by Michael Barnabas

"It takes two to speak the truth, one to speak and another to hear it."
~ Thoreau

It is my goal to speak the truth about manufactured housing in these articles or periodic blog posts. The truth, the Bible reminds us, will set you free. Now some will want to be set free for the brighter future that our Industry can and should have. Some will fear the truth. They may have an agenda and/or are not willing to change. So in speaking the truth, some will cheer, some fear and jeer. So be it!

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by Chad Carr

One of the biggest mistakes salespeople and sales organizations make when working with Internet leads is they start by trying to sell something instead of trying to build a relationship.

Research by J.D. Power & Associates shows that the typical housing buyer is going to be researching homes and dealerships for at least six months before they are ready to start talking openly with a salesperson. Today, the bulk of that research is happening on the Internet.

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by Tim Connor, CSP

Employee loyalty today in all industries, and the manufactured housing industry is no exception, seems to be declining for many organizations. Many employees seem to want more and more, are willing to tolerate less and less, and generally require more attention, compassion, understanding and interest. Is this true for your organization? If so, why?

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by Tim Connor, CSP

Why not adopt the simple strategy of following one of these each week for the next 12 months.

The following 52 behaviors when mastered as a part of your personal and career development will guarantee increased sales. Each of the 52 topics is critical to your continued sales success. However, if you master some of the techniques, they will ensure success in some of the others.

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by Maria Cucchiara

Are all of your website's links working? Clicking on dead links causes website users to question a site's professionalism and can lead them to abandon the site altogether.

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by Nadeen Green

With the New Year upon us, here is the obligatory "resolution" message (a bandwagon I can't resist getting on). While it may be presumptuous for me to suggest what resolution you should make, I have always been a bit bossy (maybe there is a resolution for me somewhere in that admission). So here goes. For 2011, please resolve to learn what new fair housing protections may have been "rung in" on a state or local basis in 2010, and incorporate them now into the policies and procedures at your communities. Just because you have the race-color-religion-national origin-sex (gender – not doing it)-familial status-disability drill down pat, you may still be unlawfully discriminating and exposing yourself to a fair housing complaint or lawsuit.

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by Chrissy Jackson, ACM, PHC

This series of articles has been designed for use as a reference guide specifically within the manufactured housing industry. As Community Owners, Operators and Managers make the decision to amend existing guidelines, or as developers find a need to promulgate Guidelines for Living for a new Community, it is hoped this series will provide the direction to guide them through this process. By looking at the overall picture and taking each area individually, it is then possible to create a set of Guidelines for Living that will enhance the atmosphere of the Community, set the tone for positive Resident Relations, and provide the aesthetic quality everyone (investors and Residents) will appreciate.

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by L. A. 'Tony' Kovach

Hotels and motels are both lodging. Motel 6 and a Marriott Beachfront Luxury Resort are both lodging whose names begin with the letter M, but they are worlds apart. The same can be said of pre-HUD code mobile homes and modern residential-style manufactured homes. Yet millions lump the pre-HUDs in with the HUDs and that costs our industry billions of dollars a year in lost new home sales.

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by George Porter

Not so long ago I bought a new computer. Why I do these things to myself I don't know. The very first computer I owned fifteen years ago vastly exceeded my ability to use all of its capabilities, and still does, so you can only imagine how far I am behind this multi-gig, faster-than-light-memory-that-will-exceed-the-known-body-of-knowledge-in-the universe "magic box". I do not know how it works and I never will.

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by Ken Rishel

Even after researching products on their own, many customers enter communities or sales locations undecided about what, or if, to buy a manufactured home. For retailers, that's an opportunity to improve sales, or to continue losing sales.

Retailers once focused intensely on clinching sales once customers walked into stores. Unfortunately, since the days of easy financing and "get me dones," the industry has been missing opportunities to make sales. Today it is even worse, because the industry is substituting technology for real sales talent and ability. New technologies, extensive retailer Web sites, and non-sales-personnel-directed point-of-purchase tools have separated customers from sales people.

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by Kenneth Rishel

Retailers and Community Owners in Indiana have a very different attitude about the SAFE Act than much of the rest of the industry, and their attendance and actions at a recent Indiana association meeting put together by Mark Bowersox showed that difference. With the unfortunate exception of a few attendees, all were there to learn what they needed to do to become licensed and how to make happen.

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by Dave Shanklin

1. Persuading an underwriter to change their mind and reverse a previous credit decision. A few months ago, I sent in a loan app for a senior citizen who was buying a manufactured home in a community. She had a very high FICO score of 810 and a down payment of 40%. The underwriter declined her application on the grounds of weak credit. The underwriter explained that she didn't have any "installment loan experience". All of her credit accounts were charge cards, some going back to the 1960's. I asked the underwriter: "Do you REALLY think that this lady poses a credit risk to anybody?" I offered a verification of rent in lieu of installment credit.

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by Joanne Stevens, CCIM

Aw…partnerships…they start with high energy and high hopes and "the sky's the limit!" plans. A couple of factors to consider are that in the United States, a huge majority of businesses are family businesses and secondly, few have exit plans.

The manufactured home community business – like many businesses, particularly real estate businesses – has a lot of family businesses. Like anything else in today's high-change world, unless the business continues to re-engineer, re-strategize, re-capitalize or whatever word you want to call it, the odds of remaining profitable diminish. "Nimbleness" is a key strength needed in today's manufactured home community/home sales/resident relations/business model.

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by Bob Stovall

If you've had your ear to the ground on the subject of online marketing, you've repeatedly heard that you need a dynamic website, an effective email campaign and an active social networking program.

If you listened just a little harder, you've no doubt heard that you need to define your niche and find ways to exploit the opportunities there.

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by Zig Ziglar

On February 7, 1992, I drove past the Plano, Texas, Recreation Center where I exercise–because there were no parking spaces. The next day I found a parking spot, but people were lined up from three to six deep behind every machine in the weight room, making a good work-out impossible. I asked the young man at the desk what was happening. He responded that in about three weeks, things would be back to normal because, "These are our 'New Year's Resolution' people."

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by Zig Ziglar

I believe all of us should make the same New Year's Resolution: This year I will develop a strong attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions, and the more you express gratitude for what you have, the more you will have to express gratitude for. On the other side of that coin, the more you complain about your problems, the more problems you will have to complain about.

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