Lance Sonka

Our home building industry today is mostly unaware of the “power shift” that web technology has created in the minds of our home buying prospects.

Recent software developments and the implementation of fast, real time communication has decreased the resistance of new home information flow to the consumer; while increasing the speed and efficiency by which the same information is received.

The home building industry as a whole has bullied the housing consumer for decades; in the process hording all the pertinent information needed for a potential home buyer to make a favorable buying decision.

The cat has been let out of the bag regarding our information monopoly, and home buyers know it.

Because “the proverbial cat” will not get back into the bag, the dispersement of information about our products and services will not slow down; information will only increase in its ability to flow into the hands of our new home prospects.

We as an industry have got to stop fighting the winds of change with marketing and instead, build a new machine to harness the power of web technology and learn how to profit fairly from it.

Gone are the days whereby well deserving clients with money and good credit come to us meekly like lambs to the slaughter house. The”lambs” are now well informed, self educated, smart individuals, empowered with the secrets of shared knowledge found on the internet; and embittered by the mess we have made of ourselves and their sacred homes.

The new home buyer has become suspect of our decrepit ways.

Like Dorothy who discovers there is no magical powers behind the wizard’s veil – we too have been found uncovered and naked – left wanting and in shame.

Hope is not lost…

Tomorrow promises us a new chance to get it right, starting today.

We can change direction from within. We must adapt to the wants and needs of the shifting consumer. We have to retire our arrogant, self seeking, interruption marketing techniques – lest we wither and die. Financial ruin and bankruptcy is near for some, and a new beginning right around the corner for others.

Let’s create a new image of the home building industry.

One that matches the desires of our new home consumer. Let’s take action now, loving the fight back to the lines.

Let’s keep in mind, that we do more than create “lives” out of brick and stone.

Our creations house the very breath of life that is “community” – the essence of human nature for all man kind.

The golden rule for successful business has always been - give customers what they want, and make a profit by it.

Do you know what your customer wants?

Do you know what you want?

Are we not the same living flesh and blood as our customer…? just trying to iron out a happy existence with self respect for ourselves while keeping our family in tact?

Do you want to be cold called at dinner time while you are enjoying the only 30 minutes you get to spend with your spouse and honor roll kids?

How would you feel about making the largest purchase in your life and then left alone to deal with shoddy workmanship and unkempt promises?

We are not selling porn!

The product that we deliver should outlast most of the lives of those who deliver it. The home building industry cannot be about making a fast buck, we should be about making a lasting impression on a lifetime of someone’s memories.

We develop physical communities out of parcels of land, but cannot maintain relationships with those that we profit from. As an industry we want to increase profits by controlling construction cost - measuring materials down to the inch used on any given job site. But what is the real cost of broken promises to our customers?

How much is spent on damage control and reinventing our image? How many feet of lumber do you have to save to equal one satisfied homeowner referral?