Sales and Marketing Director of the Year
Dyanna Ruggiero Burns

As a result of her drive, creativity, and dedication, Dyanna Ruggiero Burns, Sales and Marketing Director for Tropea Communities achieved outstanding sales results in 2004.

Dyanna’s responsibilities throughout 2004 included the sales and marketing of Independence Court in Philadelphia, as well as eleven other communities spanning a 100 miles radius from Pennsylvania to Delaware. Dyanna’s talent for understanding markets and buyers, developing on-target community positioning, and creating a promotional programs that drive sales enabled her to meet the enormous challenge of selling homes in distinctly different locations, each requiring distinctively different marketing strategies. Sales at all communities exceeded the goals of the builder throughout 2004. In fact, Dyanna achieved a total sales volume of $30 million in 2004 alone, one third of her total sales in just four short years with Tropea.

Her greatest success came at Independence Court, a new town home community in Queen Village, Philadelphia. Almost one-half of the community’s 50 homes sold in the pre-construction phase, long before a model home was available. This phenomenal sales pace was due to Dyanna’s targeted approach to marketing. Her concentration on driving a wedge between the condominium and town home market clearly differentiated Independence Court and its unmistakable advantages as a true city neighborhood.

Using a variety of innovative approaches including hot air balloons, billboards, direct mail, internet marketing and out-of-the box advertising, Dyanna successfully promoted the potential for the best of both worlds at Independence Court -- an urban lifestyle, and a warm community. Combined with PR efforts that included ground breaking attended by Mayor Street, Councilman DiCicco and other city officials, both the visibility of Independence Court as well as the flawless positioning contributed to its outstanding sales success.

Throughout Tropea’s other communities, Dyanna also attained sales figures beyond projections in 2004. She opened three new communities in the Rehoboth Beach, DE area, penetrating a new market completely unfamiliar to Tropea and overcoming a distance barrier for the company and employees. In Chester County, she exceeded sales projections in one community even after the model home burned to the ground. Her creativity “kicked in” and Dyanna overcame what could have been a PR disaster for the builder. Just the opposite -- through a program of special sales incentives she turned a negative into a positive and the community sold out by year-end.

In addition to directing sales and marketing for Tropea Communities, Dyanna also oversees the marketing for three associate companies (Ruggiero Development Group as well as two Philadelphia area Century 21 offices). Her efforts have been a clear contributor to the steady growth of all three companies in 2004.

An active member of the professional building community, Dyanna serves on the board of directors for both the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia and the Home Builders Association of Chester and Delaware Counties. She participates on numerous committees with both associations where she is involved with many events, fundraisers and charitable initiatives.

A dynamic individual who strives to enhance her own skills, Dyanna attends monthly management training sessions to study topics ranging from employee issues to business development. She believes in the importance of continuing education, and is dedicated to strengthening her ability to contribute to the success of her communities, her company and the industry as a whole.