Wednesday, November 23, 2011
You can see why 58 people bought here…without a single sales pitch
Dear Reader,
I spend a good portion of my time telling readers to avoid slick sales people. It’s so easy to fall for their smooth patter and calculated techniques. Buyers get distracted by the show… don’t pay enough attention to what they are actually buying….and regret it at a later stage. All too often, the best sales people are selling the worst products.
But occasionally I come across a sales person that’s terrible…but with a great product. That’s the case with the Coco Beach Village developers, brothers Larry and Gary Swenson.
Don’t get me wrong. The Swensons are really nice guys. They’re friendly, relaxed and refreshingly upfront. They’re personable and incredibly easy to talk to. But they’re terrible sales people. Spend some time talking to them about their development, and they’ll likely convince you not to buy.
They’ll tell you that their location isn’t for everyone. They’ll make Coco Beach Village’s second- row lots sound like they’re miles from the beach. They’ll downplay the quality of the homes under construction. They don’t sugar-coat or rose-tint anything. Listening to them, you wonder how they managed to sell 58 lots in Coco Beach Village…without a single sneaky sales tactic in sight.
But when you see Coco Beach Village, you’ll understand how they did it. The guys have an amazing product. Coco Beach Village sits on Ecuador’s north Pacific coast, close to a little town called Jama, beside a long stretch of soft-sand beach. The beach slopes down to the sparkling ocean. Hills at the back of the community provide a sharp contrast to the summer-blue sky overhead.
The neighboring fishing village isn’t airbrushed and manicured. It’s a working fishing village. The locals fish from small wooden boats, repair their nets, and sell their catch as soon as they land (from $1 a pound). At weekends, they surf, socialize on the beach, or trade tales over a chilled beer from one of the rustic beach bars.
The village’s eateries aren’t upscale. They don’t come with fancy cutlery and white-gloved waiters. Instead, you’ll eat at well-worn wooden tables, on plastic beach chairs, served by the owner or his family. The food is simply-prepared, fresh and tasty. Lunch should set you back all of $2, for fish, salad and rice with a soda or juice.
Coco Beach Village is only two lots deep from the beach. Each lot is roughly a quarter-acre in size. That’s very spacious for a beachfront community. Pricing starts from $54,280.
A large roof terrace makes a great spot for outdoor dining
The utilities are already in. The clubhouse and pool are under construction, slated for delivery in spring 2012.
The second-row lots are steps from the sand. Plus, they’re elevated, and you can build an extra story higher than on frontline lots…so you’ll still enjoy a beach and ocean view from your rooftop terrace.
Homes in the community look chic. You’ll see evidence of a lot of skilled craftsmanship, from the wooden doors, windows and cabinetry (all made on-site) to domed ceilings and smoothly curved walls. The brothers might not know much about sales patter, but they pay close attention to detail. Almost good enough doesn’t make the grade. They want exceptional finishes.
Careful, handcrafted finishes: one of the homes in Coco Beach
Although I sometimes wish the Swensons were better sales people, I do appreciate the fact that they chose to focus their time and attention on finding a nice location, carving out generously-sized lots, and creating a close-knit community. And I like their honesty. Coco Beach buyers appreciate it, too. They enthuse not just about their new home, and their community, but also about the Swensons.
So I guess that the fact that the Swensons are fantastic developers trumps the fact that they’re terrible sales people (sorry, guys).
If you’d like to find out more about Coco Beach Village, you can contact Larry Swenson here. Don’t expect cold calls or high-pressure sales tactics. You won’t get them. But you’ll discover why the Swensons sold 57 lots…and why their buyers rate them as good friends.
Margaret Summerfield
P.S. Here’s what a Coco Beach owner said about the Swensons: “....literally within our first minutes those lights, indeed fireworks, went off - “THIS IS IT!!” Everything we had hoped for, all of our “wish list” items, they all came together….add to that the fact that Gary didn’t spend ONE MINUTE “selling” it to us. Truth be told, Gary really is a terrible “salesman” (in the sense that we typically think of a “salesman”). In fact, the two comments from that day that have stuck with us are: “you (Gary) really don’t have to be a salesman because Coco Beach sells itself”, and “Coco Beach is even better than we imagined and our expectations couldn’t have been higher”.
Posted Under:
ecuador, opportunities, affordable, beach, ocean-view
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