DVD Video Brochures are unique

DVD Video brochures are different than other video productions. Most other video productions are 10 minute company documentaries, which are fine but they just don't have the depth of what we are doing with the DVD Video Brochure. We are designing a modular format were, say 20 differant 5 minute chapters tell the deep story of the product and the company. Thats 100 minutes not just 10 minutes. We can tell a much more compelling story in 100 minutes.

Why not try one for your product or company? 

Second look at the Numbers

I can hear builders say "You can't double sales".

Lets look at it.

In a 100 unit community you might get 75 units of traffic (People looking at homes) per month. We said 3 of these buy. What happens to the other 72? When I worked sites there were always a few people, say 6 who were very interested but just never stepped up to buy. We don't know why they didn't buy, but I believe it had to do with them not getting enough information to make the decision to buy.

Now lets bring in a DVD Video Brochure about the site and the builder. This DVD Video Brochure has most of the information the prospect will need to make the buying decision.

The sales force starts to give these DVD Video Brochures out to prospects who visit the site each month. Now the 6 people who are very interested watch the DVD Video Brochure and I think 3 of them would be compelled to buy, thus doubling sales that month.

You have to watch a DVD Video Brochure to experience how powerful and persuasive it is, there is nothing else like it. The printed brochures builders give out are great, but they don't match the power to educate and persuade of a DVD Video Brochure.

This is how we double sales.

The Numbers - Money

Is DVD Video Brochure really so expensive?

Lets look at a builder and a site. The site sells 3 homes a month at $500,000. The builder makes 10% profit or $150,000. per month. They purchase a 2 hour DVD Video Brochure for $120,000. 

They start to see 6 sales per month, a $300,000. per month profit. Was the $120,000. investment too much?

If they had done nothing they would have made $1.8 million per year. With the DVD Video Brochure they made $3.6 million, double what they would have made all for a $120,000. investment.

How would you like to double your sales?

Is it worth considering a DVD Video Brochure?

Why are our customers confused about DVD Video Brochure

Our customers seem to just see the money to buy, but what they should be focused on is the increased sales the DVD Video Brochure will bring them.

A DVD Video brochure has a very unique feature in that it brings empathy to the home builders customer, which causes a bond with the customer. It also answers many of the customers questions which bring them closer to having a sales meeting with the builder. Remember, the sales meeting with the builder with a prospect that normally would not be talking to the builder about buying a home is all the DVD Video Brochure can do. No body will buy a home from a DVD Video Brochure.

By sending out samples of our DVD Video Brochure I sought to let them experience how it was an emotional intellectual experience, much like the emotions you feel watching a feature film, and how that should turn into builder meetings and thus sales. Each sale might equal $50,000.00 and there could be 100% more sales. The $120,000.00 price tag seems less steep.

I believe the DVD Video Brochure in the marketing mix will cause a 100% increase in sales for reasons I've explained in this blog. At Work DVD's customers just don't see the value of a 100% sales increase but to a builder it is very significant. 

Build Rapport

Why keep going where a prospect doesn't want to go? A Customer wants to learn information he doesn't already know. She wants to learn things she doesn't know. Most of the time as a new home sales rep we fight the customer by asking them "qualifing" questions to get answers to help us "sell" her. Who does this benefit? Us. What does the prospect want to know? Answers to questions that affect their life. If we answer those questions we build rapport and get closer to the sale. A DVD Video Brochure answers all of the questions a prospect cares about and builds a great amount of rapport, and brings us close to the sale. Period. That is the sales goal. Period. 

Why should your company buy a DVD Video Brochure

A DVD Video Brochure is very expensive, a builder might ask "Why should we buy a DVD Video Brochure?" This is a great question. The answer is "Are you happy with your sales now?" If "yes" than don't waste your money. If "No" than a DVD Video Brochure is a great choice to raise sales numbers. 

Most builders will admit if they can raise sales, they will become more profitable. But it is not an easy thing. To some, sales are a mystery. In my personal experience the more the customer knows about the product, the location and the builder, the more chance the builder has to "sell" that customer. It is the builders who ignore this that suffer lost sales and are not profitable. 

The key here is: The DVD Video Brochure  exposes the customer to all aspects of the new home community and the new homes. They are exposed to all of it. They are then more ready to meet with the builders sales team and BUY A HOME. It is that simple! An educated customer meets a quality new home equals a sale, period. Why should you spend $120,0000. on a DVD Video Brochure? Because you will sell 100% more homes using it. That will more than cover it's cost.

100% Sales Increase. That's why...

Each New Homes site gets it's own DVD Video Brochure

I wanted to clarify a question that some builders have: Each site a builder has would get it's own DVD Video Brochure. Each site is unique and has its own specific ammenities. DVD Video Brochures are custom made for each site, yes there will be company information that does not change, but the location of the Wawa varies at each site. So a builder like, say Toll Brothers who have thousands of sites need that number of DVD Video Brochures to treat all their sites properly. Right now Toll Brothers shows a generic video in all it's model homes. It is nicley produced but not nearly as affective as a custom DVD Video Brochure that could loop in the model home and also be given to customer prospects to take home and really watch. What are the implications for At Work DVD if a Toll Brothers wanted us to do all their sites? We would have to hire a ton of local production companies to film the sites, I would have to write a standardized but customizable DVD Video Brochure template. It would be a big growth spurt! ;-)

The heart of a DVD Video Brochure is site specific customization, one site, one DVD Video Brochure. 

People get the message with video

Why do people get such an emotional message from video? It seems to do with reality, video is perceived as "real", when the mind watches it it appears like any other visual the eyes see. With video, however the film maker can craft the image/message to the audience, like in a motion picture film - it's all fake but it seems very real. With a DVD Video Brochure we film and edit so that the audience gets emotion from our production so they will hopefully see things our way (Advertisement). We try to show our subject matter in it's most flattering light, however we don't lie about the subject matter, just enhance it.

People see glamorized versions of real things all the time, think of a housewife who is pretty but never does herself up. She goes for a glamour photo shoot and the professionals work with her to look glamorous. Those photos are real, they are just not the norm, and so it is with the DVD Video Brochure. It's been treated like Hollywood, some glamour has been added. On our first DVD Video Brochure, the K Wolf piece we used a little of this. People who have watched all or parts of the K Wolf DVD Video Brochure say to me "I really trust Kris Wolf, I would talk to him about building my house." Great... That is all the DVD Video Brochure was meant to do, get a meeting with the builder. DVD Video Brochures don't SELL homes, the builder does, but the DVD Video Brochure warms up the audience, if the audience will like and trust the builder, they are by far more likely to agree to meet with the builder or his representative. That is the only goal of a DVD Video Brochure, to get a builder meeting.

Shelf Life

Does the shelf life of a marketing piece matter? Most marketing videos have a defined production goal, but in most cases it is not broad in nature. The DVD Video Brochure on the other hand is broad in scope. It has a long shelf life, so the investment that was made to create it won't be wasted do to outdated design and content. Unlike your marketing DVDs that can become tired on the shelf, the DVD Video Brochure will have a long life on the shelf.

Big concept to small detail

Think of a textbook, it offers a subject from big detail to small factoids, but they usually don't relate to other related subjects. This makes it an unnatural learning experience. We learn naturally by experiencing a lot of big topics until we know them, then we learn the finer points to those topics until we understand the whole subject, as nature intends.

One of the strategies I am looking into for DVD Video Brochures is to present information in this way. The first chapters in linear order would be big picture overviews, the next chapters would be that material but a little more in depth, and finally the last chapters would be the subject in depth in all it's detail. Now this would be an awkward design at first, as it takes patience to learn all the big concept stuff before you learn the details, but if you have the patience, you will get a better learning experience. With DVD Video Brochure we have the opportunity to escape the standard textbook design that the educational system has had us hooked on for 100 years. Now we might be able to improve it. 

Trade Shows

DVD Video Brochures are great for trade shows as "Take Ones". You might have to attend trade shows to promote your product or service. DVD Video Brochures are the perfect medium to give out to customers who visit your booth. They are compact packages but contain much more information then a printed brochure in a much more compelling format. It is the perfect media for take ones as it pre sells your product or service. Next time you need trade show materials, think DVD Video Brochures.

Mail a DVD Video Brochure

This may not seam obvious, but preselling your product is a big deal in your sales cycle. You have a product to sell, lets say homes. They are at a location that is fixed. People need to come to them to learn about them. Or do they? What if you make it easy for customers to request a DVD Video Brochure on your homes to be mailed or FedExed to your customers. That way the customer can get aquainted with most things about the homes and if they like what they see they will be pre sold, with out having to travel to the site. Mailing a DVD Video Brochure can be a powerful sales tool.

Write a book

I am thinking of writing a book on DVD Video Brochures, but I am not sure I could assemble enough relevant information. This blog has  most of what I feel is relevant about DVD Video Brochures. There is just no definitive book on DVD  Video Brochures, and I feel that a book would help to spread the concept - I could even include a sample DVD Video Brochure.

I know nothing about writing and publishing a book, but that won't stop me.

The Convenience Store

What sells a home? That is a huge question and has an answer that is much bigger than I can answer here.  But here are some things a DVD Video Brochure can do to help. Lets look at one simple thing that is huge; Were is the Wawa (Convenience store). This may seem trivial but the proximity to the Wawa is a major issue to most home buyers. (Yes the builder will be clueless to this). A DVD Video Brochure can spend 5 minutes in an expose of convenience stores near your new home. Now this might seem un important but think of the number of Wawa runs per year times the number of years you live in the home. This is very important. Should we not have a chapter on the DVD Video Brochure on the Wawa. I bet if you think about it you can come up with a bunch of other local amenities that you would also like to know about. With a DVD Video Brochure you have the space and time to cover all of them. Now does this seem dumb to you? Who cares about a convenience store? Many times new homes are built in rural areas were the convenience stores haven't been built yet. I once worked a community where the nearest Wawa was over 10 miles a way. As the neighbors moved in it became a big deal. They yelled at me for not telling them (I simply did not realize it myself). People who buy new homes want the same community luxuries as anyone. And they want them to be advertised and disclosed up front while they are shopping for a home. With a DVD Video Brochure your can show off all the community amenities so people can get fully aquainted with the community they will be living in.

The Law of Attraction

What comes to you is what you "want". This is true in sales. Do you really "want" a sale?

It can seem like there is no sale on the horizon but then one will come. It had to do with your intention, not just coincidence. I learned this selling new homes. I used to ask my customers "Why did you buy here?" the Builder would hope to hear quality of construction but it was not. It was the schools or the town or a park,  it had nothing to do with the construction. That to this day is why my DVD Video Brochures focus on the community as much as the construction. People want well built homes but they kinda expect that, they really want to be members of a great community. The builders who focus all their efforts on showing off their construction quality, and not the community attractions are missing the boat.

The law of attraction teaches us to focus our energy on what we "want" and that goes for your customers. What do they "want"? Why not ask them, and then create a DVD Video Brochure with the focus on them and their wishes, show them how you meet their needs, better than all the other builders. That will help you in working with the Law of Attraction.

Little information on DVD Video Brochures

On the net there are few (Mine) sites on DVD Video Brochures. I don't know if it is just DVD Video Brochures are new or not popular. From Europe I found a few sites that did 10 minute video brochures for the web, but thats about it. I am pretty much making my business up as I go along. Luckily I have a partner who has been doing video since the early 1990's and he has all the technological expertise to guide us to at least make decent video. I am old enough to remember the invention of the world wide web and thus web sites. I remember friends selling web sites to Fortune 500 companies, many times they would not want a web site "How can this help us?"

Now there are probably not Fortune 500 companies that don't have web sites. We are in that same place now with DVD Video Brochures; "Why do we need to spend big bucks on a DVD Video Brochure?" If they will listen and read this blog they would know.

But I am very curious why no one else is talking about this. Did I truly invent something new here with a long form DVD Video Brochure. It's too obvious, I could not have invented DVD Video Brochures. There should be other blogs or at least web sites, it would help to share things we are all doing to further the DVD Video Brochure. If you are out there and working in DVD Video Brochure contact me.

A DVD Video Brochure is like a web site

DVD Video Brochure is like a video web site. It is navigatable via the chapters. Some would say a dream for the world wide web would be full video pages that played DVD quality content. Due to the technical constraints of the web that won't happen, but with a DVD Video Brochure it can. The chapters are like web pages and they play full motion video via DVD. Everybody has a DVD player so acceptance is not a problem. 

The web is a great communications medium, just like the magazine, but both don't offer full screen video. The DVD Video Brochure is not AS flexible as a web site, but it offers navigatable full screen video. 

I think the DVD Video Brochure is one of the most versatile mediums out there today, give one a try!

Are DVD Video Brochures helpful

A DVD Video Brochure is helpful. It takes 20 or so subjects and elaborates on them so the viewer gets a much more clear understanding on the subjects. Otherwise they might not get a treatment of the subjects and that leads to mistrust. Mistrust is not what we need in sales. We want full disclosure and trust on the part of the customer. Two hours of DVD Video Brochure can't help but inspire trust, afterall you are explaining everything. As opposed to no DVD video Brochure, having a DVD Video Brochure is very helpful. 

Sales

Sales are funny, sometimes they just happen but most of the time you have to bother people. Right now we are in sales mode, because we need to sell a production. This means that I have to call a builder that we sent a package to and play the game, you know: the receptionist "You sent us what?" Then it's the old "who got the package, what package, that was sent... "Who would be in charge of marketing materials at ABC Builders?.... You don't know.... Who opens the mail? They might remember getting a DVD, maybe? You remember the DVD and it was shipped out the the sales trailer as a novel idea, so Patty in sales could watch it? Is Patty in charge of sales and marketing? No. (Does anyone know what is going on at ABC Builders?) Look, this DVD could increase your sales by 100%, would that help ABC Builders bottom line? Great, now may I speak to your head of marketing? Thanks....

A converation like that goes with every sales call. What follows is the marketing manager was too busy to look at the sample so he dosen't know what I am talking about and Patty in sales is off today and she has it.

My theory is send it directly to the CEO, he might want to increase sales 100%. Wouldn't that be great and avoid the sales catch 22?

Production Design

The production design on a DVD Video Brochure is specific. Tell the story in the most direct way in the shortest time while maintaining quality filmmaking. You have 5 minutes to set an introduction, pose a problem, solve that problem and sumerize the solution and give a subtle call to action. In 5 minutes. It's tough. Not every chapter needs all these steps but for a good chapter you do. A lot of it comes down to editing. You might shoot a half hour of source footage and edit it down to the most compeling 5 minutes, certainly OK. There is a saying in video production "Tape is cheap" what this means is your crew is there (Expensive) Your talent is there (Expensive), Shot lots of tape (Cheap) to make sure you get enough footage, or the right footage. There is nothing worse than sitting at Final Cut Pro editing and saying "I wish we had this or that" While you are filming, get everything.

Good video sets up a problem or a question, then like a news reel it sets out solutions or hypothetical answers to the question. It then summerizes the problem or question, its answers and then it states it's solution. 5 minute chapters or 2 hour documentaries do this.

People might ask "Why is it so expensive, $1,000. per minute?" It is because there are 100 things that go into making a QUALITY production, and that what you want right, quality... we have all seen some really bad commercial video. Our's looks like TV. Sure for $5,000. you could get a kid with a camcorder and an editing PC but does he have the expertise that our years of experience have given us? No. He will make bad video, which is easier to make than great video. When you are marketing your product, you want your video to look professional, otherwise your product looks cheap. That's not what you want.

For a 1 hour DVD Video Brochure it costs $60,000. You will get $60,000. worth from us, remember, your customers are comparing your video to TV they have seen that cost Multimillions per hour to produce. For what you get from us, we are a bargain.

Can DVD Video Brochures make a differance

It's sales right. Why bother if it won't raise sales. It cost a lot of money. So why do it?

Let me pose a differant question: Why not do it? You sell some product now, save your money, keep your status quo, sell the same number of products you always sell. I can hear you now "But we want to sell more..." What, on the same investment, with no product innovation? It won't happen, sorry. To change sales figures you must change something in marketing. There is a lot you can do.

Why do people buy? People have a need, they search out a product that may meet this need, they research this product and the company that makes it. They ask questions of the company and then, this is the magic we are all looking for, if they feel the product will suite their needs and they trust the company they will buy. It isn't even that price sensitive. It doesn't matter if it is a saw in the hardware store or a billion dollar communications array at work. It is simple: Need, seek solution, find solution, investigate solution, investigate company, buy or no buy decision. Period. All products.

If information about the product and the company is that critical to the sale, why now do we virtually ignore them in the current marketing advertisment mix.

Only one media tool I know off truly addresses giving information the way it is needed, the DVD Video Brochure. It gives information about the product and the company. It gives demonstrations of the product in use, it gives testimonials from people who have bought, use and are happy with the product. The prospect can't help but get excited and trust the product and the company. So excited he will buy. The Sale, it is all about the sale. Did the DVD Video Brochure make a differance? You decide.

Is it common sense

Are multiple small 5 minute chapters assembled to make a whole piece actually the common sense way to design an informational DVD? If you have a better way, let me know ;-)

Lets look at media. Hand bills have been around since before the printing press. They were one subject and short. Once the printing press was invented, and I believe it is the most important invention of all time, news papers came out. Short stories, many subjects. Brochures came next; one subject but multiple short treatments. Then came film. Early films where shorts and told one story briefly. Then came feature films that told long stories and captured the imagination of the audience. Then TV and the news, short segments about multiple subjects. The common sense next step is the DVD Video Brochure, short segments, one or many subjects that can be viewed on a common household DVD player. The viewer chooses the DVD Video Brochure he wishes to view based on his informational needs. It's a logical media next step.

How many times have you scanned a printed brochure only to wish you could get more information, see video, hear a narrator, access ROM content of parts or contracts.

With a DVD Video Brochure now you can. To give you what you want is common sense.

What is a 5 minute Chapter

Short films have been around since the beginning of filmmaking. They tell a story, begining, middle and end in a short time, even 5 minutes. It takes some creativity but a filmmaker can do it. And the advantage is it holds the viewers attention. In a DVD Video Brochure we have a number, 20, 25, 30 subjects we want to explore. We simply have to do them in 5 minute shorts, otherwise the DVD Video Brochure would be 6 hours long and nobody would watch. In 5 minutes we can say enough about a subject to at least case the viewer to want to learn more about the subject in the real world, which is our goal. Simply put, the goal of the DVD Video Brochure is to give the viewer enough of a taste of the subject matter so they want to explore it in reality. 5 minutes is also a very comfortable time to watch each subject, and the way the menu works is after each 5 minutes the viewer can end the viewing session or choose a new 5 minute chapter. It is designed to be flexible and respect the viewers time. It is a Brochure because there is no middle and end like a film. There is a beginning, the Builder's Greeting but after that any chapter can be viewed and follow any chapter, they are all modular, stand alone films. This is what makes it so effective, each person can follow what she wants to explore, kinda like a video web site. Who knows what chapter will cause her to contact the builder in reality, but she might. I am betting she will, that is the point of the DVD Video Brochure.

Absorption

In the new homes sales area there is a term called absorption. This is the number of homes expected to sell each month. With my DVD Video Brochure I intend to shatter this number. If it is 3 I expect it to be 5 or more. This is the value of the cost of the DVD Video Brochure. Not the production cost or the price, but the value of increasing sales from 3 to 5 or more.

I hear my product is expensive: $120,000. for 2 hours. How expensive is it to sell 3 a month when you could sell 5 or more.

My fixed cost are $30,000. What if I where to sell DVD Video Brochures for $30,000. and sell tons of them, but not make any money. What if I charge $120,0000. but nobody buys one. Somewhere in the middle is the answer. That is what I am looking for now.

There is a limit to how many DVD Video Brochures I can make, 4 at a time is a good estimate.

4 per year. I have to get as close to $120,000. as I can to be profitable, with taxes, insurance, payroll, equipment purchase and debt repayment. I can't sell for $30,000. as much as I might like to. If we can do 4 solid $120,000. gigs a year we will be OK.

Do we represent a value to our customer? If we can add to sales by 75% then yes we are worth it. How can I prove that now, with 1 customer? I can't, but it's Faith-simple faith. It will prove out as we go. Measured by absorption. The numbers don't lie.

Does a Video Brochure have to be on DVD

No. My first idea for a Video Brochure was back in 1988 before DVD. It would have been VHS tape and the chapters would have been sequential. It still would have worked great. I was working construction in 1988 and my Mom was the community sales manager. Most of her customers where from California and only one spouse was here to shop for a home. My Mom was trying to figure out how to relay the area back to California for the other spouse. Camcorders had just come out and I thought we can shot a video on the homes, the community and the area and then send them back to California. I wish we would have, but we didn't. I was just a construction worker, I had no power. This is the birth of my idea today.

Now, do we need DVD? No. It makes for higher resolution and better audio, but you could do web video and have it be almost as effective. A series of YouTube or better yet a web site with videos can show the message. The difference  between a 42" Plasma display and a 3" web video window are obvious, but to relay the jist of the video Chapter, they will both work.

In fact Kris Wolf, our first DVD Video Brochure also put some of the DVD on their web site and it is fine. One note here: The production quality and cost is the same wether you choose to scale it down to 3" web video. It is still $1,000. per minute and is best if shown on a 42" Plasma. Yes, it can be shown on a 3" web site video, but it must be produced to full video standards.

I believe a huge amount of Video Brochures will be made for the web, but the quality of the experience will be DVD for now made for large flat screens and surround sound. The rule of thumb is web video when DVD is not playable and DVD until something better comes along, Blu-ray when it gets adopted.

Can we change the world

Since Gutenberg invented the printing press, no other time offers us as much change as the DVD Video Brochure. The full multimedia production quality of the DVD Video Brochure offers more communication power than has ever been available, it just needs to be utilized. The communications strategy is so unique with the DVD Video Brochure, its fully immersive quality, that goes far beyond any printed brochure and is simply groundbreaking. A DVD Video Brochure can communicate more, by far, than any other media.

Can it change the world... I think it can. We will see.

Custom Homebuilder Chapters

Here are some Chapters we would use for a custom homebuilder. It would be 110 minutes and cost $110,000.

The Builder’s Greeting

About the Company

Company’s Financial Strength

Past Homes

Customer Testimonials

Philosophy

Mission Statement

Value Proposition

Overview of Building a Custom Home

The Lot, All the Considerations of Building on a Lot

Working with the Architect

The Contract

Financing, the Lot and the Home

The Team, working with the Project Manager

What we do that is unique

The Construction Process

Making Selections

During Construction

Final Details, Settlement

The Warranty

90 Day and 1-Year Lists

Service after Settlement, We are here for you.

DVD Video Brochures the answer to the housing slump

I have heard figures that this is the slowest housing market in years. OK. Now is a great time to use a DVD Video Brochure. Why, because there are still people buying, and builders need to sell a glut of inventory, why not use a tool that uniquely bonds a builder with their customer. The DVD Video Brochure creates such a bond with customers because it shows the customer all the unspoken things about the builder. It will cause the customer to buy their home and not the competition.

Right now I hear"We ought to scale back on advertising, homes just aren't selling" Now is exactly when you should increase the advertising budget - you want to sell homes don't you?

What about smaller builders

Some builders build 100, 300, 600 homes. But what about the builder who builds 4 homes at $2 - $6 million. How does the $1,000. per minute rule work for them. They will be fine if they spread the  cost over, say, 5 years. Still, they are in the business to sell houses, be they a couple of whales. They might just have to pony up the tax deductable cost and use the DVD Video Brochure to sell more houses. It drives me nuts to see a multimillion dollar company be too fruggle to pay $120,000. for a great new tool in a DVD Video Brochure. Spend the money. It will come back.

Try something new, a DVD Video Brochure

It really comes down to A) The Money & B) Try New Things. With the money, we are only charging the standard video production $1,000. and that is the low end of a $1,000. to $3,000. range. With try new things, who is to say this won't work? But who is to say it will? It has every earmark of something that WILL work. Think about it: people want information and they like tv shows- video. Why would a product that gives them relevant information, they are interested in in the form of a TV show not work? It has to.
Our first DVD Video Brochure, the K Wolf Custom Homes DVD Video Brochure is now out there, we will learn from it how it works. It might be: It wasn't that helpful or it really helped bond us with the company. Really I aim for the latter, these videos are not hard core encyclopedias of facts, they are more human interest stories on the company. It is my hope they will introduce the company to the customer so she feels comfortable meeting with the company and buying a home.
This is a new idea, but it is based on solid tested proven techniques. Try something new, a DVD Video Brochure.

The Cost

It will all come down to the cost. Never mind how many homes it sells. What if it sells 5 new homes per month, which is amazing.
Builders don't want to spend money (Profit) on un proven technology. But if they continue to do the same things over and over they we get the same sales results. How do we break this cycle. I have a feeling we will adopt limited DVD Video Brochures or cut the costs until they can be proven to work. I can here it now "Why should I pay the cost of the DVD Video Brochure when it might not work?" The is no easy answer: It should work and until we have more out there to track statistics I just don't know. Take a chance! If I could afford it I'd offer a money back gaurentee. I get so sick of people who won't try a new product because it's un proven. Does it seem like it will work? Then try it. Things can't get much worse. Let's look at something:

100 units at $500,000. = $50,000,000. thats the budget, Try a $120,000. tool. Sure only 3% is set for sales and 9% is set for profit but we have to try something differant, there is a housing crunch. Do the same things get the same results.

Presidential Canidate DVD Video Brochures

What about presidential canidates. They have a lot of information to get out. The web is now not very unified in it's information presentation. The debates are interesting but not all canidates give their viewpoints on each topic. With DVD Video Brochures a moderator could choose the chapter topics and the canidates would response for 5 minutes. That way we would have uniform topics and an ample response time. My stategy would be for the caidates DVD Video Brochures to be avaiable for rent at video rental stores. This idea came from the Katie Couric piece that asked all canidates to answer the same 10 questions. Good idea, but she asked human interest questions not issuses questions. The production cost would be very low, some studio and editing time and then duplication of the DVDs for the video stores - probably under $1 million dollars for all the canidates. An the consumer would get value, they could watch each of the canidates and really get informed on their stance on each key issue.
Why don't we do this?

DVD Video Brochures are Green

Think about the number of printed brochures the average new homes community will go through, a couple thousand at least. Think of all that paper, manytimes just to be throw in the trash. With DVD Video Brochures each one is a DVD and a DVD cover. They are recycleable. They can be ordered 1,000 at a time as needed and the prospects who get them are a lot less likely to through them out, they are looked at as an asset and kept on a shelf. DVD Video Brochures have ROM sections where most of the documents from a printed brochure are stored and can be printed as needed by the prospect. This is not the perfect green medium but it's a start.

Going to Market

We are going to try to get a mailing out on Monday February 4 aimed at 71 large builders in the metro Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington,DC area. The mid Atlantic region, many homes being built.
The mailer consists of a sales letter, a checklist of all 60 chapters that also explains pricing and a copy of our demo DVD Video Brochure so they can get a feel for it's quality. I will follow up with a phone call to see if they "get" the idea. We are only looking for 1 sale out of those 71, but who knows it might hit a note and be popular. It could go anyway. I can only market it and see what builders have to say. I will post here on the results.

Subject Matter

Think about a new home, and the questions a buyer will have. We have identified close to 60 chapter segments of relevant information that the prospect might want to know about. Thats 60 times 5 minutes or 300 minutes worth, 5 hours. As long as viewers can watch these 5 minute chapters at their leisure it is not too overwhelming. 5 hours in a row would be unbearable.
You see, the DVD Video Brochure is ment to be browsed, like a dictionary or encyclopedia, not taken all at once. The view might be interested in 10 chapters now and another 10 later. A builder would be wise to give the prospect viewer a lot of content so as their experience grows they have something to learn about. Yes, this costs money at a per minute rate, but as you educate the prospect they become much more likely to buy a home. Who knows what chapter might tip the prospect to buy. I always asked my customers what made them buy, many times it was the history of the area or the schools. These are not usally in the builder's brochure, but that is what is important to the prospects. The builder should include all aspects of the community and themselves as who knows what will sell each prospect. If the builder pays $300,000. for a 5 hour production but adds ,say, 5 sales to his monthly tally. Is that worth it? I think so.

Why wouldn't a builder use a DVD Video Brochure?

The money. Builders are a herd species. They do what has worked since 1945 when the housing boom started. They advertise in the local paper on Saturdays and Sundays, they put out bandit signs - the roadside directionals with the community name and sometimes an arrow toward the community. When the prospect finds the model home or trailer they give out a brochure with floor plans and a list of standard features and maybe some options. The sales rep is there to encourage placing a lot hold so the folks can meet with the builders rep to talk about the new home.
It is kinda impersonal. Folks have to plunk down $1,000. refundable dollars to meet with the builder to get their questions answered.
Who knows if they even like or trust the builder. They know almost nothing about the builder.
At Work DVD is giving builders a tool that when the prospect goes through the sales cycle they get a DVD Video Brochure to take with them, lot hold or not, and learn all about the builder, the community and the area, so they are not stangers to it all.
A 2 hour, 24 chapter DVD Video Brochure costs $120,000. A 100 unit, $500,000. homes community has a marketing buget on average of 3% or $1,500,000. What the DVD Video Brochure will do is raise sales from 3 units a month to 5. This will make the community sell faster and the builder can raise prices faster and higher, so he makes more money. He should be making 10% which in this case is $5,000,000.
So is it really about the builder not being able to afford a DVD Video Brochure or is it more he will not change his sales formula?
When I was selling, if we could raise a 3 unit per month community to a 5 unit per month community, that would have been a huge accomplishment. Now I just estimate that is what these DVD Video Brochures will do, it might be more. Everyone who watches these DVD Video Brochures is sold on the featured builder. It is that powerful. No printed brochure makes a viewer cry while viewing it. The DVD Video Brochure did. Is that affinity worth $120,000. You bet!

Universal Usage

What if everyone, not just business' had DVD Video Brochures. But for our discussion we will talk about business' As part of any buying cycle there is an information gathering phase. This is usally not easy. You have to gather product brochures, you should talk to some past customers for their thoughts on the product, you should research who will be installing the product or conducting the service. All of this takes time and effort. Way too much time and effort. Most people just kinda find out a little about the product or service and then buy and hop for the best. With the DVD Video Brochure, all that hard work can be done, once and used with every customer.
When I was a new homes sales rep we would have customers who would want to talk to past customers as a way to check out the builder. It was a hassle for the now home owner but they would usally meet with the prospect. I would then give them a gift certificate to dinner at a nearby golf resort. Bribary ;-). With our new DVD Video Brochure we interviewed about 8 past customers for thier testimonials and now, each time a prospect views the DVD Video Brochure they see the 11 minute long chapter on Customer Testimonials. It works that way for 17 other interesting subjects. Knowledge is good, there should be more of it, not less. Why make each customer invent the wheel just to learn about and justify a purchase of your product or service. A DVD Video Brochure solves the problem. Produce it once, us it for all you customers.

Our DVD Video Brochure is ready

I stopped writing this blog back in 2007 because I thought know one was reading it because there were no comments. I have decided to start to write again, for anyone who might be interested in DVD Video Brochures.

We finished the At Work DVD video brochure on K Wolf Custom Homes in mid January. It turned out great for a first effort. Sure we'll change some things in the future, but we learned, we learned a lot. The production is 18 Chapters that are each 5 minutes long, so about 90 minutes. There is a Part 1 that has 4 chapters and can Play All, the there are Other Chapters with are 14 chapters that play and then go back to the menu. We found through audience tests that people did not want to view the entire production like a film, it was too much like a loooooonng commercial. The first 4 chapters give an overview and then the next 14 are interesting when watched as little vingettes. So the piece works.

Now we market. We are mailing it to 71 big builders in the mid atlantic area. Will they see value and pay $1,000. per minute for the product? They spend about 3% of the community total on marking. Say they are building 100 - $500,000. homes. Thats $1.5 millon of budget. If they want a 2 hour production thats $120,000. out of $1.5 Million. Heres were it gets tricky: Say they are building 20 houses at $400,000. 3% is only $240,000. I don't think they will do that. So we are looking for 100 unit communities. Those are the builders I have tried to find, and found 71 of.

What about the homebuilding slump. That is not a problem. Builders will not be starting as many homes this year, but they have plenty of homes to sell. They need new, innovative ways to sell them, and a DVD Video Brochure fits this bill.

I have a few years in the homebuilding sales and marketing business and I think they will look favorably on a new marketing tool.