Creating Market Share part 2

Creating Market Share

This last example I want to share with you is not only an example of creativity and innovative thinking, but also tenacity. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. Sometimes dealing with the competition can be difficult especially when it seems like you are in a David and Goliath situation. This last story is about how to turn the odds in your favor and come out a winner.

In a large metropolitan city two developers were building two large multipurpose towers. Commercial space on the bottom floors and luxury residential space on the upper floors. One was a new residential tower over a prestigious landmark building with a very fashionable address. The developer had publicly promised unlimited funds to build the finest building in all of the city and had hired one of the most talented and well known architects around. This building held all the promise of being a huge success.

The second developer had achieved some success but had yet to build the reputation and status of the first developer. He also had gotten a later start on his project than the first developer and was on a set budget. Seeing that he would need to turn the odds in his favor to make his project a success, the second developer made a crucial decision.

He chose to be very creative in the interior design of the atrium of his building so that it invoked a positive emotional response from all who came into the building. Where the first developer hung a wonderful collection of fine art on the interior walls of his atrium, the second developer created an atrium that was art in and of itself. He used a color pallet that was unheard of in the commercial building world, but one that is commonly known to relax and uplift at the same time. The main entry was made twice as wide as was required by city code creating a welcoming and grand entrance into the main lobby and atrium. This same developer added a sense of luxury and drama by bringing in an eight story waterfall. Only the finest craftsmen were hired. Then he made one more crucial choice, he began to think like the people he hoped would move into his building. How would they live? What would their daily lives be like? What is it that they would need or want on a regular basis?

Once the second developer answered these questions he quickly set about to make some important changes in his building. Instead of the usual two to three stories of retail space he created six and had his sales team bring the finest retailers, restaurateurs, and service providers from around the globe. Ultimately, a person or family living in this building would never need to leave unless they chose to. This innovative thinking created a building that was thoroughly modern, luxurious, and a positive emotional experience in the common areas of the building. The residence of such a fine building would typically engage their own interior designer anyway to personalize their apartments, so the second developer spent the bulk of his budget creating a functioning work or art in the common areas of the building.

Then the unthinkable happened. The local and national economy began to falter. In an effort to attract more buyers for the apartments in his building the developer of the first building began to drop his prices. He had the prestige, the location, the budget, and the reputation. The building was beautiful. It also had a co-op board that could pick and choose who could move into the building, a very unsavory thing in my mind. Many of the apartments sat like empty shells.

As the first developer struggled to fill his building, the creative and innovative second developer with the tenacity of a bull dog did the completely unexpected and raised the prices on his units. That’s right, he raised the prices. You see he also knew his market. People who could afford to live in his building wanted the best, not the best bargain. If you were raising your prices that meant the desire for your product, in this case luxury apartments, must be in great demand. If you were raising prices in a down economy and real estate market, they must be truly spectacular and in limited supply! This created an urgency amongst the second developers core clientele and with in just a very short time the building was a financial and social success. Every tie the demand for the apartments increased so did the prices which only added to the mystique. All names of potential clients were put on a “waiting list” and then were contacted later as a apartment “became available”.

If you would like to read more of Sunrise on America please click on the link below.

http://alexzandrad.wordpress.com/

Wishing you a successful year,

Alexzandra D.