Let your reputation proceed you { series: small business marketing tips for the home building industry }

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Originally published in Toolbox Magazine [ Charleston Home Builders Association ], Oct 2008
By Tiffany Jonas

For homeowners hankering for an upgrade or second home, Money Magazine recently advised that the time to buy (or build) is now, noting that today's soft market and falling prices offer an excellent opportunity. In this highly competitive environment, how can you convince these buyers to choose your firm over others?

To assemble a building dream team, Money urges readers to ask local lenders for recommendations. For custom homes, architects also act as referral sources… and consumers are increasingly using the internet to scout out builders and homes. According to an August 2007 survey of 150,000 home buyers and sellers by the National Association of REALTORS®, 84 percent of buyers used the web to find a home.

Given that a home represents the largest investment most consumers make, what are potential buyers seeking when asking for personal referrals and searching online? In a word, reputation.

This spring, the Society of New Communications Research reported a growing group of consumers 25 to 55 years old earning more than $100,000 annually who are using the internet to research companies' reputations for customer care. According to the Society, 72.2 percent of those surveyed had researched firms' customer service levels online prior to purchasing, and 84 percent considered the quality of customer care when deciding whether to do business with a firm.

The proliferation of blogs, online rating sites, and discussion forums make it more important than ever to manage your reputation. A popular book this summer is aptly titled Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000, a practice made possible by the internet. But even if you've never had a disgruntled customer, if all that's out there are your own assertions that customer service is your priority—a statement most consumers will take with a hefty grain of salt—it's not going to stack up against a competitor nurturing relationships with lenders and architects and delivering proof of its ability to satisfy customers.

What proof can you offer? Start with testimonials. "What others say about you and your product, service, or business is at least 1,000 times more convincing than what you say," writes Dan Kennedy in No BS Sales Success. Ask for testimonials from satisfied customers, and with their permission, post them on your website, quote them in your marketing materials, and share them with your referral partners. They want proof, too; after all, by recommending you, they're putting their own reputations on the line.

Ask the same customers if they'd be willing to post their positive experiences on sites like Angie's List, Palmetto Biz Buzz, or Merchant Circle. Even if buyers don't visit these sites directly, listings and reviews are likely to turn up on search engines like Google.

Be creative. Dan Kennedy tells of a car salesman—one of America's least trusted professions—who uses pictorial proof of customer satisfaction to assure success. "[His] walls are covered with snapshots," writes Kennedy, "showing a customer or customer family, smiling, standing next to their new vehicle. Each photo is dated and has the customer's name on it. Some families are there many times with a series of vehicles they have purchased over the years. It doesn't take long to accept the pictures as proof that this guy treats his customers right."

About the author

Aio Design founder Tiffany Jonas graduated magna cum laude from the Missouri School of Journalism, a top journalism school, with a degree in advertising. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and has taken coursework toward an MBA. She is a member of Mensa, an organization for those who have tested in the top 2% of the population on a standardized intelligence test, and is also a member of the American Marketing Association and the eMarketing Association. She has been the two-time recipient of an 11-state award for design, honored at the Chicago Book and Media Show, and the New York Times called one of her book designs "well-produced and elegant." In 2008 she was named one of the Charleston Regional Business Journal's Forty Under 40, an honor recognizing individuals who have achieved professional success while contributing to the Charleston community.

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