Eich organizes his marketing strategy around these three points. His goal is to tell potential customers that he's a builder with genuine concern for the quality of the homes he builds as well as for the people who will live in them. His commitment to energy efficiency is important, but its value in winning customers is that it reinforces his carefully crafted quality image. One technique Eich uses to get publicity is a brass kickplate that he attaches to the front door of every home he builds. The kickplate is imprinted with his company name and logo, as well as with the date the house was completed.
People can see it from the street when they drive by.
The kickplate then becomes an integral part of the marketing campaign, as a sign that the home is something special, with good design, durability, energy efficiency and indoor air quality. It goes on the house after Eich completes his final inspection. It wasn't long before word got around. Two years after we started doing that, people were coming into the resale market looking for homes with the Bill Eich kickplate on them. An advertisement featuring the kickplate runs once a year in a local travel guide that is distributed in northwest Iowa.