Fleetwood Homes Launches New Extranet to Provide Retailers with
Expanded Services, Including 24/7 Access to Qualified Sales Leads
RIVERSIDE, Calif., December 19, 2006 - Fleetwood Homes, a leading producer of manufactured housing, today unveiled its new extranet for Fleetwood retailers and associates. The extranet provides a 24/7 lead management program that serves the needs of everyone from the retail salesperson to the plant general manager. Other features include: 'first looks' at new products; a plant-specific floor plan generator; a website builder for retailers; print-on-demand floor plan literature; promotional items; Fleetwood logos; and news from Fleetwood. All the reports, the content and the functionality are customized to each user's needs based on the user's log in, job responsibility and profile.
"Our goal with the extranet was to provide all users with the tools to employ a consultative sales approach, thereby improving the buying experience for our customers and increasing the chances of successfully closing a sale," said Charley Lott, Executive Vice President for Fleetwood's Housing Group. "We have a wonderful retailer network and are pleased to have made this significant investment in technology in order to help them quickly and efficiently respond to and connect with each customer's desires, and be more effective marketers."
The extranet contains a system for collecting, distributing and tracking leads. Users simply register and then are able to access leads collected from all sources, both online and offline. Leads are updated in real time, ensuring they are as fresh as possible, which creates opportunities for salespeople to respond promptly. The leads contain a comprehensive profile of what the customer is shopping for, which specific floor plans they are interested in and how they would like to be contacted.
Once leads are distributed, the extranet provides tools to assist staff members at both the plant and retailer to market to these customers. Through the extranet, plant management is able to produce customized marketing materials that reflect the homes manufactured in their facility. Once created by a plant, retailers can order low-cost materials that reflect the unique features and benefits of the specific homes they carry.
Other key features of the extranet include:
- Reports. A wide variety of reports are available that allow administrative users to evaluate, track and monitor programs.
- Access to Fleetwood's innovative rewards program. This is a points-based incentive reward system that rewards retail sales consultants with points redeemable for a broad range of brand name merchandise.
- Online ordering of "print-on-demand" floor plan literature. This dynamic system creates customized product literature based upon current availability and product attributes. Users will be able to order the literature to be printed and mailed to them, emailed to customers, or downloaded to their desktop.
- Dynamic feature/benefit document creator. Launching in January, this application will allow Fleetwood plants to customize floor plan literature by choosing from a catalog of feature/benefit statements with a simple "select and click" interface. As soon as the plant completes, or edits, this information, it is live and available to the consumer on fleetwoodhomes.com, or available to the retailer to order online.
Fleetwood Homes collaborated on this project with long-time agency Pivot + Levy (www.pivotandlevy.com), experts in creating marketing programs for sales networks.
About Fleetwood
Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. is a leading producer of recreational vehicles and manufactured homes through its subsidiaries. This Fortune 1000 company, headquartered in Riverside, Calif., is dedicated to providing quality, innovative products that offer exceptional value to its customers. Fleetwood operates facilities strategically located throughout the nation, including recreational vehicle, manufactured housing and supply subsidiary plants. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.fleetwood.com.
