It's Time For Change

Is there ever a “Right Time” to change?  Of course there is, and in this case, the “Right Time” is NOW!!

Every study conducted in recent years told us it’s time for a change.  The Roper International Market Research Survey told us we need to change.  The JD Power & Associates Survey told us we need to change.  The Northwest Re-Branding Study told us we need to change.  We have told each other for several years that we need to change.  And finally the housing market has spoken – our shipments are at an all time low when the need for affordable homes is at an all time high.  It is simply time to change.

Change is usually a difficult task to undertake.  People in general are opposed to any type of change due to the unknown factors involved.  Change in this case is forced on us due to severe economic conditions that our industry has been dealing with for some time now.  We need everyone’s cooperation to increase consumer demand for our homes; to increase levels of production; to increase the sales of new homes; to improve customer satisfaction; to increase referral business; and to improve the image; desire for; and acceptance of factory-constructed housing in Arizona… NOW!!

During the June 2007 Board Meeting, the decision was made to change the Name of our Association to the “Arizona Housing Association” to reflect what our industry has become and where our industry is headed in the future.  That’s right, no more hiding the fact that we build and sell Housing, and our past, present and future customers are every bit a Homeowner as others purchasing any other form of Housing.  We are told that over 20% of Arizonans reside in housing that our industry constructed, a fact that both the Industry and our Homeowners are, and need to be, extremely proud of.

This decision was also made in the hope that it would serve as a catalyst for making some necessary and important changes within our industry.  We want to develop better ways of really serving our customers by improving the home buying and home ownership process within every segment of the industry.

This year’s Convention will take a leadership role in Change.  Instead of having a program filled with speakers and panelists, the focus of the Convention will be on having everyone actively involved in identifying the most important changes that need to be made within every segment of the industry – from manufacturing to sales, to financing, to transportation, to installation, to closing, to communication after the sale, to fixing what needs to be fixed after closing, to developing awesome testimonials and great referral sales.

The theme of last year’s convention was: “Are We There Yet?”  We spent quite a bit of time developing the areas that we all agreed needed to be addressed to get us closer to where we wanted to be.  This year’s theme: “It’s Time For Change” is a challenge to us all to implement all the changes that we identify within every segment of the industry… NOW!!

The answers, the solutions, and the implementation strategy will be developed at this year’s convention.  We need your help to identify what needs to be done and we need your help in making the changes that need to be made.

If you believe in the industry and care about it’s future, the best way of proving that to yourself and everyone you work with is to join us in Sedona on Monday & Tuesday, October 15th & 16th.  Your industry needs you.  See you there!