Before I explain in more detail, here is the list I created for my builder’s marketing, online sales, and design studio group:

S.P.I.R.I.T.

SERVICE: We are all here to serve others, not to be served.
PROBLEMS: Never share your problems without also sharing a potential solution.
INFLUENCE: Develop relationships that allow you to get things done because of who knows you, not what your title is.
RISK: Taking risks is not optional; it is required to invent something better – for change to occur.
IMPROVEMENT: Improvement in yourself and your work must be a daily goal.
TIME: Put in the time needed to get the job done – including the extra 15 minutes to make it great.

Job descriptions do serve a purpose in describing the deliverable expectations of a position, but they often ignore the importance of how you arrive at those deliverables. Do you have an employee who consistent produces good work, but leaves bodies in their wake? Do you have a sales person who always hits their goal for the month, but is always complaining to everyone they interact with? Are you nervous to have conversations with people about their behavior or attitudes because you’re not sure how to have them without making it feel like a personal attack?

By publishing this list and making all new hires agree to follow them, you now have something to reference and hold people accountable to and in time it will have an enormous impact on your corporate culture. I’m not sure what should be on your list, but you do. Resist the temptation to re-use someone else’s – it has to be something you own and individual to your goals. Finally, remember that you can’t hold anyone accountable to something you don’t hold yourself accountable too as well.

What would be on your non-negotiable list? Share in the comments below.

There is always someone hungrier and less risk averse than your company who will offer something cheaper. I once had someone tell me, “Yeah, but no one will trust those cheaper guys. Look at the Chinese drywall scandal – you get what you pay for.” He didn’t see the irony in his own statement, but that is your prospects mindset too.

What about resale? What about foreclosures? Might they offer a cheaper price per square foot? If they do, then the sales person will have to backtrack and explain why value – not price – is what they really need to be thinking about. While I’m thinking about it – do people really purchase by square feet? As they walk through your model home can you see their lips move as they silently count off their steps? When I showed a photo of this billboard to a friend of mine he asked “Is he a home builder or a shoe cobbler?”

Sure – everyone starts out with a desired threshold number. 2,000 square feet for example. It’s a nice round number… why not? The reality is that it is just like a mortgage amount to them. Ask someone how they came up with their square footage threshold and they’ll tell you the same way they came up with their mortgage limit. “I don’t really know – it is what we’re comfortable with.” Let me suggest that when a prospect brings up price per square foot to you that you should only internalize it as this – they have been to a low price competitor already. They are only asking you to defend your value (not your price!). Remember that they are in front of you because they love your home (or else they would have just bought what was cheapest).

So that this post doesn’t go on forever let me list three quick downsides to this message in terms of buyer psychology:

1. Which Side of the Brain Are You On?

Focusing on price takes people to the analytical left-brain and away from their emotional right brain. You are trying to prime the sales pump – but you are more likely to stall out the engine. We all feel long before we think. A recent IPA database study of hundreds of advertising campaigns found that emotionally oriented ads generated twice as much profitability as hard-sell ones.

2. You Get What You…

Price and quality are linked incredibly close during the initial exploration and information gathering part of shopping. Everyone wants the highest quality – however they are not sure they can afford it (or if it would be wise even if they could). However in the United States today there are more people who will rule out the cheapest right from the beginning than will rule out the most expensive. Stories of recalls, safety notices, and worse have all caused the consumer – especially the female consumer – to look for safety in quality. Those who keep the lowest price in their consideration set will be more skeptical and potentially harder to convert. They will keep the more expensive options open longer when searching for a home because it is what they aspire to, and are hopeful they can find a way to make it affordable.

This brings up an interesting side topic of surprise. Let’s say your company was committed to being affordable, but you didn’t lead with it. Instead you started with how beautiful your homes are, national quality awards that you have won, and an innovative home design process that is fun and pain free? After all that, then you proved that you were also extremely affordable. How would your prospects be likely to react? Never discount the emotions of surprise and delight. Timing matters – a lot.

3. Is That All?

Leading with a low price leads consumers to believe you have nothing better to talk about, and without experiencing or researching your product – price has no meaning. I’ll prove it to you. Do you want to buy this really cool thing from me? It’s in my pocket and you can have it – and it’s only $50. The skeptics out there are saying “that’s not the same at all. At least in the billboard people know you’re talking about a house. I have no idea what is in your pocket.” Touché. Ok, I have a ring in my pocket and it’s only $50… no do you want it or not? I could have a 2ct. diamond ring or a my two year old’s costume ring but because you don’t know enough about it you can’t even begin to determine if you are getting more or less for your money.

The words I don’t care for in the message on this billboard are “price per square foot.” I do like the word “best,” but that alone wouldn’t make a very good… wait a minute.

(If you missed the other post discussing the use of billboards as a medium and the creative design of this particular one, you can read about it here.)

I grew up in Ohio and worked for a home builder there for several years, and so I’ve been very aware of Schumacher Homes and their brand. They build a good home at a fair price on your own home site. Their advertising was always well executed and thoughtful. I even had a moment to meet Paul Schumacher and one or two of his executives at this year’s International Builders Show and they all were really sharp and engaging people. So before I begin my analysis let me say that the actual builder here is coincidental – and I wish Schumacher continued success!

I have actually seen similar billboards for Schumacher in several states recently (Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia). I have a hunch they they may have partnered with either a national billboard company (a Lamar board is pictured here) or several regional ones to place one large buy of inventory at a greatly reduced price. I have purchased billboards at up to 90% off of their retail price using similar tactics. To be clear I’m not anti-billboard at all if they are purchased smartly. I think in the right locations for the right price they can be very effective. As a medium though, they can suck cash out of your budget quickly if done improperly – so be careful.

Let’s continue on to the creative design of the board. It is very clear and straightforward in its main message (best price per square foot) and its call to action (the website). The “on your lot” banner and energy star logo are nearly lost completely and probably should have been dropped or repositioned. The image I’m also hoping they have changed per market to appeal to those who are most likely to pass by, but I can’t confirm that is the case.

Lets talk for a moment about the large and clear website on the bottom. I’m becoming convinced that website names in certain forms of advertising are become less important every day based upon how people interact with the web. IF you have an SEO strategy and execute it properly then you don’t have to try and brand the website as much as your company. When the prospect sits down at the computer they will type your name into Google and find you quickly and easily. I tried typing in Schumacher Homes with about 15 different spellings and each one brought me right where I was trying to get to. Perhaps they were concerned that their traditional logo would be unreadable at higher speeds, I’m not sure. In any case how likely is it for a prospect to go to that website the moment they see it while driving 70 MPH down the freeway?  Or will they wait until a later moment in time and attempt to recall what they saw – most likely by typing it into a search engine. Something to think about – especially if you’re not confident in your SEO strategy.

The last item I want to discuss on the creative design is the selection of color. While it is true that black and white are a high contrast combination, they also tend to feel a bit lifeless and bland. If you’ve seen ads of theirs in other mediums, or you’ve visited their website then you know what a great job they generally do with color. In this case though, it subconsciously tells consumers that the way they achieve the best price is by potentially cutting quality. Which is a shame because using color would not have cost any more – however that is still what is inferred.

We’ve covered the medium and creative design, but there is much so more to discuss. Come back and we’ll look deeply at the message and the psychology behind it in part two.

What do YOU think about billboards as an advertising medium? What about their design for this one?

Now since you probably already know that I’m a huge tech head, you may be wondering why I was impressed that something was intentionally left out (although maybe not if you recall my “missing list” post a while back) – especially since both are really software issues? 4g is certainly fast enough for Facetime to work well, and Siri would certainly run well on a device that is every bit as powerful as the iPhone 4s. So why did Apple choose not to include them?

Neither met Apple’s own internal minimum standards for delivering a reliable customer experience that they would be proud of. Let me explain. (If you aren’t familiar with Siri, please watch this first)

Siri records sound from your device, and then sends that sound over the internet to Apple servers who interpret the sound and send back a response. This means that on the Wi-Fi only (very popular) versions of the iPad customers would have heard a reply like “Sorry, I can’t help you with that right now” anytime they weren’t on a Wi-Fi network. Imagine if they saw an advertisement of an iPad running Siri and theirs often ”didn’t work” for a reason they likely do not understand – how frustrating! This isn’t an issue with an iPhone because except in airplane mode (or if the user is techy enough to navigate multiple menus to turn off cellular data) it is always connected via 3g to process the data and give Siri its witty reply to your request.

Similar story with Facetime. 4g coverage isn’t wide spread enough to reliable offer a seamless experience, and a customer’s data plan could be eaten up real fast during a Facetime call causing a larger than expected data bill and – again – an even more negative (and expensive) experience.

This is all layered on the idea that Apple products are “just supposed to work.” A perceived failure rate (remember – the software isn’t failing) of even 15% on these two singular experiences could have harmed Apple’s brand. They weren’t willing to risk it, and I applaud them for it.

Some people say Apple thinks that the people who buy their products are too stupid and that is why they make decisions to “protect people from themselves.” I think they have too much respect for their reputation, the product they deliver, and their customers to offer an unreliable experience.

What do you think? Should they have included them? Is it brave or stupid to make a decision like that? Why?

To kick start my first full day at IBS2012, I met for an early breakfast with Myers Barnes. Holy Cow! Everyone knows Myers is high energy, but if you ever have the chance to meet with him for breakfast – you won’t need any coffee! We talked about a number of subjects, but negotiation, in-bred sales team errors (“lift and put” anyone?), and working your way to success despite any economy were high on the list.

Then I headed over to watch Mike Lyon, Scott Stroud, and Shirleen Von Hoffmann present on 100 Ideas to Maximize the Benefits of Your Existing Traffic. If you roll up all the ideas into a few main categories you get the following:

• Maximize your website traffic
• Maximize your Realtor traffic
• Maximize your grand opening traffic
• Maximize your lead conversions
• Maximize your community events
• Maximize your gorilla marketing
• Maximize your social media and tech tools
• Maximize your referrals
• Maximize your registration / qualifying process
• Maximize your follow up

It was a great session filled with immediately implementable ideas. It also included references to Zack Morris (what a guy!), Chris Farley, and Jack Nicholson!

After such an information packed session I needed to take a break and let my mind absorb it all, so I headed out to the show floor. A quick visit to Kohler, Heat & Glo, Dow, to see what was new (it turns out – a lot) and then I began final prep for my talk on mobile marketing at 3:30pm with Tim Costello of BHI. Here are the key points for most builders to understand when it comes to mobile:

• Your customers want you to interact with them via mobile. Most builders see 20% or more of their online traffic from mobile devices (for my builder it is nearly 25%)
• You already are doing mobile marketing even if you don’t think you are because of point number one. Your prospects just not might enjoy the experience.
• Start with content. Until you have high quality photography, videos, and more don’t spend a dime on mobile that you might need to create that content. You will use that content on ALL media, not just mobile!
• Don’t build it yourself, at least to start. There are plenty of pre-built options for builders to take advantage of (like from Builder Designs) and it will prevent costly delays and errors. With these solutions you could have a mobile site in days, not months.

Today I will be tweeting live from the Super Sales Rally (@BrandPossible) at 9am, and going to more educational sessions as well as the Builder Tech show after the days official events are completed, so stay tuned for more!

Let me introduce to another group that is equally as large in our industry – the “not in my market” (NIMM) crowd. Those with the NIMM mentality may say they want to improve, but the reality is that they too are afraid of change.

Almost five years ago I packed up my family and moved to Pittsburgh. I spent the first two weeks at my new job shadowing other managers and asking a lot of questions. I was just trying to soak it all in. As I was riding along with a particular manager I was sharing how my previous employer did a lot of training around the model home demonstration because without it customers would miss a majority of the built-in value.

“Oh. That’s interesting. Yeah, see people in Pittsburgh are very different. They won’t let you walk through the model with them,” they told me. “Yeah they feel like you are hovering over them and they just want their own space to look around. It would just be too strange to guide someone through the model… in this market anyway.”

I wondered what kind of place I had moved to! People in Pittsburgh didn’t like good customer service, to have their questions answered, or feel important? Thankfully I learned quickly that people in Pittsburgh are perfectly normal.

Even more impressive to me is when a NIMM person will tell a paid consultant the same message. You are paying for coaching and advice from someone who travels around the country and gets a chance to see a TON of different markets… and learn what consistently works across all markets. So why would you pull out NIMM on them?

It made me think that NIMM must really be code for something else… but what?

What is it code for?

NIMM is code for “that sounds scary”

Change is always scary, and it is always necessary in some form.

NIMM is code for “I don’t think I could execute that idea”

I want to be very clear here – executing ideas is hard work. I also think it is legitimate to say that to execute a particular idea would cost more time and energy than it is worth for your company. I am simply advocating an honest discussion around that topic instead of ignoring the current reality of your situation. It may open up other doors you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

NIMM is code for “we tried that before”

Did you only try it once? Is it possible you tried doing it the wrong way? Remember Vince Lombardi’s classic line – “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” More than likely you just hadn’t practiced enough before you tried it.

NIMM is code for “I don’t need to do better”

This is the scariest one. Complacency has set in, and sooner or later you will no longer be relevant or able to keep up with those around you. I suggest you go read Who Moved My Cheese? Right now.

But you don’t understand

I can feel the push back – but every market IS different! There’s even a national campaign that says so. I actually agree. However you are making a big mistake if you translate every market is different into – the PEOPLE in every market are different. Sure, the supply and demand curves of land, inventory, and materials will vary by market. The local job creation rate will be different. Even local aesthetic tastes may cause a home to look completely different from a home only 200 miles away.

However, as Jeff Shore said at PCBC last year, people always want to improve their lives. To that I would add that people always want to feel important, always want to be treated fairly, and always want the best value that they can afford. All of those things may display themselves as different preferences by market – but what drives those preferences is the same everywhere.

I’m not asking you to stop disagreeing or thinking critically. I am asking you not to stick your head in the sand and be a NIMMrod.

What did it boil down to? Google helps people find stuff, but Amazon helps people make decisions. In fact, part of his job was to research how to get them to make decisions faster than ever before – or simply to make a decision at all. Why was this important to Amazon?

Amazon, unlike Google, makes absolutely zero dollars from you until you purchase. You could spend five hours researching, comparing, or “shopping” and never make them a dime. In fact, the more time you spend on their site without buying you cost them money to pay for servers, bandwidth, etc. No, Amazon only makes a profit when you make the decision to purchase something.

Andreas went to work in his digital lab and invented something that was pure genius:

What he and other scientists at Amazon realized is that they could tap into the herd mentality hard wired into humans to reassure them that the item they were considering purchasing was worth the money. They lowered the perceived risk and fear of making a decision without actually changing the product at all. They didn’t offer a huge promotion, or a 200% money back guarantee… in fact price played no role at all.

In our industry, the low tech version of this has been well known for decades – Feel, Felt, Found. You acknowledge how the person feels, tell them that’s how others like them felt, until they found out that your product gave them X, Y, Z (best when backed up by actual testimonials). As marketers, it is our job to take this tried and true low tech method and bring it – smartly – to our websites, email campaigns, and collateral material available to the sales team to use as needed.

Here’s just one very direct example of what I’m talking about. What if your website could let your next prospect know that 22% of those who wanted a side-entry garage home design chose the floor plan they were viewing? Even better, all you have to do is make the criteria more specific to make the number higher. Example: 39% of those who wanted a side-entry garage with an optional 1^st floor master bedroom chose this floor plan.

What if the next time your customers viewed their appliance options they saw a bullet that said “68% upgrade to this appliance package” on your mid-tier upgrade?

Time to get in the decision making business. Your bottom line depends on it.

7. Steve Jobs - I’m not going to even try to pretend that Steve Jobs made for the best role model of a father, husband or – even at times – a CEO. However, this insightful look at the development of many of the hottest consumer products ever helps you to understand just how far passion can take you. The idea to put an artist front and center in the development team, to not be run by focus groups, and to add value through curation  are all part of Job’s legacy. You will not want this book to end after you get into it.

8. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – What if you knew that by performing two simple actions you could almost guarantee improved responses to your marketing materials? What if you could drastically increase your sales conversion rates by making a subtle change to your presentation? These seem like fairy tale statements. The promise of a magical silver bullet, right? This classic shows you how you can predictably and repeatedly persuade others to take a desired action. You must promise only to use these powers for good!

9. Browsers to Buyers - When I left Ohio to join Heartland Homes in 2007, the first thing that arrived at my new address was Browsers to Buyers. I had ordered it during my last week at my previous employer, and it spurred the creation of our online sales position shortly after. It is currently being updated by the author – but it still is your best entry into the online sales person role. Just do what it says and see an immediate impact. This year, my online concierge team of 2 will assist with over 170 sales.

10. Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - Brands are not just symbols you can recognize or names that roll off your tongue. Brands, used properly, are a weapon that the competition has no easy answer for. This is perhaps the best book of 2011 that you have never heard of.

11. What’s the Secret: To Providing a World-Class Customer Experience – No one sets out from the beginning to provide bad customer service, but the reality is that most places end up doing just that. What’s wrong here? This insightful book is packed with real life examples and illustrations of how to recruit, train, and empower those who work with you to provide truly remarkable experiences. I don’t know of a home builder yet who does this right… yet. You could be the first with this book.

12. The Toyota Way – Yes, I know about the whole problem with car brakes in 2009/2010, but that still doesn’t mean you can’t learn a thing or two about business from Toyota. Most of us know that “waste” is something that is no longer needed and disposed of, but this book taught me that waste also occurs when you over engineer a product beyond the value level that your prospect is able to perceive. This book is packed with similar insights and is NOT just for manufacturing companies.

That’s it. The 12 books you shouldn’t put off reading any longer. They’ll have a positive impact on your attitude, your outlook, and most importantly – your results and how you achieve them. Here’s to a great 2012.

PS – Let me know what book you would add to this list!

Click here to see the first six books that made the list.

As the New Year began I had many people ask me for a book recommendation. Some were sales people, some were small business owners, and some were just close friends so my answered varied widely. It made me think about what books I would put on my “must read” list for anyone in real estate marketing, advertising, or sales.

So here they are – The first six books on my list of must read books for 2012. Some are old classics, and some are recent best-sellers. Just know that if you read them all then you will be a step ahead of your competitors! (You can click the title of any book to learn more about it!)

1. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing- This should be the first book anyone in marketing, branding, or advertising reads on the subject. Then you should read it a second time and make flash cards. Then you should memorize them. Yep, it’s that important. It is also a very quick and easy read.

2. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose - What kind of person would offer new recruits $2,000 to quit before training classes were over? Or encourage his employees to help customers order a pizza at 2am? A successful entrepreneur and customer service and company culture visionary – Tony Hseih, the CEO of Zappos.com. In 2009, Zappos.com was sold to Amazon.com for $1.2 billion. His insights are all valuable – and applicable – to your business. They may run contrary to the way most companies are run, but that probably only serves to prove that he’s on to something BIG… and that there is more to business than making a quick buck.

3. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions - Have you ever met someone who told you that they think marketing is a waste of time and money? That humans are rational, and will always pick the best value for their money? We all have! That’s why you need to read this book in order to show them scientific research that proves the opposite is true. Humans are not just irrational from time to time – but consistently and predictably. This book changed my life.

4. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity- All the great ideas in the world won’t mean anything if you can’t execute them. This book gives a comprehensive solution for how to stay organized and affective in today’s high speed world. In as little as two days you can be up and running – but it will take a little longer to become a master at it. Besides the book, there are helpful start packets that make it easier.

5. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable - This instant classic from 2002 told the world that to be a successful marketer you could no longer wait for the product to be developed by someone else and then try to put advertising lipstick on their pig. Instead marketers needed to be involved in the development of the product from the start so that it would have something remarkable in it… something others in the company may dismiss or rule irrelevant because it is less efficient.

6. New Home Sales in a Nutshell – This fantastic 115 page book is packed with “hard-boiled advice, tried and true tips, sensible solutions and bold responses to every objection a potential homebuyer presents.” It is something that I have seen have an impact in the life of a sales person again and again in this business. Certainly not one to pass up!

Click here to read about the next six selections, and let me know what you think about the titles on the list – or what you think should have been added!

Q: We build upper end estate type homes typically priced $300K-$700k. Have you sold homes in this price range this way?

A: Our single family homes at Heartland sell from $260k – $900k with an average around $350-$400k so this absolutely works well at this price range. With buyers who have money – urgency is even more important because they have the resources to move forward when they feel the pressure!

Q: I read your eBook. Thank you for sharing this information. My question is have you ever had success explaining this process to another company and they went on and produced a great event? And follow up to that, do you think it is area specific? In other words, camping out at a new community might work well in California back in the day, but has never worked here.

A: I have not shared this information prior to the release of the eBook with other home builders in detail, so there hasn’t been much time to hear stories of success (but please do share yours with me!). To be clear, I have never had home buyers camp out overnight either. Because of the process everyone feels like there is an organized and controlled release of information… it builds urgency, but doesn’t ask your prospects to do anything “unreasonable” (like camp out the night before). We have done this process over 10 times now, and typically sell anywhere from 15% – 25% of the home sites on the first day. The key is to understand and trust the psychology of the system… and do it once just as it is before you try and change anything.

Q: How much do you normally budget for the entire process of the presale program?

A: Great question – it typical costs us around $5,000 in excess of what is already required to open up a new community (Ex: you need signage with or without this process). If we are concerned about desirability we may bump it up to $7,5000.

Q: How early should you hold the grand release before opening the model home?

A: They key is the Preview Event, not the release… but as a rule we will not hold the preview more than 90 days before we expect the community to be paved. Doing it any earlier will cause cancels as people tire of waiting.

Q: If you have a dog community and you decide to change a product line…ie..slab to bsmt or vice versa, do you think a re-grand opening/this type of presale will work?

Exactly! You may not need or have an extra 90 days to roll it out – but the key is to have an event attended by everyone who has interest (the minimum should be around 8 – 10 potential purchasers… couples count as only a single purchase unless they are buying two houses). If it’s an important change, and you have a database that your sales person has kept in reliable communication with using a good CRM system like Lasso – then you should get people who want to attend.

Q: What if someone has to sell their home first?

A: About 60%-70% of our buyers have homes to sell. This scenario is perfect for them because if streets are not yet even paved it gives them time to get organized and listed before construction on their home begins.

Q: What is your typical cancellation rate, after the Grand Release?

Typically less than 10% if construction of their home can begin within 90 days of the preview party date. The longer the delay, the higher your cancellation rate will grow.

Q: For the community where you sold 8 homes (where you had only sold 8 homes the entire previous year), was the marketing strategy the only thing you changed, or did you tweak price/product/etc.?

A: Nothing else was changed – same pricing, same product. It was a perfect “control group” to test this new process on. Logic would say the results should have been the same… but again emotion drives us (and the results of this program).

Q: What role does social media play in a community launch?

A: It’s important, but it really just help keep your costs lower in the awareness phase – and increases the buzz when you announce your fantastic results. Don’t rely on just social media though – use it as part of your overall marketing mix.

Q: This won’t really work for me in my market will it? People don’t line up for houses here, my buyers only care about the lowest price, etc… (ok, I made THIS question up. I do hear a variant of this all the time though)

A: No, your market isn’t so different that this won’t work. It works because of human nature – not because people in Pittsburgh are an easy sell! Prospects in your market may have different preferences about product details (stucco, exterior colors, shag carpet, etc) but those who travel across the country or even the world will tell you that human beings are remarkably similar in terms of our behavoir, and what influences and drives us.

Do you have any questions that weren’t answered by this post? Like the eBook on Facebook and join the community of others who are trying this program for their company. Share your experiences and ask any question you have and I’ll do my best to answer as time allows.