MH Marketing Sales Management

By Chad Carr

Editor's Note: This continuing series, The Four Pillars of Retailing, explores four key areas that retailers must master in order to sustain profitable operations over time. For previous articles in this series, click here.

There is nothing more important in running a retail business than having the ability to put together a good deal. And yet, this one simple element of business can cause more confusion and frustration than just about any other area.

by Tim Connor, CSP

Welcome to the real world of selling: You win some and you lose some. Poor salespeople lose more sales than they make and exceptional salespeople make more than they lose – it's not complicated. This, as I am sure you are aware, is common sense. What isn't so common is:

By Tim Connor, CSP   During the years, many of my clients have chosen to see investing in their people as an investment and not as a cost. Others have cut back on training when the economy was spiraling down out of control. Their rationale was: Cut back, we will invest in our employees when there is more cash available.

by Nadeen Green

Most of us who write about fair housing issues take a universal approach: We discuss the seven federally-protected classes under the Fair Housing Act. But many state and local governments have added other groups that are protected. So let's do a bit of Q&A and see what other protections you may have to consider in your housing decisions.

by Edward Hicks

A Title I loan is a FHA-insured home improvement loan which can be used several purposes: for the alteration, repair, or improvement of an existing single family structure; preservation of an historic residential structure listed or eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic places; or alteration, repair or improvement of an existing manufactured home (HUD Code) and/or mobile home classified as personal property or real estate.

By Chrissy Jackson

Enter your Community…
Next, look at what your customers see when they enter the manufactured home community. If you have a lot of trees, does it make you feel like you are closed in? Is it depressing? Is the community full of overgrown trees that need trimming? For aesthetic reasons as well as safety, trim all trees such as oaks and maples (but not firs) so that there are no branches or other growth below a sight line of six feet above the ground. That really opens up the community. It allows the sun to shine in, and the line of vision sends a subliminal message that this community is larger than it first appeared. Closing in the line of vision or diminishing it with overgrown trees makes a community and the space within seem smaller than it really is.

by Greg McClanahan

Brian Klemmer explains that, 'If you don't change, crashing is certain. This is true in business, marriage and any other pursuit. The world is a constantly changing road, so if you don't continually adjust the steering wheel, you will eventually crash.'

by L. A. 'Tony' Kovach, MHM

The May 26, 2010 meeting of the Wisconsin Housing Alliance (WHA) featured Tim Connor as their keynote speaker. Tim's message was focused on the theme of Overcoming Challenges and Difficult Times.

by Mike Moore

What Do People Think of Salespeople?

For many years I have been asking people what they think of salespeople. I have gotten one overwhelming answer: "Salespeople care only about making sales." Consumers, salespeople and executives all have the same opinion. How did we end up with this preconceived belief? Most communication is non-verbal. We pass on our intentions when we engage in a conversation.

By George Porter

The Lido Peninsula Resort and Cannery Village

These cutting-edge developments use a manufactured housing product that, in no way, resembles the conventional standard building produced by the industry. It has gained acceptance in the areas where it's located and, in fact, enjoys a high degree of economic success. Most of these are two-story homes. Many companies today are beginning to explore the possibility of multi-story HUD code homes. Add a comment

by Ken Rishel

Despite the attendance by the leading industry experts, the meeting was weak at best.

For those who were hoping that government-backed financing for manufactured homes was going to come out this meeting, there was grave disappointment as the predicted reticence on the part of Ginny and other government agencies surfaced with full force.

by Dave Shanklin

In the chattel finance industry, we are getting "mixed signals" from our lenders.

Our lenders are becoming more flexible when it comes to top-tier loan applications, while at the same time showing signs of being tougher on the applications with weaker credit.

by Bob Stovall

The purpose of a business having a website, blog or social media presence is to generate leads. No leads, no business.

Tens of thousands of people can view your website or blog, view your YouTube video, follow you or Twitter or friend you on Facebook, and precious little in the way of solid leads can come of it all.

By John Underwood

As I began to think about writing this article, I could not help but be reminded of a bumper sticker I saw on a car entering a school administration parking lot, obviously a teacher or school administrator of some kind. It read as follows: If Education is expensive, then what is the cost of Ignorance? I would not go as far as to say that your industry or your salespeople are ignorant, make no mistake about that; but I would be more that willing to replace the word ignorance with the word inefficiency. I do believe that many sales people are inefficient, not because they are lazy, apathetic or lacking in gray matter, but simply because there is no marketing and sales process in place that is both taught and managed. This problem is exacerbated even further in that due to a sluggish market, your margin of error gets eroded and your business simply cannot afford to lose even one sale.

Spend time planning it out and get it right the first time. by Don Westphal, A.S.L.A.

The addition of garages to manufactured homes in land-lease communities and on private property is becoming more popular every year. Manufactured home owners are looking for the same convenience and security available to site-built home owners. Unfortunately, many of the efforts to marry site-built garages to manufactured homes fall short of the generally-accepted appearance standards for garage/home integrations. Here are some of my observations on the matter. Add a comment

by Zig Ziglar

What is success? It is many things to many people. Here are a few signs of success: 

✓ Success is closing the door to your office at the end of the day with a smile of satisfied contentment crossing your face. It's knowing that you did a good job and that those who interacted with you had a positive experience.