Surviving Tough Times

I just got back from a builder's conference in Las Vegas and the keynote speaker was Al Trellis, noted author and business consultant to homebuilders all across the country. He had so many good tips and advice for us but the overall theme of this conference was surviving tough times.
The first tip he gave to us was to reduce risk. He said you reduce risk by reducing inventory of land and houses, and reduced overhead. Just a tip I had never heard before, but in good times you should carry about 2-1/2 to 3 years of lot inventory, and in tougher times 1-1/2 to 2 years of inventory. The second tip he gave was to increase demand through product improvement and pricing. He stressed doing this by studying the next new trends in product enhancements for the home and making sure that your prices didn't increase even though you were providing a better product. The third tip he gave was to improve effectiveness and productivity in marketing, sales and production. As a company, I know we stress improved production and effectiveness in our weekly strategy meetings. This is key because most importantly we are able to pass this on to our clients in terms of improved pricing. Just today, we were showing a potential client several of our homes and he asked me point blank, how are you guys able to build for these prices? My response to that is I don't know what anyone else is doing, all I know is that the increased efficiency we strive for we pass through so our clients can get the most for their money.