There are so many myths about what home buyers won’t pay for. And I’ll submit that too many of these myths are based on ineffective sales practices personally observed over the past 25 years working with the housing industry. If you can’t sell it, surely that must mean they won’t buy it rather than a failure to convey its value. In the absence of sales skills, the housing industry is too often afraid to innovate its product. Not surprisingly, sales is the single biggest need for improvement cited by builder executives at Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry workshops.
The “they won’t buy it” myth may come into play most significantly with regards to the home enclosure. This is because the quality difference with better construction is often invisible or at least not obvious to home buyers. Yet a high-performance enclosure is a superior business solution for builders. The rest of this article will address two questions: Why is it better business? And, how can it be sold effectively?
Before I can answer those questions, we need a common understanding of what we mean by a high-performance enclosure. I suggest the following definition. A high-performance enclosure is a sound structure that effectively addresses four key attributes: energy efficiency, weather-protection, health, and disaster resistance. The following paragraphs answer the first ‘better business’ question by showing how each high-performance enclosure attribute is directly correlated to risk reduction and customer satisfaction.