This year’s class of Pacesetters is among the best we’veever recognized. You’ll find great ideas for your own business in their stories. But we should remember lessons from the past, too. Custom Home has published scores of good ideas during the 14 years we’ve been awarding Pacesetters. I’d like to remind you of some that seem especially valuable today.
Develop a niche. That’s what Randy Rinehart (2003) did. He saw that his Charlottesville, Va., market was becominga magnet for retirees, and so he became an expert inaging-in-place and universal design. Michael Pagnotta (1997) of Ship Bottom, N.J., started his design/build business in the depths of the 1990 recession. To stand out in his vacation home market, he developed plans that were just what the market wanted but couldn’t find: houses designed to be low maintenance and to fit on small tear-down sites.
Sharpen your marketing. Harry and Helene Hollub (2007) are weathering a stormy Miami market with the help of a thoroughly remade marketing program.From the company’s trademarked ‘”Relationship Built” tagline to the new Hollublogo on the area’s most popular milkshake cups, the Hollub brand is firmly in front of the market it wants to reach. Bruce Bleiman (2006) of Charlotte, N.C., found thathis marketing no longer matched the houses he was building. So he developed a marketing program that is as sophisticated and polished as his houses. His materials look so good people use them to show architects the kind of house they want.
Take control of your financial performance.There’s nothing like seeing how you’ve done in black and white to give you a good dose of reality. That’s why Tim Cleary and Charlotte and Charles Ross (2003) of Williamsburg, Va., prepare annual reports. In addition to keeping stakeholders informed of company performance, the report is an important planning tool for Charles W. Ross Builder. During their biggest year, Roger Blattberg and Stacey Hoffman (2007) decided to completely revamp their project management and cost accounting systems. It was a good move, helping them to manage an increasingly complex business and enabling them to grow and strengthen it. As Hoffman said, “When market conditions change, that’s when the strong survive.'”
Good ideas are always valuable, but never more so than during challenging times. Now, I don’t know how challenging the current economic climate has been for you, but even if business has slowed a little or not at all, take the time to integrate a good idea or two into your company’s plans and procedures. And if your business has been hit hard by the current downturn, you’ll need good ideas more than ever.That’s the point of the Pacesetter Awards – to put good ideas out there to help everyone in the custom building business to grow and prosper.
