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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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Being an OSC in the homebuilding industry isn’t just a job, it’s a balancing act, a communication art form, and a powerhouse role that lives at the crossroads of marketing and sales. If you’re looking to level up your performance and stand out, these 7 habits of highly effective OSCs will help you build stronger relationships, streamline your workflow, and ultimately set more appointments that convert. Let’s break them down: Be Numbers Driven Know your metrics like your best friend’s birthday. If you’re not tracking, you’re guessing. Your numbers tell…
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Every year I walk into the International Builders’ Show with the same challenge. There is simply too much good content. IBS is one of the few places where you can find yourself staring at your schedule thinking, “I want to be in three different rooms at the same time.” Between sales, marketing, technology, leadership, and customer experience sessions, there is always more to learn than any one person can realistically absorb in three days. That’s honestly part of why I keep coming back. This year is no exception. I’m especially…
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We live in a business world that often rewards the illusion of perfection. You’ve seen it. Polished LinkedIn profiles, shiny headshots, carefully curated captions that make it look like everyone’s got it together all the time. (I mean check, check, check I have all those things going on!) It’s like we’re all somehow superheroes in blazers…well not me, I don’t think I own a blazer. It seems like we are dodging failure, fear, and insecurity with a winning smile and our own business taglines and philosophies. But let’s get real…
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So, you hired someone like me, an OSC trainer, coach, and hiring consultant, to help you find and train your next great Online Sales Counselor. Maybe we are even setting your program up from scratch. I love working with builders to identify the right candidates and teach them the ropes of what it takes to be a successful OSC. That’s what I do. But let me be really, really clear about one thing: hiring me is not a replacement for onboarding someone to your company. With 20 years of experience…
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Okay, I’m going to say it. Louder for the people in the back, the front, and especially for those OSCs sitting in the dark corner of the CRM, aggressively tagging every incoming lead like a kid calling dibs on Halloween candy: Just because a lead touched your pipeline doesn’t mean you are owed a bonus on it. You have to do the work. And more importantly, just because someone walked into a home for a self-guided tour or a realtor schedules through ShowingTime does not mean you should automatically get…
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Here we go again. I’ve seen it before, and I’m seeing it now. Whenever the building industry slows down, the panic button gets slapped, and out come the budget-cutting machetes. And somehow, every single time, the Marketing Department is one of the first on the chopping block. It’s like an annual ritual: Market softens? Fire up the spreadsheets, folks! Line items must be slashed. But don’t worry, let’s totally ignore the fact that those “line items” are the only thing keeping new prospects trickling in during a downturn. You know,…
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I remember the first time I used AI to help me write and organize something. It was June 2023, and I was finally thinking seriously about putting my house on the water in Virginia onto the short-term rental market. My dad and I bought this house while I was still working on wooden schooners, and it was my place to go between boat jobs. Up to this point, I was an expert at couch surfing. Later it became my peaceful retreat, and I even lived there the first year I…
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Let’s pick up where we left off. In Part 1, we explored the idea that we naturally value what we prioritize. Our calendars, to-do lists, and mental energy are often the truest indicators of what really matters to us. But if that’s true… what happens when we feel like we’re stuck between two values? Welcome to the tug-of-war between professional growth and work-life balance. This is one of the most common internal battles people across all industries are fighting quietly, every day. Two Good Things, One Big Tension “I want…
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AI is everywhere right now. And in the OSC world, it can be a great tool – or a nightmare. AI can be like that super-organized friend who always has a to-do list, a backup plan, and a fully stocked snack drawer. It can help you stay on top of lead response, follow-up, and appointment setting without breaking a sweat. It’s fast. It’s tireless. It doesn’t panic when you come back to 42 new leads on a Monday morning. But use it wrong, and it turns into a misinformation machine,…
One Team, One Experience: Turning Spring Traffic into Sales
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,…
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Online Sales Counselors (OSCs)
Being an OSC in the homebuilding industry isn’t just a job, it’s a balancing act, a communication art form, and a powerhouse role that lives at the crossroads of marketing and sales. If you’re looking to level up your performance and stand out, these 7 habits of highly effective OSCs will help you build stronger relationships, streamline your workflow, and ultimately set more appointments that convert. Let’s break them down: Be Numbers Driven Know your…
IBS 2026: So Many Great Sessions… and Only One of Me
Every year I walk into the International Builders’ Show with the same challenge. There is simply too much good content. IBS is one of the few places where you can find yourself staring at your schedule thinking, “I want to be in three different rooms at the same time.” Between sales, marketing, technology, leadership, and customer experience sessions, there is always more to learn than any one person can realistically absorb in three days. That’s…
Vulnerability Is Not the Opposite of Strength
We live in a business world that often rewards the illusion of perfection. You’ve seen it. Polished LinkedIn profiles, shiny headshots, carefully curated captions that make it look like everyone’s got it together all the time. (I mean check, check, check I have all those things going on!) It’s like we’re all somehow superheroes in blazers…well not me, I don’t think I own a blazer. It seems like we are dodging failure, fear, and insecurity…
Why Onboarding Your OSC Is Still YOUR Job (Even If You Hire Me)
So, you hired someone like me, an OSC trainer, coach, and hiring consultant, to help you find and train your next great Online Sales Counselor. Maybe we are even setting your program up from scratch. I love working with builders to identify the right candidates and teach them the ropes of what it takes to be a successful OSC. That’s what I do. But let me be really, really clear about one thing: hiring me…
Stop Hoarding, Start Helping: Why Being an OSC Is More Than Just Racking Up Bonus Bucks
Okay, I’m going to say it. Louder for the people in the back, the front, and especially for those OSCs sitting in the dark corner of the CRM, aggressively tagging every incoming lead like a kid calling dibs on Halloween candy: Just because a lead touched your pipeline doesn’t mean you are owed a bonus on it. You have to do the work. And more importantly, just because someone walked into a home for a…
The Budget Axe Falls (Again): How to Burn Down Your Sales Funnel with One Bad Decision
Here we go again. I’ve seen it before, and I’m seeing it now. Whenever the building industry slows down, the panic button gets slapped, and out come the budget-cutting machetes. And somehow, every single time, the Marketing Department is one of the first on the chopping block. It’s like an annual ritual: Market softens? Fire up the spreadsheets, folks! Line items must be slashed. But don’t worry, let’s totally ignore the fact that those “line…
Fiddler’s Green, My First Dance with AI, and Why You Still Need Your Own Voice
I remember the first time I used AI to help me write and organize something. It was June 2023, and I was finally thinking seriously about putting my house on the water in Virginia onto the short-term rental market. My dad and I bought this house while I was still working on wooden schooners, and it was my place to go between boat jobs. Up to this point, I was an expert at couch surfing.…
We Make Time for What We Truly Value – Part 2: Resolving the Tug-of-War Between Growth and Balance
Let’s pick up where we left off. In Part 1, we explored the idea that we naturally value what we prioritize. Our calendars, to-do lists, and mental energy are often the truest indicators of what really matters to us. But if that’s true… what happens when we feel like we’re stuck between two values? Welcome to the tug-of-war between professional growth and work-life balance. This is one of the most common internal battles people across…
AI Can Be an OSC’s BFF… But It Still Needs a Chaperone
AI is everywhere right now. And in the OSC world, it can be a great tool – or a nightmare. AI can be like that super-organized friend who always has a to-do list, a backup plan, and a fully stocked snack drawer. It can help you stay on top of lead response, follow-up, and appointment setting without breaking a sweat. It’s fast. It’s tireless. It doesn’t panic when you come back to 42 new leads…