Presenting home tech options room-by-room is one of the easiest and most intuitive ways of achieving great sell-through. Buyers evaluate homes room-by-room, thinking about what they are going to do and experience in specific rooms.
With a little knowledge, builder sales staff can walk through the tech products and applications that go with common activities in specific types of rooms. That will lift tech take rates and homebuyer satisfaction.
Here are our Room-by-Room discovery questions from our Merch and Marketing Guide to make it easy for you to start planning your sales and marketing efforts. (Download the whole guide for free here.)
ROOM-BY-ROOM DISCOVERY QUESTIONS
“Some of our clients like to think of their homes room by room and how technology might play a role in each room. I’m going to walk you through the rooms in your house and let you know about some common ways clients use technology to enhance the room.
The kitchen is not only for food preparation; it’s a social hub for the family and sometimes guests. Here are some common tech options:
- Let’s start with the refrigerator. Today’s high tech refrigerators have features like air filtration and custom temperature settings to keep food fresher longer; predictive maintenance to avoid break-downs and leaks; cameras you can use to look into the fridge when shopping; integrated apps and internet to help you keep track of what’s in the fridge and know what ingredients you need while shopping to cook a dish. Which of these features appeal to you? Why? How much?
- How many ovens do you need? Are you interested in being able to control the oven remotely with your smartphone?
- What about your stovetop? Are you interested in remotely viewing your stovetop with a video camera and/or remotely controlling the burners?
- Some folks like to watch TV or listen to music, podcasts or talk radio while in the kitchen. How about you?
- Some people multi-task and use their computer for email, web work, or research while in the kitchen. Do you?
- Lighting to perform tasks or set the right mood in the kitchen is important to some people? How about you?
Let’s move from the kitchen to the dining room.
- Lighting is usually a key here. Do you want dimmable lights? Accent lighting for artwork? Built-in speakers for musical ambiance?
- Living rooms and family rooms are also spots where lighting is important and TV viewing and music listening is done. Do you want dimmable, remote control lights? Accent lighting for artwork? A video display? A surround sound system? Built-in speakers for musical ambiance? Automated shades or blinds?
Let’s look at the exterior of the house, specifically the deck and patio.
- Music and lighting are almost always desired here and sometimes a video display. We also can support outdoor cooking with high tech appliances and safety gear. What are you interested in?
- Video cameras and sensors, video doorbells, and electronic locks are also common on the exterior of homes for security, situational awareness, or just checking in on what’s going on outside the house. What are you interested in outside?
- I know the garage seems like an unlikely place for tech, but it’s not. First, there are high tech garage door openers, video cameras for security and electric car charging stations. Also, if you do work in the garage, you might be interested in built-in sound. What do you think?
- Laundry rooms can feature high tech washer and dryers that save energy, clean better, and provide you alerts on your phone or other devices in the home when done. Does any of that appeal to you? 33 Guide to Developing a TecHome Merchandising & Marketing Plan Now onto bedrooms.
- Here are some options for the master suite. A high-quality video display with surround sound. Built-in speakers. Dimmable and color-tuned lighting. Automated shades and blinds. Digital showers with preset water temperatures and music while you shower. Capability to view your video doorbell and open locks. Video displays and controls that appear on bathroom mirrors. What appeals to you?
- In kids’ rooms and guest rooms, video displays for TV and large format computer viewing are common. Also, intercoms are common for kid’s rooms for wakeup calls, dinner alerts, etc. And more and more kids need a studio type environment to put together creative productions and performances for school and social media. What do you think?
- Closets can now feature motorization, “inventory control” and special lighting. Do you want cool closet features of any sort? What about multimedia spaces?
- Home offices often depend on a fast hardwired or wireless connection for computing, extra cybersecurity, and intercom type communications for the door and throughout the house. Are those desired features for you?
- Finally, if you want a dedicated room to watch movies or other shows and events with a cinema level video, sound, lighting, seating and décor, you might be interested in a dedicated home theater room. Do you want to explore options for that kind of space?
BIG PICTURE NEXT STEP CLOSING
- Of all the products, features and benefits reviewed today which do you feel must be included in your new home? Why?
- Which would be nice to include?
- Which do you need more information on?
- Which benefit or feature are you most excited about? Why?
- What kind of budget range would you like to establish for your home technology plan?
Excerpt from Guide to Developing a Home Tech Merchandising & Marketing Plan
