Business English para Dummies by Varios autores Page A

market
    Competition is quite tough among home builders but Viola Christophel, franchise partner with Town & Country, cannot complain about a lack of orders.
    To Viola Christophel from Brandenburg, who is a licensed partner of the massive construction homes builder Town & Country, clear positioning in the market is an essential prerequisite for success. “We offer massive construction homes in the low-price segment. Our main target group consists of young families with average incomes.”
    Because these customers have an especially high security need , Viola Christophel approaches the matter at the beginning of the sales talk. She explains to her customers that they are automatically covered against risks if they decide to buy a Town & Country house.
    Always oriented towards the customer
    This entails presenting to the customer a certificate with a building quality, finance, and building service cover, which is automatically included in the price. It’s just as important to Viola Christophel first to determine the customer’s financial frame and how he envisions his dream home.
    The actual planning of the house plays an important role in the sales talk. Viola Christophel attaches great importance to clarifying and discussing every detail because great emotional values are attached to living in your own home: “The customer wants to improve his quality of life and fulfill his dream.” In order to give the customer a good idea of how his dream can come true, Viola Christophel draws up a virtual model of the house on the computer, precisely matching the customer’s wishes. At the end of the sales talk, the customer receives a computer print -out of his future house, an especially important moment, as Viola Christophel emphasises. “The customer sees his finished home in front of him. This raises his anticipation .” Before the customer leaves, something important must be taken care of: Agreeing on a follow-up appointment to clarify all the planning and financing details.
    Proactive marketing
    Intense marketing is an integral part of Viola Christophel’s work. She is responsible for local marketing activities, while headquarters deals with national marketing efforts. Ad campaigns are supported by the franchise provider but Viola Christophel also takes advantage of being locally present, for example by attending local house building exhibitions and by making personal contact with potential customers.
    Showing structurally completed homes results in many customer contacts: As part of a marketing campaign, the Town & Country customer agrees to have his house shown before completion. “The customers are proud of their new homes, so most of them agree to have them shown,” says Viola Christophel.
    Customer retention worthwhile
    It is also worth one’s while to follow up with customers who buy a house only once in their lifetime, emphasises Viola Christophel, because “I get a lot of referrals from them.” The customers are proud of their houses and are pleased to pass their positive experiences on to others. Therefore, Viola Christophel is always able to turn to her referral customers if a potential customer wants to see a lived-in Town & Country home from the inside and exchange ideas with the home owner.
    Checking out the competition
    It’s not a taboo subject for Viola Christophel that prospects also check out the competition. “We can talk openly about that!” While she nudges some customers onto the subject herself (“Have you looked somewhere else yet?”) , other customers, referring to the competition, try to haggle the price down several thousand euros. In this case also, Viola Christophel has a clear strategy: “I ask the customer to re-examine if the same services he gets from us are also included in the competitor’s offer. As a rule, this is not the case.”
    Palabras para recordar
    to achieve: to attain, to reach, to arrive at, to gain, to earn
    to not be able to complain about: to not be able to