Pulse 2012 survey leads to advice for industry workers.
The Pulse 2012 new sales and marketing trends survey reveals key lessons and insight on how to gain a performance edge in the home building industry.
The survey was completed by new home sales and marketing leaders across North America anonymously in January 2012. Data was collected by SurveyMonkey.com and analyzed for results, then revealed at the Sales and Marketing Pulse 2012 event held at the BB King Blues Club in Orlando, Fla., during the International Builders show.
Presenters Jeff Shore of Shore Consulting and Dennis O’Neil, president of O’Neil interactive, produced the results to a sold out crowd of more than 150 new home sales and marketing leaders.
“This survey is the first of its kind and is important because new home sales and marketing leaders have a shared interest in learning what will give them a performance edge. They want to understand what the opportunities are and how they can all take advantage of them,” said Shore. “In conducting this survey, we identified some key opportunities for performance improvement.”
The survey is broken down into five main areas. The first is margin protection, according to the survey more than half of the sales leaders surveyed report that 75 percent or more of their sales involve offers and price negotiations. Based on that data, a directional trend line can be drawn to indicate it’s more difficult to meet of exceed business plan expectations as rats of negotiations rise.
Individual performance measurement is another category. The survey says that leaders who utilize a competitive floor as opposed to a shared floor, are more likely to meet or exceed their business plans. Also, sales leaders who regularly mystery shop their sales counselors report that they exceed business plan expectations at higher rates than sales leaders who do not.
“New media” marketing efforts trends show that in 2012, 78 percent of respondents say that will use social media, but just 67 percent will focus on search engine optimization and only 42 percent plan to blog. Pulse 2012 says that builders should invest their resources in creating a strong presence in places where consumers actively search for homes and should consider these actions before expanding their presence in social media where consumer intentions are uncertain.
The survey also says that Email Marketing IS Mobile Marketing. More than 90 percent of respondents say that they will engage in email marketing in 2010, however only 42 percent plan on having a mobile website and only 24 percent will include a mobile app. Pulse 2012 says that since mobile traffic was up 121 percent in 2011 and that 25 percent of smart-phone owners say they mostly go online using their phone rather than with a computer, creating a mobile web experience should be an increasingly important strategic initiative.
The surveys last category is performance, perception and reality. The survey revealed that there is a serious gap between how sales managers think their sales teams are performing and how the sales teams are actually producing. 74 percent of sales leaders rated their overall team talent “slightly above” or “well above average,” yet 41 percent of sales leaders report that their teams did not meet business plan expectations in 2011. Pulse 2012 believes this disconnect suggests that too many leaders spend their time administering the business rather than driving the sales.
“The survey wasn’t groundbreaking because of the types of questions asked, but groundbreaking because it provides a new way to think about sales and marketing practices,” commented Shore. “The Pulse2012 is an essential tool for the homebuilding industry with action items that will make your organization better.”