Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior.

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BuilderRadio Interviews Camine Pappas, Brand Therapist, C & Company

I’ve just spoken to my first brand therapist, and I’m feeling much better.

What is ‘brand therapy?’  Camine Pappas defines ‘brand’ as “the customer’s emotional definition of his collective experience with you during the buying process.”

Most brands – and their marketing – could use some major therapy.  And that’s what Pappas provides.  “Before any kind of retention or awareness can take place,” she says, “we must first understand that as human beings, safety is the first and most basic emotion. That’s why we must replace the initial selling mind-set of urgency, posture, benefits and features, with communicating safety, to insure we connect with our prospects deeply.”

The job of your marketing, then, is to make your customer feels safe, secure and comfortable working with you.  “Make sure that there is what I call ‘authentic messaging’ going on, where everything that is said from a marketing standpoint is completely congruent, not only with the experience itself, but with the core philosophies and values of the organization.  When that happens you’re much better able to start off on an even keel.”

As a Brand Therapist, Pappas takes on the responsibility of ‘healing’ the organization, getting all the departments, values, and messages in balance with itself and with buyers.   “We try to map out core human behaviors.  We look at who feels safe, how you feel safe, and how all of your senses are being affected in symphony to see if you’re in an environment that can create trust and be memorable and feel authentic.

We cannot call ourselves guides if we don’t have a sense of wellness inside and feel completely good at what we’re doing.  The buyer can sense immediately whether the environment has been designed to create connection, or whether the language and environment is set to trap them.  We map everything out and create accountability both ways.  It creates a sense of safety for the buyer that is easy for the salesperson to establish.”

Using your 5 senses to sell homes.
Touch. Taste. Smell. Sight. Hearing.  “All the five senses work in symphony,” says Pappas, to create a balanced and pleasing customer experience.  When they come into your model, all your customer’s senses are heightened.  They are sensitive to everything around them.  And if you’re not careful, they’ll pick up on things that you don’t even notice – things that could lessen their experience and cause them to walk instead of buy.

Here are some things to consider to tune your tour to your prospect’s senses:

Touch:  Temperature of the model and garage; comfortable furniture; firm handshake;
Taste: Refreshments you serve should match the mood you want to set;
Sight: Is your model impeccably clean, landscaping attractive, trashcans hidden;
Smell: Resins in furniture, new carpet, stained wood; even what was last cooked in the
microwave could be distracting to buyers with allergies or sensitivities.
Hearing: Squeaky hinges; traffic sounds; the salesperson’s voice; the language you use.

To get in tune with our customer’s senses, Pappas offers these suggestions:

• What is the company’s language?  Try to create a friendly, more customer-centric language that avoids technical jargon and makes it personal to the buyer.

• Take a digital camera with you as you tour your customers through and around the model and if the buyer finds something exciting about or emotionally attached to, take a picture of it, print it out and send it home with them.

• Have random people from different departments of your company tour your model and share their observations with you.  The more eyes you have looking at how your homes are presented, the more little things you’ll be able to find and tweak to create an exciting customer experience.

• If music is played in the model, keep it low and quiet. You don’t want to put anybody to sleep, but music is sometimes helpful to cover up other more distracting sounds, such as a nearby freeway.

What does your customer expect?
Pappas believes that most buyers come in with lower expectation and high hopes.  Previous buying experiences may have left them callous, but they are there in front of you hoping that you’ll be the exception, and their senses will be keenly tuned in on you.

Still, they harbor fear.  According to Pappas, “That fear inside the buyer is the collection of every disappointment, every expectation fallen short from every other home buying encounter. If we can approach and eliminate fear by traveling on the shortest path to healing that emotion, we can stay on our path of authenticity as we reinvent what it means to create the meaning of ‘home’ for our buyers.”

Eliminate your own fears.
Yes, salespeople often have their own fears to deal with before they can help buyers.   “Safety for a salesperson comes from knowing that they have the full support of the builder and the tools to get the job done. When that is there, then you can work on creating an environment where all the five senses are supportive and consistent and balanced.

Buyer’s fear is there the moment they walk through the door. You have had time to process and practice your moment in time as the sales professional. Your fear, at this level, was eliminated long ago. Learn where you’re really starting from with your prospect and you’re that much more ahead of the game.”

Marketer, Heal thy self.
There’s no question that buyer’s shopping, evaluating, and buying habits are changing.  They’re coming to us with different priorities and are not responding to the old marketing messages delivered in old, arcane ways.  Safety is trumping status, and they won’t give their time to you unless they feel safe.  Pappas offers these thoughts to help us stay current and build that secure customer experience:

“Staying in touch with these emerging sentiments gives you an arsenal of ideas, platforms and energies to create your connections with your own customers about why you can offer them a new way of thinking; a philosophy of balance, a home that truly heals.

The deep meaning of each can be interpreted and used by interior designers, architects, marketers, sales trainers, and sales professionals to connect instinctively and authentically. One might say this defines sensory balance at the 30,000 feet level where your point of reference offers you the largest view of your potential demographic: people.”

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Download the white paper, Sensory Balance During the New Home Selling Process by Camine Pappas, Brand Therapist by clicking here.

Don’t miss this important webinar coming up onWednesday, April 15 at 2:00pm ET, Internet Marketing: 5 Keys to Online Success with Brian Flook, IM expert and president of Power Marketing and Advertising.
Your second-best lead source should be your website.  Is it bringing you a steady stream of buyers?  Learn how to your website into a marketing magnet in the important webinar.

All registrants will be able to:
1.   Listen live at 2:00pm ET on April 15;
2.  Watch the recording from our website – (Available April 16;)
3.  Download the seminar to your computer to share with your team.

Price:  $37  Click here to register