The Masthead

The reason marketers use ‘tag lines’ and the reason politicians use short catchy phrases is they have the power to stick in the mind and create a powerful image or impression.

Let’s do something very simple, positive and creative here. Everyone who reads this, take a moment and share a maximum of 7 Image Building words for Manufactured Housing. Note that phrase was 7 words.

Pick 7 or fewer Words – that if you or others used it in the public in the context of manufactured housing, would get people thinking, make them curious or start changing people’s ideas about manufactured homes today.

As an example, let me share a phrase I’ve used many times in articles – ads, etc., to get this discussion started off:

Stronger, Smarter, Safer, Stylish, Savings! Read more…

The name practically says it all.  Take the best of the past. Unite that with today’s technology and marketing.  Offer every segment of manufactured housing a well deserved boost towards a brighter future! Announcing the Virtual Louisville Housing Show ©!

Kentucky Expo Center In Louisville, previous home to the venerable Louisville Manufactured Housing show. The new Virtual Louisville Housing Show © will create better results for less and with greater ease for all.

The Virtual Louisville Housing Show © will be a new vehicle used to create a sustainable business model for wholesale and  retail manufactured housing sales.  Financial, insurance, suppliers, support and all other segments of manufactured housing are invited to ‘exhibit!’  All industry members are invited to attend – and unlike the past – today’s technology can literally make that possible. Modular and pre-fab home building are naturally welcome too for…“THE Factory Built Housing HOME Show!”

Associations, marketing firms and others with INdustry INtersts will be provided robust opportunities to participate.  Here comes YOUR Red Carpet treatment!

www.MHMSM.com presents Your Red Carpet to royal Manufactured Housing Sales in 2010

More information will be found in the new February 2010 issue of www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com coming online later this week.  For now we will say:

• More customers for all segments of the INdustry, wholesale and retail
• Dramatically lower costs,
• Higher ROI,
• Regionalized INdustry image building,
• Exhibiting,
• Social,
• Educational, inspirational and other presentations,
• Fun
• Time savings
• Speaking opportunities
• and More!

The time for the INdustry Turnaround is NOW.

You are reading about it here first and exclusively.  The  Manufactured Housing INdustry’s road ahead for the 2010 Turn-around will include the Virtual Louisville Housing Show ©.

Projected Rising Sales Curve for Manufactured Housing in 2010

For more info on the Virtual Louisville Housing Show©, see the MHMSM Home Page

Stay tuned and be a part of this bright future!##

If you are in any way connected to the housing industry or its suppliers, this message is of importance to you. If you care about approximately 2,000,000 Haitians without homes, or 10% unemployment in the U.S. and rising, this matters to you. If you’d like to see your tax dollars or charitable donations create jobs here in America – and yes, abroad too – here is your chance to ACT.

This blog post will presuppose that you’ve read the post on Haitian Disaster Relief and American Factory Built Housing: Crisis Meets Opportunity:

http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/tonykovach/haitian-disaster-relief-and-american-factory-built-housing-crisis-meets-opportunity

Records numbers logged on last Monday, and many replied to that post a week ago, with reader comments overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal or some variation of it. Thousands came here last week, so if we mobilize those thousands with thousands more – if we ACT! – we can make the difference!

Take 10 to understand the issue – then reach out to policy makers – then follow that up by reaching out to your Industry Connections and Associations who can likewise influence policy makers. If enough housing professionals repeat that chain of events, a ‘good idea’ can become a reality. That ‘good idea’ will in turn benefit you and others!

A rough estimate of 10 billion dollars could put thousands back to work building housing instead of tents for those 2,000,000 Haitians. Properly invested, that 10 billion could build 400,000 strong yet modest dwellings, transport and install them. Compare that to passing out billions for unemployment checks, which makes more sense? Would we rather put Americans back to work, and let American know-how team up with Haitian labor installing those homes; or would we rather see waves of refugees coming to our shores as so often happens after political or economic disasters overseas? How long will 2 million people live in tents 710 miles from Miami, Florida?

Compare 10 billion in ‘Homes for Haitians’ built by American modular, pre-fab and manufactured home producers to the 20 billion or so spent in a single year by U.S. foreign aid programs in 2008. Hmmm…sending 20 billion plus dollars overseas, or building 400,000 homes in America, shipping and installing them to homeless Haitians…for half that cost!

Or think about this: “U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies,” said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. That TARP money related quote comes from Bloomberg, July 20 2009.

That 10 billion pales in comparison to the banking, insurance and auto bail outs, doesn’t it? Instead of ‘paying for past mistakes,’ let’s pay for homes that put our people back to work! Let’s use a fraction of those dollars to pay for modular and manufactured home producers to build homes for Haitians that will help people in both countries!

A brief survey reveals there are 3 potential sources for the funds to pay for putting America’s factory built housing resources to work building homes for refugees. They include:

1. Charitable organizations
2. International organizations
3. The U.S. Government

Please contact your state and national housing associations. A list can be found at: http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/associations-directory Call or email them on this topic and tell them how you feel. They can organize this sort of effort.

Then, why not contact the church or charitable organization you’ve given money to for Haitian relief? Let them in on this common sense plan. If enough charities here from enough of you, they can act and can also influence policy makers. It is a common sense, natural connection for this crisis.

But don’t stop there.

Contact your representative and U.S. Senators – you can go to a website like: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml plug in your zip code and get links to email or call your U.S. Senators and Representative. Since President Obama promised jobs last year in Elkhart, IN – in a focal point of manufactured home construction – let him act on his words. The president also promised not to abandon the Haitian people in their hour of need. So contact the president on this topic too. The White House contact is found in that same link above.

The Alternative?

Nothing on the horizon today can put American housing factories, their workers and suppliers back to work faster than this would. While the headlines on Haiti are still in the news, this is the time to respond to a Call for ACTION.

Contact your connections with the Industry. Please, pass this link along,

http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/tonykovach/a-call-to-action/

and having acted yourself, you can ask them to act too. You forward jokes, news and views…forward this too!!

There are give-aways and bailouts. But then there are savvy moves that could save us billions more than we’d invest in such a project. As taxpayers, we should have a SAY in how our tax dollars are spent! What would the result be for inaction in Haiti? Will we spend billions more down the road for troops to police their streets to quell unrest when millions get tired of living in tents? Would we rather spend money on unemployment here and there? Would it make more sense to keep Haitian families together and working in their own land, than have them end up on our shores in large numbers? Let Haitian labor learn from skilled American’s how to install the homes we could build for them and the let Haitian’s be part of the process to rebuild their native land!

Do you see how it just makes sense to invest tax and charitable money with the local component, supplier, transporters and factory built housing manufacturer instead?

“A dollar spent at a locally owned store is usually spent 6 to 15 times before it leaves the community. From $1.00, you create $5.00 to $14.00 in value within that community.” ~ Tim Mitchell, first cited in E-magazine.

The argument is made that spending with a local firm is better than a national one, but let’s be clear, it would be better to spend dollars now in America building houses in our modular, pre-fab and manufactured housing factories than the alternatives. Let’s build and ship American housing, which will recirculate in our local economies. 10 billion invested wisely in such a plan could house the Haitians. Or it will be spent in the blink of an eye in a military ‘police action’ there, or in unemployment and relief spending here and there.

Doing the Math

Manufactured housing, modular housing, pre-fab and panelized home builders – all factory-built home makers – could rapidly tool up to build strong, modest “Homes for Haitians.” Do the math. $10,000,000,000 (10 billion) divided by a U.S. Population estimated at 308,545,701 would cost $32.41 per person to make this project a reality. You may have already donated more than that to Haitian relief!

Let’s not miss another key point.

The Potential for Positive Media

As noted in the first blog post on this topic – properly handled – the possible PR benefits could be priceless to our industry! Imagine images of American producers building these homes – happy Haitians receiving and working at installing them – that could get Americans thinking about American modular and manufactured housing in a positive light, which they should! Positive media coverage could drive large numbers of Americans to manufactured home, pre-fab and modular housing retail centers to check out what our industry does today. That too would ripple through the economy in positive ways! We could use that opportunity to educate millions of American’s to the appeal, quality and the savings that they are looking for in these challenging times!

Let’s build homes and opportunities, not bullets or bailouts. Strong, modest dwellings for Haitians would return factory built housing workers and their suppliers back to work in the U.S. and Canada, which in turn allows our citizens to keep or buy our homes here.

Nature abhors a vacuum. How often have political or bureaucratic policies or inaction hurt our industry? Isn’t it long overdue for us to rally around a cause that can BOOST our Industry instead of harming it? Let’s fill the need for housing in Haiti, and use that to catapult ourselves into a turn-around decade for our Industry starting now in 2010!

The manufactured housing industry directly employees perhaps half a million people in the U.S., not counting thousands of more Canadian workers similarly engaged. Pre-fab and modular home producers’ employ still more. Those jobs influence other component and service providers. We don’t build homes at the www.MHMSM.com trade journal, but we believe that everyone connected with the Housing Industry has a vested interest in making sure our factories and their suppliers return to work sooner than later.

Just think: if only 1 out of 10 connected with the Industry contacted Congress and the White House, the odds of action would rise dramatically. There are companies in this industry that could influence this American Factory-Built Homes for Haitians plans almost solo if they mobilized their people! From individuals, to small or large organizations, 50,000 calls or emails would be huge. Heck, there are tons of YouTube videos out there with more hits than we would need!

The bottom line is that this is DOABLE – if you do your modest part today.

Please, make your voice one of those needed to move this concept ahead! Once you do, pass this request on!

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml Tell Congress, tell the White House, tell your associations you’d like to see ACTION.

There are five motivators – Pride, Profit, Love, Need and Fear. Pick the motivator(s) you need to move YOU to ACTION, and then please pass this Call to Action it on!

Once the headlines on Haiti fade, so will this opportunity. Let’s not look back and say that we failed to try. ##

The snow is falling here, with 6″ to 8″ is predicted by dawn. But regardless if you are in sunny FL, TX or AZ, if you are in the cold of Alaska, MT or Canada, or somewhere in between, there is excitement and energy in the air! Factory-built home industry pros are coming here in ever greater numbers – yes even during the Christmas shopping season! – and are thanking us privately by email or phone or publicly on posted replies for a positive, solution oriented content. Well, pat your neighbor on the back, because it is other positive, goal and solution oriented pros that are producing our content!

INdustry Professionals – in the trenches and with the seasoning – sharing their insights and positive solutions with other INdustry pros.

This issue will be like October and November, only on steroids!

We have returning writers and new to our Trade Journal talent! Names you know, and those who you will get to know. You’ll see more below on the good women and men who share their time and insights with you here at www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com.

Thanks to you www.MHMSM.com for short is already the largest INdustry trade journal – after just two short months! – and we are the fastest growing MH industry professionals website too. Good folks like yourself are emailing, printing and handing out articles and blogs, linking in, texting and calling their associates and INdustry connections. In every sense, this site is for you, and thanks to you, we are growing more rapidly than we planned or hoped!

Thank you.

Thank you for checking our 24/7/365 INdustry news daily, for reading the classifieds, job postings, articles, surfing the photo gallery and signing up. Thanks for clicking through to our sponsors at rates 5 to 30 times ‘enhanced’ web marketing averages!

Let’s do a brief run-down of this month’s featured content.

Returning in December (and we hope in January, February and beyond!) is Tim Connor, CSP with a powerful concept: Want To Increase Your Sales? Build Psychological Debt. Some refer to this as the rule of reciprocity, but whatever you call it, implement this with your sales because it works!

The first of our EXCLUSIVE interviews with INdustry pros you know or should know begins with no less a personality than MHI’s Thayer Long! When you share this first cup of java with Thayer, you’ll certainly want another.

Suzanne S. Felber joins us for the first time with her report on Design_Trends 2010. Suzanne, the LifeStylist’s® work, first caught my attention some years ago, and this article will give you more than a clue as to the important merchandising trends this classy professional presents for your consideration and benefit!

Our next exclusive interview is with retail and manufacturing veteran, Doug Gorman! When you share a mug of hot brew with this giant of a gent, you’ll feel warm even if it is snowing outside.

Getting the Most for Your Marketing Dollars is a topic you’ve almost certainly ‘seen’ done online, but may not have considered much. Ken Sticher shares a dynamic way for you to get the best impression and for less money, all with the goal of bringing more clients to your doors!

GMHA President Jaime Hammons returns in December! Many of your ‘met’ Hammons for the first time in our last issue (available, as our all our articles free in our archives – one 30 second sign up is all it takes). This A Cup of Coffee with… Jaime Hammons gives you the unique perspective of an association director, and should make us all more grateful and supportive of our associations – national and local. Enjoy this pleasant and challenging read!

The Christmas Gift that Keeps Giving by Sue Frost introduces a topic that most larger firms appreciate and too many smaller firms ignore. Don’t ignore this timely topic, and hats off to Sue for taking time out of her busy schedule for sharing it with us here for you!

Speaking for myself and many in the INdustry who miss Chris Olvera’s insights and writing, we simply had to have Chris back for A Cup of Coffee with… Chris Olvera! See what Chris is up to, and take the time to let him know how much we still value all that he and the fine people at the MH Merchandiser Magazine did for our INdustry!

All Seasons Communications Rachel Biermann returns with advice that can position you for the coming uptick in business! Advertise during Tough Times for Lasting Benefits reminds us of why the winners keep on marketing, yes, even during a downturn! I follow this advice with my marketing, and I hope you will with yours too!

Dave Reynolds of The Mobile Home Park Store fame joins us in December with a winning analysis of How to Correctly Buy Mobile Home Parks in a Recession. As you’ve already noticed – and articles such as Dave’s fine one underscores – we present a variety of viewpoints for our readers here! While some are going after more upscale locations, Dave makes his case for why the ‘traditional’ MHP shouldn’t be ignored. A fine read from an experienced land-lease community owner, seller and coach.

Paul Bradley – President of ROC (Resident Owned Communities) gives you some facts worth considering if you are Selling your Community? If this concept as ‘scared’ some, Bradley brings on the witness – the people who have done sales to residents! – as to why this may be an approach to take if you are thinking about selling your land-lease community.

Mr. Electric Guitar – Mike Dupure, the Rocker Man! – shares the reasons why we should Remember it All Starts Here. Most of us have met at least one talented person who is…how shall we put this politely?… a bit taken with themselves? Sales talents like Dupure remind us that we are all a part of a team, and all that this humbling but important concept means.

I can’t give away Tim Saville’s insightful topic, only to say that I could TOTALLY relate to what he shared, and I’ll bet you will too! Don’t miss it – Say It Ain’t So by returning industry writer – and thinker extraordinaire – Tim Saville!

Let me take a moment and note that some of our ‘regular’s had past packed holiday schedules, and couldn’t make this December issue, but they plan to return in January 2010!

The Plus Sign by Greg McClanahan is the ideal book-end for Tim’s timely topic. McClanahan is another one of those modest but rarely gifted gents who glories in YOUR success, and shy’s away from his own notable accomplishments. If you want to improve your team in 2010 and beyond, a great place to start is by checking out Greg’s ‘Around the Campfire’ and this memorable story, The Plus Sign!

Common Management Mistakes by Tim Connor, CSP is another gem by this guru who has some 100 factory built housing industry clients to his credit! Want to improve management? Grow your sales? Cut down on CD? Take this Tim-bit and call Tim, AFTER you read this article!

SAVING THE PATIENT – is an MH Merchandiser flashback article. If you have a struggling MHP or MHC and want to fix the vacancy issue, this read shouldn’t disappoint you.

If you are sick and tired of MH Industry doom and gloom, please read “Short & Sweet” Discover why www.MHMSM.com is focused on Marketing Sales and Management, and just how readily the numbers support the strong potential for MH Industry growth!

Speaking of growth, one of the reason’s this Ezine is growing so fast (besides our loyal readers like you) is the hard, behind the scenes work of our webmaster and Internet Marketing guru, Bob Stovall. Not unlike DuPure or McClanahan, Stovall is amazingly modest, and just as amazingly talented and affordable! If you want to do it yourself, follow his articles step by step, starting with: Are Websites Dead? by Bob Stovall.

Call tracking is the norm for many industries in America, and perhaps one reason why our industry has suffered so much is because too few of us are using this amazing tool to grow your sales, enhance your ROI in marketing and improve the telephone skills of your sales or leasing pros! Stop Losing Sales Opportunities by the Call Source team provides eye-opening statistics your marketing manager shouldn’t miss.

About a year has passed since Marty Lavin wrote ‘The Future?” for the Merchandiser. About 6 months has passed since the reply to that dire prediction was published there: Two Words. If you want an emotional boost – based on history and reason! – Two Words is for you.

Finally, this month’s extensive line up of featured articles wraps up with Synergy. Synergy is part of the fuel that will ignite the turn around of HUD Code Housing! Read it, practice it and encourage others to do the same!

We want to take a few moments to thank our sponsors – and you for clicking through to them! – and to remind those of you who haven’t found our News department to check it out. This is the most dynamic 24/7/365 – up to the minute news available at any one website online for the factory built housing professional! You’ll find association news, and news from a variety of sources, any time, day or night.

As robust as our writing line up is – and we hope you enjoy the diversity of styles, and upbeat solution oriented focus of this team – we are always on the look out for more good content for our readers! If you or an associate have a topic of INdustry interest, please don’t hesitate to send it in to latonyk@gmail.com

Also, we are looking for ANY or ALL industry pros to complete the TRENDS 2010 Survey. We will publish these replies in future editions, starting – of course – in January 2010! Download the survey from this link: fill in the blanks and email it in to latonyk@gmail.com, and your done!

Finally it would be my pleasure to ‘connect’ with INdustry professionals on Linkedin. If you don’t already have an account, just go to www.Linkedin.com – like our website, its free and part of that Socialnomics that Bob Stovall is correctly sharing with our savvy readers. Not wanting to look too outdated, I set up a Linkedin account, and wow! Over 200 of you have already connected with me there!

Please go to: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach and let’s connect for the good of the factory-built housing business.

Please enjoy the December 2009 issue. Your feedback is welcome at the end of every article, on our forum or by email or linkedin to me. Working together for the future of our industry, let’s make it a grrrr8 day TODAY.

Tony Kovach – www.MHMSM.com or latonyk@gmail.com or http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

A recent magazine article by Dr Ranit Mishori pulls together some interesting health facts about people who are optimistic having better health than those who are pessimistic. Citing numerous studies on groups as large as 100,000 people, optimists suffered 16% lower rates of heart attacks, among other findings. Okay, what does this have to do with the MH industry, your business and you?

Arguably, the optimist is much better positioned in business as well. The ‘doom and gloom’ of pessimism tends to negate the notion that we can influence our own destiny and thus improve our business, image, sales results or what have you. The optimist by definition approaches a challenge with the ‘can do!’ attitude, while the pessimist is waiting for nebulous marketing conditions to ‘improve’ and for people to come rushing to their doors.

Personally, my approach is a blend – I want to deal with realities that I face, but then deal with them from the perspective that this issue can be handled and resolved; so what is the best way for me to approach a specific issue?

So one can be an optimist and still admit that its raining! But the optimist doesn’t deny the rain, he simply looks for an umbrella, rain coat or some other solution.

We can’t deny that our industry is still trending down. All the shipping statistics still point to that direction. What we can do is ask ourselves, what can I do in my market, given my resources to make a difference? Or can I draw on other talents, other resources to help me improve my business and results?

Solution orientation vs. doom and gloom! If you practice looking at the solution, that too will lead to more satisfaction, a better bottom line, and as the doctor might say, fewer heart attacks as well. ##

Let me invite you to connect with me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach – industry connections welcome!

Well, the early reviews are in!  By cell, land line and email, words like “Excellent!” “Unbelievable!”  “Good content.” “Awesome!” “Great Ideas.”  “Impressive!” and those helpful words to a publisher, “How can I advertise?” too.  The spotlight on that “good content” deserves to be shined on those who provided it.

On behalf of all on the masthead of www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com , let me say, thank you, because this publication is by and for professionals like you, pros who care deeply about the Manufactured Housing Industry!

A few brief words about our contributing writers.

Beyond what was shared in the Editor’s Introduction, my mind flashes back years ago to the first time I picked up Tim Connor’s best selling book ‘Soft Sell.’ Reading it once was not enough.  Later hearing Tim live brought out the kid in me, and I had to take that photo op with him.  I confess I walked away with stacks of his other fine books and informative CDs. It is no surprise when I recommend him to others, he does the leg work that makes selling and management in the real world perform. We are all fortunate to have Tim’s blog and feature articles on our ionic pages.

Linda Beem has become a personal friend as well as a professional colleague.  The best way for me to impress upon you why her accomplishments in this challenging time in our industry are impressive is to ask you to go to – http://sunsetglenview.com/page3.htm – seeing is believing! What’s on the left side of the page is how her location looked when she walked in the door at Sunset Village some 6 years ago.  What’s on the right is what has taken place since through her personal sales and of course with the logistical support her company, vendors and team mates provided.  One reason to provide “A Capital Idea!” on our pages was to give readers a better idea of what she accomplished solo by selling! Missing her current or future articles are an invitation to miss out on more sales.

I’d further note that much of what Linda does dove-tails nicely with “Soft Sell.” If Linda can do over 360 closed sales in 6 years in what was once a ‘war zone’ community, selling a vision of a future good lifestyle to good people, then the obstacles you face can be over come too!

Which brings us to the subjects of attitude and enthusiasm - captured brilliantly by the Rocker Man - Mike DuPure!  Mike is more electric than his guitar.  You can feel his juice on the phone when you talk and most certainly in person.  He is genuine, thoughtful, goal oriented and hard working too!  Mike has done land home sales as well as community based sales.  He and two team mates produced 75 closings in 90 days at a property in transition where we were doing some – unique! – marketing.  It was at a team meeting when one of his comrades boldly pointed to him and said to the company’s president, “Mike is the best sales person we have!”

To better underscore both Mike’s and Linda’s accomplishments, keep in mind that they were selling at the highest end of the manufactured housing spectrum.  Higher prices, higher site fees, etc…and they still set records that blew others away. Please read, and re-read columns like theirs – download, print them and take them with you – because until you ‘get it,’ once may not be enough.

The good folks at Manufactured Home Source are part of my own tool chest in day to day marketing work.  They don’t just talk about good SEO (okay, Search Engine Optimization) and the like, they provide it for you!  Even better, they deliver what I call – results based marketing.  Unlike days of yore, where you paid for an ad and hoped it delivered, with Manufactured Home Source, you don’t pay until you have the results in hand.  If you haven’t already, do contact them, I did and it works for me and their clients!

Speaking of Manufactured Home, the words don’t hardly slip onto a page without adding the word Merchandiser.  It is such a pleasure to give Chris Olvera an opportunity to share with us verbal snapshots from inside the Merchandiser’s proud history!  Personally, I owe the Merchandiser a debt of gratitude, because it was the first industry trade journal I picked up and one that I’d be picking up today if I could.  Further, we all owe the Manufactured Home Merchandiser a word of thanks – and yes Chris – a raising of the glass because they provided news and views we could use.  Well done!

I’d tarry a bit on the Merchandiser and trade journal topic, because I believe that leaders are readers.  I don’t just mean the casual picking up of a newspaper or browsing stuff on-line, I mean focused reading that is more like an MD or attorney doing vital research.  If your doctor read an important topic just once, he’d likely end up guilty of malpractice later on, right? I personally read publications like Automated Builder and the Journal. One reason we include their links as well as one to the Allen Letter is because reading industry publications is a key to understanding and thus leading.  The Manufactured Home Industry needs and deserves to lead housing in the days ahead.

Reading – more like studying and applying what we learn – is vital for success.

Which brings me to the topic of Around the Campfire.  Every firm and organization needs to find ways to form and inform their people.  Greg McClanahan and company have incredibly low cost, enhanced results via their ground breaking training system in the bag for you to open and benefit.  For a mom and pop operation to the big national firms, you owe it to yourself to not just read his article to learn more, but to call him and see how doing this sort of training for your team is a total no brainer.  Greg is himself an active industry veteran with dozens of MH firms he’s worked with over the years to improve their business. Greg in a few words can say so much that it will challenge and keep you moving you ahead.  Isn’t that what you want from your team?  To improve and move ahead?  Enough said! J

Call Source’s Sherrie Franklin delivers too!  The legal land minds that are out there are astonishing.  I read just yesterday about a 6 figure settlement in a fair housing dispute.  I believe the exact number was $161,000.  Okay, let’s do the math.  A few dollars in training my team on what NOT to do wrong and HOW to do it RIGHT, invested in a firm with thousands of clients from coast to coast, including some of the MHC world’s biggest REITS.  A few dollars to keep you out of the headache, heart ache and time lost in fighting a fair housing claim.  It’s like an oil change, invest a little now to save a ton of money later!  Besides, as you’ll see in next month’s feature from Call Source, these folks to a whole lot more than just help you avoid the legal land mines.  They help you sell more too!  I personally use Call Source in my marketing efforts daily, and if you do, you’ll love ‘em too.  We are proud to have Sherrie on our Masthead and look forward to more from her and her Call Source colleagues in issues ahead!

When I saw Jim Talerico, Jr. being interviewed on MSNBC, my mind pondered how this talented gent I met years ago quietly finds ways to improve bottom line business performance.  “Congenial” Jim has appeared in places like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.  Just as factories today are doing lean production to improve their bottom lines, Jim has an eye opening process that helps your business do more of what you want it to do!  Remember, the doctor who examines himself is not objective and thus often misses things he’d find in a patient.  Jim brings new eyes, years of experience and real world solutions to the problems that plague business large and small alike.  The reason Congenial – and Jim is that! – has received coast to coast media coverage is because he’s worked for clients large and small from coast to coast; and he delivers.

Having news items from Danny Ghorbani’s MHARR, MHI and other Associations and sources is priceless.  Personally, I love talking to Danny – as busy as he is – Mr. Ghorbani was one of the first to personally pick up the phone and express his good wishes for this project.  Yesterday, he also called to praise the launch of www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com and encourage us to press ahead sharing insights and information for the sake of industry builders and all in this business. Passion and Purpose for the Industry come to mind when I think about Danny, and others, who work tirelessly to promote our industry’s well being in D.C, or in state capitals, or at your local district.  Sure, there are differences in view points between some of these leader’s minds!  Good! It is in the clash of ideas – it is in testing – that a person’s or thought’s true metal is forged!  Bring on the association’s news and view, we welcome them all!  To me, it was one of the many benefits of the Merchandiser, to be able to read such news stories.  We hope those news items and sources grow over time here on our web pages.

Speaking of different being good, I’d love to take a moment to invite those with their field of expertise to share them on these pages in upcoming issues!  In feature articles or on blogs, in forum posts or replies to other’s columns, bring it on! One of the great advantages that an ezine has is that we aren’t limited by space constraints.  We also have the ability to interact rapidly with readers via replies, forums and blogs.

Finally, I want to raise the glass to Bob Stovall.  The greatest content in the world means nothing if it is improperly shared.  It isn’t until you get into a project like doing a magazine – print or online – that you realize how much time and effort go into it.  The ‘behind the scenes’ stuff are what make something go. Let me preface my remarks about Bob by saying that I personally do html and have done dozens of websites for various firm’s and enterprises in recent months alone.  But what I do is basic – for years now, any time I need something special done online, Bob is the first call and the last call that I have to make.  Before Al Gore claimed to invent the Internet, Bob was there. When something goes wrong (and doesn’t it always?), I can turn to Bob, and he either fixes it for me or when I’m using my beaner, I call Bob and he does it right for me the first time around.  In the 3 days before the launch of www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com , I estimated Bob put 51 hours personally into the project.  My point is that Bob knows what to do and he does what it takes.  When I asked him to change something, voila! It was done!  If you like what the others have shared, please, let’s thank God for Bob Stovall for making the webmaster side of this ezine possible.

More important for you and your business, if you haven’t reviewed Bob’s Socialnomics yet, you’d better.  Again, as background for my comments, I’d say, I still do many traditional – as well as novel – forms of marketing, depending on a client’s needs.  It is all about the bottom line results, so you do what works in a given situation.  If we as an industry want to attract a new generation of customers, we’d better be where they are.  Bob…is…there.   This issue is just the start – follow Bob’s column and blog, for your sake and for the sake of the MH industry!

Did I say finally?  Last but not least is YOU.  Thank you for being here. Thanks for caring about our industry!  Thanks for wanting to improve performance, because that is what this is about:  Innovation – Information and Inspiration for Industry Professionals!

Meetings are great, I love to attend them.  I learn from them and appreciate the efforts and information presented.

Here, at www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com industry pros can meet virtually, and as often as you wish, for free!  No need for a big budget, no need for tons of time or money invested.  Here we seek to provide you with a forum that permits the showcasing of tried and true ways to improve performance.  Here you can Discover new ways to protect and enhance your profits.  Sometimes it may be ‘in the basics.’  Some may read a column and say, “I knew that…” – but what about that new sales person in the office down the hall…did they know that?  Or sometimes it may be the cutting edge.  What about the firm or marketing department that hasn’t successfully used YouTube or Facebook to grow their business?

A new day is dawning.  Our industry produces the BEST products we ever have!  We can absolutely rival ‘site built’ features and quality – often out performing them – and at a fraction of the price.  What we need to learn – or re-learn – is how to articulate our message to the home buying public.  If a big budget national image campaign isn’t in the card, we need to reveal the low cost ways of getting big budget results!

Come and see…from job postings – to news – to the photo gallery – to videos – to great feature writers – you’ll find it here, you’ll share it at www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com.  Welcome aboard, sign up for e-alerts and to access back issues.  Keep on coming because you will see…This is a resource and platform you won’t want to be without!###