my favorites. When you're the seller, start high, stay high, and come down slowly. And Kevin, I'm not talking about gummies here. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Thank you for laughing. Glad you laughed.

Kevin Weitzel: Start high, man.

Roland Nairnsey: No, but your first counter offer has to get their attention. You want them to jump up a lot. So you've got to come down in a small amount and they're going to go, what? I came in for this. And then what's going to happen? They're going to realize that, look, no offense but homey ain't [00:22:00] playing that game. We never said we were going to negotiate. They're going to want the home, because they wouldn't come back otherwise. They're going to come back by a lot.

And then one of my other favorites would be to come back with a odd number. I mean, literally an odd number. So, let's say their home coming out around 550 or 547 and change, they're going to offer 500, right? Because it's a round number and you bring them back in. So, let's say we were at 550. If I had 5,000 to work with maybe I come back at 549, 265 and 27 cents or something bizarre like that. And I don't know what I just said. I couldn't, you'd have to write it down, but it was less than a thousand dollars and it had an odd number. I know that. And they're like, what? But what do they think when it's an odd number? What do you think they think when it's not an even number?

Greg Bray: I think, I think you did some serious math behind it to figure it out.

Roland Nairnsey: Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Which of course I didn't because I just made it up, but the point being, you know, it feels like the bean counters back at the home office really crunched numbers. That's another tactic. I was working with the buying department, purchasing, and this young man was negotiating on drywall. You know, he wanted the [00:23:00] price to be lower. I said, come back with an odd number. The drywall vendor immediately gave in at that number. I think per home it was like $1,300 he saved per home. Times by a hundred, it was a lot. It was significant.

So, sorry again to everybody out there in America. Oh, my goodness. This is so manipulative. Well, I don't want to negotiate. I want to my buyers to buy full price. I just want to give them experience if they're going to come in. So, to get them up to the higher price, I've got to come with a low odd number. And then anytime you give something back, I want to exchange something.

So, one of the most important rules is called give to get. If you are my buyer, Kevin, which would be a delight and you're negotiating, I say, well, if I could get closer to that number or number that we're comfortable with, could you close a week earlier? Could we get your mortgage approved today with our preferred lender? I noticed we're only putting 3% down. Could we go to five? You know, whatever it has to be. Whether I get it or not, I almost don't care. I want to play the game of making it seem really serious and coming back and forth.

So, there's about eight to 10 good exchanges that you could have. And I even cite a story in my book of [00:24:00] one that I did Sarasota, I think it was. Where we got the sale after going around about seven or eight times. I ended up closing for cash for 2.6 million in two weeks. But we were so far apart when we started, it wasn't even funny. So, those are some of my favorites.

Greg Bray: Those are great. I'm going to have to certainly dig in and learn all of them, for sure. Roland, want to be, uh, mindful of your time here, but just a couple more questions if you've got a few more minutes. What is the moment when you've got into that lose-lose situation and the buyers walking away? What are the things that make buyers walk away in your experience when you're in this back and forth?

Roland Nairnsey: Great question. Well, I think arrogance on our part as a seller. You know, I'm quite an old man now. Even though with this lighting I look fairly young. Nobody will get to see it, but. If I meet somebody who goes, we don't negotiate, and I'm like, I'm a couple million, like, could you at least entertain it? You know, if you shut it down without any empathy, I think, or trying to find out what my needs are, I think that that will cause somebody to leave. So, I think just your attitude. Attitude is everything. Not to offend people, [00:25:00] obviously is important.

But none of this makes any sense if you don't understand how to adapt. Part of what's in the book and what I teach all the time, it is not one size fits all. So, you've got to be very sensitive to what people are really saying and get to that level where you have empathy. People have different hot buttons. It really is very different things that aren't always logical. But we're humans, we're irrational.

So, there's great stories in the book with real examples of little things that meant a lot to buyers that got them over the finish line that didn't cost that much money. I mean, we're talking maybe a fence or a ceiling fan, or those kinds of little things, but it's what's important to them. So, having that awareness of body language is so important. Talking of which, Kevin?

Kevin Weitzel: So, wait a minute. They're selling me this $2 million house and tell me you don't negotiate. You can't help me set up my kitchen. You can't get me a George Foreman grill, drill that in, or a slap chop or some Ginsu knives. Nothing.

Roland Nairnsey: Are you saying, Kevin, that if I gave you those Ginsu knives, you'd go ahead?

Kevin Weitzel: I'd think about it.

Roland Nairnsey: Let's sit down and talk about it.

Kevin Weitzel: I'd think about it.

Roland Nairnsey: So, let's sit down and talk about it. You're absolutely right. I love it. By the [00:26:00] way, look, I'm a sales guy my whole life. I just naturally am, and I love it when a buyer wants to negotiate because what? It's a buying sign if I haven't said that already. Yes. I should have done. And so you want to lean into it. So, you are saying you'd like to own the home. You just like to get this. It's in all my training. I learned it from practical experience.

You don't want to negotiate on your feet. You want to close at your seat. And so, act three of the sales process I teach is to sit down and say, Greg, Kevin, let's go back and recap. And I want to get your buying temperature frothy and excited. So, here's the location. You love it because it's only 10 minutes to work or whatever. Here's the community. You love the lifestyle. Here's your home site. Look at the view of the nuclear power plant, Kevin. You can grow those massive vegetables that you like so much.

Here's the home you like. Here's the finishes. Here's your daughter's room. Let's write her name in this room. Here's the finishes. Here's the total investment. Here's your approximate monthly investment. Let's go ahead. If you're not doing that, then you can't negotiate because the buyer doesn't know what they're buying. And then once you're doing that, whether it's a finished home or a to-be-built, then you find out, well, I would, but I really wanted to get this.

And what they normally ask for is not what they need, but as you said, Kevin, wait a minute. You telling me I'm spending [00:27:00] two million, I can't get, whatever. That you can't help me a little bit with the kitchen. So, then you say, if I could, would you? Are you saying if you could get this, blah, blah, blah, the Ginsu knives and the window treatment was it?

Kevin Weitzel: That works. Sure.

Roland Nairnsey: Whatever it was. So, I can't give you a Sub-Zero that's out of my budget, but maybe the Wolf range. I don't know. I'll give you a couple of burners on the range. And then you sort of like, this is going to be confidential and if we do this, we don't want you telling others, and all that kind of stuff. If I can't get anything from you other than a referral. Hey Kevin, you know, we're really there. If I could get this, could you give me a referral? Could I get some names of your friends or family? I mean, if you have friends, I'd be a little bit surprised, but if you do, it would be great.

Kevin Weitzel: So, it doesn't just come down to the simple three P's, the person, the price, and the product.

Roland Nairnsey: No, no, no, no. Again, everything is based on emotion. And by the way, even investors, you know, I've worked in Miami where people are buying as investment, but there's still ego involved because you've got different levels of investment. You know, you can, is it really return on investment or is it something that you want to brag about? I mean, the ego [00:28:00] is definitely part of it.

So, Malcolm Gladwell talks about mind readers. I think it's Outliers. He says that, you know, certain people have natural empathy. In sales and marketing, that's what we work on, is being empathetic. It's just like you said, it's not what you always say, it is what you react to. So, when I'm in that home and I see you just getting excited about that kitchen, you know, maybe it is the range or the gourmet kitchen or maybe it's the view. For me, I'm a view guy, so I would just stand and stare at a lake view. If you observe me doing that, you can trade things to get me what I want. Does that make sense?

Like if you're empathetic enough to go, you seem to really want the view, which is a premium view. You know, could we take out maybe the LVP flooring in the den to get that? Could we maybe take out this? And I may or may not do that, I don't know, but I'll see you working with me and for me, not against me, not like, no, we don't do that. It's like, you know, how can I help you get there?

There are 22 tactics in there, but it has to start with empathy, understanding your buyer's needs, and then being prepared to adapt. And then one of the final things is not accepting it normally, but making it feel [00:29:00] like it's an offer and there's a higher authority. Like, let me put it together. We'll present it tonight to my manager and make sure. If you want to get an answer now, then you could pretend to call them or something and go do that.

But at the high level, I found with the $5 million homes. Let's put it together. I want to make sure there no surprises and make sure everything checks out, and that can prevent people from asking for more. Because you know, some people think they've got you on the rope, so all of a sudden they write it up and now I want this thrown in, and I want a Cadillac in the driveway or something. Extra Ginsu knives, you know, I'm kidding.

But there are ways to prevent that and also to prevent buyer's remorse. We all know that if you make an offer, it's accepted immediately. Like, oh, well maybe I didn't offer low enough. That was too easy. Now we going to get buyer's remorse so that it's incumbent upon us, sadly, to play the game at a high level of negotiation and make sure the buyer feels that they really want something.

Greg Bray: There's so many good pieces of advice here. And so, obviously, the next question is where can people get the book?

Roland Nairnsey: Thank you. Amazon. Amazon, Amazon. It's so much better to buy it on Amazon because [00:30:00] they can fulfill it quickly and get it to you quickly. So, if you're okay with that. If you want a signed copy, then yes, email me and I'll sign one. But for the most part, I'd love you to buy it on Amazon. I've got a deal I put on my website that for every 10 that you buy, I'll give you one signed for free. So, there's that. If you're part of a sales team, want to buy it for your salespeople, for every 10 that you get, just please let me know and I'll send you one signed one for absolutely free. So, DR Horton bought 40 at once, so they got four free books. It only came out last week. So that was a good sign. But yeah, Amazon, Amazon, if you don't mind, Mastery of Negotiation, by my weird name, Roland Nairnsey.

Greg Bray: So, Roland, if somebody does want to, you know, learn more about you and New Home Sales Plus, what's the best way for them to get in touch?

Roland Nairnsey: Yeah, please email me. It's my first name, R-O-L-A-N-D, roland@newhomesalesplus.com. Please pop me an email. I'd just love to chat with you and see how I can help you. It's a true pleasure to be able to help you in any way, small or large, and it's going to be great. So, yeah.

Greg Bray: Well, thank you Roland, so much for your time today and for sharing so many tips and [00:31:00] insights. And thank you everybody for listening to the Builder Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. Thank you.