SMC is made up of Home Building Association of Richmond members whose objective is increased professionalism in the marketing and sales of new homes. SMC members are builders, sales managers and salespeople, marketing directors and researchers, Realtors®, architects and designers, leasing agents, media representatives and advertising consultants. They meet regularly to:

• Share professional concerns and information
• Develop sales skills and increase motivation
• Research marketing trends and consumer preferences
• Promote home ownership in the community
• National SMC Benefits
• As a local SMC member, you will also enjoy the many benefits of the National SMC.
• Creative Effective Ads

Get an award-winning advertising agency to assist you with your ads for free! As an NSMC member, you can send in your ads to be reviewed and revised by top new home advertising gurus. They'll suggest how to make your ads more noticeable, more persuasive and more effective.

Do Your Homework

Good business decisions depend on good information, so be sure to get the latest data by tapping into the NSMC Library. They'll mail or fax whatever you need from their collection of current industry magazine articles, book excerpts, and educational material on any marketing or sales topic from advertising to telemarketing.

Plan to Profit

Develop marketing plans the easy way with MarketPlan, NSMC's time-saving computer software. Just answer MarketPlan's questions about your project, and it quickly produces a 15-page plan tailored to your costs and your market, offering recommendations on product line, pricing, profit planning, marketing budgets and more. Or, learn the details of marketing budgets and planning in the NSMC book Building for the Market.

Turn Ideas into Profits

Get the sales and marketing information you need to stay competitive today with your free subscription to Sales & Marketing Ideas magazine. Each issue features concise easy-to-read articles, packed with valuable ideas that have made and saved money for builders large and small. You'll get the latest knowledge on market research, advertising, marketing plans, model merchandising, sales management and more. Plus, it's all written by builders and prominent new home marketing pros who know today's new home marketplace.

Get Answers from the Experts

Your toughest questions are no problem for the national network of experts who volunteer to be listed in the annual NSMC Hotline Directory. There are no consultation fees ­ simply phone one or more of these consultants and builders for ideas and solutions that can help increase your profitability.

SMC Helps You Develop Contacts

• Exposure. Participation in SMC helps give you exposure to the building community and their suppliers.
• Share Ideas. SMC membership provides contact with other local new home sales and marketing professionals with whom you can share ideas and network.

Grow with SMC

Membership in local Sales and Marketing Councils has increased dramatically. To Join and To Grow with SMC, download the application, complete and fax to 804-282-9866,  or if you need additional information call 804-282-0400. Become part of the growing group of professionals who belong to the HBAR?s Sales and Marketing Council.

LETTER TO THE SMC MEMBERS

February 16, 2007

To: HBAR Sales and Marketing Membership

Dear SMC Member:

My name is Lummie Jones and I am the Chair for the SMC Executive Committee for 2007.   I wish to introduce myself so that you will know who I am in case there is anything regarding SMC classes or events you wish to discuss.  I appreciate each of you joining SMC and encourage you to participate in the many educational classes and events we sponsor throughout the year.  If there is a class or event that you feel would be beneficial to the membership and others in the business that promotes new home sales or marketing, please do not hesitate to let me, or another member of the executive committee know your thoughts.   SMC is here to help HBAR facilitate several events and classes for 2007 for the benefit of new home sales.

Why join SMC?  As a long time member of SMC, I for many years joined SMC in order to apply for the production award that is given each year for sales of new homes.  Okay, there I admit it!  But it was a way to market myself in the business I love.   Another reason is with membership you will receive discounts on the events we host during the year.   But there are so many other reasons to join!   Let me share a few of the reasons to join SMC. 

• SMC social functions allow you to network with area builders, developers, agents, lenders and other business associates involved with the sale of new homes.   By attending the quarterly socials you get to view other new home sites, meet other business people, that you may wish to do future business, and learn about new areas and products showcased by the various builders and or developer.

• SMC sponsors educational classes that are geared to new home sales.  Several classes that have been popular in past years are ?Certified Site Agent? and ?Stick and Bricks?.  With these classes available in Richmond it allows agents and others to learn how new home sales different from that of resale homes, and in ?Sticks and Bricks? the process of building a home.  With more education not only are our builders better represented, but our buyers are also.  A new class this year is ?Dirt to Keys? and is accredited as a two hour continuing education class for realtors.  This class takes you from finding a tract of land to develop, to working with builders to handing over the keys for the new home.

• SMC Council, along with The Associates Council host the annual ?Forecast Breakfast? each year, an event that helps us to understand the market and how it affects our business.  This year?s event sold 500 tickets and was terrific!

• SMC host the annual MAME awards, held in March (this year March 1^st) and showcases the individual sales and marketing associate?s major achievements in marketing excellence and sales of new homes.  Here you are rewarded and recognized for your success of the past year in an exciting event with dinner, program, and networking as part of the HBAR?s monthly meetings.  

Learn, network with others in our business, and give back to our business!  Yes, the more you give the more you receive.  Join SMC today and you will enjoy the rewards of giving your support to our new home?s business in Richmond and learning in the process.

I hope each of you will rejoin SMC this year and encourage others to join.  As a council dedicated to the education of new home?s sales associates and the marketing of our builders or developers, we are here to help improve our service to all involved.  Through our many relationships that are touched by new homes sales we find that supporting each other will bring about benefits to us both personally and to the business we love.

The SMC Executive Committee is made up of twenty individuals who work in various jobs of sales or marketing associated with new homes.  If you would like to become a part of the SMC Executive Committee please contact one of the executive committee members for information on how you too may be considered as a committee member when vacancies occur.

Thank you for being a part of SMC.  I look forward to seeing each of you though out the year.  To visit our site go to  www.HBAR.org  and see Sales and Marketing

Sincerely,

Lummie Jones

Chair   Sales and Marketing Executive Council

804-598-7700

Lummie.Jones@napierera.com 

2007 SMC Executive Committee

Chair:  Lummie Jones

1^st Vice Chair:  Sally Slate                       2^nd Vice Chair:  Brandon Beswick

Members:  Sherry Brockenbrough, Tammy Glenn, Amy McGee, Margaret Sutherland, Leigh Ann Barber, Summer Brouker, Gordon Conner, Shannon Londeree, Sandra Moss, Mercer Taylor, Clyde Parsons, Lloyd Poe, Amy Moldovan, Kevin Kirwan

Past Chair:  Ex Officios:  Becky Accashian, Roy Amason, Scott Christino, Marie Beitz, Eleanor Goode, Cindy Jez, John Farrell, Bruce Johnson, Larry Mills, Betty O?Neil, George Moore, Jay Rowe, Melanie Salken-Lapkin, Linda Somers Donahue, Jane Wingrove, Jill Crews