Builders: Buyers are Expecting an Enhanced Sales Office Experience

Consumer Expectations Are Changing Rapidly

Our Blog has focused on SST recently --  that's self-service technology (read here and here).

Your Buyers are Looking for Information!

Self-service hasn't always had the best of reputations; however, attitudes, preferences, and expectations change quickly. One reason is changing demographics; another is technology.

In other words, today, self-service is not only a solution but a preference for many. 

Customer Satisfaction is Driving Kiosk Implementation

SST isn't happening in a vacuum, however.

Improving customer satisfaction and customers' perception of the business are top reasons for deploying digital signage. Enhancing the customer experience, improving the customer journey, is driving the transition from a static, pre-set experience to a dynamic, immersive sales office environment fueled by interactive kiosks. 

Meet Your Home Shoppers Need for Information and Lifestyle

CPS has been providing interactive touchscreen kiosks to homebuilders for the last 10 years. We understand what's involved in providing an exceptional, end-to-end experience (in this case, that includes the customer and technology).  

Encourage Your Buyers with an Intuitive Process

Here's what we've learned about improving the customer experience and interactive kiosks:

1. Interactive -- coupled with dynamic creative -- engages shoppers from the minute they walk in. 
2. Home shoppers want your product to meet their needs so give them the information to make that happen!
3. A recent Metrostudy Consumer Insights series affirmed Location & Home Design to be the most significant motivators so use interactive floorplans, drag 'n drop furniture and interactive local area maps with great-looking graphics to tell your story!
4. The kiosk process needs to be so intuitive that your home shopper wants to engage.  Don't make it too complicated or geared towards sales agent operation!
5. Interactive is age-agnostic! Boomers and Millennials want information -- the type may vary but they're both trying to visualize how to your community and homes meet their objectives!

Visit CPS at PCBC 2019

We'll be at PCBC 2019 in San Francisco starting May 29; visit us in Booth 141 or contact us for a one-on-one demo to see how we can work together to create an enhanced customer experience!

Delivering an Exceptional Customer Experience

What's a Value-Unique Customer Experience?

Do you recall one of our Blogs regarding Value-Unique customer experiences? You can read it here.

Creating an environment to visualize the future!

Those experiences are when customers get more from their purchase and process than they expected and it's unique and innovative. When people encounter a value-unique experience, they're super enthused and want to talk and Tweet about it!

You not only have a happy customer but one that's actively engaged in marketing for you!

Designing for Exceptional Customer Experiences

How can you provide value-unique? Joe Schultz, VP Sales, Harbor Retail, recently provided some interesting thoughts regarding delivering exceptional customer experiences. Key, he says, is thinking about items that enhance selling probability.

It's more than product and not necessarily your sales team, in other words, although those could be critical drivers. What does success look like? Are you trying to educate, show off your latest design, provide product differentiation? Analyze your objectives: once they're clear, you're able to create an environment that makes success possible. 

Consider Customer Experience Strategies

Take a look at the photo above: aren't those home shoppers engaged in evaluating what the homebuilder is offering? In addition, don't they look comfortable?  Don't they look like they'd be happy spending time finding out more about this product?

Schultz suggests several items to consider when developing a customer experience strategy. We'll focus on two:

(1) See your space from a customer's perspective.

The interactive touchscreen kiosk that's part of the builder's customer experience center is accessible and easy to navigate -- even when there are 3 people present! We frequently say it's encouraging home shoppers to cozy up and find out more! 

(2) Give your customers a glimpse of the future.

CPS' interactive system, SalesTouch, gives home shoppers an easy-to-use way to visualize their new home with interactive floorplans and drag 'n drop furniture. 

In other words, the floorplan is no longer a brochure or an image on the wall: home shoppers are able to mix 'n match structural options (den in lieu of bedroom 3, expanded kitchen island, covered lanai) and then drag furniture into their created space.  They're able to visualize how this floorplan will live; it's become "their" home, in other words!

Interested in finding out how you can create value-unique homes shopping experiences? We'd love to give you a one-on-one demo; let us know a convenient time here!

How to: Offer a Great Home Shopper Experience!

It's Competitive Out There!

Website visits are up, sales office traffic is increasing, 2018 sales are good.

SalesTouch: Differentiating Your Brand with Information

While these stats suggest a positive market, the marked increase in customer touch points and a growing need to standout in a crowded marketplace creates a highly competitive environment.

It's a Consumer-Driven Environment

There's an increasing emphasis on providing a consumer "experience" -- which Retail Customer Experience tells us is set to overtake price and product as a key brand differentiator by 2020.

But.. what adds up to make a great customer experience?

There's Information and then.. there's a Relationship

There's absolutely no doubt that home shoppers want to be able to (1) go and look at a product; (2) evaluate quality and (3) understand the product before buying.

Sales agents are an important part of the home shopper customer experience: they offer the direct, personal relationship surrounding the purchase. Importantly, a good agent, suggests Amy O'Connor, a sales trainer in Jeff Shore's organization, helps the home shopper achieve clarity and certainty regarding the purchase.  Your agent is going to want to determine the home shoppers needs and demonstrate how your product meets those needs.

Personalize the Experience

Today's home shopper -- Millennial or Boomer -- wants to examine alternatives, analyze the lifestyle and dream.  Listening is important -- as is providing tools to understanding the product. 

Take a look at CPS' interactive touchscreen system, SalesTouch: it offers a unique journey through the customer experience. 

What's your home shopper's particular need? Lower level master? Place for the baby grand? Close-by recreation? Home shoppers using SalesTouch take advantage of a unique process called narrowcasting: every home shopper can locate and examine the information that will help them make a decision.  In the order they want, at the time they want and in the desired detail. Throwing out a wide net, hoping it meets everyone's needs is no longer.

With so many consumers seeking the ability to gain clarity and information before they purchase, the race is on to offer personalized experiences.  SalesTouch provides that differentiating experience that makes your brand stand out!

How to: Make Your Digital Signage Resonate

Today's customers -- especially those shopping for big ticket items such as homes and autos -- expect an experience that's on-demand and engaging. What can your digital signage project do to meet customer expectations and maximize impact?

Make Your Digital Signage Relevant to the Sale

Do you know your customers? Are you speaking their language? Boomers and Millennials, for example, are  different and unique in both their shopping and buying habits.  What is exciting and a reason to purchase for one may not be for the other. Boomers frequently want to comparison shop and examine purchase alternatives in detail.  Millennials work at warp speed, expect answers quickly and typically examined the alternatives before showing up in your office. 

Such differences don't mean your digital signage should be focused on a single group but... be aware of your audience when designing and be consistent in your approach.

Does Your Digital Signage Jump Above the Noise?

Get Above the Noise

On one hand, we don't really mean noise but... on the other, we do. Every location has noise -- people's voices, phones, construction activity and the like. Try to design your sales area so physical noise doesn't interrupt.

What we're really talking about, however, is visual distraction. Is your signage viewable as soon as a shopper enters? Is it visually engaging? Will it stop a visitor in their tracks? Are similar visuals distracting from the shopper's ability to focus on the digital presentation? 

Take a look at the Minto Harbour Isle interactive touchscreen image: doesn't it grab your attention and make you want to jump in and find out more? 

Make Sure Self-Serve is Enabled

It's frequently said today's buyer is in a rush and easily distracted. That may seem to be the case but keep in mind that today's expectations are shaped by other transactions. They're used to, for example, self-service via phone and website. 

Interactive Encourages Consumers to Get Engaged 

Shoppers want to jump into content and find answers. That doesn't mean sales agents are irrelevant; it does mean that shoppers will search for relevant information and then turn to salespeople for confirmation and the sale. 

Interactive digital content provides the on-demand, engaging customer experience that resonates with today's consumer. Interactive actively encourages shoppers to engage and locate their unique decision factors, on-demand. How would my home look with the optional study, where is the closest high school, are there yoga studios close by? 

Interested in exploring how CPS can help you create digital signage that resonates with your home shoppers, offering interactive content designed specifically to your target audience? Contact us here!

Improving the In-Person Digital Experience in Your Sales/Leasing Offices

Meredith Oliver just released a copy of her BDX Digital Transformation Summit talk, Bridging the Physical & Digital Worlds with Interactive Technology in Sales Centers.

CPS CRM provides data to populate this interactive map!

Home Shoppers Expect a Self-Service Experience

It's well worth a listen as it addresses why builders and developers need to add interactive technology to their sales/marketing process: their home shoppers expect a self-service process.

It's that simple!

Oliver provides an interesting research stat: 76% of consumers have a better experience when the sales person is armed with technology. And, those stats apply regardless of whether your home shopper is a Millennial or a 55+.

Yet, Oliver mentions, many sales agents don't take advantage of the tools to provide this enhanced buying experience!  CPS has been developing interactive touchscreen presentations for over 10 years and we have some ideas to share that will help you develop a more effective set of tools so your home shoppers will start the journey to dream and imagine their new home!

Build a Strong Foundation to Promote Effectiveness

Meredith touched on an important thought in her BDX talk: how many times have you walked into a business and the technology wasn't being used?

We'll be talking about ways to maximize the value of your interactive presentation's investment over several blogs; here we'll focus creating a foundation for an effective presentation -- that's used by your agents and home shoppers!

Corporate Collaboration Improves Efficiency and Buy-In

Oliver mentions she's a "tactician" implementing builder's dreams; CPS has particular experience in digital signage.  We've found 3 key items contribute to establishing the foundation for a successful self-serve experience:

1. Collaborate on objectives and design: The 2018 Housing Leadership Summit focused on corporate collaboration. It doesn't make sense to drop a new tool into sales offices without considering cultural and behavioral elements.  The more people involved in the initial stages, the more buy-in and desire for success! And, you'll need to provide training to provide everyone with the details as to why you've incorporated interactives at the sales office and how to effectively utilize them in a sales presentation. 
2. Build-in meaningful hardware management: We've all run into situations where we've heard: our system is down! Yet, you can take steps to make those days few and far between: automated hardware management so Maria doesn't turn off the system and Ted doesn't know how to turn it back on; remote monitoring systems so a tech team can analyze issues remotely and make changes long-distance, as well.  Get rid of the housekeeping, in other words!
3. Incorporate integration: In a recent Builder article, Hyphen Solutions' Felix Vasquez suggests that automated connectivity results in a more efficient home builder production environment.  Why not have your CRM or inventory management system provide unit status and pricing info (vs. having a sales agent manually input)? Maximize tools already in-house to provide consistent information without manual intervention. 

Adding An Emotional Context to Sales and Leasing Offices

CPS SalesTouch: Adding Emotion to the Sales Center!

No matter how the numbers and facts line-up, a good portion of the home shopping experience is based on emotion.

Humans are Influenced by Emotion

It's in our nature. It's worth considering how to add emotion to your marketing messaging as sales/leasing offices are often the first place visitors encounter the full range of your brand and product.

Include Storytelling Features

Storytelling is one of the best content strategies for creating an emotional connection. Stories are tactile and create a visual picture.

No doubt you've heard stories and imagined yourself within that context. That's what makes a good story as it pulls listeners in and actually makes them a co-creator of the message. Stories make content more interesting and more memorable. 

Make Sure You've Maximized Color

While there are many psychological studies as to color messaging and impact, it's enough to say that color has an impact and should be a major factor to consider as part of your emotional context.

Incorporate Social Proof

We've mentioned collaborative consumption when discussing today's empowered consumers.  Today's home shoppers bring friends -- just as they always have.  But, in many cases, they're "cloud" friends! These advisers are available through social media -- providing feedback, offering reviews, providing info as to sales and trends. 

Your story needs to be part of this social cloud.  One of the easiest ways to provide social proof, if you aren't displaying social media onsite, is to incorporate testimonials. 

Get Interactive!

Scroll back to the top -- emotion is tactile! Take a look at Cornerstone Communities' interactive SalesTouch kiosk: can you imagine the conversations? What a gorgeous sunset! Do you like fishing? I'd love to walk that every evening! Are there restaurants on the pier?

Interactive touch presentations encourage emotional connections. Did you realize using touch generates entirely different (and more positive) brain activity than using a mouse? Take a look at Bob Musa's book, Creating Customers with Interactive Touch Screen Digital Signage, for more on the power of touch!

Stats Show Digital Signage Engages Customers

People always ask, "Does Digital Signage really offer anything different than a home builder's website?"

SalesTouch engages and captures more attention!

Websites engage users and drive them towards an onsite sales office visit; digital signage at the sales office has different objectives.  There are potential buyers in your sales office; what should this sales tool do to turn them into actual buyers?

Following is a statistic to evaluate when considering including digital signage in your sales/marketing program -- whether an interactive touchscreen system (in a kiosk, mounted on the wall or a tablet) or a social media wall:  compare the consumer effectiveness of a digital signage display to typical "static" signage such as floorplan displays on the wall or a floor topo table.

Here, at CPS, we can help you develop dynamic digital signage that will engage, gain views, build your brand and increase sales!

Let's kick start 2017!

Fall Homebuyers: Yes; they're out there!

Agents might think the home buying season is over once the calendar turns into October.  It's getting darker sooner -- and cooler, there's all sorts of school and sports programs underway and home shopper traffic might seem few and far between.

And, buyers could mistakenly assume if they buy in the Fall they won't see much progress on their home before cold, rain and snow potentially slow construction progress -- and waiting until prime buying season in the Spring could seem reasonable.

Get visual in your storytelling! Make interest rates & process more relevant.

But, says Builderonline in a recent article, "Fall and Winter are a great time to start working with a builder."  After all, much of today's new home sales are "built to order" requiring the "upfront planning and legwork that goes into a new construction home," according to Brian Brunhofer of Meritus Homes.

What can an agent do today to bring today's home shopper to a purchase decision?

Tell your story effectively: Interest rates are bumping around all time lows today.  It is fair to think they aren't going to get any lower. And, today's buyer is that much closer to reaping green benefits!  Use your touchscreen system to calculate payments, illustrate green benefits -- and remember women and millennials two "green leaning" demographics!

Explain your process: While some buyers are interested in a "quick delivery" home, most will be a part of the standard process including approvals, permits, structural option decisions, design center selections.  Let them know your 8-point process or 15 steps to home purchase -- build their confidence in your organization and how the process will create a positive result.  If you can do this visually, all the better as women appreciate creative story-telling.

Get into Process 2.0: Brunhofer suggests that builders are just starting to finalize 2016 vendor bids and many will adjust their home prices reflecting increased costs.  Once buyers understand the time frame involved and the process, suggesting a purchase today is consistent with your story. Show them your construction schedule; introduce them to a Buyer Portal with schedule updates as well as stage of construction photos.

Work Your Co-op Program: Many areas see co-op agents bring in most of their traffic; do you have an established co-op program?  Such a program helps bring in traffic -- and it also helps with co-op sales.  Offer to put your home shopper in touch with one of your co-op program participants; help them understand Spring selling time frames and let them coordinate what is needed for a summer move-in.

Remember: there are all sorts of touch points associated with the buying process.  Information gathering is critical for many of today's buyers -- especially millennials.  Visual presentations and storytelling are key for women shoppers.  Take advantage of the slower traffic season to strengthen the tools necessary in today's market!