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Attention Homebuilders, Remodelers and Associates who are sick of fighting the market...

"Do You Remember the Day? The Day You Discovered that Promoting Yourself as a Quality Family-Owned Builder
Wasn't Going to Cut it Anymore?"

This group of builders does and here is their story of what they did to beat foreclosures, low consumer confidence and a 70% decline in the market.

From: Rick Storlie

The year was 1992 and the beginning of my new home sales career. I was a snot nose kid fresh out of college with a real estate degree thinking I knew it all. The reality of the situation was I didn't know squat.

My first lesson came with my very first sale. What was it you ask?

Rick Storlie's First Lesson in New Home Sales...

"If mama ain't on board there's no
way daddy is getting his way."

To put it more professionally, women have a lot more influence in the decision to purchase or remodel a home than a man.

So what did I do about it back in 1992? We'll, if I was dealing with a couple, I made sure I engaged her at least as much as him.

How about you...

What do you do differently when you deal with a woman?

Do you think about it much?

Do you adjust your sales and marketing systems towards women?

Do you study why women buy and don't buy?

If you answered "Not a whole lot"
and "Not Really", you were just like me.

How were your sales from 1992 – 2005? In most cases I'll bet they were pretty good. Throughout those years, in most parts of the country, we had a market that not only made that possible, it made it fairly easy.

Fast forward 15 years to February 2007. A client's architectural designer copied me on an email regarding a homebuilder's program called Woman-Centric Matters™ from Design Basics, a firm that sells home plans.

I followed up on it and attended what was called a Think Tank where I spent two half days saying to myself, "You idiot. It was right in front of you all along!"

The program is based on one simple statistic...

"Women directly purchase or have a
controlling influence in the purchase of
91% of all new homes."
(Smith-Dahmer Associates, NAHB IBS)

I realized I had just spent 15 years marketing and selling homes, knowing women made all the decisions, and never doing much about it.

What followed was 2 years of studying women's influence not only on purchasing new homes and remodelling but their influence in all aspects of marketing. Consider these facts about American Women...

  • The Earth's largest economy: American Women (Tom Peters)
  • 92% of women use the internet to shop for homes, making them the most powerful online audience of home buyers. ("Multi-tasking Women," Building Women, Summer 2005)
  • Women make 83% of all consumer purchases. (Business Week)
  • Females influence 80% of ALL purchases and have 95% veto power regarding automotive purchases. (Ford Motor Company)
  • Women pay 70% of all household bills (NetSmart America)
  • The median income of men in 2005 was 2% higher than in 1973 compared to a 74.6% increase for female earners (U.S. Census Bureau)

What is the number one secret to increasing new home sales that most home builders will never discover?

You got it- positioning your business to appeal to women.

After I attended Design Basic's Think Tank I had officially "drank the Kool Aid" and encouraged 5 of my builder client's to do the same. Each of them attended and walked away from the seminar with the same thought.

"Building a great home with quality products,
service and craftsmanship is the equivalent
of meeting building code. It's the minimum
requirement to be in business today."

All 5 builders signed on to fundamentally change the way they have operated their business. Here's more of their story.

Market Positioning

Before taking a Woman-Centric approach to building homes all the builders realized two things:

1st- Each of them was positioning themselves as a family-owned builder (along with all their competitors).

2nd- They were also promoting themselves as quality builders (just like the builder down the street).

What did it add up to?

The market (consumers) looked at them as being just like everyone else. If a consumer thinks you are just like all your competitors, what is the one differentiator?

Price!

They also realized that if they continued to promote themselves as general contractors they would continue to attract people generally focused on the lowest price (does any of this sound familiar?)!

Are You Fighting the Market?

Most homebuilders and remodelers unknowingly fight the market making it harder to sell their homes and services. How you ask? They don't understand the three phases of marketing. Prior to 2007, my clients didn't either.

The three phases of marketing are:

Phase I: Attracting Home Buyers through Market
Positioning.

Phase II: Generating a Steady Stream of Leads Based on
a Particular Market Position.

Phase III: Converting a High Percentage of Those Leads to
Buyers at Maximum Profits.

My client's thought that building a quality home, all their competitors' market positions, was good enough (when the market was good it was enough. There's enough business to go around!). What they didn't take into consideration was what happens when the market isn't so good.

People still build and remodel homes in down markets. They're just much more particular at who they choose to do it. In other words, they look for a specialist.

How My Clients Quit Fighting the Market and Became Specialists

They started by focusing on changing the internal perception of who they were (Phase I- Market Positioning) first with their employees and key suppliers/subcontractors.

Next, I worked with each of them to define their Woman-Centric experience. Each has a documented system that is carefully staged throughout the shopping, designing and building process. Nothing is left to chance.

After that some, but not all, were able to build new model homes or remodel existing ones to reflect the Woman-Centric design philosophy. This launched the external market positioning process.

The Results

(Note: For a complete documentation of the case study, click here and download your FREE marketing guide Case Study: How 5 Homebuilders from Minneapolis Became Remarkable.)

Since 2007 our Woman-Centric consortium has grown to include 2 design/build remodelers. All of the contractors are now manipulating their Woman-Centric position to attract consumers looking for a unique, special and different home.

Each builder's sales success has been dependent on their efforts to incorporate the Woman-Centric philosophy into their core company values and most importantly, their home designs.

Many of the builders had model and spec homes that were on the market for 2+ years. Some still have old designs that have not sold after 4 years.

"Not 1 Woman-Centric model or spec home
has been for sale longer than 12 months
and most have sold in 6 months or less.
Where other homes didn't sell or took a
beating on price, these homes have all
sold and made a decent profit."

The Next Phase

Many of the key suppliers that were involved in the initial Woman-Centric training have seen the builder's success and have expressed interest in joining our Woman-Centric consortium>>.

We are creating an associates section within the consortium to support the builders/remodelers plus give these associates a leg up on their own competitors. The associates will also help expand the Woman-Centric brand through experiential events and cooperative marketing.

Finally, with the current crappy climate for acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) financing, we hope these associates will see the opportunity the Woman-Centric philosophy brings to the market and develop strategic partnerships with the builders to help get new Woman-Centric model homes built.

If you would like more information on the Minnesota Woman-Centric Consortium homebuilder/remodeler or  associate program, please fill out the form below and I'll be happy to get you more details.

If you operate outside of Minnesota, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction too.

Thanks and Happy Selling!
Rick Storlie
Rick Storlie

Attention Home Builders and Remodelers
Are You Unknowingly Fighting the Market and Making it Harder to…

...Differentiate Your Company (besides the lowest price)?
...Generate New Leads Interested in More Than Just Price?
...Sell More Homes and Remodeling Services at Good Profits?

Play this video to see how a system called Multi-Step Marketing can position your company as a specialist, generate leads interested in your unique offering via your website and convert a high percentage of those leads to sales.

 

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