OSC Of The Month: Jason Chelik

Lasso’s "OSC of the Month" for June is Jason Chelik, online sales representative for S&A Homes serving Central and South Central Pennsylvania. Having been in the industry and an OSC for over 10 years, Jason shares his insight from over the years. Learn more about his path to becoming an OSC, his productivity hack, and his go-to resources in this blog. 

ECI: How long have you been in your role/or working in new home sales? 

Jason Chelik (JC): I started with S&A Homes as an on-site sales consultant in the summer of 2007. After four years of selling on-site, I started my OSC role with S&A Homes in 2011. I have been living the dream as an OSC ever since! 

ECI: What was your career path to becoming an OSC? 

JC: My career path to becoming OSC is very original. My first career was as a certified athletic trainer for professional, college, and high school athletes. Being an athletic trainer was extremely fast-paced and trained me to handle high-stress situations at any given moment. In addition to my full-time athletic training position, I had started another part-time job fixing up old houses on the side. This part-time job and my interest in construction propelled me into new home sales a few years later. 

ECI: How many online leads do you manage monthly? 

JC: As a team, we manage thousands of existing leads in our database and stay fairly consistent at 100-120 new leads per month. We have aggressive follow-up strategies in place for both short-term and long-term leads, so keeping our numbers consistent helps us stay on track in achieving our benchmarks and overall goals.  

ECI: What's the best part about working on a team of OSCs?  

JC: There are several good parts to working on a team of OSCs. We work as a true OSC team in that we share an email inbox, have all phone calls directed to both of us, and are both assigned to every lead in our CRM. Setting up as a team allows for actual downtime on my days off. The peace of mind in knowing that my teammate is completing the inbox of leads and follow-ups while I’m unavailable/offline is worth its weight in gold. Also, our online sales manager is also our marketing manager and had worked as an onsite salesperson for 10 years and as an OSC for five years. Her knowledge and real-world homebuilding experience have been paramount to our overall success as an OSC team. We can bounce many ideas off each other on the online sales side and marketing. Having teammates with the same passion for the industry and work ethic has greatly benefited our team and the company. Lastly, by working as a team you get to share all your achievements and successes.

ECI: How have you seen online home sales change in the last few years? 

JC: Some changes I’ve seen in online home sales over the last few years have been in the ways our customers prefer to communicate with us. Communication by text, rather than phone or email, has really increased our overall communication. Also, engaging with custom video emails has been a big change for us. 

ECI: How do you see your role/or the OSC role, evolving over the next few years? 

JC: As technology improves and online shopping increases, I see the OSC evolving into an even more demanding role. This role will include more in-depth initial conversations, setting more virtual appointments, and communicating a lot more specifics with pricing while browsing online.  

ECI: What's the most challenging aspect of your job? What do you do to overcome that challenge? 

JC: The most challenging aspect of the OSC job is keeping a positive mental attitude daily. New home sales can be an emotional roller coaster ride. I always remind myself not to get too high on the highs and too low on the lows. You’ll have great days where you’re making lots of appointments and sales like your hair is on fire, and you’ll also have some very stressful days where you’re struggling just to set one appointment. How I overcome this is by staying positive and having fun! 

ECI: What are the most critical technology(s)/tool(s) you use in your role? 

JC: Lasso is by far the most important tool for us in our daily role. We’ve created aggressive follow-ups for all the different types of leads, and Lasso has been an essential part of our long-term and short-term lead management and has resulted in quicker and more efficient responses. We also use CallRail for phone calls and texts, and LiveChat for online chats. 

ECI: What is your "go-to" closing technique to get an appointment? 

JC: My go-to closing technique is more of a strategy than a technique. I try to never end a conversation without asking for the appointment, whether it be an in-person, virtual, or just a phone call appointment. Worst is the customer saying no, but most of the time, if they say no, they also tell you a bit more about where they are in the buying process.  

ECI: What/Who are your "go-to" training and/or support resources? 

JC: Our industry is filled with talented and experienced people who share information through training, podcasts, and webinars. Our go-to resources for ongoing training would be, of course, the OGs at Do You Convert, Mike Lyon, and Jen Barkan. We've also utilized training and support from experts at NAHB, Lasso, and others such as Myers Barnes, Jeff Shore, and Roland Nairnsey.  

ECI: Do you have a productivity hack you'd like to share? 

JC: My productivity hack is time blocking. Time blocking is essential for me to stay on track with all my activities and follow-ups throughout the day. I start my day by time-block scheduling everything on my to-do list.  

ECI: What are your favorite activities to do outside of work? 

JC: Outside work, I enjoy downtime with my wife, two young daughters, and a boxer puppy. My daughters are very active in sports, so I spend lots of my time attending practices, games, and tournaments throughout the year. In addition, we love the Florida Gulf beaches during vacation time.