Well I think we can all agree that black and white floor plans are a stunning way to communicate with a potential purchaser.

Why not differentiate yourself and create a visual that portrays the space in a way that purchasers can actually see themselves living in it. Call me crazy but this is the largest purchase of their lives so let’s give them something that helps make a more informed decision.

One more thing. These types of renderings have had significant price drops over the last few years so now is the time to revisit and see if this fits within your marketing budget.

Sincerely,

Brad Jaycock, V.P.

888.439.4633

…well almost nothing.

For all you designers, architects and idea people, spectacular visuals can be created from pretty much anything. There aren’t any differences in the end renderings or animations just how you get there. Obviously receiving finalized CAD, material samples, room finish schedules and sample boards are the optimal choice BUT with a few extra approval rounds, frequent communication and your creative sketches, illustrations, mockups, etc. The same results can be realized.

After 12+ years in the business we have the experience to work from pretty much anything, under any timeline and for any budget. If we can’t do it in the timeline or price (see recent condo rendering pricing here) you need, which rarely happens, we’ll tell you upfront and in some cases recommend someone who can accommodate you.

A great example of a project created entirely from sketches, reference photos and imagery, and plain old discussion is Dubailand which we finished last year. Our client came to us with a grand vision… and by working from minimal finalized materials we brought that vision to life with stunning results.Check out the project here…

Communicate your vision to your client, bid, prospect, municipality or committee with visuals that stir confidence, awe, appreciation and understanding not confusion, questions, fear and misaligned expectations of what the final outcome will be.

Jim Warren, CEO

I get asked this allot so I thought I’d post it here as it is even more relevant in today’s economy.

Most people expect me to say “do it all in 3D don’t build models” … WRONG … You should always build at least one Model home unless you are doing a heavy pre-construction marketing campaign (build registrations, create a buzz, test the market, etc) … the old adage that what you build you sell is to a large extent true and I feel that the ability to touch and feel a home is essential in closing a sale.

What I would recommend is to definitely build fewer and use the money you save (see below) to have at a minimum 3D floor plans or even better have 3D interior/exterior animations done. Here is why:

Model Home

Costs/model: $40 - 60K Interior Merchandising & Design, Cost to build carried until model sold, security, landscaping and maintenance, utilities, $2k in photography for collateral.

Benefits: Ultimate way to communicate builder quality, great experience for families to visit for everyone to connect with a design (if that design is built), provides a great location for sales environment if no sales center/trailer built, allows the sales team to watch/listen to prospects as they are touring the home(s) … if they are touring with them.

Virtual Model Home

Costs/model: $6,000 - 10,000 depending on size

Benefits: Leverage the animations to get renderings from the interiors and exteriors and use all of this content on your website, in emails, print for sales center, billboards and Direct Mail, test the market before committing to construction, satisfy the need that your purchasers are looking for…that rich media experience.

There are so many more advantages to this but none more compelling than what you will save by building ONE fewer model home will pay to have ALL of them at least in 3D Floor Plans if not all fully animated which will give you a much better online experience which will give you better traffic to your sales center which … i think you can handle the rest

Jim Warren, CEO

Here’s an interesting and concise (i.e. short, because that’s what my attention span demands) article on what you need to consider when trying to entice people into buying what you’re selling…

What Are 7 Psychological Triggers That Make People Buy?
By Arina Nikitina

Trigger #1 Reason Why

Tell people WHY you’re doing something. Don’t be a mystery for your customers. People are more likely to buy from an ordinary person they know something about.

Are you giving 25% discount on your product? Give the people honest reason why. Are you limiting the number of products you want to sell? Tell people why.

If you tell your visitors about the reasons of doing something they will be more likely to trust you and to buy from you.

Trigger #2 Specifics

Tell the specifics. “How I made $1,057 in a week” sounds more believable than “How I made $1,000 in a week”.

People are skeptic. If you include specifics people will be more likely to believe you.

If you state a fact, make it specific. General numbers never sounded plausible.

Trigger #3 Curiosity

We all are extremely curious. We want to know answers to our questions. Tell people not to open this email and they will open it. Because they want to know what’s inside.

Headlines like “Discover the hidden secret of free ezine advertising” are always producing great results. You immediately want to know “What secret?”.

Curiosity trigger is a great way to get your email opened. It also works great in ads and in articles. Like the title of this article: “What Are 7 Psychological Triggers That Make People Buy?”

Trigger #4 Fear to Lose Something

People are most likely to buy from you if they are motivated by fear to lose something than if they are motivated by desire to gain something. That’s why deadlines and limited production numbers works well.

Use deadlines in your copy. Run 3 days specials or limit the number of products you want to sell. Make people act now by letting them know that it is a limited time offer.

Trigger #5 Questions

Ask questions. By asking questions you get people involved, they automatically start to think to answer your question and become more responsive to your message.

What headline would grab your attention:

“You are wasting money on ezine advertising” or “Are you wasting money on ezine advertising?”

Trigger #6 Stories

Nothing can be better than a good story. It’s easy to influence people just by telling them a good story.

A lot of famous copywriters used this method in their sales letters. You can tell a true story about your customer. Or about yourself.

A real life story about something the product has done to improve someone’s life will build your credibility and motivate people to buy.

Trigger #7 Facing a Problem

Every product is a solution to particular problem. Don’t rush into presenting the solution you have, make sure you first make your visitors to face the problem.

Present the problem and agitate it so people would feel the pain of situation. Spell out the problem, tell them how it feels. Only after you’ve got readers interest present your product that provides the solution.

Apply these seven psychological techniques to maximize your sales and increase the response rate of your ads.

______

Anita Nikitina is, according to what the internet told me, a successful and confident motivational speaker and published author. I am someone who surfs the internet.

Later,

_

ajleitch@imagenius.com

As I surf most Home Builders websites on a regular basis one thing that really stands out to me is that the average branding message is very consistent. The message, the look, the tone, the terminology all are very well done and do a great job in communicating with any potential purchaser.

Visuals is where I really see this consistency drop off. Most national developers have a myriad of rendering styles, floor plan styles and animation quality being presented to the buyer. Sometimes this can even be within the same community!

I urge you all to take a look at how consistent your visuals are across all developments, divisions and promotions. Talk to your divisions that aren’t measuring up and maybe even consider doing a company wide audit on what vendors are being used and why (i.e. Price, Quality, Service etc.). Who knows, that maverick division president from Albuquerque might just have done something right after all!

The next step will be to take all this information and look to choose one vendor who will partner in your branding look going forward. The best way to do this is by creating a generic RFQ that delves into pricing samples, production process, capacity and unique abilities.

Now I’ll refer back to an earlier post in which it is stated that, “This is not the time to blindly put your faith in an unproven vendor solution.”

Brad Jaycock, Vice President
Imagenius.com Inc.
888.439.4633

The short answer… now.

You do need to start thinking about it because whether or not you know it, most of the time in the presentation of your current projects you are using HD capable products and presentation tools, you are just not using them to present a final vision that is truly High Definition. What you are presenting is a standard definition picture on a high definition display. Think of it as having a colour t.v. but only using it to watch black and white movies. The black and white movies are going to look good enough, but colour is what you want to see isn’t it?

Now, sticking with the colour t.v. analogy, if I’ve got 20 channels to choose from on my new colour t.v., with 19 of them look like nothing I’ve ever seen before with all the colours of the rainbow in their full glory making the pictures come alive right in front of my eyes… and one that looks like (insert yawn here), out of those 20 channels, I’ll give 19 of them my time. One channel will be completely forgotten.

The same will ring true for HD vs SD in the next few years. Right now SD is the way to go, because it is the way everyone is going in the realty industry. Soon enough though, you will see animations being rendered out in HD, more and more will follow, and when they are presented on the same HD capable monitors that you have in your sales centers right now… simply put, you’re not going to want prospective buyers seeing your SD animations in a side by side comparison. I’m not saying that your next project should be a High Definition one, but now is a good time to start thinking about HD and it’s relevance to your projects. I’ll bet your competition is.

Basically, in todays climate, HD is a “nice to” and not a “need to”… but tomorrow is coming.

If you’ve got any questions about HD and it’s relevance in our industry, fire them at me or post a comment below, I’m up for a conversation.

Later,

ajleitch@imagenius.com

I just returned from the International Builders Show in Orlando. We were exhibiting with our new partner BHI (www.builderhomesite.com). This was an interesting experience for me as I hadn’t exhibited since 2002. Here’s what I noticed:

As expected, attendance was way down over last year let alone back in 2002. But this wasn’t all bad as those that did attend were much happier to speak with due to not having to battle down the isles against the hordes of people like past shows.

Price was King…everyone was shocked that our new pricing was as low as it was. We’ve rarely come across anyone that doesn’t love the work we do, price has always been the only objection. Based on the response from the show (and our competition) we have finally been successful getting the pricing down below and/or inline with traditional marketing mediums.

A lot more custom home builders than I’ve seen before.

Didn’t see a single regional/divisional level representative from any of the top 20 homebuilders. Only national level executives were found, if any at all.

People are still amazed by the work we do…I’ll never get tired of hearing that…we kind of forget that when we aren’t out on the road enough.

It is back to Las Vegas for the next three years…YAY. People just seem way more social in Vegas.

I need way more comfortable shoes and trade shows are still brutal tough on you and your team.

Our competition had much smaller booths than I recall…not such a bad thing!!

Almost everyone was looking for the same but for less money to reduce their marketing expenses and didn’t seem too open for trying anything new…primarily they wanted to either get more for their existing spending or simply reduce costs across the board. No shocker there.

Lastly, it has been too long since I’ve been in Orlando and I really enjoyed my visits with Deb, Ed & Paul.

See everyone at PCBC in June!!

Jim Warren, CEO

Over the years of developing strategies in the field of Digital Marketing solutions, We have had the opportunity to work with many of the nation’s top builders and the most creative marketing minds in the industry. As with all interactive sales center’s the biggest inhibitor is that the technology may get in the way. We quickly came to realize that applying the K.I.S. rule (Keep It Simple) was required. Simplicity in operation and navigation is critical to successfully incorporating technology in a sales center. Guests should not be made to feel intimidated by the technology, but rather invited to explore and enjoy the interactive experience.

Back to my last post … make sure you select a qualified vendor! One who has the expertise and experience to deliver proven results! Everyone knows a friend or family member who creates digital media out of their basements. This is not the time to blindly put your faith in an unproven vendor solution. Having a black screen on a wall is not the desired end result. With a qualified vendor in place, the next goal is to keep the interface navigation simple and intuitive, this has also proved to be invaluable. At the sales center a guest is not judging the creative ability of a builder or the artistic and programming power of their design team. They are judging the builder, community and homes being sold at that development.

The Experience of a well laid out presentation which clearly communicates the brand, the community and all which it has to offer is the most distinguishable memory which the guest will take with them from the sales center. The minute the guest experiences complexities or difficulties in using the display, they will back away in order to not attract attention to the fact that they are stuck. This is not a good use of technology, but rather when planning, developing and designing the display every effort should be made to incorporate technology which assists in providing an invitation to explore.

Oh Yeah… High quality visuals, video, audio should always be mandatory!! Please see www.imagenius.com

Some amazing notes from an amazing man.

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man in America, who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

• He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
• He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
• He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence around it.
• He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
• He never travels by private jet, although, he owns the world’s largest private jet company.
• Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies.
• He writes only one letter each year to the CEO’s of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
• He has given his CEO’s only two rules.
  • Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your shareholder’s money.
  • Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
• He does not socialize with the high society crowd.
• His pastime, after he gets home, is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
• Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for 10 hours, and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
• Warren Buffet does not carry a cellphone, and he doesn’t have a computer on his desk.
  • A. Money doesn’t create man, but it is the man who created money.
  • B. Live your life as simple as you are.
  • C. Don’t do what others say, just listen to them, but do what you feel is good.
  • D. Don’t go on brand names; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
  • E. Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; rather spend on those people who are really in need
  • F. After all, it’s your life –“ then why give a chance to others to rule your life.”

These guidelines absolutely helped me influence my goals for 2008… have you set yours?

Jim Warren, CEO

New home sales up and existing home sales down…according to HanleyWood’s Key Indicater Alert today.

“New home sales increased slightly while existing home sales continued its downward spiral in October. New home sales increased 1.7% in October to a seasonally-adjusted 728,000 homes, up from a downwardly revised September figure of 716,000. Revised new home sales figures showed that sales were at their slowest pace in September since January 1996. At the current sales pace, there are 8.5 months of new homes supply on the market. Inventory levels continued to decline as builders have been scaling back production until the market stabilizes. The number of new homes for sale declined to 520,000 which is the lowest it’s been since December 2005. The median price for a new home plunged 8.6% from September levels to $217,800. Median new home prices are now at their lowest levels since September 2004.

Existing home sales declined for the eighth consecutive month as seasonally-adjusted sales of existing homes fell 1.2% in October to 4.97 million units. That is the lowest sales pace recorded since August 1998. Sales of existing homes are down 20.7% from the 6.27 million units in October 2006. Median existing home prices fell another 1.2% from September levels to $207,880; the median price is at its lowest levels since March 2005. Inventory of existing homes jumped to 10.8 months supply at the current sales pace, while the number of existing homes for sale increased 1.9% to 4.370 million units. Inventory of existing homes is at an all-time high.”

Hey in the current times any good news is GREAT news.

Other interesting news in the report:

“Inland Empire, CA - Despite Housing Slowdown Growth Remains Strong

Fueled by strong economic growth the Inland Empire has benefited from strong migration patterns from coastal areas. Drawn to the area by affordable homes and employment opportunities, the region’s population has been growing by 3.5% on average for the past five years”

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