Industrial News

Among builder associations, BATC is widely considered the "gold standard" in home parade management, and regularly produces the nation's largest and most successful showcase events throughout the year. Beginning April 30, 2005, BATC will host its Third Annual Parade of Homes EasyStreetSM event - a special showcase of association-maintained new homes, which includes townhomes, condominiums, lofts, villa homes, row homes, and coach homes. This year, BATC will use BeHomeWise’s unique event management program to register event participants and to track the event’s success. With the BHW program, shoppers no longer have the burden of registering at each location they visit. Furthermore, the Program gathers detailed shopper data, ranks and qualifies shoppers as hot prospects for each builder, tracks shoppers' purchasing behaviors, measures the success of the event’s marketing activities, and helps builders follow up on their hot leads after the event.

"We are proud of our legacy of producing the country's best home parades, and this association with BHW raises the bar of excellence even further," said Wendy Danks, Marketing Director for the BATC. "The next step in the evolution of high-quality home parades is the securing and examination of detailed prospect information, the likes of which only BeHomeWise can provide."

"Even for sophisticated builder associations like the BATC, home parades present as many challenges as opportunities - for everyone involved," said Robb Cohen, President and CEO of BHW. "The association wants to prove the value of participation to its builder-members; builders want detailed information about prospective buyers so they can fine-tune their marketing budgets; and buyers want to participate without having to carry bulky brochures or re-register themselves at every new sales center. The BHW Event Management Program creates a 'win-win-win' solution for all parties."

The BHW Event Management Program is easy for builder organizations to implement and manage. Prior to an event, home shoppers register themselves on their HBA web site. They then receive a thank-you e-mail and a "Welcome Kit", with a magnetic swipe card, a few days later in the mail. During the event, as shoppers visit homes or communities, they swipe their cards through magnetic readers at each builder location. (Organizations can also select to have an on-site registration option for shoppers.) Builders no longer have to worry about overlooking a shopper during a busy period of the event. Shoppers only register one time, no longer burdened with filling out forms at every stop they make.

After the event, BHW provides the organization and participating builders with event data such as:
* The number of shoppers
* Which builders and communities they visited
* Registrants' qualifications and demographic profiles
* What shoppers said they wanted to buy, where, when and at what price
* Which prospects are hot leads for which builders based on their preferences, timeframe to buy and contingencies

Participating BATC members will also have an opportunity to utilize, at no cost, BHW's lead management system for 90 days after the event. BHW has the industry’s leading business intelligence and Internet lead management system helping Builders to convert Internet leads to sales faster than any other solution in the market and to gather real time data on their shoppers, thereby minimizing the sales cycle.

For more information, visit www.BeHomeWise.com, or call toll-free (866) 246-6399

About BeHomeWise
BeHomeWise is quickly emerging as the nation's leading system for business intelligence and Internet lead management for home builders. Founded and developed by new home sales expert, Robb Cohen, BeHomeWise offers Web-deployed prospect management solutions for converting prospective new home buyers into sales. The BeHomeWise software system, B-Wise, integrates leads from all of a builder’s various marketing channels (including walk-ins, search engines, portals, Web traffic and Realtor referrals) and automatically prioritizes these based on who is most likely to buy. Today, BeHomeWise is used by dozens of home builders in the US, Canada, and the UK, including Shea Homes, DR Horton and Comstock Homes. These companies, and others, have gained competitive advantages by enthusiastically adopting cutting-edge sales automation technology like that offered by BeHomeWise. Learn more about BeHomeWise by visiting www.BeHomeWise.com, or by calling (866) 246-6399 (866-BHOMEWZ).

The Parade of HomesSM and the Parade of Homes EasyStreetSM are service marks of the Builders Association of the Twin Cities and used with permission.