Dennis O'Neil - Speaker & Author on Internet Sales, Marketing, and Social Media for Home Builders » Business Strategy

The Sales & Marketing Pulse 2012 Report and Video

dennisoneil — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:40:34 +0000

In early January, Jeff Shore and I began an ambitious project to survey nearly 300 new home sales and marketing leaders about what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s really happening in the marketplace. This in-depth survey asked leaders specific questions about topics including negotiating frequency, salesperson turnover, social media use, and online leads.

Because of the comprehensive survey and participation, we were able to do much more than just share the results. The responses told several clear stories about what leaders are experiencing, exposing key opportunities for 2012. We presented these results during the International Builders Show in Orlando to a sold out crowd and rave reviews.

Visit the Sales & Marketing Pulse website to download the 48 page report and watch the full video of the event.

I’ve written about the importance of mobile websites for builders a number of times, and the Pulse 2012 report provided some interesting insight into the topic. We included the popular Builder Web Apps infographic detailing the average home builder website statisitcs in the report and you’ll see the infographic demonstrates a clear trend upwards on the percentage of users accessing home builder websites from a mobile device; up 121% in 2011.

To get more insight about what this infographic means, click here to visit the Sales & Marketing Pulse 2012 website to get your copy of the report and watch nearly an hour of video content about the results.

Home Builder Website Performance Statistics

There’s a Difference between “Packaged” and “Canned”

dennisoneil — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:58:57 +0000

Packaged offerings benefit the buyer. Canned offerings benefit the seller.

When an offering is packaged, it’s done so with the buyer in mind. The package is a combination of products or services that affords the buyer additional value, often trading a little bit of decision making freedom for simplicity and that increased value. The buyer gets a little more of what they want, and foregoes a little of what’s less important to them.

When a product, service, or sales pitch is canned, its done so for the benefit of the seller. A canned sales pitch is a convenience for the seller. The salesperson is no longer required to put any thought into the presentation, pay any attention to the recipient of the presentation, or do anything different than the previous presentation. Any consumer benefit of canning is dumb luck, and not by design.

No relationship is built or maintained with canning.

Next time you’re streamlining your product, presentation, offering, whatever… ask yourself who will be benefiting from the change. You or your buyer? Ask yourself, “Am I packaging it, or canning it?”

Trying to Stand Out? Drop the Stock Photo Habit

dennisoneil — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:23:49 +0000

The first goal of any marketing effort is to gain someone’s attention. We can argue about whether or not this means the goal is to interupt someone, but no matter the direction, the goal is always to do something unique enough to get noticed, and then be heard. Let me be clear – stock photography is the OPPOSITE OF UNIQUE. Businesses’ new found addiction to stock photography has created a wad of sameness that spreads mediocrity all over your message.

NOT Standing Out

A little more than 10 or so years ago, options for inexpensive stock photos were minimal. One of the only choices was to buy big multi-CD collections of photos and clip art; and I was the proud owner of more than one set. The outlets for high quality stock photography were expensive and exclusive; often costing hundreds of dollars for a single photo and being accessible only through ad and creative agencies. These expensive and exclusive options still exist, but are still just as impractical for everyday use. So what’s a do-it-yourselfer to do?

Along comes the Internet and blasts a gaping hole in that business model with websites like iStockPhoto.com. iStockPhoto made stock photography cheap, often $1-2 a photo, and available to everyone, and available instantly. Do it yourself designers and flyer makers rejoiced.

So what’s the problem? EVERYONE uses stock photography. The ubiquity of stock photography has empowered us all to look exactly alike. The photos on sites like iStockPhoto are generic, as they want to appeal to a wide range of buyer. This means that LOTS of people buy the popular ones. This means that your customer, consciously or not, recognizies that photo on your website as the same one it saw on the PTA flyer in their mailbox.

Here are some signs your stock photography is too generic:

Operators are Standing By

Random Guy Drawing on Glass

Marshmallow People

Cloud House

I’ve seen these photos on blog posts, websites, in emails, or flyers, brochures, and EVEN ON BOOK COVERS. The last thing you want is for your brand to be associated with an image that can be hijacked by anyone else willing to spend $1.95. I’m guilty of this myself. While I did do some modifications, I used stock photos for my first book cover — not good.

So how do you avoid this?

1) If you must buy from iStockPhoto, avoid the the images with the “flames” over top of them. This means they’re top sellers and its a guarantee that you’ll see the images elsewhere.

2) If you buy an image from iStockPhoto, avoid using it in its original form. While this can involve some image editing, consider removing the color, editing out a background, or using just a piece of the image. This reduces the likelihood that someone else will be using the image in the same way you are.

3) For blog posts, use the advanced search function on Flickr to find photos with a Creative Commons license allowing them to be used commercially (the check boxes can be found at the bottom of the search page). At the the time of this writing, just over 39 million photos were available. Most will require you provide credit to the photographer, but some will not. While these photos could just as easily be used by others, its a less common approach by far, reducing the chances you’ll be identified with someone else.

4) Consider taking your own photos. You could get all fancy with a photographer, models, etc if you’re working on a brochure. If you’re just working on a blog post, though, you could also just use your phone and take a photo of you pen, or your keyboard, or your Christmas tree.

Just remember that if your goal involves defining who you are, blue-hot stock photography says you’re just like everyone else willing to spend $2 on a photo. That’s not very unique. Spend a little time and chose your imagery wisely. It says a lot more about you than you think.

What Makes Start-up’s Different from Traditional Business and Why You Should Think Like One.

dennisoneil — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:18:00 +0000

I am regularly amazed at how difficult some companies make it to business with them, or simply get a taste of their product or service. Traditional businesses are terrified a potential customer/client will find a way to take advantage of them; a way to skirt their beloved system and get something for free. They setup rules and policies to prevent any circumvention – making sure no one uses their product or service in a way they didn’t intend. This is a problem.

Who operates differently?

While no longer a start-up, consider how Google operates. Is Google afraid you’re going to get something for free or take advantage of their work without paying anything? Of course not. They want you to take it for free. Outside of advertising, most of the products they sell are upgraded versions of a free product – after millions of users have provided them with feedback about what they’d be willing to pay for.

Does Facebook care that I’ve never clicked on an ad? Maybe they want me to click, but they’re not going to kick me out if I don’t. They’re not going make it harder for me to use their platform until I start clicking. They recognize that they need to fit their revenue model to my behavior, not attempt to twist my behavior to fit their revenue model.

Does Twitter try and stop people from using their service in unconventional ways? The founders of Twitter admit that they never realized the service would end up supporting so many uses. When these new users took advantage of the Twitter system and benefited for free, did Twitter try and squash this use? Absolutely not. It watched and learned how people were using what they built. They didn’t care how, but they wanted people to use their service.

Start-up’s are about identifying new revenue models. Traditional businesses are about clinging to the ones they already have.

Start-up’s don’t care how customers use their product, they just want them to use it. Those users help define the value of the service and identify the revenue model.

What can you do?

Clearly a currently operating business cannot start giving away its product just to learn about its users, but it can let down its guard a bit. Instead of directing is customers and stifling creative uses with regulation, it can see what happens with less system. You could learn a lot. Enough to see new opportunities.

There are businesses clinging to old models that are simply unsustainable in the long term – too rigid, too closed, too cold. Take the risk and let people take advantage of you. Let those people help you determine what your next revenue stream should be.

Instead of an environment of defensiveness, create an atmosphere of welcome. Otherwise, some start-up may do it for you.