Let’s over-simplify and state the obvious. MH growth depends on 2 things:

1) enhanced performance by any given professional; and

2) greater acceptance, interest and demand for MH by the home buying public.

Both of those 2 have what we could call education in common. Each of those can be done on the personal, location, state, regional or national levels.

No attorney, MD, accountant, teacher or almost any profession you can name gets educated once, and then receives no more training or education. Why should anyone in MH think our industry is different, when mechanics, tradesmen and others need routine added training?

RVs sell for more per square foot than MH. They have a much smaller target audience than MH. So why are they outselling MH now by some 5 to 1?

Key reasons include: more training, public promotion (marketing, PR, trade media, etc.), resources, allocation and image building.

By the way, we could clearly list other things needed by MH, such as: builders, lenders, service, suppliers, brokers, consultants, insurance, executives, etc.. The focus on these two in no way diminishes the need for numerous others.

quote-leaders-grasp-nettles-david-ogilvy--posted-CuttingEdgeBlog-MHProNews-com- — David Mackenzie Ogilvy CBE was an advertising executive who was widely hailed as “The Father of Advertising.” In 1962, Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.” Wikipedia.

7 David Ogilvy’s Quotes (The Father of Advertising)

The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife. (from Google…)

Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.

It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy.

Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.

There are very few men of genius in advertising agencies. But we need all we can find. Almost without exception they are disagreeable. Don’t destroy them. They lay golden eggs.

Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.

There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers. (from QuotationOf…).

HHGregg-StoreFront-WikiCommons-GraphicText-MHProNews-com- — Photo credit – Wikipedia. Graphic text – Cutting Edge Blog, MHProNews.com-

Each of the 7 above are part of what we do daily on MHLivingNews.com and in our custom MH Marketing/Sales Training Programs.

‘MHs are Not RVs…’

Duh! Of course not. We aren’t automotive, but there are many takeaways from the auto-industry possible too.

The analogies and insights between MH and RVs are useful, in part because of the common history. RVs made their move in the 90s to promote themselves and their industry, to avoid their routine downturns due to fluctuations in fuel prices and other economic factors. Its worked for RVs. MH has talked about it off and on for roughly 40 years. And talked, and talked…

…until MHLivingNews.com was born about 2½ years ago. Its been mostly the past year or so that the focus on Inside MH Road Show videos, interviews and pro-MH articles, etc. has taken root.

Who better to tell the MH story than those who live in manufactured homes, and love them?

Who better to tell the MH story than experts and officials from in-or-out of the industry that respects and understands the construction, safety and value?

It’s smart to have a growing collection of appealing video and factory tours that tout the MH advantages, while dispeling myths and outdated facts in the process! As the videos and articles collection grows, you end up with stories told that connect many times with each of the 4 prime personality types. Stories often stick with people better than an ad tends to do.

Visitors keep coming and the numbers are good! Retailers and communities are reporting closed sales as a result.

MH Builders, Communities and long time MH Retailers – think about this…

No one has to explain what an apartment, condo, duplex or a house is – most looking for them, know what they are. They know they ‘want’ what they are looking for with those housing options. The same is true for products in automotive, RVs, computers, hand-held devices, etc..

MH is unique, in part because it is so widely misunderstood. MH pros as a rule don’t attract the same qualified buyers you see shopping for RVs. We need a different approach than others do.

You may want to attract people to your retail center, community or to have them consider your homes. One has to get past that image issue, just to be considered! You may be investing big bucks in an MHC or other location/operation, and are wondering…why aren’t I attracting a better clientele?

That’s the image issue, but image and training are opportunities in disguise. They are a vital compliment to all of your other investments in your business.

I know of no other MH marketing and training operation that has proposed – much less already has! – a comprehensive approach to attract, market and sell manufactured and modular homes to more cash and credit worthy ‘site built’ style customers. We are it. There are fine firms out there doing this or that, but who else in MH has put together a total package program?

Do you even know of a factory that has created an effective, total program to attract, market and sell to the more upscale residential housing customers; to have them truly shop, consider and then buy MH? Sure, lots of marketing is going on. But a truly comprehensive program that brings in the more qualified buyers?

To achieve solid growth, that has to change. We’re changing that day-by-day with our clients, one location at a time. That’s the wise path ahead.