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| Southern Building Show Starts Off with Good Advice to Builders |
| Written by Jonathan Smoke | |
| 06.12.2008 | |
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Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) Yesterday was the launch of the Southern Building Show in Atlanta. Since the show’s first full day is today, I couldn’t get a gauge for the show attendance yesterday. The Exhibit Floor wasn’t very crowded for the evening “sneak preview,” and none of the afternoon educational sessions I attended were standing room only. Show organizers claim they expect 5,000 people to attend. We welcome any of those 5,000 to visit us in Booth 1331, across from the big duck.  I was able to attend two very good sessions featuring consultants from True North Development. Daron Powers walked attendees through four steps to market and sell effectively in tough times. The material was based on his soon to be released book, Sales in a Challenging Real Estate Market. I was most interested in the first step: Attract more qualified traffic. Daron walked through several leading models for developing a compelling marketing message. Daron emphasized the need to understand customer expectations and truly know your customer. He asked the audience how many “sell to a targeted consumer group” and to my astonishment, 30% said they did. Perhaps Daron should borrow a line from fellow True North’er, Scott Sedam, who in a later session reported that builders are liars when it comes to claiming they are focused on cost reduction and even flow production. For all you builders who see the wisdom of knowing your target, come talk to us. Our booth’s tag line says it all: “Know Buyers, Know Sales.” Our consumer groups are easy to understand and can be readily applied to home preferences and identifying how to reach your targets. The rest of Daron’s presentation was spot on with my experience in analyzing what makes builders more effective at selling and driving referrals, including the need to focus on employees and business partners such as trades and suppliers. His final step was about sustaining motivation, in which he encouraged us to simultaneously think big picture as well as the tasks that need to be done to meet your goals. There are builders and agents who are selling in this tough market and I’m sure those who are doing the best job of selling are doing much of what Daron emphasized. If you are attending the Southern Building Show today or tomorrow, please drop by and say hello to the BlueSmoke and HousingIntelligence team. The duck keeps staring at us when we are left alone. 
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