In a market where everyone is completing for a much smaller pool of buyers, we need to start focusing on what potential customers are actually looking for, connections. I’m talking about connections with the property/community, with the builder, with the environment, with their emotions, and finally with the sales people.

In our upcoming newsletter, From the ground up, we are focusing directly on this topic as it relates to marketing. Stay tuned for a more in depth look at emotional connections and how they can change the tone of your marketing for the better.

One other thing I wanted to mention about making a connection, sometimes we forget that we are all people and one of the basic needs in our lives is to connect with other people. With the world getting more and more digitally connected every day, we are tending to get further and further away from actual face to face connections. If you ever want to learn more about how to grow and connect as a person or a business, Keith Ferrazzi of Ferrazzi Greenlight, and the best selling book, “Never Eat Alone”, is one the best speakers/writers ever to broach the subject. To visit his blog, click here.

Now go out and make more connections. Your entire self and business will change as a result

I’m not trying to be all doom and gloom. However, if perhaps we recognizing things for as they are, it might be easier to take steps to fix the problems and not just continuing creating new ones. Food for thought.

It is nice to see a new series of articles being published by Builder Magazine, with the first one appropriately titled “Vision Quest”.  They begin to examine what is to come, not what has already been done. This is truly a breath of fresh air for our industry. We are a market that constantly just tweaks what has currently always worked and hopes that it will continue to keep working.

However, times are changing and they are going to change even more, so we must learn to embrace them. People are becoming more technologically savvy, they want environmentally friendly homes, they are constantly looking for what is new. Values and ideas are ever changing, they evolve and so should our industry. It is not just the trends with design and creating communities that are changing. The way we do business must change too. We cannot keep doing the things we have always done and expect things to be different. Marketing is one area that must always grow with the times, and if you are the one on the cutting edge, you will reap the benefits all the way to the bank.

Do not be afraid to look to the future in all aspects of your business. It is truly the ones that risk the most and actually venture out to the ledge, that really stand the best chance for success.

Are there really no more original ideas? Do we just borrow bits and pieces of things to create new ones?

My answer would be, no and yes. I think that ideas are just a collaboration of thoughts that are taken apart and then creatively constructed back into something new. As designers we are constantly borrowing from others, from nature, pre-existing structures, emotions, colors, and on and on. However, I think there are always opportunities to create something new. Something that no one has done before. It just takes that little spark in the imagination and the wheel starts to move. As it begins to roll there is no stopping what can be created, especially when collaboration begins to take place.

When you are stuck on something or need a spark of inspiration to think of something new. Find someone who you can sit and bounce around your thoughts. You will be shocked at how a little brainstorming with someone, who knows much or nothing, can get you unstuck and cause the ideas to just flow. Ideas are what make life interesting. How boring would life be if we all just did the same thing and nothing new was created.

In an age when “original and unique” seem to be the buzz word of the day, creative ideas are the only thing that call you out from the masses. Good luck and keep always dreaming.

This book is great for anyone who puts off that big scary task of the day till the end. If you wait until the last minute to do the really bad tasks, and you are like me,  you never seem to get that last big, most important task ever done.

The theory behind “Eat that Frog!” is do you worst more horrible, dreaded task first. In essence, eat the big ugly frog before you do anything else and then the little tiny frogs are not so hard to swallow as the day goes on. I have to admit, I’ve tried his theory and it actually works. If you get into work and just do the task that is the hardest, and often the most important to your success, you are most likely to have accomplished more than you would that day than you would have the entire week.

It is often that unsurmountable, painful, hard, difficult task that we save for last, if we just would take a bite, we would see it really is not that difficult, to just eat the frog. Even if you have to do it one bite at a time. Good luck and may you procrastinate no longer.

Is it design or style. However if off color language offends you, I would refrain from visiting this blog.

After attending may of the sales and marketing seminars, the overall tone was to dig in and weather out the storm. There was great focus on how sales people really needed to get back to the basics and start actually selling for the first time in a long time, the homes are not going to just sell themselves these days. Marketing also seems to be a higher priority as well this year. With more focus on branding and website presence. Thank goodness!!! Here is an article that speaks directly to what some builders are doing  “Builders Priority’s Change as Market Conditions Slip

One final note, Green building is still a very hot topic this year and I predict for years to come as well. It seems that if you are not heading towards at least learning more about building green, you truly might just miss the boat. There were many different tracks that focused solely on this very important topic. Here are a few articles recaps that will help fill you in on what is going on with Green.  Green by Design, Not just Gadgets, by Jenny Sullivan. Survey Reveals Home Buyers Wish for Energy Efficient and Beyond, by Jean Dimeo. NAHB Lays Out Details for Green Building Program, by John Caulfield. Web Tools Support Green Projects, by Jenny Sullivan.

Overall I think the conference was a good chance to get people back on track and reinvigorated about what they love to do, sell more homes. If you are not already planning on attending next year, I would highly suggest you try and fit it in your budget. IBS is going to be held January 20-23, this year in Las Vegas. You always learn something new at this great event.

If you are feeling like you are suffering from a turn in your mental outlook, here are a few books that might help you through this blip on the radar; “Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude” by Napolean Hill and W. Clement Stone; and “Get Out of Your Own Way” by Mark Goulston, M.D., and Philip Goldberg. These books might not solve all your personal or business problems, but hey, what could they hurt.