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October is here, which means we are officially entering the last quarter of the year. And I think this is a really important time to ask ourselves a question: What are we going to do with the next 90 days? There is a lot of uncertainty in our industry right now. Interest rates, affordability, consumer confidence, traffic and the economy are all creating questions about what the rest of this year will look like and what we can expect when we head into the spring selling season. We can’t control…
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The Builder Marketing Summit has wrapped up for another year, and after two fast and furious days in Dallas, I walked away energized, full of ideas and, as always, wishing there had been just a little more time to talk with everyone. This was my fourth year joining Greg Bray of Blue Tangerine and Kevin Weitzel of Outhouse for the Summit, where they once again gave me free rein to lead the Online Sales Counselor track. That opportunity means a lot to me because there simply aren’t many industry events…
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Recently, a seasoned OSC reached out to me because she knows I do mystery shops. She also knows about the Annual Mystery Shop Report we conduct every year to get a pulse on the state of the industry when it comes to customer experience and the customer journey. She had been mystery shopped. On a Saturday. Her day off. Actually, it was the beginning of a four-day weekend for her. And as a solo OSC, she needs to take time off. Gone are the days when we should expect an…
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Why an AI Tool Isn’t the Same as an AI Strategy AI is everywhere in new home sales right now. Chatbots, automated follow-up, texting, dialers, lead nurturing, appointment setting. There are some incredible tools available, and I am certainly not anti-AI. Used correctly, AI can help us respond faster, manage more opportunities and take some of the repetitive work off our plates. But buying an AI tool is not the same thing as having an AI strategy. You don’t just buy it, unbox it, plug it into your website or…
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One of the first things I ask for when I start working with a new builder has nothing to do with conversion rates, lead response times, or appointment-setting percentages. Well okay I ask for all of that stuff. But I also ask for this… I ask to see every follow-up sequence living inside their CRM. The automated emails. The texts. The videos. The call tasks. Everything. Why? Because before I can coach an Online Sales Counselor, I want to understand what the buyer is experiencing. Every email, every text message,…
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“Everyone knows something you don’t… learn from them.” It’s a simple phrase, but one that’s resonated with me for decades. I’m not even sure where I first heard it, but it’s become part of who I am and how I approach life. Long before Blue Gypsy. Long before I was speaking at conferences or teaching classes. Before I ever became an Online Sales Counselor. It’s a mindset I’ve carried with me from experience to experience…country to country. I learned it years ago while traveling the world. Every place I visited…
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In our last blog post about One Team, One Experience I talked heavily about alignment. If the move from online to onsite is done well, it should feel natural from the buyer’s perspective. Exciting, even. The OSC should be building anticipation, not creating confusion. It should sound more like: “I’d love for you to meet my good friend; they’re going to have a much better handle on those specific house questions and help you take the next step.” That is a handoff. Not: “Here’s the appointment. Good luck.…
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Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of joining an NAHB Shop Talk with a title so good I figured it deserved a blog post of its own: One Team, One Experience: Turning Spring Traffic into Sales. When a topic is this relevant, this timely, and this painfully familiar to anyone in home building, you don’t just leave it neatly tucked inside a one-hour conversation. You bring it back out, dust it off, and say, “Alright, let’s talk about what this really means.” The discussion was moderated by Kelly Fink,…
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I feel like I make a post about this almost every year… but spring cleaning isn’t just for closets, junk drawers, and that cup holder in your car full of receipts, hair ties, mystery crumbs, and old empty coffee cups from Starbucks. It’s for your follow-up too. Let’s be honest… somewhere in that CRM is a sales process you built with the best of intentions and then never looked at again. She’s out there. Collecting dust. Sending old emails. Possibly embarrassing you. This time of year, is the perfect excuse…
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Alright, friends. We’re closing out March Debunking AI Month with one more thing I need to get off my chest: I am deeply skeptical of these micro learning AI courses that keep popping up all over my social feed. You know the ones. “Learn 47 AI tools in 28 days!” “Become an AI power user by next Tuesday!” “Master the future with our daily 10-minute lessons!” Meanwhile I’m over here thinking… who has time to collect apps like they’re Pokémon? What do I need 10…or 28 different tools? And more…
Is Lead Management The Same as Gardening?
The other day I attended my first networking luncheon in Northern Virginia. I just moved recently and now that I’m starting out from scratch, it’s an interesting process. Sometimes networking is a little bit like traveling around the world. There are set questions that people ask as soon as you meet them. With travel it was the where have have you been, where are you going how long are you traveling variety of question. But…
Tickets are Onsale Now For Blue Gypsy Bluesfest!
This month only, take advantage of the early bird special and save up to $20 on your tickets for the Blue Gypsy Bluesfest. We are putting on an amazing third party fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity and Natchel’ Blues Network. Two great local charities in Hampton Roads. Make sure you come to the event of the season on September 25th at Hunt Club Farm in Virginia Beach. And enjoy local blues music provided by Bobby…
Blue Gypsy Bluesfest: "Battle of The BBQ" Bring it on!
Blue Gypsy Inc is unconventional (And so is the Lead Gypsy) so why shouldn’t Blue Gypsy Bluesfest be unconventional as well! Most muli-band venues become a battle of the bands! Well how about we enjoy the bands, they get along fine, no need to fight… but instead we have a Battle of the BBQ? That’s right “Battle of the BBQ” is on. Now I just need to get the restaurants to comply! Since we’re having…
Checking Out The International Building Scene: Costa Rica!
“I’ll go with you!” As soon as my Realtor friend, Dawn Miller, said she was going to Costa Rica to check out some new homes communities for her international real estate business, those were the words that immediately flew out of my mouth. “I’ll go with you!” If you read my travel blog, you’d know I’ve been going through major travel withdrawal, and so the idea of taking a business trip to Costa Rica sent…
Singing The Facebook Security Blues in Costa Rica
Facebook’s silly new security measures at work….to hinder work. I’m on a business trip in Costa Rica right now and ironically facebook shut me out of my own account…. Let me explain. As I was passing time in the Charlotte Airport on Saturday before my flight out to Costa Rica I came across a rant by a friend about facebook’s security policies and making it difficult for business owners. I really didn’t give it much…
Crazy Facebook Fan Pages: Why Do You "Like" Them?
There are all kinds of crazy fan pages, or “like” pages as they now seem to be, popping up on facebook. To me a lot of them seem like time wasters and I’m not really understanding the point of them. I see people liking crazy things like: We Will Be The Old Ladies Causing Trouble At The Nursing Home Don’t give up on God because he never gave up on you…:) I Would Love To…
Realtors: Should You Push Your Listings on Facebook and Twitter?
Are twitter and facebook the best places to push out your listings? If all I ever did was talk about my travels around the world, people would shut their ears, roll their eyes, and walk away. If people can’t identify with what you are doing they tend to filter it out. The same goes for listings on facebook and twitter. I’ve noticed one local brokerage puts out listings only on twitter, and they do it…
Question: Who Wears The Pants in The Home Shopping Process? Answer: The Buyer!
I’ve been shopping some builder websites for an international project I’m working on. Perhaps I’ll finally be able to combine both my love of travel and my love of selling houses, but more to come on that later. It amazes me how much money is obviously put into some of these websites, yet they aren’t getting their money back out. So far I’m on 72 hours out, and no follow up off of 3 different…
Buyer’s Market Misconception
Here is the gist of a current phone conversation I had with a potential buyer exhibiting a total lack of understanding as to what the term buyer’s market really means. The phone rings on an evening after 9:00 pm. Me: “Thank you for calling our builder today, my name is Leah, how may I help you?” Caller: “I’m looking at your community online and I want a 1 story house.”Me: “Great, we do have homes…