The @properties Development Group Advantage: On the Front Lines
From our earliest days, @properties Development Group (@DG) has taken pride in staying close to our clients, our agents and our markets. John Goldsworthy, @DG Director of Development Sales & Marketing, illuminates the advantages of being on the “front lines” to create pricing and products that resonate with buyers and drive sales.
“It’s incredibly important to stay on top of the competition and marketplace, as well as to consistently analyze feedback from prospects and buyers,” explains Goldsworthy. “We utilize this knowledge to inform product design, pricing, options, incentives and even marketing. All of this allows us to make shifts in our offerings and programming in order to stay competitive.”
Goldsworthy and his team make this a priority. “All of our agents are challenged to shop the competition on a regular basis. We visit competitive projects and amass a database to track how they’re marketing, what incentives they’re offering, and their sales pace,” says Goldsworthy. They also have weekly sales meetings to review and understand buyer feedback, then utilize this intel to formulate strategies and make adjustments as needed, not only in pricing and incentives but design and finishes. “Sometimes a year or two will go by when we’re designing a product and trends have changed. For example, rose gold was hot for a while, but it turned out to be a flash in the pan. We’re able to make real-time recommendations based on the data that we gather from prospects and buyers to improve our products and pricing.”
One of the most compelling and successful programs to come from this intel is the welcome home credit, which appeals to people’s desire for options. “Many communities will offer a small pre-construction discount off of the price, but we’ve learned over time that buyers want options,” explains Goldsworthy. “The pre-construction discount didn’t get buyers excited, so we implemented a welcome home credit. Buyers still have a lot of things to do when they close on a new home — closing costs, selections, upgrades — so we made a strategic shift by offering them an actual dollar amount versus a percentage.”
The welcome home credit specifically helped stimulate sales at one of @DG’s recent developments in Atlanta. “Flats at The Indie is located along the Atlanta BeltLine, which is an urban bike and walking path that runs through the city — it’s a huge amenity for Atlanta residents. For this project, we repositioned the welcome home credit as BeltLine Bucks, with an electronic bike giveaway as an additional hook. The bike was on display in the sales office to generate excitement when prospective buyers came in,” recalls Goldsworthy.
The results of the welcome home credit and BeltLine Bucks speak for themselves, too. “This new program really resonates with buyers because it gives them more options for how to use their money, which is much more attractive than a 3% or 5% discount,” says Goldsworthy. “It’s a creative example of how we listen and respond to the market to maintain our competitive edge.”