EDGE CONSULTING BRINGS CLIENT EVENT SELLING MASTERPIECE AT DIAMOND FALLS ESTATES

On October 2, 2010 under clear blue skies and sublime North Carolina weather a successful and energetic Event Sale took place at Diamond Falls. During the previous 6 months Edge set upon a mission to sell lots via the Event Sales method and interviewed 6 potential firms. After meetings, interviews and reviewing the costs and methods of those 6 firms Edge Consulting and their Client Diamond Falls made their choice. From the beginning we felt certain if we followed the advice of our Event Sales Firm we would have a successful sale. Our intuitions were exceeded when in a single day Diamond Falls sold 75 of 88 lots with over 450 attendees fighting to get their piece of real estate inside this gated community.

WHAT WAS THE GENESIS OF THIS SUCCESS?

Many things went into the success of this huge team effort. In all 140 people (sales staff of 101 in that number) worked to make a 7 hour selling day such a huge success. There is no better word for Event Selling than teamwork. Event Sale's Firms are large bodies of people specializing in rapid and effective single event sales. Similar to Grand Opening sale's events back in the day, event selling takes single day selling to new heights navigating a data base of tough buyers stung by this recession.

To prepare for the sale Edge Consulting's Steve Gravett (the developer manager appointed by Diamond Falls) met 3 months prior to the sale on site with the Event Seller's executives. The Event Seller management team skilled in new home and lot sales began to critique every aspect of the community. Lot lines were moved, new lots were added to increase the variety in price points, extreme clearing of lots was performed just prior to the sale, new landscaping at the entrance was ordered, a complete review and modification of covenants and restrictions was accomplished to minimize buyer objections, lot signage was refreshed, the clubhouse and pool were cleaned spotless, the DF website was totally revamped just for the sale date, over one million brochures were sent out to a database determined by Edge and the Event Sales team,
e-mail and phone follow-up was performed for over 4 weeks, 2000 phone calls were patiently answered, sales contract forms and community buyer's books were assembled, day of sale food for 7 hours was on site, several successful local brokers were recruited for the day, over 120 radios were in use on site the day of the sale, tables and chairs around the pool and clubhouse were set up to accommodate the buyers while signing contracts and Edge and the Event Sales reps congratulated and schmoozed with everyone in attendance. What started as hard detailed work became 7 hours of social fun and economic success.

ARE ALL EVENT SALES THIS SUCCESSFUL?

Most are and a few are not. The ones that are not successful are usually due to a Developer's poor judgement or not fully understanding the short duration. Event Sellers risk a lot of their own money and cannot guess wrong. They do not take every deal. If they see problems on the site, with the owners or with timing issues they will not (and cannot afford to) take the assignment. With a 3 month "before sale" commitment and 4 months "post sale" commitment, the chemistry and good value must be present. We attended several event sales prior to making the commitment for Diamond Falls to get a sense of what "game day" was really like. At one project in particular that we visited the developer raised prices beyond those recommended by the Event Sales company the night before the sale. After about one hour the radios went dead and so did sales. That is important to note, if you do not know the correct pricing of your product then you need to get up to speed prior to hiring an Event Seller. Event Sellers know the market better than the owners/developers. They have to to be successful. They know the thresholds for various lots, stream side, mid mountain, lakeside, lake view, mountain view and others.

DEVELOPER FLEXIBILITY IS A KEY SUCCESS INGREDIENT:

From the moment we signed our agreement with the Event Seller, we heard one mantra throughout -"the buyers will be on site for one day and one day only, after which they are gone forever." In the morning of sale day when the highest motivated buyers are competing in large numbers over the best well priced lots and all contracts come in at full price, you may find yourself forgetting this phrase, but as the day gets shorter and the good lots are all sold and under contract this phrase begins to ring in your head once again. The gates open at 10AM and by 11:45 we had 43 lots under contract. Our more expensive mountain view lots were selling but not as fast as we wanted. Also, the highest priority most fervent buyers had bought and were lounging around the pool savoring their success. As the later appointments showed up, so did offers, some ridiculous but most reasonable. This is the point where the owner/developer can make or break the rest of the day. We chose to take all reasonable offers and decided to maximize our profits for the day. This proved to be the correct move and it was easy to analyze. After 3 hours of selling in the morning you can see which lots are being ignored. It is one of several things: location, price, topography, access, etc. At that moment you have a 3 hour market study in front of you and you need to act upon that market feedback. All of the aforementioned reasons for a lot not selling can be rectified instantly by price discounts. The sales staff was excellent in relaying to us why certain lots were not selling and the mere fact that they were not selling was evidence enough we needed to modify the price this day to illicit a sale. By the end of the day 60% of our sales were at full price and 40% came in as offers. We took the money and in doing so made a successful day for our efforts. The atmosphere was electric, the buyers were happy and the event was just plain FUN.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?:

In the case of Diamond Falls, our Event Seller, generated over 2000 interested phone calls in a 30 day period. There were many buyers whose schedule would not allow for them to attend. However, our contract gives the Event Seller 120 days to follow up on all leads. Some sales will and have fallen out but new sales from original inquiries have replaced some of those plus there were 15 back up contracts from the sale day. We are now closing deals on a daily basis and will continue to close deals as long as we have buyers. For Diamond Falls it was a matter of sitting and waiting for the one or two people a month that ambled into town and had some interest in buying a lot. We needed to generate sales, stock the HOA with owners and set ourselves up for the next phase, not to mention paying off a lot of debt. Edge Consulting and Diamond Falls generated our own version of selling success by thinking outside the box. If we had not there comes a point where a client (Diamond Falls and others) can no longer carry the land waiting for buyers. Furthermore, a community can get an appearance and reputation of weariness and failure which creates yet more objections to overcome. There are many such projects where an event sales team may be the answer. My advice is to consider this approach. Let Edge Consulting guide you through this process and help you be a success as well.


Call Steve Gravett @ 561-789-3194 or e-mail: steve@echelondev.com