News

Friday, March 13 at 10:30 a.m. Joe Zanola will present the MarketGraphics Southwest, Missouri Housing Forecast and Market Research Update for the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield. The research will cover land, lot, homebuilding and demographic detail for Greene, Christian, Barry, Stone and Taney Counties. Joe will include data-driven strategies to be successful in today’s market.

Join us at the Library Center located at 4653 S. Campbell in Springfield.

RSVP to HBA office at 573-881-3711 or jennifer@springfieldhba.com.

I was out visiting a sampling of new home communities from Columbia, Illinois to St. Louis County to Jefferson County to Wentzville (a lot of windshield time but that’s what we do). I saw some fairly clean sites that looked to me as though they were completely finished with selling homes (they aren’t). This ends the good news.

I also saw:
Deteriorated and haphazard signage (if there was any at all)
Models (that I could find) were closed and in some cases, no hours were posted
None of the fifteen sites had an information box
Flattened tires on work vehicles
Heaps of construction debris

If I wanted to buy a house in one of the sites I visited I would not know who to talk to or where to go for information – just imagine an overly cautious buyer’s reaction.

Two of the sites had some new signage, which was great but the signage color selected was cautionary yellow with black lettering. Cautionary yellow is the color of cautionary type signage like these:
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In a market where every little detail counts, this would probably not be the best color scheme.

I talk with our clients everyday about today’s market realities and understand we can’t afford to do things the way we once did but we can’t just pack up our toys and go home. There are buyers out there and we need to be available when they are! There are low-cost or no-cost solutions available! What about a self-touring site? Or a centralized sales zone? We need to concentrate activity. I have tons of solutions. Let’s chat about this – call me today!

http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2009-02-16/Front+Page/index.html

This morning a portion of the Zanola Company Team lead a SWOT Analysis with our newest client.

The objectives:
1. Identify new markets.
2. Group and prioritize focus areas.
3. Identify sales processes and areas for improvement to focus efforts.
4. Identify marketing processes and areas for improvement to focus efforts.

Below are pictures of some this morning’s work:

Our client left with information they can use today to help increase their effectiveness.

From today’s activities the Zanola Company Team will create succinct action plans to attack the direction identified. Our client’s action plans will be complete in just two weeks!

The November publication of the MarketGraphics Housing and Subdivision Analysis will be arriving at subscriber’s offices the first week of November. Individual new homes market update presentations will be scheduled beginning next week.

The research for the MarketGraphics Housing and Subdivision Analysis is gathered by means of an intense, ground-level market audit that is conducted three times a year for each research market area – St. Louis Region, Central, Missouri Region and Southwest, Missouri Region. During the audit, each new home development is physically driven while measuring the critical points of absorption – homes under construction, homes finished and unoccupied and homes that have been absorbed (presently occupied) into the market. Developed and undeveloped lots are counted and included as part of the audit process. Pricing, amenity and other pertinent information is also collected. The data is processed, evaluated and from that a total market forecast is developed. This information is published in the MarketGraphics Housing and Subdivision Analysis report, which is delivered each March, July and November in St. Louis, each April, August and December in Central, Missouri and each January, May and September in Southwest, Missouri.

To learn more about Zanola Company’s MarketGraphics Research, contact Angie Slayton at 314.918.7200.

The presentation of 30 Frightening Factors that Could be Killing Your Bottom Line and 30 Easy Fixes to Scare Up Some Business was held this morning at Zanola Company’s creepy conference room. There wasn’t an open seat in the room of bankers, developers and realtors.

Attendees learned over thirty low cost, highly effective strategies to better position their new home developments in today’s market. The presentation concluded with an open group conversation regarding current new homes market opportunities.

A few lucky attendees walked away with a certificate for a complimentary 30 Point Site Analysis from Zanola Company that can be used to evaluate one of their new home developments. If you would like to hear more information about this presentation or to schedule your own 30 Point Site Analysis, contact Zanola Company at 314.918.7200.

You can no longer afford to deny the influence of social networking on marketing. Both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions will have YouTube uploading kiosks powered by Google available for anyone attending to upload videos to the e-masses. The potential voter participation rewards of this development are thought to outweigh the fear of a less than presidential moment getting billions of views in millions of offices around the world. 

The Democratic National Convention has also increased its venue square footage to accommodate hundreds of bloggers. Zanola Company understand the importance of a well maintained blog and use YouTube, MySpace and other social technology to help our clients relate with their clients on a whole new level. And it’s working! So here is my question- are you going to let these stuffy political guys be more web savvy than you?

I know it’s scary. You don’t have time to learn, you don’t know how to set it up, etc., etc., etc. It’s Okay-that’s what we’re here for! Give us a call to learn how you can put your sales and marketing on the forefront of technology.

To learn more about the YouTube kiosks and what other gadgets will be at the conventions, read the full article here: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5601518&page=1

Zanola Company helps people through research, coaching and market insight. Below are some ways we have helped during the past two weeks.

1. Assisted a bank by reviewing and advising best sell-or-hold strategies for 20 sites in their residential land and lot portfolio.

2. Supported a custom homebuilder and remodeler by presenting research and introducing a compliancy program to 60 suppliers and subcontractors.

3. Completed assignments for a retail developer and delivered several retail site analyses.

4. Provided e-marketing resources to a building trade association through a free website for builders and homebuyers.

5. Coached a homebuilder on evaluating sales staff performance, correcting sales activities and reporting, and improving sales results.

6. Introduced an out of town developer to a renowned St. Louis architectural firm.

7. Completed an assignment for a developer to update an absorption analysis for a new development in St. Charles County.

8. Trained a bank’s staff on utilizing our MarketGraphics Housing and Subdivision Research.

9. Accepted an assignment from a bank to provide a turn-around assessment for an underperforming out-of-town condominium development.

10. Advised an investing developer on the purchase and lot sales feasibility for three parcels of land in St. Louis County.

Please call us today. We hope to help you!