Builders are frustrated by increasingly thin margins, inadequate marketing, and poor sales performance. Local consulting firm Devine & Associates searched for solutions and found some surprising answers...

Thanks to a red-hot economy and the lowest unemployment in more than forty years, residential homebuilders have been in high demand nationwide. Whether you're working from the cab of a truck or the desk of an office, business is good.

Everything would seem t be coming up roses, but even roses have thorns. Government restrictions are puttinga tight squeeze on increasingly thin profit margins. And our economy has cooled from a nearly uncontrollable boil to a comfortable, yet more competitive, simmer.

Devine & Associates, a consulting agency, interviewed 45 builders with the goal of better understanding the needs of the residential new home building industry . What they found surprised even the most savvy analysts: despite a strong housing market, the vast majority of builders felt hamstrung by inadequate marketing and poor sales performance. Put another way, even if builders had the marketing wisdom to drive double the traffic through their doors at half the cost, their sales staff would still lack the ability to close more deals!

For example, when asked if their organization was meeting comapny expectations, 87% of respondents flatly answered "no". Given a range of 1 to 100, the average sales staff performance rating was only 62%. If that weren't convincing enough, "weak action plans for selling, " "lack of ability to generate quality traffic," "unable to drive up value," and "my best agent increases my sales and profits, and I need more of them," were among the top eighteen builder comments (all of which had to do with sales and marketing deficiencies).

Devine & Associates concluded that poor sales performance and marketing deficiencies were seldom caused by builder neglect. Instead, lack of sales and marketing expertise consistently limited what builders were able to achieve.

"A business is like and eight-cylinder engine," says Kevin Devine, founder of Devine & Associates. "To run smoothly it needs to fire on all eight cylinders. The fact is many businesses misfire on a regular basis; our job is to change all that."

Devine & Associates concluded that poor sales performance and marketing deficiencies were seldom caused by builder neglect. Instead, lack of sales and marketing expertise consistently limited what builders were able to achieve.

"A business is like and eight-cylinder engine," says Kevin Devine, founder of Devine & Associates. "To run smoothly it needs to fire on all eight cylinders. The fact is many businesses misfire on a regular basis; our job is to change all that."

Devine & Associates provides corporate branding, organization and human performance counseling, sales and marketing systems evaluation, and high profitability business planning services to builders seeking to improve the way they do business. "I often see builders struggle," says Devine, "because they aren't aware of how to recognize profit leaks in specialized areas of their business." Builders who consult with Devine describe him as excellent at uncovering those damaging leaks and someone who is remarkably effective in helping them reach their goals. "Quality traffic and sales generation, sales team building and leadership, senior management consulting, research, land aquisitions and conceptual land and product planning are just a few of the many topics we cover," says Devine. "Whether you're starting a new business or want to take your organization in a new direction, we can provide solutions that will make your company grow."

Devine & Associates offers a full line of services aimed at maximizing productivity, efficiency, reliability, and bottom-line profits. For more information about residential builder sales and marketing strategies contact Devine & Associates at (206) 371-6240 or by Email.