Power Packed Ideas
To
Seize The Market in 2011
International Builder Show
Orlando, Florida


Bonnie Alfriend, MIRM, IRM Fellow
Best Selling Author
New Home Sales Management: How To Build & Lead A Winning Team
&
Secrets Of The Superstars: Excellence In Selling New Homes
831-648-1772
Email:Balfriend@aol.com
Website: WWW.BonnieAlfriend.com

BONNIE ALFRIEND, MIRM, IRM Fellow

Alfriend Sales and Marketing Solutions

Bonnie Alfriend has been involved in the home building industry since 1967, and has served as Vice President of Lansing Development, Inc., a building company specializing in multi family and single-family homes. She acquired the company and served as owner president before becoming Director of Marketing and Sales for Mount Vernon New Homes and Condominiums, managing over one billion dollars in total sales.

She holds the CRB and MIRM national marketing designations, is a licensed real estate broker, a accredited IRM and CSP instructor for the National Association of Home Builders and has served as Trustee for the National Sales and Marketing Council and the Institute of Residential Marketing. She was President of NAHB’s Institute of Residential Marketing in 2003.

As a well-known and much sought after national and international speaker, writer and educator, Bonnie is a featured speaker at NAHB and Home Builders Associations throughout North America.

Bonnie is the author of two best selling books, Secrets of the Superstars: Excellence in Selling New Homes and New Home Sales Management: How to Build and Lead a Winning Team. She received the prestigious NAHB/NSMC Trina Ripley Excellence in Education Award in 1999. Bonnie was induced as the first Fellow of The Institute of Residential Marketing, and received the coveted Bill Molster Award from NAHB the same year.

You may order her books on line at www.BonnieAlfriend.com

The Good News

The Great News - we are still here. It has not been easy and we have a bit more month at the end of our money but we are still here.

Let us start with a grateful mind and heart

1. Gratitude that we are still in the game whether by luck or great marketing and sales skills.
2. Reflection: What is going well? Accentuate the Positive – Eliminate the Negatives.
3. Move Towards the Future with optimism. Leave the Past Behind. Look at the world through rose-colored glasses.

As marketing Executive our time has come. Seldom in the history of housing has there such an urgent need for professionals to step up to the plate and turn their companies around. Remember nothing happens until someone sells something.

The key to move a Homebuilding company from surviving to thriving profitably in 2011 lies within the efficient and excellent execution of cutting edge marketing and sales strategies and tactics.

The very fundamentals of our business are the 4 P’s of marketing. Somewhere between the The Great Boom and The Great Recession we lost our way. Became too specialized and autonomous, working in our own area of specialization without taking into account it is the sum total of the parts that must work in harmony with each other. So here they are again.

Price
Product
Place
Promotion

To have successful results each must be in balance one with another.

1. PRICE: Today pricing is probably the most crucial component of the mix. Appraisers and lenders are fiercely defending a value/price/cost ratio. They are adding distress homes and unlike product to lower value and appraisals. Builders must be costs conscious and competitive with their pricing strategy. The consumer will not pay for things in a home that they do not want.
2.PRODUCT: What fun we can have introducing new and exciting functional and livable homes to the market. The extravagance of the Boomer is finally over. In fact that generation no longer wants the market they created. Certainly our younger buyers want simplicity with style, function with purpose. Smart designers are lining trophy Space out. Ceiling heights are lower making homes more energy efficient while giving space back to the 2nd level. This can be done without taking away the feeling of openness. Out with spa tubs which were never used and difficult to get into and out of. And what about those bathrooms that were larger than many ballrooms with fireplaces and lounge sofas? Out, out, out. Kitchens are the heart of the home not a commercial restaurant. It is the most important room in the home and the most expensive to build. All the conveniences and technology is still important but just don’t break the bank. Even in traditional areas of the country formal spaces (LR, DR) are slowly shrinking or being turned into libraries, study corners, family computer stations.
3. PLACE: Probably the most costly mistake made during the boom in housing was buying up too much overpriced and undesirable land. Also we must remember as we are heading into recovery that cheap land can also end up being our most extravagant and costly investment. Build where people want to live and find a way to deliver product at a price they can afford and will buy.
4. PROMOTION: Marketing and Sales is not about the most beautiful advertising, marketing materials, and promotion. In fact print advertising and materials are probably the least effective tools to bring people into your homes. Balance all four components of marketing with equal excellence and you will have a home run project. As they say you can have one without the others.

The first call to Action:

1. Take a good look at yourself
2. Do you have the best team in your market?
3. Now is the time to select and recruit the Best in the Business.

With the downturn in the market excellent marketing executives, sales managers and great sales professionals are looking to join together with a progressive building team. There is no shortage of the best people in the business. This where opportunity meets need.
4. Checks and balance. Is our marketing plan and budget based on sound research and relevant execution? Old habits are hard to break. During the hay day of the late 90’s and early 2000’s we added far too many unproductive and unprofitable items to the plan. They were not effective then and they are certainly not effective now. The customer has changed, the baby boomer, grew up, grew old and no longer has interest in the market trends they created.
5. The primary question – is it good enough to knock out your competition? How good is your website? With 89-90% of your prospects visiting you there and possibly eliminating you before you have a chance.

Plan your marketing, prepare your program, be cost conscious, and deliver to a finite target market.

We took a look at several Homebuilding Companies that are doing things right. They represent different locations in the country, different price points, and different product.

Capital Homes – Tulsa, Ok

They have commitment time, money and energy in the customer/s in the marketplace: The Realtor Community, a somewhat forgotten partner in the heyday. In December there was a signing bonus of several hundred dollars. In 2011 the incentive program follows:
3% for 1st sale
3.5% for 2nd sale
4% for 3rd sale

In addition Capital Homes utilizes their blog and website to send news and help to educate and inform their readers.

“Boost your credit score and achieve our dream of owning a new home – Lenders and Consultant are standing by.”
Their website also credits and features their quality partners. Ask your partners to reciprocate on their sites with testimonials about your quality and commitment.

Virginia Homes of Central Ohio

Virginia Homes is the only Woman-Centric Homebuilder in Central Ohio. They are committed to a brand that cannot be duplicated. They pay particular attention to flexible design elements in the home such as rear foyers with drop zones and charging stations, abundant storage and work-in pantry. Product is their focus and they offer design features that have not been offered in their market. They alone are delivering what the people of Central Ohio want and need. People buy your differences not your similarities. Virginia Homes is bringing folks a home the way a home of today should live.

Victory Development, Hawaii, LLC

Through Hawai’i BuiltGreen Victory Homes has connected his product and place with nature and a commitment to be a very responsible steward of our natural resources.

Connecting the art of building with an appreciation of its surrounding environment the builder/developers knowledge goes and expertise go beyond mere design and construction, taking in consideration the buyer’s total lifestyle.

There are 116 million Americans fall into Generation X & Generation Y demographics, and Victory Homes has spoken to their goal and ambition – save the planet for future generations, live efficiency, buy green

In addition on the Island of Maui Victory Homes has a wonderful neighborhood, Kai Ani Village, where the builder I preserving the treasured wetlands on the property and energy and water efficiency for Smart Growth. They are setting an example and momentum to other builders and developers on this beautiful island.

The Loss of Sales Management

This Great Recession caused many cuts backs and changes. Probably one of the most horrific ones was the losing so many sales managers. That is someone who directly supervises, trains and coaches salespeople. Around 75% of new home salespeople working today came into the business during the days of easy sales and managing long escrow timetables rather than creating sales, prospecting, lead generating and having to work to persuade and close customers. Skills needed today were not needed at that time in the same way and little or no practice and training was given to this area.

Management gives responsibility and expects accountability in return. Everyone wants and needs to know what is expected of them and when they do a good job. People perform in direct proportion to the level of expectation that has been set.
Without a leader to inspire and motivate – salespeople hear only the voice of the customers. “Lower the price, correct the product and maybe I will buy if you throw in a few extras.”

Educate, Coach, Evaluate, Build Self Confidence. Managers also must develop the courage to make tough decisions.

Sales Culture: It is a whole new world out there. No longer can salespeople play the blame game and expect marketing to bring in enough business to make the sales necessary to stay I business. They must be accountable to Marketing and Management for correct reporting and sourcing traffic. It is expected that they perform results driven networking and follow up- a major job requirement. They should b responsible for generating 30% of the leads coming into the sales center.

` Knowledge: A Powerful Tool

Selling during The Great Recession and Recovery is not easy
Salespeople must learn new skills
Salespeople must spend time and money on self improvement and skill development
It is a travesty to put a team on the sales floor without preparing them properly. Unfair to the salesperson and unfair to the consumer and will cost thousands of dollars in lost sales.
Minimum educational requirement is CSP, Certified Sales Professional, the only national designation for professional new home sales people.

Videos & Virtual Tours
Active and Interactive

Keep your homes open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Sales representative: Start with an introduction and welcome just as they would if they were face to face
Builder/Developer: End with a thank you for watching.
Invite your owners to be in the video

Push and Pull Advertising and Promotion

A CD showing your homes and team have become the new business card
Interactive virtual tour on your website
Insert a copy of your video I your brochure
Share with networking group, centers of influence, new friends at IBS

For video production there is help. Professional companies such as ‘tourfactory’ will film your homes, and connect you with numerous networking and social media sites, such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, Move and many others.

For the budget minded with the right equipment and editing you can produce a nice video.

Remember High Tech is not a Contact Sport

Technology should give us more time for high touch.
Customers are desperate to be heard, appreciated, and served – on their own terms.
From Welcome to Move-In make every contact as personal as possible.

We would all agree that technology and social media is here to stay with changes and opportunities developing as we speak. After all Mark Ruttenberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was just named at the young age of 26 Man of The Year by Time Magazine.

However, people craved attention, great service and appreciation more than ever. The homebulding business is one place those needs can and should be met. With all the technological advancements few homes are sold and title transferred without the influence of a sales person. In fact after the sale 92% of buyers say it was the trust and confidence In their salesperson who made the different between buying and not buying.

In great times and lean times always remember YOU create your own destiny.

Have a safe, healthy and abundant 2011