By Jim Matoska, ESI Living, jmatoska@echelonsales.com 407.835.3621
There are key steps in the sales and marketing process, that when performed in concert and precision delivered are “magic bullets.” It is how we helped developer-clients make more sales, every month in 2009. Here’s an example: Map your presentation and pinpoint every location (especially homes and homesites) where you will tell a third-party story about who purchased and why. This is easy to do and will make your presentation more impactful than the typical show and tell tour. Use at least 20 locations. This enables you to spread your stories, keep the emotion high through the tour and cover important decision points on customers minds that they may not share (remoteness, price, stage of development). You’ll make the tour more informative, enjoyable and break up the monotony of “nothing to see” in the community, especially in pre-development or new areas. The tour can last a few hours and lose attention, excitement and interest, leading them to feel held captive rather than captivated. Plan it first to see where there is a “lull in the action”. Make each story address a different point (urgency, buying land now instead of waiting, value over competition—etc). Winging it will result in a flat presentation and fewer sales.

Pending home sales rose in May for the fourth straight month, fresh evidence that the housing sector may be recovering. The National Association of Realtors said pending sales increased 0.1 percent to 90.7.

May, home inventories fell 3.5%, to just over a 9 month supply.
Sales are improving for many builders. Lennar reported it sold more than 3,500 homes between March and May ‘09, a 63% increase over the first quarter. KB Home said its second-quarter sales jumped 59%, to 2,910 homes. Smaller Essex sold 40 homes in April, “which is as good as any month we’ve ever had,” said Haslinger, whose company sold 340 homes last year, down from its 430-unit boomtime peak.

Builders say it’s not just first-time buyers who are returning to the market. “In the past 30 days, we’ve done more business than we’ve done in the first four-and-a-half months of the year,” Kelly Dempsey, v p of sales and marketing, Jim Chapman Communities, told BUILDER Magazine. Jim Chapman, Atlanta, builds small (less than 100 units) infill, active adult communities. “I think they’ve come to the acceptance that [the housing market] is what it is,” Dempsey said. “People are done grieving” for their lost housing wealth and are ready to move forward.

Sales of existing single family homes jumped 101% above (719) May ‘08 to 1,451. Since Jan., 66% of sold, single family homes, on the MLS were bank-owned; 64% were cash. May 31, 7,477 active existing single-family residential properties were listed versus 11,634 last year (33.7% drop). Listings were down 13.7% from April.

Opened May 15, the 2009 model home will be visited by thousands of buyer prospects. It anchors Reynolds Signature Communities and Linger Longer Homes as superior builder/developers for the over 50-year-old, resort and retiree buyer who increasingly demand homes rather than just sites. It is another reason to visit the Plantation. The show home will also be featured in 8 pages of Ideal Living Magazine this Summer and in a seminar, “Building Your Ideal Dream Home” at Live South Real Estate Shows. View Ideal Home

RPI’s June 17 e-camaign, “Top Places for a Vacation Home”, generated the most unique visits on Livesouth.com since 2006, (2,888 visits) and 155 leads in one day. The email campaign featured participating communities who also each received between 93-383, click thrus to their site, registrations and calls.

Positive housing news abounds. Moody’s Economist, Mark Zandi, confirmed April as the bottom at the NAHB 50+ Symposium April 28, and pending home sales jumped 6.7%, the most since ‘01. May new home construction leaped 17.2%.

How do you plan to make your sales goals in the last quarter as markets recover?
Now is the time to Come Meet Your Buyers

Northern VA Most Affluent US Market Read Article Wealth helps explain why RPI’s Live South Shows continue to produce buyers, all seven markets, including the 3 to be held this September, Long Island, NY, Northern, NJ and Reston, VA, are among the Top 20 US areas unaffected by the recession. It makes sense to target areas with able and willing buyers.
View September Shows

The NAHB reported June 22, from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in CA (the worst US housing market) this week…

Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s economy.com, said that he thought we [CA] were hitting bottom and that “it’s time for builders and developers to get back in the game.”
An increase in consumer confidence and signs that the national economy is beginning to stabilize provide a basis for optimism among home builders, he said.

Pollster J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich Partners, Inc., told PCBC attendees that they are going to have to learn how to make the most of the current economy by responding to the “liquidity trap” that has been a shock to demand and has gotten consumers “rethinking value in a fundamental way.”
“There is a lot of change in the marketplace,” Yankelovich said, “but opportunities haven’t disappeared.” He pointed to such companies as Hyundai, Jet Blue, Jos. A. Banks and Bigelow Homes, all of which have offered their buyers financial incentives to help mitigate the risks resulting from losing a job.
”Consumers now have a different framework within which they will make decisions, driven by responsibility,” he said. “Your approach to the marketplace has to reflect this.”
They will be just as aspirational as ever, with a different budget,” and they will be more averse to risk and have a smaller appetite for debt.
“You have to innovate, or you will die,” he said. “Consumers want something new.”
Yankelovich cited recent polling 61% of Americans believe they are headed for a brighter future, 15 percentage points higher than in 1979.
“Optimism is something that sells nowadays,” he said, and builders should be offering their customers something that looks on the bright side and allows them to reinvent themselves.
Eighty-seven percent of the public believes that it’s too easy today to avoid taking responsibility for personal decisions, he said, and 41% say that not buying a home that is larger than what you need is being a good citizen. View article
Dave Robertson, President, RPI Media Inc. DaveR@LIveSouth.com

The Fall sales season is crucial for many communities. It is when you will make or break your 2008 budget. Be ready now to make sales by analyzing the sales conversion formula to determine what actions you should take. Getting new buyer prospects and making appointments are key during September in order to make October - December sales. If you need 40 sales, assuming closing 10% average, you should have 400 appointments booked. Remember to block out Xmas and Turkey day.

To make 400 appointments you need at least 2,000 “A” prospects which is typically 20% of total. Which means you should have at least 10,000 qualified prospects in your database.

Shows yield both prospects and appointments. They also present the chance to contact your database in the market you will exhibit. Remember urgency for the 50+ resort or retirement home buyer is “getting what they want while they are young enough to enjoy it.” Contact RPI Media for assistance in making a fourth quarter plan of success. This fall, you can make your budget, let us show you how!