In the not too recent past, simply having a model home was often enough to set you apart from other builders. Times have changed. Staying competitive requires builders provide a strategically designed and artfully merchandised model home. To do so, they need to engage a professional interior merchandising firm. As professionals, we understand the importance of a model home. And, that a model home’s job is to accurately reach a target buyer and create a space where a prospective buyer can envision themselves living. We also understand that to do this, we need information. The type of information a buyer profile can provide. Such as, who and how a prospective buyer will be living in your home. The importance of buyer profiles in developing our designs cannot be overstated.
Profile of Your Buyer
So what exactly is this all important buyer profile? A buyer profile is basically a sketch of your ideal customer. It defines the target messaging and merchandising needed to help convert a model home visitor to a home buyer. To determine your buyer profile, you will need to dig into the demographics and psychographics of your prospects. Demographics are facts such as age, gender, marital status, etc. Conversely, psychographics are the unique interests and living style of your prospects. The image below shows these distinctions.
Demographic Questions of a Buyer Profile Survey
There is a myriad of things we as designers want to know before we start crafting our designs. Some of the key questions are, who are we trying to attract and what are they like? When developing our buyer profiles, we typically ask demographic-focused questions such as:
- How old is the buyer?
- What is their income?
- Are they married? Do they have kids? If so, how many and how old are they?
Psychographic Questions of a Buyer Profile Survey
We can (and do) merchandise beautiful model homes with only demographic data. However, it is the psychographic information that helps us create stand out model homes. Model homes that sell communities. To gather that type of information we need to ask questions to determine what kind of life the people who live in your homes want such as:
- Would they rather spend their weekends camping or going to a fancy dinner downtown?
- Do they consider themselves tech-savvy?
- How important are walking trails to their overall satisfaction?
- Does the success of the local sports team impact their happiness level?
As interior merchandisers we try to imagine we are walking in the shoes of the potential buyer. Our goal being to display a lifestyle they want to experience. The placement of furniture as well as colors and items are placed to move the eye and the people through the home to tantalize. Therefore, understanding the way they think and live helps us dream with them and inspire a need to buy this home.
Taking the time to flesh out a buyer profile allows us as interior merchandisers to discover the subtleties of a builder’s specific market and then ensure the model homes reflect these. When interior designs truly capture the complex needs of the potential buyer, homes sell.
Contact us today to learn more about how our process helps model homes sell. And, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
