News
March 01, 2009
Getting in touch with their feminine side
A little over five years ago, Shane Wenzel found himself lucky enough to attend a CMHC housing outlook conference in Edmonton to hear the speaker, Joanne Thomas Yaccato, president and founder of the Toronto-based consulting firm, The Thomas Yaccato Group and author of the Gender Intelligent Retailer. Immediately Wenzel knew Shane Homes' sales and marketing team needed to hear Yaccato’s wisdom first-hand, so the builder brought her in to work on the company’s own “gender lens.”
Shane took the knowledge and meshed it with a few female-based listening groups to find out what women would do differently in a Shane design.
The true learning experience was displayed in the Yaccato II show home, built about four years ago, and still a popular design for buyers today.
The mention of Shane Homes in The Gender Intelligent Retailer was not expected by Wenzel. “It totally took us off guard,” but he says Yaccato told him, “ ‘You’re the only homebuilder to actually listen to this at this point.’ ”
Check out http://www.shanehomes.com for more information.
