Creating Future-ready Sales strategy

JC Sharma, VC & MD, SOBHA Limited speaks about the changed sales strategies in post-RERA atmosphere.   Today’s customers are increasingly aware and keep a track of changing policy landscape in the country.   With increased internet and smartphone penetration, customers have access to all the information at the click of a button. This influence the behavior of customers, especially while making an important investment such as buying a house. As the sector settled down in the post RERA era, the consumer confidence also improved with it gradually. A reflection of this was visible in several reports which suggested that the dip in the sales were lower as compared to decline in new launches. The better they understand the positive effects of RERA, the better their confidence gets to make their desired purchase. Such reforms propel ease of doing business and offer substantial benefits to consumers as well as organized developers with a strong balance sheet, transparent dealings and a great track record of timely delivery. Our policies and transparent practices ensured that we were always future-ready. It helped us migrate to a post RERA regime seamlessly. A significant number of our customers are repeat customers. They are also our greatest brand advocates. ‘SOBHA Home Truths’ is a unique initiative that we have introduced to educate the various construction processes and quality aspects pioneered by SOBHA. It is a known fact that people today consume digital content on the go using smart phones, laptops and tablets. A defined digital strategy is a must for brands across industries. In line with this, digital medium has been one of the most effective tools in our marketing strategy. A substantial number of leads are generated digitally.  People tend to trust brands that they are familiar with. Our presence in the digital world helps us reinforce this trust as it increases this familiarity. One of the key mediums for us in the digital space is social media. SOBHA has a strong presence on all the important platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We believe that social media acts like word-of-mouth campaigns. Customers’ discussion on across platforms is not just restricted to the Company or projects; it is also about our campaigns. SOBHA’s FB page has a large number of followers and we can safely say that it is one of the most liked real estate FB pages. In fact, according to social media analytics firm, Socialbakers, SOBHA is the number one brand in India under housing category. Together, social media, search engine optimization and social media marketing complement each other. When used together, they boost our marketing strategy and increase brand exposure. Our sales strategy is a right mix of inbound and outbound strategies. Both are equally significant. Our inbound sales strategy basically covers marketing. In marketing, our focus is on display of our products and transparency of our communication. Sixty to seventy per cent of our leads come from this. The outbound strategy includes other distribution channels like SOBHA Privilege, SOBHA Alliance and channel partners. SOBHA Privilege and SOBHA Alliance are two incentive programs to bring our customers and the larger public into our fold. While Privilege is essentially a referral program which provides our customers an opportunity to enjoy a host of promotional offers and redeemable points at prestigious outlets, the Alliance offers an exclusive partnership program towards earning handsome monetary rewards to those who can promote SOBHA’s quality homes.