How would you like being the first crook to ever experience the 'stun gun?' Imagine that you are 6'5" 287 pounds and about to take on a 5'4", slightly overweight local policeman. You're overly confident that this will be no match. But then he pulls out this strange looking gun-like instrument and points it at you. Bzzzzzttttt! You're not only stunned by its look, but before you know it, an X26 Tazer International stuns you. That's 50,000 volts of great equalizer if you know what I mean. You never saw that coming and you barely knew what hit you!
What if you could stun your competition with a 50,000 volt website stun gun? That's the beauty of the web: You can! The Internet has created incredible leverage at the bottom of the builder food chain. Small builders can look bigger. Mid-sized builders can look huge. And occasionally, large builders do something foolish and end up looking small. I've seen it all. By maximizing the powers and the leverage of the Internet, you have unprecedented opportunities to make your company look bigger and better than ever.
18 Volt Saw
When you try to compete with a national or large regional builder in terms of newspaper ad placement, you quickly realize that their deeper pockets and media buying power can easily suffocate your presence. Direct mail is the same, a 'successful' one percent of a small 5,000-piece mailing means you got 50 responses. If half of them show up and your closing ratio is 7%, you just sold 2 houses at best... and for quite a cost. But a larger builder sends out the same direct mail piece to 50,000 people - all other factors the same - he gets 18 sales. The same basic principle carries out through most other traditional, outgoing media: she who has the gold rules!
The Internet allows you to rule. Take these ideas and apply them to your website and over time you will see how the Internet can make you look like a big player in a big field instead of a little player in a big field. Remember, the Internet is where customers choose which builder to visit: they shop online and purchase onsite. If you went to the BMW website to consider a new BMW and the photos were terrible (flat tire, dirty car, out of focus image), you would be disappointed and likely not purchase a BMW. But they know better, that's why photos of cars are exactingly perfect. Their marketing people realize that you will likely chose your new car from a photo, not from seeing one on the lot. The lot is where you close the deal. That's the way it works. The same truth applies to purchasing a new home: most of the shopping happens online.
I remember going to the store as a boy and having 20 cents to buy penny candy. The candy was often stored in glass containers so you could easily see what was inside, but you couldn't touch. I remember examining each container carefully trying to determine how to invest my 20 cents. Mary Janes, Atomic Fire Balls, and caramel squares were my favorite. After pondering for only a few minutes, I made my move. "Three Mary Janes... five Atomic Fire Balls... five caramel squares, no, no, no, seven caramel squares. How much are those wax bottles? Can I have four bottles and three packs of Smarties?" Oh, the delight of choices.
Now, it appears that I am choosing the candy I want. A casual observer would simply draw the conclusion that I was selecting candy. Actually, I was simultaneously eliminating the licorice, the Jolly Ranchers, the candy cigarettes and the bubble gum as wall as choosing the Mary Janes.
My candy purchase was an adventure. Every purchase is an adventure. People like to buy things. It feels good.
In the past, homebuyers shopped model homes and builders from their cars. Driving from one builder's model to another they made their judgments on the builder's qualifications, and their homes' merit and then they eliminated one builder after another. As new home buyers, it's much easier to eliminate than to choose. Purchasing a home is a complicated process. You must consider the location. You have to remember one builder's features and compare them - apples to apples - to another builder. That's a very difficult thing to do. You have to somehow remember why the center hall colonial in Happy Acres was more exciting to you than the center hall colonial in Joyous Estates. How does a buyer compare so many features that on the surface seem so similar. As a buyer, they really don't have the insight to differentiate between good carpet and great carpet or durable vinyl flooring and pretty vinyl flooring. It's much simpler to buy on emotion and justify what you have purchased later with facts that support your purchase.
That is why the website is so valuable to you as a builder!
Hire a Builder Marketing Professional
Make sure your website is designed and programmed by someone who understands builder websites and has a current, thorough knowledge of how to build an effective website. This is no place to skimp; hire your nephew to clean up your construction site, not to build your website. Being found by search engines is as important as having a website. Inexperienced programmers and designers will make sure of one thing: you won't come up in Google. Professional designers know how websites flow and design your site to maximize the 'F' pattern used by most people when scanning a website.
Another place to focus your attention is your photography. Good photography doesn't sell homes; great photography does. The key to creating a stunning website is great photography. Spend the money and have 3-5 great pictures taken of your models, a customer's house or your own house if that's all you have? Good photos require good light, inside or out. A good photographer will use the sun and the clouds to enhance your home. They know what times of day are best for photos and when a house faces in a direction that you may never get a great shot. If you have a good photographer any where around you, spend the money and get the photos.
Lastly, if you happen to focus on a specific niche; the Internet gives you unprecedented opportunities to leverage that niche online. If you are a log homebuilder, you can brand your selling proposition very differently than a builder selling modular ranchers. The Internet has the power - if you do your job - to make sure you are found as a niche builder.
Like a stun gun in the hands of a police officer, the website gives small and midsized builders incredible opportunity to look big. Just like looking in the mirror at the carnival - You Can Look Bigger And Better Than You Actually Are! What you do with it is up to you.
Brian Flook, MIRM
Brian Flook Group