Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/391492
OCTOBER 2014 16 THE JOURNAL BY GEORGE PORTER SERVICE & SET-UP The Educated Consumer This entire industry is powered by the wants of the consumers, not necessarily their needs. The consumers may want something and there- fore feel they need it. On the other hand, if the consumer's don't want something then they probably feel they don't need it. If this seems a little confusing then bear with me for a few minutes and I will explain. When consumers want central air condition- ing they know what it will do for them, the same applies to self-cleaning ovens and extra insulation in the roof and walls. They under- stand these things and are willing to pay for them. They can easily see they are getting value for their money, and are willing to spend something extra for these benefits. Many times, after the sale, consumers wished they purchased more or upgraded an item, but it is too late. Their options are to purchase the items separately on their own or simply to do the upgrade when the original wears out, as in the case of a washing machine or carpet. There is really no harm done, just the inconvenience of doing without the better items for a while. If the sales person treats a feature like an op- tion then most consumers are not likely to want to purchase the item and unless it's hidden value is explained to them. An example of this type of option might be a special foundation or extra site preparation. These items can add significantly to the cost of the home. When the consumer can't understand the reasons for spending money, then he will not do so. By the time he realizes the just how much this is really worth to him, it is too late. The home may be badly damaged and will probably never be as good as it should be. The consumer is mad and the industry has another black eye. The average consumer knows almost nothing about this industry. Where would they learn? The media teaches them that Atrailers@ are not safe; our political leaders and the entertainment industry use our product as a joke or the sign of a seedy second class pop- ulation. How many times have you seen man- ufactured housing used in film or television as a normal home with average middle class citizens living there? How many times when watching local news about a crime, do they show the criminal living in a "trailer"? Nobody cares when he lives in a stick-built house. The US Weather Bureau advises all occupants of our homes to "seek safer shelter" whenever a storm is in the area. Shouldn't they issue the same warning for other homes? With all of this "information" in print and on the screen no wonder the public it might feel foolish to spend money on one of our products if they didn't think they had to. So what do we do. Here are a few observations and suggestions. 1. Has anyone out there ever seen a course on manufactured housing repair at any local college or Vo-Tech school? If not, why not? These schools give every course under the sun from auto repair for housewives to quilting, gardening, and welding, and even palm read- ing so why not something for our homes? There has to be someone in the local area within the industry who could teach such a course. There are a bunch of HUD Code homes out there so there has to be a market. 2. Every weekend there are at least thirty TV shows on cooking, ten programs on bass fish- ing, and another ten half hour to hour segments on home repair. Nothing on us. I have tried for 3 years to get the interest of TNN and HGTV but all their replies are single sentence answers, "not interested at this time." WE NEED GOOD EXPOSURE! We are not in the mainstream of the public. Can you imagine what would happen if we were considered "con- ventional" housing? The effort would be worth it for the zoning alone. 3. We may be one of the last large industries to consider the retailer the customer. This is slowly starting to change, but for the most part factories sell to dealers, not to consumers through dealers. When you walk into a Ford dealership you know a whole lot more about cars than you know about a manufactured home when walking into one of our dealerships. Generally the Ford salesman will also know a lot more about his product than most of our repre- sentatives. The car salesman has training from the factory on all aspects of the product, not just pricing and closing. The point is, our sales forces are just not in- formed enough to overcome objections to proper installation that the customer raises. First of all, the sales person may not know what it takes to install a home correctly, and sec- ondly, it is always easier to just agree with an uninformed customer than bring him around to another point of view. If the customer knew just a little about what was proper, then a salesman who also knew about proper installation might have a chance to do the right thing without jeopardizing the sale. Nowadays when the sales person gives the consumer the bad news that it is going to cost extra to properly grade the lot, then he may very well lose the deal. There's always a sales person down the street that doesn't know (or care) about the importance of the extra work, and will be glad to sell them a home without any grading or other site preparation. The consumer doesn't know the impact of skipping these steps, and is eager to hear that extra expense is not necessary, and acts on the cheaper, but wrong advice. The first sales person learns his lesson quickly and never brings it up again when talk- \ 19