The Last Man Standing

Building activity has fallen to its lowest level in fourteen years. Homeowners are facing falling property values, smaller buying power, and in many cases, foreclosure. Michael Masterson, author of Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat, predicts, "Estate homes and multimillion-dollar condominiums will tumble in value, even below current prices. Many will be left vacant. It will take at least seven years for many of the properties that have been built in the past two years to be occupied. . . . More than 80 percent of the existing real estate development industry will go bankrupt." This is not a pretty picture, and not good news for builders.

Perhaps at this point you're feeling a little desperate. Wondering why you bothered to read this. But you know you have to come out on top, be a survivor. Even in The Great Depression people made money and successful businesses flourished, and that means you can do it too. All you need is an edge, a way t! o stand head and shoulders above your competition, enabling you to continue your successful business while your competitors go the way of the dodo bird.

So what is the edge you're looking for? The boost to bring you head and shoulders above the teeming masses, to make you visible to the still-haves?

Starbucks is one of the most successful marketing stories of all time. Their growth in the last twenty years is nothing short of spectacular. Starbucks' secret to success can be summed up quite easily in one word: experience. Starbucks isn't just a cup of coffee, it's an experience to be savored. They have carefully crafted an experience that starts the moment you open the door. The seductive aroma of coffee is the first thing to grab you. Next, the sight of comfy furniture, and cozy conversation clusters gives you a feeling of being with friends. Carefully chosen music masks the whine of espresso machines. A case full of delectable pastries sets your mouth! to watering. At this point you will pay almost anything for ! whatever they are selling, because they've already given you so much.

Do you begin to see the light?

McDonald's pretty much set the standard for marketing. Why do people continue to patronize McDonald's to the point of making it an international superstar? The food isn't great, most of their stores aren't beautiful . . . really, it's just fast food. Still they remain one of the giants. Their secret lies in consistency. You can always count of McDonald's. No matter how far away from home you are, no matter how strange the other food available in the area, if you go to McDonald's, the sights, smells and tastes will be almost exactly the same. Yes, the experience will be identical. And that's what keeps McDonald's customers coming back again and again. They want that experience, that familiarity. Even when they choose drive-thru, the food evokes the experience they remember from childhood, and they feel nurtured and safe, like small children shooting down the slid! e into the arms of their mothers.

Do you get it yet?

In order to survive the economic shake up of the next few years, you must provide customers with an experience they are hungry for. Touch some part of their souls that longs for nurture and safety, and you will have them hounding you. You don't have the advantages McDonald's currently enjoys, familiarity and brand recognition, you're more like the Starbucks of twenty years ago. So you must find a way to lure them in, then give them so much experience that they're dying to give you their money and run out the door to recommend you to their friends.

What you need is strategic design language that has never before been available to the public, design language that will set you apart and increase your business viability in this constricted market. This language will generate a style that will serve communities, enhance natural physical settings, encourage meaningful lives, and do so with unprecedented hi! storic sensitivity.

When you have a design language read! y to go, wrap your whole business around the principles that make it appealing. "Now is the time to step up marketing and branding," Finley Perry, president of F. H. Perry Builder, Inc. in Hopkinton, Mass., said. "Make sure your image is clear, your messaging is on point to support the image and the image is being seen and the message heard by the targeted market." I can't tell you what your design language would be, but just to make an easy example, imagine making Victorian houses the backbone of your business (remember this is just an example of how to create experience). Your offices would reflect the Victorian style right from first glimpse. Customers would enter through an ornate, cut-glass door. They would be greeted by a beautiful table holding a large fresh flower arrangement. Sweet and light classical music would be playing in the background. There would be a haunting, spicy aroma in the air, and you would offer them tea and cookies that would turn out to be the sourc! e of the haunting. For another example, if you chose Craftsman styling, your offices would exude hand-made detailing, wood and other natural materials. Customers would enter through a stained-glass door reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright. They would be greeted by a dried flower arrangement, and soft jazz. The smell of coffee and chocolate would give way to coffee and chocolate chip cookies.

As you can see, there are plenty of possibilities as you consider how to create a memorable and satisfying experience for your customers that will cause them to admire and trust your business. When you accomplish this, sustainable success is a given.

You can creatively face the market challenges ahead. Find a design language that appeals to your customers and their needs, then create an experience that is totally in harmony with that design language.

Once Upon A Cottage has a variety of design languages already developed, and stands ready to help you put together y! our very own language to help you appeal to your customers. If! you giv e David James a call today, we will begin a process to put you head and shoulders above the competition, and you will be "the last man standing." http://www.onceuponacottage.com

Author Cherise James is the interiors consultant for Once Upon A Cottage LLC, and has been helping people get their interiors just right since she was a teenager. See the fruits of her labors at http://www.onceuponacottage.com in addition to her work as webmaster for http://www.onceuponacottage.info