| Selling Strategies |
There are two things that matter in a successful business: marketing and innovation. Both marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. If you don't believe me, do a little snooping. I think you'll find that marketing has lost its relevance. You'll also find that marketers have lost their influence.
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| Process Improvement Report |
GIANT home builders face unique challenges today: increased risk and liability; more complex home design; new materials and methods; changing building codes; diversity of specialty contractors; divisions spread across geographic regions; and high employee turnover, to name a few. The inevitable result? Knowledge inconsistency.
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| From the Editor |
Ask any builder to define his or her company's unique selling proposition and among the top five answers will be, "We build a quality house." It's easy to quibble with whether delivering a quality house qualifies as unique, however, the question that must be asked of builders claiming this position is, "Do you get paid for the quality you build into your homes and deliver to your buyers?" My se...
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| Wall Street Report |
Wall Street ended a sluggish quarter on March 31, 2005, the close of our trading session, sagging on stellar oil prices. Investment firm Goldman Sachs predicted a sharp jump in energy prices, and that negative outlook weighed against higher United States incomes and strong consumer spending. However, the price of crude, ending the quarter at $55.
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| Best Practices |
Companies recognized for producing top talent have, for years, used a competency-based (also referred to as a behavior-based) interviewing approach for assessing talent when recruiting new employees. A close examination of competency-based methodologies yields some interesting insights home builders should consider implementing as they seek new talent.
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| Market Intelligence |
In this issue, we feature one of the hottest and fastest-growing housing markets in the country as well as one whose growth has been restricted by local planning agencies. Featured Major Market: Atlanta With 25,600 jobs added in the last year, Atlanta is quickly recovering from the downturn that occurred in 2002 and 2003.
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| CEO Spotlight |
New Jersey-based Hovnanian Enterprises is rocketing up the rankings of public home builders, thanks to the velvet touch of a leader who eschews the conventional strategy of concentrating production at the pricing mid-point in the top 50 housing markets. Instead, Ara Hovnanian recruits acquisition targets with a plan to operate in fewer markets — but dominate them — by turning local ...
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