Facing a tremendous amount of volatility in the U.S. economy, many builders are re-examining their marketing and sales strategies. A new software program, introduced at the Builders Show in Orlando, promises to help builders nurture, retain and maintain what many consider to be their most valuable assets: existing customers.

Pivotal CRM for Home Building and Real Estate by CDC Software, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation, manages relationships throughout the customer lifecycle. Written specifically for builders, this new product version will help builders increase revenue and margins on home options, while significantly reducing the cost and effort of integration with common back-end systems. It features front office functions, including marketing automation, lead management, sales automation, quoting and contracting, surveying, and customer care.

"In today's market, especially during economic downturns, successful home builders recognize the importance of reacting quickly to customers, providing detailed and accurate information and meeting commitments," said Steve Lewkowitz, Professional Services Director of the home building and real estate group at CDC Software. "We believe this new version of Pivotal CRM will create opportunities for homebuilders to increase margins, improve customer satisfaction and achieve a higher operational efficiency."

To help accomplish the goals articulated by Lewkowitz, Pivotal CRM offers product library enhancements with support for units of measure, option rules and extended wildcarding, and group calendaring including support for delegation. Plus, Pivotal CRM, in conjunction with Envision, a widely-used enterprise suite of applications that enables builders to offer each of their buyers a personalized portal with just their options/products for use in the design process, allows buyers to browse and study their options and products and save their favorites to wish lists prior to design appointments.

"In today's climate, our builders are looking for every possible way to not only maximize the take rate of options, but also to drive more leads and sales on the front end," said Melissa Morman, vice president, general manager of Builder Homesite and New Home Technologies. "Having this integration in place helps builders take advantage of both of these crucial opportunities, while reducing implementation costs and speeding up launch cycles."

Pivotal CRM for Home Building and Real Estate is used by many leading U.S. home builders, including Beazer Homes, Centex Homes, Toll Brothers, and WCI Communities to help them cost effectively deliver a superior customer experience. It was awarded IT Product of the Year and Best Sales, Marketing and Customer Service Automation product at the 2006 Innovative Housing Technology Awards.

"Pivotal CRM for Home Building and Real Estate offers comprehensive, integrated, industry-specific capabilities that increase insight into operational performance, streamline processes across the value chain, and improve responsiveness to customer demands," according to a CDC Software brochure. "Whether a company is in the business of financing, building, selling, servicing, or managing homes or property, Pivotal CRM provides the systems and infrastructure needed to reduce costs, shorten sales cycles, and increase productivity, while helping create customers for life."

In every hardship there is opportunity, and in a tumultuous market like the one builders are currently operating in, a new software program, like Pivotal CRM for Home Building and Real Estate, can help them realize that their best chance to enhance their company's bottom line is the one they have already served—the existing customer.

[Note: To learn more, go to pivotal.com/homebuilders.]

Published: April 7, 2008

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