What's Trending for Customer Service? Think Proactive, Omnichannel

It's been said that effective customer service is both a strategy and philosophy as much as a major business function.  As a result, it makes sense to monitor trends and understand new channels in order to evaluate whether it makes sense to modify your customer service strategy. We've seen two major trends emerge over the last year:

Interactive Touchscreen: Proactive Customer Service

(1) Proactive interaction -- Most agree that customer service shouldn't focus only on "putting out fires." It's about developing relationships from the first point of contact. Providing proactive interaction shows you support your customers and reduces the number of fires long-term.  Utilizing"self-service" throughout your engagement process allow customers to interact at their timing. You'll start the conversation as your consumers provide feedback, suggestions and requests ahead of a critical item. Using technology (such as a knowledge base) lets your customers engage with you and each other. Your customers will tell you about their interests and concerns when presented with the ability to interact.

(2) Omnichannel customer service -- Zendesk reports 2014 is shaping up as the year of omnichannel. An interesting blog suggests consumers are becoming more comfortable interacting with companies via email, phone, in store, etc.  What's really interesting to read is how companies benefit when providing multiple engagement channels -- that is, there are economic benefits: 75% of

Kicking Off Spring's Selling Season

Are you ready to kick start your Spring selling season?

Yes; for many, it's been a long, cold winter with ice storms, record cold and history-busting snowfalls. Hopefully, we're past the worst of that and can start generating Spring marketing efforts.  Here are several that should resonate and can start generating visits to your sales office:

(1) Reach Out to Realtors -- We've talked about the value of co-op agents before (take a look at an earlier Solutions blog entry --  Builders, Co-Op Agents: Reaching the Asian Community.) 

Co-op Agents: Give them a reason to visit!

BuilderOnLine reports Spring is the busiest season for Realtors and suggests offering incentives to make sure they spread the word about your community.  How about putting together a "Get Ready for Spring" Open House -- offering a "spa event" raffle for attendees?  Or, a "Wine & Cheese" evening with a case of your favorite?  And, keep the buzz going: don't stop with one event!  Follow-up with emails announcing the winner and promoting your next event -- as well as your community.

Don't forget that Realtors often focus on a specific demographic -- relocations, ethnic or religious groups, 55+ buyers, etc.  Reach out to these demographic-centric agents, often.  They always will have a group of interested buyers available to visit your community -- provide them with a reason to stop by.

(2) A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words --- Mollie Elkman, a Philadelphia-based marketing expert, reminds us that pictures offer "virtual curb appeal."  Why not take one step further and Go Interactive with a touch screen system? 

Go behind the walls -- and beyond the floorplan!

You'll start engaging prospects from the minute they step into your sales office and can continue the conversation with interactive floor plans, the ability to select and place furniture inside your homes and e-brochures. 

Take your home shoppers "behind the walls" and visually talk about your location, amenities, and features.  Show them you're "in the center of town" and what that offers -- or your rural location and the great amenities provided by the HOA. 

Bringing Green Out from "Behind the Walls"

Incorporating green into building has been gaining momentum -- particularly, according to a recent Constructech article -- among residential homebuilders.  Builders, says Constructech, can market green from a cost savings perspective -- thus, a gaining a competitive value add in the marketing equation.

What drives consumer interest in green?

A recent Navigant Research study (discussed in a Constructech article here) suggests home energy-management systems have had a difficult time gaining traction in the market. But...Navigant suggests increased awareness will drive future growth.

How can you provide the critical increased awareness so your home shoppers will want to buy-in to your energy-saving options?  Take a look at what Navigant says are the primary drivers: the desire to reduce electricity bills as well as utilize smart thermostats.

Consumers have signaled their interest -- how are you responding?  One great way to

Townhouse Construction Increasing: Weather Can Motivate Buyers

A recent Eye on Housing report from the National Association of Home Builders projected the share of  townhouse construction to increase from its current 4%  (do you remember the days of a 12% share back in 2004)?


NOAA 2/2014 Average temp comparison!!

Now, take a look at the NOAA February 2014 weather map on the left!

What might that map suggest to you when marketing your new townhome community? Some parts of the country usually factor in  weather but.. who would expect agents in Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte or even Myrtle Beach to develop new selling points focused on weather?

We'd suggest go interactive and provide an Advantages of Townhome Living section.  Your home shoppers typically look at floor plans and sitemaps; however, they might not focus on all of the advantages your townhomes offer.

You might visually mention: No Shoveling, No Exterior Maintenance, Community Gym Available (no driving at the end of the day!), Community Clubhouse Available (sense of community available here!),  Underground Parking (no scraping!) and the like. Maybe another No Shoveling Necessary image could cycle through!

Tongue in cheek? Sure...but, we all know there are all sorts of motivators in the purchase process!

Interactive Touchscreens: Branding Dives Deeper than Marketing

Previously, we've talked about how using an interactive touchscreen system at a sales or leasing office or a welcome center provides builders and developers with a unique branding opportunity. 

Branding:  providing benefits to customers

Branding is at the core of a business' marketing strategy.  More than logos, colors, web designs, sales office styling... branding reflects your business purpose, values and culture.

How do those big picture concepts get translated to an interactive touchscreen? We've always said SalesTouch is more than a pretty face -- although the introductory screen presented here is certainly attractive! 

Is your market first-time buyers? Your home shoppers might not be familiar with your community or the surrounding neighborhood or the financing process .  They're just getting started in the purchase decision process: let them engage and explore using the touchscreen.  Storytelling is key for this demographic!

Now to the opposite buyer profile: 55+ buyers: they're just as concerned about the surrounding neighborhood; however, their specific interests probably differ than the first-time buyer. Schools give way to golf courses, local attractions to golf courses.  Financing might not be as much of an issue as available structural options: is it possible to convert bedroom #3 to a flex room? What makes your amenity package attractive?  Details are critical to this demographic.

A well-designed touchscreen system helps you respond to your homeshopper's objectives; it benefits your customers -- and isn't that your brand's objective?

Want to continue thinking about branding and the relationship to marketing strategy? There's a very interesting branding discussion in a recent Kissmetrics blog located here.

Homebuilders: Managing for Quality Task-by-Task

Task level quality scoring -- on the jobsite, using an iPad!

Homebuilding, says Carl Seville, faces difficulties few other industries encounter. What other industry has to build their product in the rain, using dozens of other companies, each of which hires their own employees to perform the work? If you watched GE build a refrigerator in your front yard, Seville asks, would you buy it?  Read his Builder Online article here.

High-performance (think: quality) construction, Seville posits, will provide long-term benefits such as happier clients, fewer callbacks, decreased warranty issues...but how do you achieve it?

One suggestion is a commitment to quality from your entire team -- and that takes time and requires processes.  Everyone in the organization

House of Cards Offers Construction Strategy, too!

Recently, Koka Sexton wrote that the much-anticipated second season of Netflix' House of Cards offered some interesting lessons as well as sales strategies;  you can read his article here.

We're going one step further to suggest some of those same House of Cards strategies might apply to your construction team, as well!

Vendor Portal: Information as Networking!

Which ones?  How about #1:  Know (and grow) Your Network? Sexton suggests selling is a team effort -- and new home construction is certainly a team effort with architecture, estimating, field management, subcontractors and accounting (amongst others!) actively involved.

How does this concept of construction networking play out?  We're suggesting collaboration is key; keeping subcontractors in the loop, providing up-to-date schedule information, offering real-time access to drawings and other construction related paperwork. It's the classic win/win approach as both builder and vendor become more efficient with all the related benefits accruing to both!