“It takes two to speak the truth, one to speak and another to hear.” – Henry David Thoreau

The insight and power possible from a single sentence, a powerful quote, is telling indeed. The quotation above is a case in point. Let us see for a few moments how this quotation applies to the manufactured home and factory built housing industries.

Since 1976, new “mobile homes” have no longer been made. Yet, the search term “mobile home” is still far more powerful than the “manufactured housing” keyword search in Google, Yahoo, etc. The recent Foremost Insurance study, reported on in our exclusive INdustry in Focus Report by Eric Miller, tells us that the use of the term “mobile home” is rising among manufactured home owners! This tells us at a glance that

1. We as an industry aren’t doing the job of communicating this message to the public and

2. What communication is taking place isn’t being heard by enough people.

Ladies and gentlemen, our Industry is poised for greatness in terms of product quality, value and the demographics of the near future! But if we fail to communicate our tremendous value, then no wonder that the GSEs, FHFA or any number of federal agencies can thumb their nose at us on financing or any other issue!

In the new book – The Manufactured Housing Revolution! – that I was honored to edit and help write with over a dozen top factory built housing industry pros, the elements of success are all spelled out in those 190 pages. Yes, it is a good read. But the point I want to make is that speaking the truth must result in an effective connection with the audience.

If the industry financing faucet suddenly turned on, a number of retailers, land lease community operators, manufacturers and supplier/service firms of all types would become very happy. But how long would the euphoria last if we haven’t won the minds and hearts of the public we seek to serve? Would we merely see a repeat of the roaring 90’s, rising up to new highs, only to crash down to new lows?

To change this inevitable scenario, two things are required:

First, we must have the character and will to do what is right and prudent every time.

Second, we must have an ardent desire to serve our clients so well, to protect our lenders and vendors so well that we will never again see a Conseco-style meltdown scenario.

If we had 20,000,000 manufactured housing owners cheering for our industry, we would have financing, we would have no real problem with regulators, we’d have customers lined up at the doors and we would be singing all the way to our respective banks. As it is, how many in our own industry can we count on? I guarantee you, if you have a firm beyond mom and pop in size, the odds are sadly good that you have people in your company who don’t think well of our industry and our product. They are more influenced by the media than our own industry. That has to change if we are to reach our collective potential.

So it may sound self-serving to say that you and your staff need to become totally immersed in best practices, inspiration and pro-Industry news items found only at MHMSM.com. But that is the reality of things! If people are so busy “doing the job” every day, without at the same time becoming ambassadors for the industry, we have only more trouble waiting in the days ahead. We have to turn the 500,000 or so manufactured housing industry people into true believers! We have to serve so well that our customers become as ardent as the Apple iPhone customers are!

Yes, pick up the book The Manufactured Housing Revolution. Yes, read it cover to cover. But then keep it from gathering dust on your shelf afterwards – use it as your constant reference book. The Revolution can make you and your associates more successful than you have ever been! But it will take effort and it will take organic, fundamental change. It starts with you and your company, with you and your staff.

And that is the truth. Now it takes two to speak the truth, one to speak and another to hear it. # #

L. A. ‘Tony’ Kovach, ManufacturedHomeMarketingSalesManagement.com a.k.a. www.MHMSM.com; email Tony@mhmsm.com; voice 847-730-3692; iPhone 832-689-1729