Ashley Pineda, featured at the beginning of this chapter, is a new home sales representative for the PulteGroup (see website at www.pultegroupinc.com). The company engages in homebuilding and financial services businesses. Its homebuilding business includes the acquisition and development of land primarily for residential purposes and the construction of housing on such land targeted for first-time, first and second move-up, and active-adult home buyers. Its homebuilding operations offered homes for sale in 842 communities. The company’s financial services business consists of mortgage banking and title operations. It arranges financing through the origination of mortgage loans for its homebuyers, sells such loans and the related servicing rights, provides title insurance policies as an agent, and provides examination and closing services to its home buyers. PulteGroup offers a one-stop shopping experience for prospective customers.

Sales reps help clients to finance their homes (with Pulte Mortgage) and to close their homes with PGP Title. One of PulteGroup’s key strengths is the ability to provide customers with an exceptional home-buying experience and, ultimately, satisfaction with their homes. Being able to offer everything under one roof and walk the customers through each step of the entire homebuying process makes their experience very comfortable.

Ashley Pineda sells the company’s Centex product line, which is primarily geared toward first-time homebuyers by delivering quality homes at an affordable price. Ashley describes a typical selling process as follows: When a customer walks in the door, she engages them by welcoming them and building rapport. The company provides its sales reps with a consultative questioning strategy that allows the reps to smoothly walk the customer through the buying process. For example, the reps may ask the customers about their location preferences or what they consider most important when they buy a home. Ashley asks these types of questions to help her guide first-time home buyers through the variety of different homes available, ranging from one- to two-story homes, from three to five bedrooms, from 1,183 to 2,600 square feet, and a price range from $145,000 to $220,000. Across various options, the customers are asked how well the different options align with their needs and wants.

The customers are also given the opportunity to touch and feel their future homes. This process typically involves a car tour through the neighborhood, where they are shown the different homes’

features and colors, and walk-throughs of both completed homes and homes under construction.

The latter type helps to demonstrate the quality of Pulte’s workmanship, the insulation, and the energy efficiency of a home. Altogether, this allows potential customers to feel comfortable with the construction of the homes and the home-buying process.

In the next step, Ashley typically talks about financing issues with first-time home-buyers such as the amounts of their monthly payments and potential down payments. PulteGroup equips Ashley with the knowledge to be able to professionally provide that information and make customers feel comfortable with the financial scenario involved in owning their first home. Once comfortable with the financial scenario, Ashley and her customers can move forward toward opening the agreement to buy a home. Generally, when you sign a contract, you are opening the agreement to take the next steps. These steps include financing, completing construction, and ultimately closing on the home and moving in. That entire process typically lasts from 45 days to approximately four months.

Questions

1 Which of the prescriptions of the Strategic/Consultative–Selling Model does Ashley Pineda follow? Please explain.

2 How does Ashley elicit the needs and preferences of the prospective customers? What questions does she ask?
3 Outline a typical buying process that a middle-class couple with two young kids goes through in a first-time home buy. What questions and problems might arise at different stages of the buying process?
4 What might be key influencing factors for the couple’s home-buying decisions? To what extent are rational and emotional buying motives important?
5 Put yourself in the position of Ashley Pineda. How can she create value at different stages of the young couple’s buying process? Give examples.
6 Ashley sells new homes in the company’s Centex product line, which is primarily geared toward first-time homebuyers. One of her job responsibilities is to monitor competition.
Who might be direct and indirect competitors whom Ashley should watch?