JohnAmardeil.com

Everybody likes a victory.

Unfortunately, sometimes we forget to take a break from the everyday grind to bask in our victories and celebrate our successes.

At BAM, we work hard – as do our clients. Sometimes it feels like go-go-go, with not even enough time for a pat on the back after one success before we’re moving on to the next challenge. And so we’ve come to recognize the importance of taking a break to celebrate our hard work and accomplishments. This past week, we decided to reward our hard-working and successful client Empire Communities to help them do the same.

To help our client Empire Communities celebrate their tremendous successes and everything that made 2013 such a landmark year for them, we had this award made to present to them at a special lunch we hosted for their team.

Take our longstanding client Empire Communities.

In an already stellar trajectory, Empire had enough victories in 2013 alone to turn it into a landmark year. This includes launching Imagine, the most successful community in Niagara ever, as well as earning two EnerQuality Award nominations and using new technology in their outstanding Victory Showroom (a community which also won the BILD Award for Best Social Media Campaign).

BAM and Empire Communities celebrating a landmark year.

For all the hard work we put into these victories, we feel nothing but pride for our client and we are ecstatic that they should experience this many victories in such a short period (coincidentally, this year marks the company’s 20-year anniversary).

To celebrate such an impressive array of victories, this week we hosted a special lunch for Empire. This included a surprise 30 minutes of stand-up comedy by Gavin Stephens, a delicious meal, and of course the presentation of the award pictured above.

It’s just the BAM way of saying thanks for being our client.

When you own a company called BAM, you have no choice but to make sure you produce dramatic results that create a positive impact in your clients’ world. In our industry that means working fast, working hard, and working smart.

So how do we do that at BAM? Here are our top 5 habits of fast-paced marketing. For over ten years now, they’ve helped us win awards, make our clients lots of money, and play a part in building fantastic communities for families across Ontario.

1. Email is overrated. There, I said it. Most people rely on email too much. I do send and receive lots of important emails every day myself, so you won’t be prying my iPhone from my fingers anytime soon. But when the going gets tough — when you need to act fast, all while reducing the likelihood of misinterpretations, nothing beats a quick phone call, or if at all possible, a face-to-face conversation. Remember those?
2. Go with the gut. Working hard and fast doesn’t mean you have to be married to one strategy. When something doesn’t feel right, don’t be afraid to change course. Deep down, we all know great work when we see it. If it’s not, come up with something else, call the client (see above) and get approval. It’s the least we can do.
3. Own your successes and mistakes alike. We’re never afraid to toot our own horn. By the same token, we’ll always be the first to own up if we make a mistake. Clients will respect you if you tell them something went wrong. They won’t if they have to find out on their own.
4. Offer solutions, not problems. “Sorry, we can’t do that.” “Sorry, there was a glitch.” Raise your hand if you’ve heard these before. I know I have. But how many times are they followed by a reassurance that something else will be done? How many times does anyone bother to explain what the possible solutions are? So if the installation guys mess up, or if a website goes down, or if an opening doesn’t go as expected, don’t just say “sorry.” And don’t ever, ever say “sorry, it’s out of our hands.”
5. Be honest. If a client doesn’t need something anymore, we’ll be the first to suggest they kill it. On the surface, it might hurt our bottom line. But we always do the right thing for our clients, and think of the respect that kind of attitude will get you. How hard do you think that honesty is to find? Exactly.

What are your top practices for marketing?

My new townhome on the day of our PDI.

In the course of a career that spans over three decades, I have witnessed first hand the many changes our industry has undergone. In fact, BAM has contributed to some of these changes, and for that I am proud.

But in many other ways, our industry is still the same.

For one thing, it’s still perceived as lacking in the customer-service department—rightly so in my opinion.

Take the Pre-Delivery Inspection, the process during which homebuyers inspect their near-finished home before they move in.

We refer to it as PDI; homebuyers likely call it one of the most frustrating days of their lives. We see it as a straightforward process; homebuyers look forward to it for months. We’re indifferent; they’re thrilled.

That’s why a PDI can make a huge difference to both parties. When done properly, it will reassure the buyer that they made the right decision. More importantly, they are more likely to tell their family and friends how happy they are and how beautiful their home’s going to be. They might even tell their boss and their coworkers, who know where they were because they took the morning or afternoon off.

But a PDI that’s not done properly will have the opposite effect on your homebuyer. They will mutter and grumble. They will flood you with complaints. They will go on Facebook and talk about how awful it was. And they will tell their family and friends and coworkers and boss.

By done properly, I mean a PDI should:

• Take place in a house that’s ready,
• Take place after the customer’s expectations are managed ahead of time, and
• Be run by a qualified person — one who not only has good communication skills, but who also cares about details and customer satisfaction. In other words, said person should not be outsourced to an outside company.

A lot of the things customers are displeased about when they do their PDI can’t be avoided. Many expect their home to be in pristine condition; in their minds, it’s going to look as good as the day they move in.

But that’s where managing their expectations comes in, whether you have someone do it over the phone, or better yet, as part of the home buying process, in a workshop or homebuyer seminar, which many good builders offer.

We are so involved in what we do we sometimes forget the magic of it all, especially in the eyes of a family who has just bought their new home. It pays to keep that in mind, and few things show homebuyers you understand where they’re coming from as a properly conducted PDI.

Assuming you agree your company should be on social media, the next question becomes: Who do you assign to handle it?

Sadly, when many companies ponder that question, they follow these two steps:

• First, they figure out who the youngest person in the company is (the reasoning being, I guess, that all young people know social media),

• Next, they figure out whether that person’s workload can accommodate social media (the answer, most of the time, is yes; after all, social media can’t possibly demand more than a few minutes per day, right?)

As you hopefully know, this is the wrong approach.

In fact, it’s so wrong, you’re better off not being on social media at all rather than doing it like this.

Why?

Because even if social media were as simple as some people make it out to be, it still becomes a reflection of your entire company. 

Not necessarily the best person to handle your social media.

Why social media is (not) about you