20 killer ideas for selling eco-houses

The Government is determined that new housing stock being built by developers will be energy-efficient, sustainable and low carbon emitting and has put in place mandatory targets for developers to attain. Bearing in mind, there has not been a lot of housebuilding going on in the last 2 years, this means that developers need to be thinking about going green. Green cars (hybrids and electric cars or low-CO2 emission) sell well and all major car manufacturers are working on their own offerings. So now it is time for housebuilders to grasp the nettle. So I have set out 20 ideas to help housebuilders sell eco-friendly houses.

1. Use Google Ad words (Pay Per Click) on relevant sites/key word searches eg. green house building, eco-houses, self build, low carbon housing. If you Google these words now, you would be amazed how little there is out there at the moment.

2. Write articles on green houses and the ancillary technologies that go into them eg air to heat exchange systems, heat sinks, grey water drainage systems, solar panels. Give talks, write blogs and email newsletters. Build a following. Godin calls this permission marketing ie. don't junk mail people but obtain their permission to send them really useful and interesting content with no sales pitches included.

3. Approach local radio and TV stations (who are always desperate for content). The green angle is perceived as sexy by programme producers.

4. Raise your / your company's profile locally by sponsorship/charity/voluntary work/conservation and nature preservation work.

5. Attend trade shows eg. Eco Build to win new business.

6. Read books on sales and marketing. Listen to motivatational tapes.

7. Reward referrals handsomely and memorably.

8. Get a hip image. Think Apple. Use creativity in your marketing materials. Create a buzz. Read Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" and "Tribes" on this.

9. Make your web site easy enough that a 5 year old child can understand it. Don't have technical jargon or scientific papers. It's neither big nor clever.

10. Use social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Diggit) to build connections but not repeat not to advertise your services unless you want a load of hatemail and service denial attacks.

11. Think of publicity stunts that get the brand known. Richard Branson is the master of this. Use traditional media and the internet to create a viral buzz. Read De Bono's "Serious Creativity" to generate some ideas for stunts.

12. Write to celebrities with known green credentials to endorse your products eg. David Attenborough, Ray Mears, Mark Constantine of Lush Cosmetics, Prince Charles (though for the latter make sure your houses have the highest and most aesthetic architectural standards or he will think it is a "carbunkle").

13. Put your company forward for green housebuilding awards. There are loads of them. Find out the criteria and start applying.

14. Reach out for mentors / visionaries either here in the UK or abroad who could evangelise for you and your company.

15. Find rich benefactors/retired entrepreneurs who in their twilight years want to save the planet and who might let you build on their land provided it was a zero-carbon development.

16. Use humour in your marketing. If you are building with lime and hemp, make jokes about hemp=dope=funny!

17. Target and educate young people and women and the grey market on eco-housebuilding via known forums such as the Centre for Alternative Technology at Machynlleth, Wales, Eden Project, Cornwall, the Science Museum in South Kensington or the Royal Agricultural Society for England. Hold seminars, free lectures. Work hard at building and spreading the word.

18. Create a groundswell of public demand. Make the houses highly sought after but don't flood the market. Create a scarcity atmosphere using viral marketing techniques. Make landowners/mass housebuilders want to buy your product.

19. Use guerilla tactics to raise awareness of the corruption and vested interests in existing housebuilding with concrete and brick eg. cycle go slows in major cities, chaining to railings, You Tube campaigns. Appeal to the radical hippies of the sixties many of whom are in very high places now.

20. Use puppy dog closes to sell to the public ie. rent our eco house and experience the warmth and comfort before you buy.


Just some out of the box ideas for you to be thinking about. Go on make it happen!

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25 Tips on Selling/Letting Commercial Properties More Quickly

I have been dealing with the legal aspects of the sale and letting of commercial properties for 24 years now and in that time have noticed what can really help a property fly off the shelf and race to completion. In the current climate, buyers / tenants are nervous, cautious, constantly re-evaluating their cash flow situation and even when they have agreed terms on a purchase or lease, deals frequently collapse because the Tenant / Buyer gets cold feet.






Therefore, it is vital that Sellers / Landlords sell / let more quickly and more effectively because the number of buyers/potential tenants is vastly reduced.



Here are some tips for speeding up the whole process and for increasing sales:



1. Get a comprehensive seller's / letting pack together including searches (Local Authority Search, Environmental Search, Drainage Search, Chancel Check), up to date title entries and filed plan, replies to CPSE standard commercial enquiries, copy planning permissions, building regulation approvals. Get all this information scanned and put up on a web site or put on to a CD so that when you have a buyer/tenant they can start looking at the pack and get their solicitors instructed without weeks of delay waiting for searches. This is the same concept which has been used in the residential market with HIPS packs but the difference is you seller's / Letting pack will be completely definitive. This will mean you can apply extreme pressure on the Buyer/Tenant to exchange within say 14 days because there is nothing further to request or which could cause delay. This also flushes out time-wasters much more quickly.



2. Commission an Energy Performance Certificate and include this in the Seller's / Letting pack. These are compulsory for all but the smallest properties. They take about a week to organise but it can cause delay if left till later in the transaction.



3. Ensure you have an asbestos survey report for the property. It is a legal requirement to have one and again it can cause delay if this is left till later in the transaction. Get it sorted immediately before the property is put on the market. Put it in the seller's pack.



4. Ensure you have a fire risk assessment on the building/common parts where the unit being sold or let is part of a building/estate. Get this put on the Seller's pack CD/website.



5. Ensure you a building regulations completion certificate for all works and alterations carried out to the property. This causes massive delays and is often one of the last things holding up exchange. Get it sorted now and pre-empt the Buyer's solicitor's enquiries.

6. Ensure you have comprehensive planning documenation for the building/site including copies of all planning permssions, evidence of compliance of all planning conditions. This is another thing which causes unbelievable delay. It does cost money but it is well worth it.

7. Ensure you have a Land Registry compliant plan of the property being sold/let. This means that it must be to a recognisable scale, have a north point and have sufficient identifying features on it so that the Land Registry can plot it on to the Filed Plan. Many developer clients have software which can easily produce compliant plans or there are some very good companies who can produce fantastic compliant plans at very reasonable prices. Get it sorted before the transaction gets going.

8. On a new build, get the collateral warranties sorted out well in advance from the professionals involved in the build eg. architects, structural engineers, electrical contractors, steel frame contractors. Get them to sign the warranties prior to the sale/letting. Get a copy of their indemnity insurance policy and their confirmation on how many times the warranties can be assigned.

9. Ensure that the Lease is Lease Code Compliant to speed up negotiations. The Code for Leasing Business Premises in England and Wales 2007 is the result of collaboration between commercial property professionals and industry bodies representing both owners (Landlords) and occupiers (Tenants).

The Code aims to promote fairness in commercial leases, and recognises a need to increase awareness of property issues, especially among small businesses, ensuring that occupiers of business premises have the information necessary to negotiate the best deal available to them.

10. Make sure the Heads of Terms are comprehensive by involving the solicitor in the preparation of the draft. This can massively speed up the process of negotiation because although not contractually binding, it is very hard to go back on what is set out in the Heads of Terms from a tactical point of view.

11. Use Google Sketchup (free software) to produce an electronic mock-up of the building to save stupid questions from the lawyers and endless site visits. The link is here http://sketchup.google.com/

12. Produce a directory of services useful to a business occupying your building. Start ups need recommendations for accountants, solicitors, bankers, website designers, printers, signage companies. Have a list already to add value as a Landlord / Seller.

13. Create a database of your existing tenants and build relationships with them by having a monthly email newsletter. This could mean that tenants will stay loyal to you as a Landlord or purchaser will buy from you again. The relationship between landlord and tenant is a partnership not unlike marriage. Court and woo your potential tenants as you would were you a suitor. This is just an office building but a Bloggs Building. Create a legend.

14. Email / blog your followers / fans / customers / agents with useful information about capital allowances, ways of reducing energy bills. Become a resource before you sell/let.

15. Consider being a green landlord. Alter construct your building to improve its energy efficiency. Install solar panels, greywater systems, heat sinks, air to heat exchange heating systems, lime and hemp walls. There may be government grants available. There are capital allowances for energy efficient plant and machinery.

16. Give talks highlighting your product at Chamber of Commerce, networking breakfasts etc.

17. Use creativity in designing your sales literature, business cards.

18. Use a puppy dog close to secure sales/lettings. For example, take the unit on a serviced licence to occupy basis before you take a longer term lease.

19. Offer flexible renting terms eg annual breaks for Tenant only, up and down rent reviews, service charge caps/ceilings, turnover rents, monthly rental payments. It's a tough market. Differentiate by being flexible.

20. Use video testimonials of satisfied buyers/tenants. Emphasise long-term relationships with your buyers/tenants.

21. Offer start up finance backed with suitable collateral security to fund the tenant's fit out costs and then rentalise the improvements.

22. Offer discounted prices on office furniture with a hook-up with a local supplier.

23. Aim to win awards for your buildings whether for being green or for being a considerate landlord. Make tenants/buyers want to be part of the buzz around your company.

24. Define a Unique Selling Proposition for your product, something for which you can be famous for. The most luxurious, the most energy efficient, the greenest, the most hi-tech. Media outlets love superlatives. So does Google.

25. Get comprehensive service charge information collated prior to marketing showing the last 3 years audited service charge accounts, receipts for expenditure, financial projections.


There's a few ideas to be getting on with. It's all about standing out from the market. There is so much vacant commercial property stock just sitting there in industrial parks, high streets, business parks which shouldn't be unlet/unsold. Take your product out to the market. Just like in Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, when Gordon goes out into the streets with samples of the food. Take the message to the people. The old ways of print and TV advertising are dying. Have a paradigm shift. Re-think your sales and marketing strategy. Think bold. God speed!

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12 Ways to Win New Business in a Downturn

Are we in recession or out of recession? Are we in recovery? Who knows? What everyone knows is that it is very tough winning new business at the moment. Of course, doing nothing is not an option. So what do you do? Here are a few hints and tips:

1. Speak to your existing clients/customers and establish if they have any needs in other areas other than the usual area you do business. Where they aware you covered other areas? This will also build loyalty in a time when your competitors will be doing everything they can steal your clients/customers.

2. Improve/raise your personal brand by giving talks to networking clubs, civic groups, Chamber of Commerce etc. Network at networking events. Write articles in the relevant trade press, on blogs, press advertorials. Persuade your local paper to give you a column in which you give useful hints and tips. Get involved in charity work. Don't forget it's not who you know but who knows you.

3. Help your clients and customers find new customers/clients by introductions / referrals, with sales tips and articles. Become a resource. Give value first.

4. Provide legendary client service. Look for the WOW factor, go way beyond the service provided by your rivals/competitors, innovate. Build partnerships with clients. Ensure consistency throughout your whole organisation with training and incentives.

5. Use the power of the Internet/Social Media. Get on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube. Optimise your ranking on Google with Search Optimisation. If you don't know how to do this get a specialist company involved. Get involved in Ad Words and Pay Per Click via Google.

6. Use Blogs/Email Newsletters to build loyalty/followings and to extend your range to prospects.

7. Sharpen Your Saw. Read books, listen to CD's, podcasts, subscribe to relevant blogs and email newsletters. Increase your knowledge every day. Write something everyday. Remember writing is the source of all wealth.

8. Use humour in your presentations, your literature, your presentations. People love to laugh and will be more receptive to your message.

9. Avoid cold selling at all costs. It hardly ever works. Make people seek you out. Make warm contacts and nuture warm prospects with networking and email newsletters.

10. Perservere. It takes 6-8 contacts with a prospect before they will be ready to buy.

11. Work harder and longer than all of your competitors/rivals. Stop whining, whinge-ing and complaining. Take responsibility for your own actions. You are where you are today because of your own actions. People will promote / give you a pay rise if they absolutely have to and only then. Make a sure-fire case. Make your bosses worry that they will lose you. Don't blame others eg. your boss, your health, your wife, your energy levels, your line manager. Just get fighting. You only have one life. Don't waste your time watching endless repeats and mindless pap on the TV. Use your evenings constructively. Get up an hour earlier and get blogging.

12. Be flexible and creative in your quotes for new business. People are looking for bargains. There are many ways to skin a cat. Use your imagination to differentiate.

Oh that all sounds like hard work. Yup! Sure is. Sheer hard graft. I'm sorry but that is where we find ourselves. However, follow the majority of the advice above and you will be amazed how fulfilling your life will become. Trust me, I am living this advice.

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