B.O.L.D. Series—D is For Do What Works

June 25, 2020

You’ve officially made it to the final blog in the B.O.L.D. series! Congratulations. In case you missed the previous four, they are:

All caught up? Then it’s time to dive right into “D” in B.O.L.D. stands for—Do What Works!

Eye On the Prize

It has become abundantly clear in all my years of marketing that there are two types of businesses: Those who are constantly shifting focus and those who are focused. And it shouldn’t be a huge surprise to learn that the brands who tend to be the most successful—especially in times of crisis—are those who look forward with focused, measured movement as opposed to more frantic reactionary methods. In our industry focus translates to maintaining clear knowledge of what it takes to buy and sell homes.

You Can Still Innovate

Some people believe it’s impossible to be both focused and innovative—but this is a dangerous trap. In fact, it is only when you are 100% focused that you can truly innovate in ways that will prove beneficial to your long-term vision.

A great example of this from recent weeks is virtual selling. We’d all like to think that selling will “go back to normal” otherwise known as “in-person.” But while in-person sales are slowly making a resurgence, virtual selling isn’t going anywhere. While innovative to many in the last few months, it has been a constant for others over the last several years—because it is what works for them. Consider our military servicemen and women who are deployed thousands of miles from home and need or want to buy a home back home. Homebuilders that serve military markets will tell you that they have been using virtually selling for some time and it was easy for them to pivot towards 100% virtual when the COVID shutdown went into full force.

Getting Laser-Focused on Why

There are a few ways that you and your team can get focused on doing what works for your business. Because while it’s tempting to try everything the competition is doing there simply isn’t enough time in the day. But more importantly you are wasting precious time on tactics that simply are not effective to find and convert your target audience.

Instead, sit down and focus on the fundamentals of what sells a new construction home in your market. That “what” can also be labeled The Why customers buy new construction over resale homes and over remodeling/renovating an existing home. It varies slightly from market to market and product to product, but in all of my years of experience, why people build new homes boils down to this list:

Location: Tried and true, location is still the top driving factor. Whether someone wants to be close to work, they prefer to live in a quieter tree-lined neighborhood, or they want to be near an interstate, do not underestimate what your location offers. Consider that if our workforce transitions into long-term work from home arrangement then the location may shift to a lower priority over space and square footage.
Space/square footage: How much room does your target audience need? From empty-nesters to young families to singles everyone has different needs in mind. And the COVID shutdown has driven the largest shift in how we use our space and square footage though it remains to be seen how permanent that shift will be. As of now the need for home office space and plenty of beautiful outdoor living space is a necessity!
Lifestyle choice: Is your target audience retired and wanting to live near the ocean? Maybe they are first-time parents and want to live within a great school district.
Amenities: From pools to soccer fields to fitness centers to clubhouses to gated communities, there are a number of offerings that could appeal to your target audience. What do you have that they want?
Price Point: Everyone, no matter what will have a price point in mind that they are comfortable with. If a monthly payment isn’t within their budget it will not work.

But remember that even in knowing absolutely everything you can about the “why” of your target audience you must understand that fundamentally we as humans will always. Want. More! This is especially true when you look at budgets. Understanding what your customers actually need versus what they want is critical to selling homes.

Once you establish The Why then you can innovate HOW you communicate, build relationships, and position your company with new, refreshed tactics that reflect the current times. Doing What Works means you stay true to customer’s why and innovate how you deliver that why during times of great change.

Building Relationships That Close Sales

Of course, all of these fundamentals are no good if you don’t understand the critical idea that it’s actually relationships that close sales. In particular, your relationship with women partaking in a sale. If you’re unable to explain what you do, how you do it better, and why you even do it—you are not going to build a relationship with your buyer and you will not make the sales you want to make.

Making a Plan as a Team

When you’re staring down the idea of creating a laser-focused plan to do what will work for your business, it feels daunting. You may be tempted to continue down the path of trying lots of different things as opposed to being more analytical in your approach. But I promise that when you sit down as a team and really hammer out the “why’s” that your target audience has—becuase they DO have them!— you are going to become infinitely more clear on how you sell—and doing what works will become second nature. Innovation may be the key to success—but without an established idea of what to innovate for in place, you shouldn’t plan on finding abundant success.

Thank you for taking the time to read this series about Being B.O.L.D.! I hope you found many of the tips and ideas in these blogs helpful to your own business. If you have more thoughts to share about Doing What Works I encourage you to leave those in the comments.

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