High-performance training
Once the passion for quality and high performance is instilled in the company, talking about the benefits of the high-performance home becomes more of an education for the home buyer than a sales gimmick.
To achieve this level of sales, Erwin suggests the following:
- Train everyone in the company, but especially the sales people.
- Focus on internalizing the fundamentals of high performance.
- Develop a structured presentation that includes the value-added attributes of high-performance homes within the sales track.
- Teach the sales team that a simple message is best and to not overwhelm the customer, but to be ready for tough questions from informed buyers.
Tools for success
Customers must be educated in simple, straightforward ways about why a high-performance home is a superior product. "The average customer doesn't walk in the door understanding thermal dynamics," said Erwin. He suggested the following as examples of tools to use in this education:
- On-site visuals such as cut-away walls or side-by-side comparisons for sales demonstrations
- Strong collateral material for customers
- Offering building science and high-performance training to local real estate agents to help spread the word and benefits of the program
- Home buyer seminars that will increase sales, create referrals and reduce warranty claims
The overall message, Erwin believes, is that high-performance sales will work, but the builder must commit the time to understand what it takes to turn a traditional home into a high-performance home. By investing in the time and effort to build a high-performance, quality home and learning how to communicate the benefits proactively to the home buyer, builders can thrive in any market.
"Hands down, what sticks with people is quality," he said.
Andrew Hunt is a freelance writer who specializes in building science topics.
