Developer Playbook: Using Hyperlocal Engagement to Drive Sales Velocity

Not so long ago, PRiMAX co-founder Mark Bernberg and a property developer spent three hours sitting in a Lane Cove dog park. He was not there to walk a dog. “We sat there, not only just counting out who was in the dog park, but also what kind of dogs, what kind of people they were, whether they came as families, couples or as individuals,” Bernberg tells The Urban Developer . Three months of similar reconnaissance across coffee shops, restaurants and community spaces preceded his next major development launch. His mission was to “learn about the locals” at a grassroots level to create marketing and pre-sales messaging that was “completely tailored” to the market. The project sold out in six months. “I then tracked every Western Sydney project launch for six months,” Bernberg says. He found that some developers do months of similar hyperlocal research before lodging development applications, while others come with generic letterbox drops three weeks before launch and wonder why residents turn up to council meetings in opposition. “The winners were the ones who engaged the community compared to developers who just ticked community consultation boxes,” he says. “One developer spent $180,000 on community engagement consultants. Another spent $15,000 sponsoring local sports clubs and showing up every weekend. Guess who sold out in 18 weeks versus 18 months?” One of Bernberg’s former colleagues shared a philosophy that has stuck with him throughout his career: “It’s important in development to always be on the ground and tasting dirt.” What he means is developers need to understand what local communities actually want, say and feel rather than defaulting to predetermined templates. ▲ Grassroots engagement builds buyer trust and creates organic referrals that accelerate project sales, Bernberg says. Bernberg uses Aland’s Schofields Gardens in Western Sydney as an example. There, he worked as sales director on a 1500-unit, eight-stage project targeting a predominantly Indian and Nepalese community. Six months before launch, the developer started sponsoring local cricket teams with branded bats and equipment. Children across Schofields were playing backyard cricket with Aland-branded gear. The team met with Indian community leaders, participated in cultural festivals and engaged cricket and community clubs. “We were in an environment where people knew the brand and the people associated with the brand,” Bernberg says. “The community lapped it up.” Stage One sold out 10 months ahead of schedule. Unlike most developments that default to swimming pools and gyms, the Aland design team responded to community consultation with communal gardens featuring plants used in Indian cooking—coriander, curry leaves and other herbs central to the community’s lifestyle. Buyers maintained those gardens themselves. In most developments, communal landscaping deteriorates within months. At Schofields Gardens, residents actively tend the spaces because the gardens reflect what they value and how they live. A neighbouring development targeting the same demographic focused purely on price-point messaging. Schofields Gardens was more expensive but outsold the competitor five to one. “Sales skyrocketed because people were just referring it to their cousins, to their friends, to their family,” Bernberg says. “It shows you that people will pay a bit more if they feel that it’s the right thing for them.” The Lane Cove project worked with similar principles but in a different market. After months of observation, social media marketing campaigns featured photographs from local cafes that residents immediately recognised. Prospective buyers responded favourably to the developer that “knew their neighbourhood that intimately, whereas a lot of developers just don’t care”, Bernberg says. ▲ Herb gardens at Schofields proved more valuable to buyers than swimming pools, demonstrating the benefits of community consultation. This is the mindset successful developers tap into, according to Bernberg. Buyers want to feel understood at a granular level. “I trust that you understand me and I trust that you understand my community and I trust that you understand where I go and where I eat and where I play and what I do on weekends,” he says. It’s not just anecdotal either. Bernberg has data that supports his position on hyperlocal messaging and buyer engagement. “Using the digital tools we have at PRiMAX, we can find which ads lead to what levels of intent and whether or not that is a high-intent buyer,” Bernberg says. “There is a direct correlation to a higher level of engagement with the prospective buyer if they feel like ‘the developer understands me, they understand my community, they understand what I’m trying to achieve, what I would like to have’.” For example, generic advertising targeting first-home buyers misses the reality that an Indian first-time buyer in Marsden Park has vastly different needs than an Australian first-time buyer in Rose Bay, he says, even if both fall under similar generic buyer categories. Bernberg describes this as the difference between product-market fit and prospect-market fit. The distinction matters because developers “only get one shot with people”, he says. “They see it, it works or it doesn’t.” A development might stack financially and suit a demographic on paper but if the marketing does not resonate authentically, buyers who do reach the display suite think, “It’s not for me”. Understanding who will live in a building and designing accordingly produces superior commercial outcomes, he says. ▲ Sales across all eight stages at Schofields Western Sydney have been largely powered by community momentum rather than marketing spend. His research found that multi-stage developments show the highest engagement investment because developers plan to stay in an area for years rather than execute a single project and leave. “Long-term presence incentivises genuine relationship-building over box-ticking consultation exercises,” he says. And authenticity separates successful approaches from “community washing”. Developers who show up only to tick consultation requirements are immediately obvious to residents who have been burned by previous projects that promised community benefit and delivered a “concrete jungle”. “You can see straight through a developer ticking boxes in terms of community engagement and understanding versus the developer that really wants to understand,” he says. The benefits? Faster sales velocity compounds financial benefits. Construction finance is approved quicker. Holding costs shrink. Interest payments reduce. Market credibility is built through social proof. “Put simply, a developer could spend a bit on local sponsorships versus $2.3 million in extended holding costs,” Bernberg says. “The math is simple but, too often, the execution isn’t.” While Bernberg’s observations were largely from Western Sydney projects, he believes the strategy can be applied in other markets. Despite deploying AI-powered technology to track buyer behaviour, Bernberg maintains that walking the beat still beats algorithms when it comes to understanding what communities actually want. It all comes down to whether developers view community engagement as an obstacle to navigate or an opportunity to capture, he says. Those treating it as the latter are selling faster, building better and creating developments people want to live in. “It’s sales 101—don’t create a generic pitch and give it to everybody,” Bernberg says. “Really create a bespoke understanding of your customer. Otherwise, it feels like you’re invading, not integrating.”

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