Happy summer to you!

I’ve been working with my clients on a recurring problem for home builders and remodelers…

Maybe you’ve experienced it. It’s called “generating qualified leads- in the summer- with a tax credit & low consumer confidence hangover.”

Let’s face it, summer time has always been a challenge for new leads, model home traffic, etc. But with the tax credit ending April 30th many of the housing markets, especially lower priced, have seen traffic/leads nearly dry up.

After reading a great article in the May issue of Realtor Magazine I got 5 great ideas for dealing with this issue. Here they are…

~Rick

How to Beat the Summer Doldrums, Tax Credit & Low Consumer Confidence Blues

If you’ve worked in this industry long enough you may have heard the saying, “You have to make hay while the sun shines.”

Well may be YOU haven’t heard this before but my father grew up on a farm so I got to hear it a lot! Historically the home builders and remodelers have generated the bulk of their leads with spring home shows, home tours and marketing events.

Since about 2006 most of these events are no longer working the way they once did. You’re not seeing the numbers, quality and certainly the confidence at these events today.

As consumers continue to evolve and change our housing market it’s time we did the same. Let’s look at the most traditional way to generate leads- model hours.

Model Hours- Are they still viable today?

In our old housing market we’ve used the retail mentality when it comes to model hours- Be open for the convenience of the consumer. This meant 7 days a week and 6 – 8 hours a day.

Now unless you’re a public home builder and have a large advertising budget to drive traffic- you’ve spent your fair share of time at the model getting skunked. It’s demoralizing to the salesperson and the builder. But what are the options?

Open House vs. Model Hours

“Open Houses That Work,”is an article in the May issue of Realtor magazine that showed how some Realtors were “redefining” this traditional advertising method.

Many Realtors have written off the open house since 9 out of 10 buyers are starting their home search online. But other Realtors are focusing more of their energies on open house with dramatic results.

What if you were to treat your model hours more like an open house?

What would you do differently?

What would be the results?

Here’s my top 5 ideas for increasing leads during your model hours by treating them as an open house.

You can get more specifics for these ideas for FREE by clicking here>>

1. Change Your “Shotgun” approach to that of a rifle. Sitting in your model home 5-7 days a week with no traffic is a recipe for disaster. Instead of focusing on quantity of hours, change to QUALITY of hours. That is, put more time into promoting a specific event that will appeal to your target market. Here are some ideas:

• • Plan 1 special weekend event for consumer prospects each month. Give them a special reason to come out or come back.
  • Plan 1 special weekday event for Realtor prospects each month. Give them a special reason to come out.
  • Spend 12-20 hours promoting and planning each event OUTSIDE of your model. More details on this to come.

2. Leverage the web. Since prospects are searching online get your “open house” event online too. List it on the MLS, Craigslist, any local event clandars (check your local paper), Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com.

Blog about the event and utilize Active Rain’s Localism tool.

3. Get Your Signs Out There! Try a mix of 20-40 different signs from company branded to hand-made specialty signs advertising any giveaways.

If you can use balloons do it. Helium containers can be rented from most party stores. Check with your municipality guidelines and see if they’re allowed attached to signs.

4. Use Partners and Themes- Give Realtors and consumers a compelling reason to stop by. You have dozens of local businesses to partner with and cross promote your open house events. Start attending the local chamber events and meet these people. Look to suppliers and manufactures to help too.

5. Make it Memorable- Now that you’ve got that prospect at your model how will you make it memorable? What kind of experience will you deliver? Why would they leave their contact information?

Here’s your litmus test…What is your favorite business to visit? Take a close look at what they do to deliver a fantastic experience and incorporate that into your event.

Does this take more work? Yes absolutely.

Does it take time to develop a database of prospects to market these events to? Yep.

But what’s your option?

I’ve compiled a more specific summary of the above 5 ideas that you can download for FREE on my website.

You can get it by clicking here>>

By the way, do you have some other ideas to get more leads? Leave a comment below and tell me about them!

Happy Selling!

Have you used it too?

I was reading a comment to a question posed on the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) and saw a response that blew me away. As I gave my response, see below, I wondered how many home builders, remodelers and new home sales specialists have uttered this response too. If you have, my friend, the end may be near…

This was the question…

“We’ve all heard the phrase ‘it’s the economy

stupid’. But is it really or have we all created

some of our own hurdles to overcome as well. If

so what?”

This was one response…

“We all contribute to the state of the economy, and as consumers we are now keeping us in this situation by expecting to pay 30% less for everything we want. We need to be willing to pay a fair price for goods and services; until we do, companies will not be profitable, which means they will not grow; hire or spend money.

I actually heard someone say that they thought they had been ripped off last year because they paid more for something they bought again this year for less. 30% is the difference between just paying the bills and being profitable for many businesses. Offering huge discounts cannot go on for ever; it is not a sustainable business model.”

Here is the answer (I believe) we all need to hear but don’t want to…

Actually offering huge discounts is a sustainable business model- and the largest company in the world, Wal-Mart, uses it. I’ve studied Wal-Mart (read the Wal-Mart Effect and Made in America for an in-depth look at this company ) and have followed them through this recession. They’ve been able to maintain sales (and grow) plus keep their margins.

What we all need to realize, as consumers, is that we seek out the cheapest reliable alternative. As soon as we find a company that will provide a “commodity” product or service (think Wal-Mart) that we feel is reliable, we look to pay the cheapest price.

I’ve found that most remodelers and home builders believe what they do is special simply because their name is part of the company. The fact is consumers don’t see the distinction and many markets have a lot of very good remodeling/home building companies to choose from. When consumers find 3-4 “reliable alternatives” the point of differentiation is price.

Many products and services we’re 30% overpriced in years past because the market didn’t challenge us to innovate (plus money was cheap and people thought they couldn’t go wrong putting it into real estate). If you think consumers will go back to paying 2006 prices just because they want to make sure your business turns a profit- you better get in the bread line.

The only way to make our margins and grow our business in this economy is to be the “orange”. That is, provide a product or service that can’t be compared to the “apple” competitor. Specialists always make more in every industry.

Example: One of my clients opened up a specialty business that focuses on providing high design, high service remodeling projects in a 10 day period. Through simple internal innovation, they reduced the project time by 66%, cost by 58% and increased margins by 5%.

Most design/build firms don’t want these small projects and out of work builders can’t provide the service and design appeal these customers demand. It’s a niche. Not every consumer wants it but those that do make their choice based on factors outside of price.

If you can’t explain your market position/unique selling advantage to your prospects in one sentence you will always be compared to the cheapest reliable alternative.

To answer the original question, how many remodelers and home builders are as good at marketing as they are at building? If we’re going to make it in this economy it’s up to us. “If it is to be it’s up to me!”

Unless the remodeling and home building activity in your market has gone to zero, every remodeler/home builder has the opportunity to position their companies to take a part of that market. Many old markets HAVE dried up but just as many new ones have opened up.

Get some great ideas on how to do this from my free e-guide, 6 Secrets to Maximizing Your Sales in Any Economy Revealed. Click here to download it>> (it’s free!)

Prosperous times conceal genius. Adverse markets reveal it. Now go out and make it happen!

Happy Selling!

~Rick

Rick Storlie has been helping home builders and remodelers reach their sales goals since 1992. Visit www.NHSalesCoach.com to get your free e-guide 6 Secrets to Maximizing Your Sales in Any Economy Revealed

This is THE question- isn’t it?

What’s the answer?

Two remodelers and a home builder contacted me last week asking the same thing and here is the answer I gave them- one that you may not expect…

~Rick

Is it the Market or Me?

I was speaking with Mike from Michigan this morning- a second generation remodeler who does NOT operate in the Detroit market.

Mike explained his situation- a situation that may be similar to yours. His business is down over 85% from its peak. He had to lay off most of his staff and is now doing everything himself.

Mike read my blog post on the importance of appealing to women in order to increase your sales. He could relate to the mistakes I had made and now his question was, “Is it the market or is it me?”

Your challenge in 2010

Your challenge in 2010 is no different than Mikes. I’ll bet you’re operating with less staff, have been forced to cut your advertising budget and seem to be constantly competing on price.

For most of you there are less people buying, building and remodeling homes in your market. There are less builders and remodelers you have to compete with but the ones still operating are pretty darn good.

You’re probably working longer hours and making a lot less…

This still begs the question- Is it your market or is it you?

The Answer

The answer is both.

Your changing market is to blame for your sales being off (aren’t I a genius to figure that one out!). Yet, the fact that you have been relying on the market to bring business into your company is your fault too!

“Wait a minute Rick…I’m working harder today than ever before. The business just isn’t there!”

You’re partially correct. You ARE working harder than ever before but are you looking in the right places for the business?

Is it the Market?

In my discussion with Mike I asked him how many other remodelers there were in his market. He told me 2-3 (at his level) but there were also home builders that were now remodeling (surprise surprise).

I suggested he visit the building inspectors office and get a list of permits from 2009.

The first step in identifying if the market is your problem is asking the question, “IS there a market for what I am selling?”

I suggested to Mike he take a look at the type of work being done in his market.

What type of remodeling projects were people building?

How many new homes were built? Where were they built and at what price point?

Assuming there is a market for your services, the second question is how do you get MORE of it?

Getting More Market Share

Now here’s an oxymoron for you- in order to get more market share you need to focus on doing less.

What?

You read that correctly. In order to get more market share you need to focus on less.

I’m not telling you to stop what you’re doing right now. I’m playing devil’s advocate and asking (as a consumer), ‘why would I choose to have you build or remodel my home?’

Unless your company is positioned to specialize in a certain geographic area, lifestyle offering or demograhpic/psycographic profile- you’ll come across as a jack of all trades and master of none.

To use an analogy, if you just had a heart attack would you want to see a general practitioner or a cardiologist? Of course it’s the heart specialist! And was your decision based on who costs less?

When you’re company is positioned as a specialist people will seek you out for more than just the lowest price.

3 Steps to Determining if it’s Your Market or if it’s You

Step 1: Review building permits and MLS sales for your market. Are people buying what you’re selling?

If they AREN’T buying what you’re selling can you offer something different or can you move to a different geographic market where they are buying?

If they ARE buying what you’re selling but you have a low market share, go to step 2.

Step 2: Specialize, specialize, specialize! If you’re in a small market and can’t move, you may need to specialize in 2-3 things.

The key to specialization is understanding your target market’s problems better than any of your competition. More on this to come at a later date…

If you HAVE a market and are perceived to be a SPECIALIST- go to step 3.

Step 3: Focus on Managing Tasks- NOT Time.

There’s no such thing as time management. We all have the same amount of time in a day.

Because you are doing more with less, are you focusing on the things that will get you your next sale? With all the extra duties you’ve taken on, you may have lost focus working ON your business vs. working IN your business.

Most people tend to spend the majority of time working IN their business. That’s where their comfortable- working on tasks they know.

But these tasks aren’t the same ones that will bring your next buyer in the door.

What you need to focus on each day is the tasks that will lead you to your next sale.

Over the last 20 years I’ve broken down these tasks into 3 categories- Preparing, Prospecting and Presenting.

You can download “Task Management for Housing Professionals” for FREE with the link below…

Download the Task Management List Here>>

Thoughts, questions, other ideas? Tell me what you think by leaving your thoughts at the bottom.

Happy Selling!

What’s in store for housing in 2010? Wouldn’t we all like to foresee that!

My crystal ball is in the shop again so I’ve put together 3 tactics that cutting edge Remodelers, Home Builders and Realtors are using to “crack the code” in 2010.

Warning: You will not hear about these iron-clad strategies from others so if you snooze, you lose…Enjoy!

~Rick

Ok- 2009 is over. Great, right? I know this was a tough and trying year. But before we close the doors, let’s look at what was good about it…

• A lot of your competitors are gone and you (the strong) have survived

• You’re efficiency is off the charts because you’re doing more with less

• The market has taught you invaluable lessons and you’re a LOT smarter in January 2010 than January 2009

What the worst mistake most of you made in 2009?

If there was one mistake I watched most home builders and remodelers make in 2009 it was REACTING to the market.

When you react it usually means two things-

1. Sales are down and you make a move to step them up. Usually this means you cut prices.
   
2. When you do make a sale, margins suffer.

Very few predicted the full extent of how much our market would change in one year…Don’t beat yourself up if you reacted to the market for most of ’09- it was a very difficult mistake to avoid.

So What’s Your Strategy to Ignite Sales This Year?

You’re smarter, more efficient and have less competitors.

If you’re going to get PROACTIVE you need some sure-fire tactics.

Here are 3…
1. Focus and Filter: Diversifying is NOT, I repeat, NOT the answer! Every other industry out there has specialty companies that target a certain demographic and psychographic profile. Very few in the housing industry do. We’re all trying to sell the same thing, the same way- yet we tell our prospects, “we’re better.” It’s no wonder we’re frustrated by price wars.

When money is tight consumers take longer to shop and will choose the companies they feel are best suited to solve their problems. Only about 10% of consumers will buy purely on price. The other 90% buy on emotional perceived value.

If you want consumers to choose you for what you are (and make a buck at doing it)- you can’t be everything to everyone.

The micro market (small niche business) section of our economy is poised to boom (and certain sectors are already booming!). The housing industry needs to take the lead from companies like Target, Best Buy and Ford. All of these companies focus on niche offering to a specific target market.

Focus on what you do best or focus on an un-served niche in your market. Filter everything else out- especially the sacred cows!

This is also called Market Positioning and you can discover how to do it by clicking on this link>>

2. Beware of Baby Boomers: I know, I know- you’ve been told that you should be targeting boomers- this is where the money is, right? This is where the money USED to be and this group may have the lowest consumer confidence.

Consider…

• Boomers are getting old (the oldest are turning 64 this year) and they don’t have a lot of time in the workplace. They’re not willing to take on large mortgages and want to do lateral moves as they consider down sizing (which doesn’t work because their current home has lost so much value).
  

• The dreams of early retirement and staying young forever are fading. Boomers lost an incredible amount of wealth last decade, have burned through a lot of savings and won’t be able to replenish it quickly.

The Exception…

Remodelers take note- aging in place along with certain remodeling projects will start to appeal to boomers because they will find themselves unable or unwilling to move (along with the acceptance they are getting old).

3. The Decade of the Woman: Over the last 30 years a woman’s role in buying, building and remodeling homes has grown to where she is now 80% – 91% of the primary influence.

Couple that with our current job market. Approximately 72% of the job losses have been men due to the high percentage of construction and manufacturing jobs shed.

There is no doubt that as this decade plays out women will not only continue to be the emotional decision makers- they will also take a larger role in the financial decisions of the home.

Find out how a group of home builders and remodelers are making their companies more appealing to women (and adding to their bottom line)>>

What are your predictions for 2010 and beyond? What tactics will the new and rebuilt home builders, Realtors and Remodelers be using to unleash sales?

Share your thoughts below…

Happy New Year & Happy Selling!

We flushed a few birds but didn’t put any in the bag. We DID, however, scare the you know what of out some Chipmunks and Tweedy birds!

~Rick

If you missed Part I (Kick-off & Research), you can click here for the article>>

According to Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women and PrimeTime Women, when men and women buy as partners, women control at least four out of five stages of the purchasing process (well really all 5 but us men need to get our egos stroked a bit .

Stage III- Purchase
If there’s one area of the purchasing process where we feel men are in charge, this is it. Why?

Historically this is where the “man” takes over as primary contact and negotiator.

It’s why we get confused as marketers…

…that men are the primary influencers in the decision to buy.

We get confused because it was her idea to move or remodel in the first place (Stage I) and she did all the research to find your company (Stage II).

Doesn’t it seem like you work and work with her and when it comes time to write the purchase agreement “Mr. Negotiator” steps in?

The question I ask all my clients in this situation is this, “Is she on board?” If they say ‘she is,’ he’s just trying to get the best deal.

In this situation stand firm on your negotiation. Give him something to make the deal happen- just not the farm!

Click here for a sales process that will have her selecting you and your company>>

Stage IV- Ownership

She’s back in the saddle again! The post purchase stage has her making selections, finalizing design, dealing with construction details, etc.

This is where your staged guest experience comes in. If you aren’t proactively staging a “Nordstrom’s” type  customer experience you’ll let her down, and you can’t afford that…

…because the ownership stage leads us to…

Stage V- Word-of-Mouth
OK guys…this is where we get BURNED.

Use this link to get the ONLY new home and remodeling sales system designed to appeal to a woman>>

Happy Selling!

I love the way Seth Godin thinks (probably because I try to think the same way : ). Check out his latest blog on why consumers choose the Cheapest Reliable Alternative>>

If you want to get away from dealing with the “price-per-square- foot” black hole, you’ve got to be implementing Market Positioning. Here’s an interview and short article that will help you…

Click here for the article and interview>>

You can also download a FREE report on my website by clicking on the photo

Happy Selling

~Rick

You may have heard that the week between Christmas and New Years is typically the worst week of the year as it relates to business production.

I’m working on marketing and business plans right now. One of the things I’ll be helping my clients with is helping them NOT be perceived as a home builder or remodeler…

Why you ask?

When you call yourself a Home Builder, Remodeler or New Home Salesperson, your prospect has a built-in perception of what you do (and that can be good or BAD).

Let’s assume they perceive you to be a “good, quality, family-owned” home builder or remodeler. Do you think they might also talk to other good, quality, family-owned builders too?

The bottom line is if your prospects perceive you to be just like your competitors, there is only one differentiator…PRICE.

Market Positioning

Very simply, market positioning is going after a niche in the marketplace. You position your company to fill a niche and generate leads based on that niche.

Ask yourself the following questions…

• Who is your target market?

• What are their biggest housing problems?

• Do your prospects believe you can solve their problems better than a used home or your competitors?

• What is different, special and unique about your company? What do you do best?
  

• Why would your prospect choose you?

The Answers

BuilderRadio.com interviewed me on the subject of market positioning. You can listen to the interview by clicking on this link>>.

Give it a listen while you’re working on your business plan this week. It’ll help you answer the above questions.

Listen to the interview here>>

Happy New Year & Happy Selling!

P.S I talk a lot more about Market Positioning in my FREE E-guide, “6 Secrets to Maximizing Your Home Sales in any Economy Revealed.”

All you need to do is verify your email address and you can download it right away. It’ll also help you a lot with your 2010 Marketing Plan…

Click here>> and get Rick’s FREE copy of 6 Secrets to Maximizing Your Home Sales in Any Market Revealed.

Ask Rick a question and he may feature it in an upcoming issue of Coach’s Corner>>

Helping contractors maximize sales in any market.  The New Home Sales Coach Transformational Sales System for home builders and remodelers transforms dull and boring organizations into extraordinary and remarkable ones.

If you missed Part I of this article and are a bit “miffed” about my title, you can get caught up in about 3 minutes by clicking on this link.

Below you’ll find answers from actual HOME BUYERS- Not from any crack pot marketer or 3rd party Green designation theories…

~Rick

In my humble opinion, the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) Institute of Residential Marketing (IRM) courses are the finest the association offers. To become a member of the IRM, you have to write a case study on the history of a residential development.

I submitted my case study back in 2006 and when I received the critique from the IRM- two comments stuck out in my mind…

1. “How could the developer run out of marketing money?” This was 2006 and the project was a bit “ahead of the curve.”

2. “The developer did a great job of selling lots to builders.”

Yes the project was now in foreclosure. Yes, besides only a few end users, the only owners in this project were builders.

This story reminds me a lot of how the Green movement within the housing industry is selling itself today. It’s doing a great job of selling to our own builder members but how good of a job does it do relating to home buyers?

Have most home builders and remodelers taken some sort of formal education regarding Green housing?

Answer: Yes!

Have many of these same companies attempted to provide a 3rd party certified Green home or project?

Answer: Yes!

Have these marketing and positioning strategies been consistently successful?

Answer: No!

Why?

In a 2008 National Association of Realtors (NAR) study of Home Buyers, recent home buyers were asked what is the “Importance of a Homes Environmentally Friendly Features?”

The answers are below and will tell you EXACTLY home you should be promoting Green…

To See the full report use this link>>

Using the above data you can see home buyers are VERY INTERESTED in one common theme- more money in their pocket through lower utility bills.

What’s the Lesson Here?

The lesson is the same as the builders in my case study learned…

It’s why you need to Segment Your Green marketing and identify what is important to your target market. You need to make it personal, make it real and most importantly- use it to differentiate your company from used homes.

Use this link to watch a video on how to segment Green and finally take the mystery out of selling it>>

Do you agree? Disagree? Think I’m clueless? Have a better idea?

Tell me what you think. Leave your comments below…

Happy Selling!

This is a great article by Melanie Notkin, Savvyauntie.com,

http://she-conomy.com/2009/10/15/are-aunts-the-new-mom/

explaining that we may be missing 36% of female buyers ages 20 – 44…those that don’t have children.

Check it out and start thinking about what you can do as a home builder and remodeler to target this niche group of “aunts”…

When you’re done reading this article, check out my video on how home builders and remodelers are utilizing marketing strategies to attract women to their companies>>