Penn National is located within the rolling hills and valleys of the Michaux State Forest in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania. This is a welcoming relocation/retirement destination for families who are seeking relief from the congestion and cost of living of the northeast’s major urban cities.

Beyond the incredible amenities that include two award-winning championship golf courses, pool, tennis, and a newly renovated clubhouse, what’s truly unique about this 35-year-old community is that it is, and has always been, family-owned.

In this day and age, especially after the tumultuous times of the 2008’s-2010’s, most residential master planned communities are owned and developed by Institution Capital. Through smart leadership, prudent decision making, and by staying true to their operational foundation, Penn National not only survived those times but is now experiencing their greatest sales records they have ever seen.

By being family owned for generations, leadership within Penn National has been unique in the industry by allowing families to select a homesite, ahead of the customers need to start construction. Because most master planned competitors in this space are owned by capital groups or large national builders, the marketplace is flooded with competitors having their sales process based off of the sale of homes via showcasing model home parks, spec home inventory and a list of plans with start schedules. All of this makes perfect sense since the marketplace is keyed into looking at homes, versus purchasing land. It’s easier to market, and garner tour-flow, when your sales team has the ability to feature open houses and furnished model homes. At Penn, there is almost no standing home inventory, no furnished model homes and certainly no national builder presence.

So how did they outpace their competition without any available standing inventory of homes?

1. A dedicated sales process featuring the community first, before the homes.

Showcasing and presenting clients the livability, affordability, and accessibility of Penn National. Without the benefit of showcasing furnished homes, the team has to be extremely focused on following the plan to the letter. Ted Zimmerman, Sales Director for Penn National credits its relationship with Red Earth “With Red Earth’s help, over the last few years our closing percentage has been between 35%-35%, we couldn’t be happier with these results.”

2. Proper segmentation of designed neighborhoods that feature home designs for all budgets and livability.

As an example, two sections that are offered feature maintenance-free living, while another has the ability to build a custom designed golf course estate home. Making sure home designs are segmented for as many clients in the marketplace as possible has allowed Penn to truly have something available for most.

3. Becoming experts at Vision Selling.

From the marketing assets to the descriptor words used, this isn’t just an optional sales strategy, this is required to get customers buy-in and commitment. Pinter states “Each year, and at the beginning of each quarter, we review and design sales and marketing tools to assist the team in selling the vision. Penn has such an amazing history and hundreds of happy homeowners to witness, however without new construction inventory sitting and waiting to be viewed we have to be very specific in our strategies.” Penn has invested in renderings, drone imagery with lot and image overlay, even virtual interior tours are all completed to showcase various plans and options.

4. Create a homesite buying option as a first step towards home ownership at Penn.

The sales process, and really the ultimate customer experience is benefited by the team leading the customer to find the BEST homesite, with the best topography and views, all the while making this part of the discovery the STAR of the show compared to traditional “sticks and bricks” presentations.

With over five hundred current property owners and over 1,000 potential future homes and homesites to be released, Penn and Red Earth are planning to continue to work together to maximize their offerings for their unique place in this industry.

We have been a client of Red Earth for the past five years. They really understand our business and industry best practices. They are big enough to understand what is working now and small enough to be incredibly responsive to our needs. Because of their client base in key market areas, they have been able to recognize trends and help us stay ahead of our competition—the ultimate compliment to a marketing and consulting services company! -Dennis Zimmerman, President, Penn National