Marketing Partners. Home Builders and Warranty Programs

Transcription

1 Marketing Partners Home Builders and Warranty Programs National Warranty Council Presentation by Aubrey LeBlanc President/Registrar Ontario New Home Warranty Program Canadian Home Builders' Association October 4,1996

2 Marketing Partners Home Builders and Warranty Programs Marketing Partners Home Builders and Warranty Programs Slide 1: Marketing Partners Slide 2: Come Rome to Something New! Come Home to Something New! This is the catch phrase of a marketing campaign conducted by the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association and it captures the interests shared by both home builders across Canada and the warranty corporations that underwrite home builders' warranties. We all have an interest in the revival of the home building industry and there are opportunities for us to pursue together to encourage the purchase of new homes among today's home shoppers. National Warranty Council 1 October 4, 19%

3 There is a good news story to tell home buyers about the benefits that new homes offer in today's market. But effective marketing partnerships need to be undertaken and a comprehensive marketing strategy needs to be developed. In Ontario, for example, builders are finding that their major competition is not so much the builder across the street as the resale homes in other parts of town. Slide 3: Promote New Home Purchase Warranty programs, both voluntary and mandatory, have undertaken more energetic marketing programs in recent years to demonstrate the benefits of warranty to encourage the new home market and to anticipate the entry of competing insurers. Gone are the days when consumer awareness was the only goal of new home warranty marketing. Today we are as interested as you in encouraging new home sales and promoting the benefit of dealing with our registered warranty builder. National Warranty Council 2

4 Most warranty programs across Canada are pursuing new marketing initiatives to reach these goals. And like the well-known credit company we, too, want home builders to know that "membership has its privileges". I want to share a number of the strategies and programs now underway among warranty corporations across the country. Many of these offer partnership opportunities to lever limited dollars into effective marketing initiatives with benefits for us all. Slide 4: Market Research: Know the Customer Key to any effective marketing strategy is knowing your customer and what your customer is seeking in the marketplace. Customer surveys, focus groups and market tests are just some of the vehicles we use to determine what the home buyer is looking for and where warranty fits into their list of needs and wants. Professional market research can help frame your message to your potential customer. National Warranty Council 3

5 Slide 5: New Home Purchase and Warranty Protection For example, today's home buyer continues to seek assurance that this enormous financial investment has the lowest risk possible. Warranty programs have framed their messages to address this need for assurance when buyers are making their home purchase decision. Slide 6: Alberta - We Have You Covered In Alberta, for example, the warranty corporation's new marketing program features the slogan, "We have you covered" and reinforces the assurance that comes with buying from a registered member of the program. Slide 7: B.C. - Protection Is Our Promise British Columbia and the Yukon have enunciated a similar theme: "Protection is our promise". And in Manitoba, the warranty program has revamped its message to: "Protect Your Investment". National Warranty Council 4

6 In Ontario, we are stressing the HPeace of Mind Advantage" that comes with the purchase of a new home. Time and time again home buyers tell us that they see the process of purchasing any home as risky. Slide 8: Ontario - Peace of Mind Advantage Recent focus group research we did with renovation consumers told us that insured warranties provide two levels of comfort. First, consumers feel confident they are dealing with an approved contractor who will do the job right; but, secondly, if something should go wrong, then there is that added safety net that an insured warranty offers. In other words, warranty protection implies the promise of quality as well as defect protection when things go awry. Gone are the days when describing warranty protection somehow raised some awful spectre to the home buyer. In today's world of broad product warranties in cars, appliances and other consumer goods, the new home warranty is an expected service, and one the resale market has not emulated with any success. National Warranty Council 5

7 Warranty protection offers a significant competitive advantage and builders should promote it. All of this demonstrates the consumers' current need for assurance: hence, Ontario's upeace of Mind Advantage", Alberta's uwe Have You Covered", B.C.' s uprotection Is Our Promise" and Manitoba's uprotect Your Investment". Regular consumer research helps you keep on top of what the consumer needs and wants now. Comprehensive market research is one opportunity that stakeholders in the home building industry should undertake together. National Warranty Council 6 October 4,1996

8 The Ontario New Home Warranty Program is currently surveying its builder/vendor members to evaluate our policies, procedures and services. Next year we plan to conduct a similar review with home buyers and owners so that we can plan more effectively to meet the needs of our primary client, the builder/vendor, and the beneficiary, the new home buyer and owner. I want to turn now to the ways the warranty corporations have translated their market research into market strategies and programs. National Warranty Council 7 October 4,1996

9 Slide 9: Canada's warranty programs provide information about Finding a approved or registered builders to home buyers to Reputable promote new homes as the purchase of choice. The New Builder Home Warranty Program of British Columbia and the Yukon publishes a regular magazine with information about the purchase of new homes and the selection of a builder. Along with information about warranty the magazine publishes a list of approved builders to help purchasers make their choice. The New Home Warranty Program of Saskatchewan will soon follow suit with a similar publication produced jointly with two local home builders' associations. The New Home Warranty Program of Alberta has been working with newspapers in Calgary and Edmonton. They have placed two major 16 page inserts in these newspapers to promote warranty protection and to advertise the "Master Builder" designation. National Warranty Council 8

10 In Ontario we have published the annual Home Buyer's Guide to After Sales Service since The Home Buyer's Guide rates registered builders and vendors in terms of their ability to deal effectively with warrantable complaints. More and more home buyers consult the Home Buyer's Guide as they search for a new home. However, the Guide's biggest impact has been in enhancing the quality of customer service among home builders. It has also contributed to the reputation of the home building industry as a self-policing sector in our economy. National Warranty Council 9

11 Slide 10: Builder Recognition Programs We have built on the success of the Home Buyer's Guide by launching a series of promotional products to help Excellent-rated builders and vendors promote their success. We provide Certificates of Excellence which many builders frame and display in their sales offices to reinforce the quality message. Copies of the Certificates are available in bulk for builders to include in their sales packages. We also provide Seal of Excellence artwork so Excellent-rated builders can drop the symbol into their advertising and promotional materials. More recently we have added colourful flags and signs so that builders can display their achievement prominently at their sales locations. All of these activities promote the professional home builder and reinforce that earlier message that consumers seek: deal with a reputable builder and the chances of problems are significantly reduced but should something go wrong the insured warranty provides that "Peace of Mind Advantage". National Warranty Council 10

12 Slide 11: Builder Recognition Programs 2 Awards programs also have an important role to play in developing the reputation of the home building industry generally and distinguished builders specifically. In Ontario we launched the annual Ernest Assaly Award in 1990 to recognize one builder in the province who delivers a quality product and excellent customer service. In 1994 we augmented this recognition program with the establishment of six regional Service Excellence Awards. These winners become the candidates for the Assaly A ward announced at the annual OHBA Conference. This two-tiered A wards program has established an additional level of builder excellence beyond the Home Buyer's Guide which we support with a comprehensive media relations program. Both Service Excellence Award winners and the Assaly A ward winner receive great press coverage in their communities. We have developed this recognition further and the publicity opportunities it offers by presenting Service Excellence Award candidates with certificates at local events, as well. National Warranty Council 11

13 This year we will provide artwork to the winners to include in their sales and marketing materials to advertise their success in our Awards program. Winners in the past have incorporated this type of identifier into their print advertising, promotional brochures, even truck signs and service staff uniforms. The Alberta Warranty Program conducts surveys of home buyers as a source of rating the Customer Choice A wards which are part of the local home builders' associations' Sales and Marketing Awards. Slide 12: Media Relations Media relations has been a component of marketing strategies that has ebbed and flowed over time. I have- already mentioned the activities of the Alberta Warranty Program in publishing warranty and builder information in special inserts in Calgary and Edmonton newspapers. In addition, the Alberta Program has been cultivating media contacts to help publicize periodic and specific warranty messages. National Warranty Council 12 October 4,1996

14 In Ontario, we developed a comprehensive media relations program which included a regular weekly article, On The House, under my byline along with other columns targeted at the new home buyer in two magazines published regularly in the Greater Toronto Area. On The House enjoyed considerable coverage around the province growing from 21 newspapers in 1991 to 133 newspapers when we discontinued the column in May Slide 13: With our recent restructuring we have decided to focus Industry our consumer marketing activities more precisely and Education get closer to the point of purchase. We are concentrating now on promoting new homes at first time home buyer seminars and in home shows around the province. We have also initiated a program to work more with the intermediaries who work on behalf of home buyers. Therefore, we have launched publications and educational materials for real estate professionals, lenders and the legal profession. National Warranty Council 13

15 Slide 14: In 1997 we hope to inaugurate promotional materials Consumer jointly with builders in their sales locations to reinforce Education that key message that appeals to consumers: deal with a reputable builder and enjoy the extra "Peace of Mind Advantage" of an insured warranty. I mentioned home shows a moment ago. This is one area that gets mixed support around the country. But here again, some interesting joint ventures might be pursued. For example, the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association is contemplating the inauguration of a New Homes Court at the National Home Show in Toronto. If it proceeds as envisioned it will provide onestop shopping for the new home purchaser with displays and booths sponsored by the home builders, the Warranty Program, lenders and others in the new home building industry. National Warranty Council 14

16 Other opportunities may emerge in the consumer market. The large box stores and mega-hardware stores may provide a marketing opportunity for the home building industry. Some are already picking up on this idea. The building department of a large city in Ontario is experimenting with issuing building permits in a prominent building supply store within its city limits. Slide 15: Other Opportunities Publications continue to be the lynch pin of our marketing strategies. In Ontario we provide bulk quantities of our home buyer publications to registered builders and vendors to include in their sales or predelivery packages. But all warranty corporations are reviewing and revamping their print materials as we become more conscious of literacy and language in a more cosmopolitan marketplace. In a graphics-based world we have to rethink our approaches to print information: what is the print equivalent of the 15 second sound bite? National Warranty Council 15

17 We also have to consider the effectiveness of other media to get the message across. The Warranty Program in British Columbia has carried out extensive television advertising, while the Warranty Program in Manitoba has produced a video for buyers of new homes. In Ontario, we are completing a joint venture with the home builders' association to produce a video, From Our Hands to Yours, aimed at home buyers to explain the mysteries of the pre-delivery inspection. Slide 16: Tomorrow Is Here The most intriguing and exciting medium on the horizon is, of course, the Internet. The world wide web offers extraordinary opportunities to promote the new home industry to potential buyers. The Ontario Warranty Program plans to launch its web site on November 1 with a preview for Ontario builders at the OHBA Conference later this month. National Warranty Council 16 October 4,1996

18 Our goal is to provide a comprehensive one-stop shopping site for home buyers: a site where they can learn about how and where to purchase a new home while finding out more about that HPeace of Mind Advantage" that warranty protection offers. Slide 17: "infohome" graphic As part of our service to home builders we are offering all Ontario registered builders and vendors the opportunity to list their sales locations, models and home features on our web site. Called info-home, this service gives small and large builders alike the chance to promote their product under the protection umbrella of the Warranty Program. We will also work with registered builders to create links between our web site and theirs. And, of course, we plan to build links between our site and others in the industry including home builders' associations, regulatory bodies and professional organizations. National Warranty Council 17

19 Slide 18: "Home Page Buttons" graphics Our publications have been revamped to a more appealing Internet format to provide builders with technical and policy information and home buyers and owners with buying and maintenance information. We are developing a custom Home Shoppers' Check List to help surfing home buyers compare builders when they get to their real world sites. Slide 19: "Maintenance Manor" graphic We are working on an interactive design to make home maintenance information more appealing. We want home buyers and owners to keep coming back to our site. Shut off overhead We are working with builders now to get their home sales locations on our site this month. Builder response is already very encouraging. Once info-home is up and running we will move into our second phase of Internet marketing: we'll be promoting our site actively with home buyers in the next round of home shows and home buyer seminars. National Warranty Council 18

20 We welcome you all to visit our site. You can find us at There's a mouse pad and information in your package about our site. Come see us on the web! But even more importantly, let's begin to look at marketing partnerships we can develop together to promote the purchase of new homes. National Warranty Council 19 October 4,1996

21 Presentation Slides 1. Marketing Partners Home Builders and Warranty Programs 2. Come Home to Something New! 3. Promote new home purchase Deal with a reputable builder Enjoy the benefit of warranty protection 4. Market Research: Know the Customer Customer Surveys Focus Groups Market Testing 5. New Home Purchase and Warranty Protection Reputable Builder Insured Warranty 6. Alberta "We Have You Covered" 7. British Columbia "Protection is our promise" National Warranty Council 20

22 8. Ontario "Peace of Mind Advantage" 9. Finding a Reputable Builder Builder Magazines Newspaper Inserts Home Buyer's Guide to After Sales Service 10. Builder Recognition Programs Seal of Excellence 11. Builder Recognition Programs Service Excellence Award Nominees Service Excellence A ward Winners Ernest Assaly A ward Winner 12.Media Relations News Releases Newspaper Inserts Newspaper and Magazine Columns 13. Industry Education Real Estate Professionals Lenders Legal Profession National Warranty Council 21

23 I4.Consumer Education Point of Purchase Home Shows First Time Home Buyer Seminars Box Stores, Mega-Hardware Stores IS. Other Opportunities Publications Videos Television Advertising Cable TV I6.Tomorrow is Here Home Building and the Internet I7."info-home" Graphic I8."Home Page Buttons" Graphics I9."Maintenance Manor" Graphic National Warranty Council 22

24 Presentation Package for Presentation October 4,199,6 Canadian Home Builders' Association Sheraton Ottawa In ONHWP black and white presentation folder: 1996 Home Buyer's Guide to After Sales Service What Every New Home Buyer Should Know Warranty and Re-sale Homes New Home Buyer's Check List GTHBA Come Home to Something New New Home Warranty Program of Manitoba brochure In ONHWP Internet presentation folder: mouse pad brochure with decal National Warranty Council 23 October 4, 19%