Client description: A national homebuilder

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis; Strategic Positioning and Planning

Geographic scope: US

Industries involved: Residential construction

Services applied: Market opportunity study; competitive intelligence; go-to-market strategy

Business challenge: American volume homebuilder watched annual sales drop for three years after thirty years of remarkable growth.

Methodologies: Geo Strategy Partners conducted extensive research:

• Market data analysis, including ten years of census and homebuilding data
• Interview client’s corporate executives and field personnel
• Focus group
• Online quantitative survey of 600 customers, lost customers, and non-customers
• Mystery shop competitors
• Interview competitor field representatives
• Interview top management of client’s direct competitors
• Interview third party industry experts and thought leaders

The result: Our research and analysis yielded recommendations to take a number of actions, such as to acquire a direct competitor in a new geography, create a new business model with fewer self-imposed limitations, enter the subdivision market, offer minor product upgrades/improvements with high perceived value, change the financial offering, revamp their direct marketing campaign to focus clearly on target customers and finally to improve quality assurance and customer satisfaction. The client implemented recommended changes and saw sales increase for the first time in three years. Decisions to enter recommended new markets meant an increase in revenue, net income, and profit margin.

Strategically, we helped the client see that their value creating core was built more on a financial services business model than a construction business model and encouraged them to pursue other products around the financing model.