This blog post will be somewhat like pieces for a jig saw puzzle; each piece can stand alone, but together it will form a picture.
Let’s take piece one, a true tornado survival story.
1.
They went into the bathroom of the partially underground lower level of their house. The tornado that hit the Merrill area of WI was ripping trees and the top level of their house apart. My friends huddled in their bath tub. Part of their message read as follows:
“As the intensity of the Tornado increased, so did our unceasing prayers…” They lived unscratched, but… “All of our beautiful majestic white pines are now a thing of the past. Our area truly looks like a bomb exploded. But again we are safe and that is what counts most.”
Imagine living through what must certainly have been such a harrowing experience. Their once manicured and park-like rural acreage was suddenly covered with downed trees and the debris of their now destroyed residence. Everything changed in a matter of minutes.
The media by its nature tends to cover ‘bad news.’
Disasters, wars, murders, corruption… if there is ‘drama’ attached to a story, a reporter is likely to be on hand. As some news professionals used to say, “If it bleeds, it leads.”
Sometimes politicians or government officials jump on such stories, promoting some idea they may well intentionally consider ‘a fix.’ But the SAFE Act was a ‘fix,’ too – one of many ‘unintended consequences’ of what Doug Gorman reminded us in a recent Industry Voices blog post when he said the most feared words are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’
Media and politicians can understandably get hyped up about something that is indeed tragic, such as the loss of life, property and so on. But in so doing, are they serving the public interest? Are they educating and truly informing, or are they perhaps a bit carried away as they try to sell more papers, page views and broadcast ratings?
Last week people died in storms across the country, and commercial and residential property was damaged or destroyed. The media is naturally on it again. What should be our Industry’s response?
How about some facts to share with the local or national media?
Video credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v7LWHQ8l1U. Note (Note: phone number to call is 847-730-3692.)
2.
Business success depends on consumer success. Consumers and businesses should have a natural synergy. Any business that delivers a good product or service should yield happy customers. Happy customers should result in more business.
Our Industry’s success depends on our ability to generate new happy customers. It also depends on our ability to reach out to and connect or re-connect with past customers. I’m told one of our featured writers will have a story that touches on this, which we hope to have for you with our new May issue.
Until then, we need to think about the various ways we can connect with more customers. The Engaging the Media panel discussion and workshop on how to ‘Make Good PR for the Industry a Reality‘ is coming up. If you are going to the MHI’s Congress in Las Vegas, please attend with your colleagues. Most Industry professionals can attend this Engaging the Media panel discussion free in Tulsa OK at the Great Southwest Home Show.
In Tulsa OK, York PA and in Las Vegas NV, you will have three great opportunities to learn practical ways to grow your business. There will be seminars focused for retailers, community operators and those in other segments of the manufactured housing industry. Please plan to attend.
If you are in Tulsa or Vegas, kindly stop by our booth and attend our free Dominate your Local Market seminars as well.
Learning to grow your sales results via good marketing is a must in this economy.
3.
At the top of this blog post, we noted that this post will be like pieces of a jig saw puzzle.
We need media to present a balanced view of our Industry’s homes! That is good for manufactured home owners, it is good for our businesses and it is good for the country.
Misinformation can be as destructive as a deadly storm.
Will we stop selling bath tubs? As the video above reminds us, you are 70 times more at risk of dying in your bath tub than in a mobile or manufactured home.
Are we going to stop driving cars? You have 1600 times more risk in an automobile than in a mobile or manufactured home.
But we must also pause and think about the mixed terminology the media uses.
It may well be that these were MOBILE HOMES, meaning pre-HUD Code homes, that were destroyed. They are the more likely place that people tragically lose their lives. But as true industry pros know, we have not had a mobile home built in the U.S. since June 14, 1976.
Those who survive a storm in factory-built construction are in fact likely to be in a manufactured home. Why?
Because today’s manufactured homes are stronger, smarter, safer, stylish and offer all that with great savings.
Our Industry needs that message out there. It is one that the HUD Code should provide us with, because performance is guaranteed by the code itself.
We need our customers and home owners to understand that message.
Manufactured home owners are as negatively impacted by inaccurate media stereotypes as those who sell manufactured homes are!
Every time someone gets the false impression that today’s manufactured homes are not safe, millions of mobile or manufactured home owners suffer a loss of value unjustly!
There are ways we can and should collaborate with our customers to everyone’s benefit. Every smart business person wants happy customers. Everyone in business for the long haul wants good relationships with their customers.
A public looking for better values in housing are robbed of the opportunities they should caused by negative stereotypes.
This is not to say that we do not have matters than need addressing as an industry. We do.
We will explore these topics more at MHMSM.com in the days ahead. # #
