November 18th...

"Incremental becomes core"

When marketing a fractional project the added advantage is to have a project that controls the flow of customers like Snowbird, Purgatory/Durango and Kirkwood/Lake Tahoe. These developers own their ski mountain, all or much of the housing and food, beverage and retail operations, so their databases are the primary customers for the fractional purchase. What a great position to be in!

Well, what up if this is not the case. Our experience has shown that in way too many cases the marketing plan shotguns so broadly that it is ineffective.

Ron Frank, marketing and sales guru, coined the opening line. Incremental pockets of interest, small targets collectively become the core and primary market and the foundation of the overall marketing plan.

We see this at Meriwether Ranch in Montana, and building at Saguaro Ranch in Tucson. It takes discipline and innovation to find the small markets and aggregate them to make a major market to sell the fractions at a brisk pace.

Tatanka Spirit, Black Hills, has opened up their first fractional home. Being an owner at Tatanka I plan to use the home in January for a quick get-a- way. Jim Farmer, developer, has done a magnificent job with the FF&E including original ironwork and art. I can taste the juicy Buffalo steak right now!