When going through Selections choices for their new home, clients often don’t realise just how many decisions they will need to make. The process can be overwhelming for most, but taking Selections online can help guide them through efficiently — and with confidence.
In this article, we’ll set you up for success in simplifying Selections for your clients by covering what Online Selections are and how to best use them to solve common client struggles.
What are Online Selections?
A combination of an interactive, digital showroom with full specification documentation, Constructive Online Selections lets your clients choose colours, finishes, appliances, flooring, tiles and more — all from the comfort of their own home.
The 3D add-on module amplifies the experience, allowing clients to design, visualise and test out their own colour combinations on their individual home in real time, eliminating guesswork and hesitation.
“3D allows your client to see how their colours are coming together internally. Clients can get nervous about colour schemes working together, so the 3D gives an overall picture of how their kitchen, ensuite and bathrooms are going to look. Being able to instantly see the tapware change colour is an added bonus!” says Lizzie Mooney, Constructive Client Success Manager.
With Online Selections, you and your clients will have a roadmap of the full Selections scope, be able to easily identify any missing Selections and achieve a complete specification with minimal meetings.
Six principles of a superior Selections process
- Customer focus: The Selections journey is an opportunity to deliver more value to the customer, putting their needs front and centre.
- Transparent independence: Allow customers to explore their design ideas and tally costs at any time, and from any location, to create ease in decision-making.
- Visual decision-making: Interactive 3D integrated with Selections that can be made visually online will help clients feel confident in finalising their choices.
- Process-centred approach: Standard templating of workflows to eliminate human error and boost efficiency means Selections are finalised sooner.
- An integrated, strategic system: Use software that encourages a full customer experience, from progress milestone build-tracking through to visualising colours and materials in interactive 3D with integrated Selections pricing and documentation included.
- Clear and continual communications: Track the progress of clients’ Selections at any point and send integrated reminders for outstanding Selections that still need to be chosen.
What should Online Selections include?
Online Selections provides a customisable, full overview of the decisions that need to be made by the home builder. Your Online Selections should cover:
A comprehensive Selections library
Your Online Selections should accurately mirror the options in your showroom.
Constructive already has thousands of selectable items in the system prepared with photos, textures and descriptions and can add any items, colours and materials that might be missing.
Mandatory Selections
Lisa Petts, Client Success Manager notes, “Within Constructive, clients are encouraged to “Submit” their Selections prior to their physical appointment. This function will prompt them to complete all the mandatory Selections for their build.”
“Your staff are also able to see how many Selections their client has made prior to their appointment, giving them the opportunity to follow up with a phone call if they seem to be struggling. It really gives you a good view of how long that appointment is going to be!”
Lizzie agrees mandatory Selections can help clients become more organised and finalise decisions: “Clients can easily identify Selections that haven’t been made and can see what is available to choose from.”
Transparent pricing and upgrades
“We always encourage builders to input the price of upgrades as it helps clients be informed and decisive if they know the price upfront,” notes Lizzie.
“Historically, clients would go into a Selections meeting with a wishlist of upgrades and then wait for pricing, delaying everything for weeks. If they have all the information before their meeting, you can speed up the process.”
Steph Schumer, Constructive Business Development Manager, advises, “It is the builder’s responsibility to ensure the client is on track to stay within their budget, or they run the risk of the deal falling over. Incorporating a Provisional Sum for their upgrades is a good idea. This way, the client is aware they have “X” amount to spend on upgrades, which will be incorporated into their loan so they don’t have to find extra cash lying around (which they could be using for furniture)!”
“Clients always have a budget and it’s in the builder’s best interest to know and cater to this budget. Constructive will easily tally any upgrade costs so your clients can familiarise themselves with what they can and can’t afford, before meeting with your staff for their appointment, and make decisions over the lush upgrade bath they were looking at, or the fancy entrance door.”
“Think about how much time this will save in the colour appointment, and in variation iterations, as your clients are armed (and dangerous!) with all their pricing upfront. It should be a case of finalising Selections, as opposed to an initial design meeting.”
“Clearly providing an understanding of what’s included with the build is a critical part of keeping clients happy,” says Lisa. “Distrust appears when there are negative surprises, and often stems from a lack of understanding. You can be proactive by arming them with an image and information about their inclusions with clear pricing, reducing any shocks. So those upgrades are much more likely to be retained in the job.”
Interactive, 3D Visualisation
Steph explains, “It’s often very difficult for clients to visualise Selections and the impact a colour choice of an item may have on their final elevation or internal space.”
“By incorporating the clients’ house model and applying the colour options for them to interact and engage with at home, seeing a full 3D render of their Elevation, Kitchen, Bathroom or Ensuite will help them gauge how their choices will with work in conjunction with one another.”
“This is much more beneficial than making decisions from standard colour swatches alone as it puts the colour selection into context in the space. For example, a fascia colour selection is only a fraction of the roof colour, so seeing how a slim highlight colour can enhance, but not overshadow, your main roof selection is now possible.”
“This is the first tool available to builders and their clients to be able to visually browse colour selections based on their custom design. Often clients will have a vague image in their head of what they like vs what they don’t like, for example, “monochrome” versus “warm tones and timbers”, but they can’t visualise exactly what this should look like in their own home,” says Emma Lord, Client Success Manager.
Clients can play around with options such as light or dark bench tops, and feature cabinetry colour locations, with the spatial awareness of how this is going to look in their actual home.
“Scrolling through Pinterest and Instagram gives clients their inspiration, but when they’re trying to bring a few different images together as one, clients are often signing off on their Selections with their fingers crossed that it’s going to look good in their specific home. For the first time, 3D gives the client the confidence they have made the right Selections, and the builder the peace of mind clients aren’t going to change their mind after install!”
Packages function
“Clients struggle most with feeling overwhelmed by choice and too much inspiration available to them via social media — as well as the confidence to put together Selections and colour palettes that look good. You can help them by putting together pre-selected Packages with colours and options that work together,” suggests Emma.
“Constructive can assist with making Selections clearer and easier by utilising Packages. Group Selection choices together to develop a specific scheme or style to provide guidance and assist your client to achieve a design style for their home they’ll love,” advises Steph.
Provide advice
Emma suggests, “Use the Information page and/or the Progress Template to insert content on how clients can prepare for their Prestart meetings. Short video presentations from your staff and designers can educate clients on the importance of doing their research on developing a budget and a “wishlist” of items versus “must-haves.”
Striking the balance between cost-effectiveness and creativity
Builders must be thoughtful about how to add structure around budget and upgrades to clients’ creative design when choosing their Selections. Adding visibility to the scope of choices, pricing and responsibilities within a centralised, cloud-based system will enable clients and the builder’s team to save time, avoid price-related disappointments and better manage the process.
Empower your clients with Constructive’s Online Selections and interactive 3D capabilities. They’ll have everything they need to make decisions quickly and confidently, and you’ll have the peace of mind your team is utilising the best possible platform for clients to make their Selections online.
