^{Options...Can You Feel The Heat ?
By Mike Moore
Reprinted from: Builder & Developer Magazine}

^{With all the talk of options in the industry everyone seems to have a solution, yet we continue to hear of options' nightmares.  Buyers who are growing more demanding, sales agents who need more tools in a market ever more competitive, technology and products that make the home more efficient and fun, makes for more options, more purchasing and more confusion to all involved.  This doesn’t even start to touch the issue of coordinating the mass of information and changes the buyers selections create between sales, purchasing, the vendor, construction and accounting.}

^{The solution is simple! Create a home buyer friendly selection process that doesn’t interrupt your sales agents time to sell more homes. That’s right we can never forget our real business is to sell homes and the options or personalization is suppose to enhance that process.  Options are suppose to make the buying experience more enjoyable.}

^{The solution is not always easy!  So.... how do you merchandise options for all your projects with individual pricing by plan and selections exclusive to individual projects?  How can you display the choices and organize them so they are available, priced , and buyer friendly when you start selling at a project?  What is the answer to managing the selection process at the speed of construction?  Vendor notices?  Correct products installed in the correct place?  What options really help sell more homes, and which ones create the problems?  How do we tract all this information and account for the dollars?  What about our profit margins,  what is a fair price?  How do I control all this and still build and sell houses?  Lots of questions, but where are the answers?} 

^{We are seeing the evolution of a new industry, the retailing of new homes to buyers who want it all and won’t settle for anything less.  I’ve heard many top executives say they can’t wait for the market to pick-up, “ wait till they’re camping outside, then we can do away with options.”  Never in American business history have we been able to take away products or services from the consumer once we offer them,  and this generation of buyers is more demanding and has been given more than any before.  The market has picked-up, and after the buyer selects their home, they want to personalize it so they can enjoy living in it.  In short, options aren’t going away.  We all need to manage them to a successful and profitable end.}

^{Think about this, how much has the buyer changed over the past 10 to 15 years?  How have your selling systems changed?  Most of us will find that the buyer has grown and developed more than we have.  Have you ever heard the story of the frog, if you put it in a pot of boiling water it will jump out, but if you put it in cold water and bring it to a boil it will stay in until it is dead and cooked.  To often we don’t keep up with the changes because they are so subtle they don’t burn us instantly.  The water in the options pot seems to be boiling!  The real question is, are you prepared to jump toward answering your home buyers demands, or are you feeling the heat of options chaos and confusion.}

^{Builders Showcase Interiors has been serving the new home builder and the new home buyer for years with the individual attention and commitment to detail that options requires.  Several years ago Builders Showcase began to study the options selection process and the coordination of information management.  This study created a new commitment to develop services that would provide solutions to these questions by using the latest technology and their existing design services to meet the buyers demands.  This study and development has brought about the  creation of ONE GOAL™, an exclusive program combining technology and personal services.  This new program makes the options selection and information management, buyer and construction friendly.  ONE GOAL™ is now being used by Pulte Homes at The Enclave, mentioned in this publication as part of Pulte Homes being honored as Builder of the Month.  ONE GOAL™ is also being used by Standard Pacific Homes and Presley Homes and is currently being set up on several new projects opening soon.  ONE GOAL™ is increasing options sales and freeing sales agents too sell more homes.} 

^{This program was designed after hundreds of hours of research and in cooperation with many top sales agents, construction managers, purchasing, top executives and most importantly your home buyers.} 

^{As we watch and participate in the evolution of this new industry an exciting thing is taking place, cooperation and teamwork that are normally reserved for management discussions, are now being used to improve the home buyers experience and the construction process.  So unless you want the water to get so hot it might be too late to jump, join Builders Showcase Interiors in the ongoing pursuit of home buyer enjoyment.}