206.5 Bonus Episode: 2024 IBS Best Sales and Marketing Tips - Greg Bray and Kevin Weitzel Mar 4 2024

Greg Bray: [00:00:00] Hello everybody, and welcome to a special episode of the Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse.

Greg Bray: We are at IBS. We are recording live, tucked away in a corner, so it's not too loud and crazy. Kevin, how's the show been for you?

Kevin Weitzel: Freakishly fantastic. I've gone through many sales central sessions and the building knowledge sessions. I even walked a little bit to the floor. Fantastic this year. The tech area on the floor was outstanding. But I'll tell you what, there was some crazy, awesome sessions at Sales Central this year.

Greg Bray: I've really [00:01:00] been learning a lot and it's always great to see all the great sales and marketing people that we get to know all over the place. And so, I decided this time I'm going to get some real live feedback from them and just make sure that we know what everybody's thinking about. So, we've gone around and we've collected a bunch of quick sales and marketing tips. And so, we're just going to share those with you today on this episode and hope everybody enjoys it.

All right. I'm here with Bassam Salem from AtlasRTX. Bassam, what's one quick sales and marketing tip or reminder that you want builders to remember?

Bassam Salem: You know, pre-COVID we were all talking about follow-up, post-visit follow-up, and we forgot about that during COVID because we were no longer demand-constrained. We are back. It is amazing how ineffective follow-up is today. So, we have to return to focus on training and automating follow-up.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thanks so much.

Bassam Salem: Thank you.

Greg Bray: So, I'm here with Steve Bradford from Lexar Homes. Steve, what's one quick sales and marketing tip you think all builders should understand?

Steve Bradford: I've been going to a lot of [00:02:00] classes and training about the customer journey and creating a happy customer throughout the process. Over and over the theme is shaping expectations clearly on the front end, explaining how many days, how often we're going to be reaching out to you, what is the communication, and what's this path going to look like throughout your buying journey? I think that's one thing we do forget to do a lot, and if we focus on communicating, communicating, communicating on that front end, the back end is going to be so much easier. They're going to have a great customer journey throughout the process.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thanks.

Okay, I'm here with Dana Kovach from Kovach Marketing. Dana, what's just one quick sales and marketing tip that you think builders need to remember?

Dana Kovach: The most important tip I can give you is to listen to your customers. Listen to what your homebuyers are looking for, what excites them.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Short, sweet, and simple, and critical. Thank you.

All right. I'm here with Cory Dotson from Blue Tangerine. Cory, what's one quick sales and marketing tip you've got today for builders?

Cory Dotson: I think it's important to always remember that everything you do in marketing [00:03:00] always leads back to the website, so don't neglect the website, don't make it the afterthought, but always start with the website knowing that all of your conversions are ultimately going to lead to the website.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thank you.

Alright. I'm here with Dennis ONeil from ONeil Interactive. Dennis, what's a quick sales and marketing tip you've got for our folks today?

Dennis ONeil: Hi Greg, thanks for the question. I would suggest everybody look at Core Web Vitals from Google. We always think about website performance is important for user experience, looking for a quick, fast-loading website. But the key thing is now, is now it's not just about user experience, but it's also about SEO. So, pay attention, look at your Google Search Console, lots of information there.

Greg Bray: Alright, awesome. Thanks so much.

All right, I'm here with Leah Fellows with Blue Gypsy Inc. Leah, what's one quick sales and marketing tip you've got for us today?

Leah Fellows: That if you want to sell new homes, you have to be very personal and authentic with your buyers and really care about what they want and how to help them.

Greg Bray: Awesome, thanks.

Alright, I'm here with Gordon Henderson. Gordon's with [00:04:00] 149Photos. Gordon, what's a quick sales and marketing tip for our folks today?

Gordon Henderson: I'd say, this is part of like, say Captain Obvious, but I feel it's something that needs to be repeated over and over again. Do what you say you're going to do. If you promise to keep the customer updated once a week with photos or with an email or a phone call, do it. We just see a lot of inconsistency from builders that they make that promise but don't deliver on it. So, if you can say you're going to do something, do it.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thank you.

Gordon Henderson: You bet.

Greg Bray: Alright, I'm here with Roland Nairsey with New Home Sales Plus. Roland, what's one sales, marketing tip that you have for builders today?

Roland Nairsey: For sales, just never give up. You're just one phone call next to that sale. Just don't ever give up on a client or customer. Keep following up until you accomplish what you need to.

Greg Bray: Awesome.

Roland Nairsey: Never, never, never give up.

Greg Bray: All right, I'm here with Heidi Schroeder from ECI Lasso. Heidi, what's one great sales and marketing tip you want to share today?

Heidi Schroeder: I think my tip this year, Greg, is if you are a sales manager, learn how to use your data to manage your sales team. You can just [00:05:00] make it so much easier on yourself. So, learn how to use that data.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thanks so much.

Alright, I'm here with Keith McKinney from New Home Star. Keith, what's one sales and marketing tip that you want to share with folks here at the showroom?

Keith McKinney: Oh my gosh, there's so many. I would say the biggest sales and marketing tip is to make sure you are meeting people where they are and then take them where you want to go. Too often we want to try and force what we want down the customer's throat and we don't take the time to just ask the right questions and meet them where they are and then be the ultimate guide to show them the way.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

So, I'm here with Stuart Platt. Stuart's with OutHouse. What's one quick sales and marketing tip for us, Stuart?

Stuart Platt: I would say for your website, what's critical is that you want to engage people emotionally when they land on some of your marketing tools, and interactive floor plans is one of the best way to do so. It creates a mindset of creativity, you know, it takes them away from that research [00:06:00] mindset, gets them creative, gets them fantasizing about the plan they're designing for themselves. It keeps them on your website longer. And as we all know, the longer they're on your website, the more likely they are to reach out and contact you.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thanks, Stuart.

Alright, I'm here with Melissa Galland from DO&Be Agency. Melissa, what's one quick marketing tip that you want to share with the folks here at IBS?

Melissa Galland: I guess one thing I'd love to share is what I was just talking about with a salesperson is the importance of the collaboration between sales and marketing. Finding ways to bring your sales team into the marketing because we're not just selling homes, we're selling the expertise of our sales.

Greg Bray: Awesome, thanks so much.

Alright. I'm here with Barrett Davis from NterNow. Barrett, what's one quick sales and marketing tip that you want to share with builders today?

Barrett Davis: Yeah, I wanted to share some of our self-touring demographics. Now that millennials are starting to be the largest category of home shoppers, you'd think they'd be the most used self-touring customer, but it's actually over 50 is the major demographic using self-guided tours. [00:07:00]

Greg Bray: Awesome. Interesting stuff. Thanks so much.

Alright, I'm here with Nick Chitty from CommVersion. Nick, what's one sales and marketing tip for builders you can share today?

Nick Chitty: My one tip for the modern world would be to communicate with buyers on their terms.

Greg Bray: Awesome, thanks.

So, I'm here with Kimberly Mackey from New Homes Solutions. Kimberly, give us one sales and marketing tip for the folks here that you've been sharing at IBS.

Kimberly Mackey: So, something from my session this morning that I share is the concept of leading from the side. So, as many people know, I'm an equestrian. I have a horse. And one of the leadership things that I have learned from having this horse for 22 years, he weighs 1100 pounds, mind you, is you can't get behind him and push him. And I don't recommend that for any horses that you don't know because that's the business end of a horse, right? So, you can get kicked.

The other thing you can't do is get in front of a horse and pull him. It's not going anywhere. He's going, Hey, there's grass lady. Leave me alone. Why are you trying to pull me around? It's not going to happen. [00:08:00] But if I walk beside him, every step of the way, he will stay right with me. In fact, my three-year-old daughter could take that horse and go anywhere on the planet because we walk shoulder to shoulder So, if you're a sales leader out there and you are trying to tell your salespeople, why aren't you doing this? Walk beside them, do it with them. Go with them and hold them accountable and they will respect you and they will be happy about it.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thank you so much.

Alright, I'm here with Erik Martinez from Blue Tangerine. Erik, do you have a quick sales and marketing tip for the folks today?

Erik Martinez: One of the simplest things that you can do is really use your website to make your customers lives easier. And one example of that is, instead of just doing a mortgage calculator, talk about getting the mortgage application process put on your builder website and make that part of the process a little bit easier.

Greg Bray: Alright, thanks so much.

Alright. I'm here with Paul Gortzig from the Bokka Group. Paul, give us one quick sales and marketing tip. [00:09:00]

Paul Gortzig: Uh, one quick. There's so many quick ones. But I think the biggest one right now is really helping the customer understand what the building process looks like and communicate on a regular basis with them. We find that is their biggest pain point. And so, the best thing you can do to deliver a better experience is really communicate with them regularly, systematically, and proactively on the building journey.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Thank you.

So, I'm here with Kerry Mulcrone from Kerry & Co. Kerry, what's one quick sales and marketing tip you want builders to make sure they understand?

Kerry Mulcrone: You really think I can give you one, Greg? So, here's my one. I think that with so much integration of software and technology that's coming our way, make sure that you're cognizant of the irreplaceable human of your sales team that they can only take so much at once. Do not feed them technology through a fire hose. That is not why you hired them.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Great reminder. Thank you.

Kerry Mulcrone: You bet. [00:10:00]