Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008 - (Page 35)

appropriate skills to greet, qualify, explain, and so on,” Mazerov continued. “Finally, we have to have a process in place to ensure that there’s follow up. The big question for us was, ‘Will there be follow up?’ As it turns out, there wasn’t.” Fix the problem America has more than four million homes that are sitting as unsold inventory. According to Red Tree Marketing Resultants co-founder Brendan Miller, a former corporate marketing executive in the home-building industry, this inventory might stagnate for a long time if homebuilders continue to ignore the fundamental principals of marketing. Miller suggests that homebuilders already have skilled salespeople and proper tools. But these need honing. Home builders need to ensure their CRM systems are used regularly to track buyer visits and builders should use their marketing departments and ad agencies to do more than just place and create a promotional material, Miller explained. “The marketing departments and ad agencies need to dedicate the same attention to developing customer followup programs as they do in their sales-center designs and advertising campaigns,” said Miller. “They should think of the follow-up program just like another creative advertising campaign.” Mazerov recommends his clients take a strategic, three-legged stool approach: marketing, advertising and sales. Together, they provide the support to get the buyers in the door, allow them to leave with a coordinated follow up and get them to return for the closing. “There needs to be an overall process that starts with understanding the consumer, building a strategy, crafting creative, then ensuring that the experience is absolutely, extraordinarily, unexpectedly good; and then, following up,” says Mazerov. “The follow up has to be every bit as good as the initial advertising. If builders aren’t comfortable with that process, they will lose business to competitors who are.” Mazerov cites the success of a Texas home-building client who followed this advice and recently experienced an 18 times return on profit. “We insisted up front that before any creative runs, the sales force is prepared to systematically follow up,” he said. “Ultimately, this creates a positive experience for buyers and a successful sales method for home builders.” “The result of our 18-page study is that Colorado home builders are losing millions on their advertising investments and in lost sales,” said Mazerov. “Essen- tially, the builders are diminishing the number of qualified leads and reducing their ability to close a sale. This is certainly not an ideal process given the current state of the housing market.” For a copy of the Builder White Paper, visit www.redtreeresults.com. SLDT About the author: Marc Lumpkin is a communications and public relations professional in Denver. He can be reached at marc@altitudepr.com. Stormwater Management Systems Our Product Line Includes: ° Detention Protect downstream channels from erosion. • Recharge Preserve existing ground water table elevation. • Infiltration Temporarily store WQv allowing infiltration into soil. • Filtration Remove 80% TSS, nutrients, hydrocarbons and trace metals. • Separation Remove suspended solids, free floating oil and debris. www.rotondo-es.com Circle 195 • or www.SLDTonline.com/webcard www.SLDTonline.com 35 http://www.redtreeresults.com http://www.rotondo-es.com http://www.rotondo-es.com http://www.SLDTonline.com/webcard http://www.SLDTonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008

Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008 Contents Our Voice Editorial Board SLDT Resources Where Rubber Meets the Road Integrated Planning: The Key To Developing Sustainable Planned Communities Win-Win For College and Community Industry Spotlight: Transoft Unique Organization, Unique Opportunity New Preferred Provider Comments from the Austin Conference Welcome New Members New Knowledge Project Articles Books Going Green Business Management Risk Management Surveying and Mapping Industry News Products/Services Showcase Advertiser Index Classifieds The Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008

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