A recent opinion piece from VOS Consultants, The Experience Gap: Why Branded Residences Lose Value Between Promise and Delivery, makes an important point about the branded residences ownership experience. The article correctly argues that the ownership experience should start well before the buyer receives the keys, with every interaction during the buyer’s journey helping them understand what ownership will look and feel like.
The way a buyer is introduced to the project, the information they receive and how they are treated during the sales process all begin to establish that experience.
The Sales Journey Is The First Experience Of Ownership
A salesperson may have extensive experience of selling luxury property without fully understanding what makes branded residences different. This can lead to the project being sold primarily on its physical attributes, location, amenities and financial potential, rather than the wider ownership experience that branded residences provide.
Location, views, specifications, amenities, rental potential and price are all legitimate selling points, but they do not explain the entire ownership experience.
If the full residential experience is not properly communicated or demonstrated during the sales process, the buyer may never fully understand what makes a particular project different or why they are being asked to pay a premium, ultimately making the sales team’s job of making a sale considerably harder.
A prospective buyer should begin to experience the service, attention and confidence promised by the project during the process of actually purchasing it, rather than experiencing those qualities only after ownership begins.
All of the above is closely connected to the point VOS Consultants makes about a developer’s sales team being part of the product and not just the process.
The Experience Gap: Why Branded Residences Lose Value Between Promise and Delivery
Key Takeaways:
- The sales experience is the first experience of ownership. The buyer’s experience begins long before handover, with every interaction shaping their expectations of what ownership will be like.
- A strong brand cannot carry the commercial proposition on its own. Positioning, pricing, inventory, buyer journey, sales process, CRM, distribution and execution all need to work together to support the brand promise.
- The sales team is part of the product. Sales advisors need to understand the brand, the buyer and what makes the residence distinctive, rather than simply knowing the property, floor plans and payment schedule.
- The buyer journey needs to reflect the promise being made. The way a project is presented, explained and sold should give prospective owners confidence in the experience they are being asked to purchase.
- The experience gap can emerge before ownership begins. When the sales process fails to reflect the standards and proposition of the residence, the buyer can question the value being presented and the premium being asked.
- Commercial Architecture and Sales Excellence need to work together. The commercial structure establishes the buyer journey, while the sales team brings the proposition to life through its interactions with prospective owners.
Read the full VOS Consultants article HERE
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BRESI is the world’s first dedicated global gateway for the branded residences industry, connecting buyers, property developers and brands across every major market. BRESI provides a developer-focused global marketplace, a comprehensive news media platform and a strategic partner network of the leading advisory companies in the sector, creating a complete branded residences ecosystem.
