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In this segment, expert panelists cover current sales and marketing challenges, business plan predictions for 2008, and long-term prospects for the industry.
A slower pace, streamlined choices, and more education lead to higher options sales at Ryland Homes in Phoenix.
Before buyers spend years in a home, they'll spend critical hours in a welcome center, a sales center, or a design center. A disconnect at any one of these points can be the difference between a customer who is happy to refer friends and family and one who just wants to get the whole thing over...
A big builder and an electronics retailer form an agreement to market audio/video systems.
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For years, home builders have been looking for a reliable software tool that would let home buyers view home plans and models and select options in 3-D and then integrate with a builder's back-office system.
The Estridge Home Experience offers the public the opportunity to see the latest in home décor trends, learn about Estridge communities, observe the options and upgrades process, and buy something wonderful for their home
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Smart builders these days are offering prepackaged options that are easier for buyers to select and easier for staff to manage.
YOU CAN'T ARGUE WITH THE NUMBERS. SINCE VERIDIAN Homes in Madison, Wis., opened its new design center in November 2003, the sale of upgrades has increased by 30 percent. Not only that, but the builder attributes 12.7 percent of all new traffic and nearly 10 percent of its closings to first contacts...
Smaller companies are finding creative ways to give customers the personalization they crave, while minimizing the organizational burdens that can drain staff and siphon profits.
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- SpeakerCraft's Proficient Audio Systems now features two new programs.
- M&S Systems markets intercom to residential builders.
- Xplore Technologies Corp. releases affordable heavy-duty Tablet PC for builders.
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By BUILDER Magazine Staff. A discussion and demonstration on how builder design centers and warranty departments can leverage the tools of technology and the internet to create 1. This session will explore how progressive builders are turning internet leads into sales, the profile of a successful...
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"We were the first in our market to have a design center, but a lot of other builders are now offering them," says Kara Opanowicz, Hovnanian Enterprises' Home Design Gallery director. But the first company in the United States to offer a design center was probably Rayco Homes in San Antonio, says...
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From the 2003 National Sales and Marketing Awards: Schumacher Homes may have built the design center of all design centers. Fifty percent of Serrano's buyers come from the Bay area, and when the ad ran, traffic reached a total of 12,000.
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Rather than make design decisions in a sales office, today's buyers are likely to visit a showroom. Instead of simply selecting carpets, countertops, and the color of appliances, they're confronted with a dozen different walk-in kitchen and bath vignettes, half a dozen fireplace surrounds, and a...
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"The average consumer expects to be treated like a VIP whether or not they're wealthy," says Barbara Caplan, a partner at Yankelovich, the market research firm based in Chapel Hill, N.C. "They have this level of control in the marketplace and expect to have a dialogue about their options."The trend...
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The Ryland Group, Toll Brothers, John Laing Homes, and Centex Homes all put a distinctive spin on programs offered to those who sell options and upgrades.
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The process that new home buyers go through to select options and upgrades has evolved over years of practice. "So far this year, 30 percent of our profit comes from our design centers," says John Rymer, vice president of sales and marketing, Morrison Homes in Atlanta.
The selections process isn't what it used to be, and I mean that in a good way. Once a seeming afterthought, with carpet samples propped up against a garage wall and photocopied images of refrigerators stuffed into a well-worn plastic binder, the process left a lot to be desired.