When Viola Selk-Tramble started working in sales at Havill’s back in January 2006, she was already well acquainted with the company. Her father Guenter Selk was the Sales Manager at Havill’s for approximately 15 years before she started with them. When Guenter was getting ready to retire, company owner and president Alan Havill asked, “How am I ever going to find someone to replace you?” and Guenter joked, “Well, I do have a daughter.” When she was asked to come in for an interview, Viola set her career path to focus on helping families find their perfect dream homes, and she couldn’t be happier with her decision to fill her father’s footsteps.
Viola had been coming to Havill’s for years to visit her dad and saw how passionate he was about his job. “Just as passionate as I am today,” Viola says, “He taught me everything really there is to know about taking care of customers and what good customer service should look like. This included getting back to everybody in a timely fashion, finding the right solution for each new client, and treating everybody with the same respect you’d want to be treated with — which are truly the building blocks of sales, but seems to be lost in a lot of Industries these days.”
Though she can’t give an exact number, Viola reckons to have sold over 450 new mini homes since starting at Havill’s. That’s a whole lot of families, singles, and retired folks that Viola has helped move into their dream homes. Hearing how happy those homeowners are once they’ve moved in is a definite job highlight. “Getting to be involved in something as intimate as helping someone find their perfect home is a truly rewarding journey to be part of,” Viola says.
What’s interesting also is how the job never gets old for Viola. “It’s a different experience every time I sell a home. Every customer is different. Every home is different. Every Community is different. It’s like a puzzle that needs to be put together and I love problem-solving. So it’s a great fit for me,” Viola says. (In her downtime, Viola is a fan of jigsaw puzzles too, so this makes a lot of sense to those of us lucky enough to know her!)
If you ever step inside Viola’s office, her walls are plastered with photographs of some of the many homeowners that she has helped. Viola often gets lovely notes from homeowners.
“That feedback is tremendously satisfying it makes the difficult days and all the challenges with Covid and supply-chain shortages and so on completely worth it when you’ve got a customer that is just overjoyed when they get to finally move into their home,” she says, “It means everything to me to know that I’ve had a small part in that a journey with them and that I’ve been able to help bring them that joy.”
If you’re looking to buy a new mini home, you couldn’t ask for a better person to support you through the process than Viola. Her years of experience and intimate knowledge of the ins and outs of mini home purchasing put her ahead of the competition and we are so lucky to have her here at Havill’s. Reach out to her today and see how she can make your dreams of home ownership come true.
