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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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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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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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One thing I’ve learned over the past 19 years of building and rebuilding Online Sales Counselor (OSC) programs, and 14 years of consulting with builders across the country is this: Hiring a consultant doesn’t automatically change a program. It’s what happens between consulting, training, strategy, and leadership that makes the difference. I can build structure. I can train skills. I can create systems that make your OSC team run like a machine. But if leadership isn’t plugged in, reinforcing, and managing the program after I leave, even the strongest team…
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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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When margins are tight, it’s tempting to look for places to cut costs. Too often, the OSC program ends up on the chopping block. On paper, removing a salary line or trimming bonuses may look like savings. In reality, it’s one of the most expensive mistakes a builder can make. An OSC isn’t just another role. They are the engine that converts costly digital traffic into real appointments and closed sales. Without them, your marketing dollars evaporate, your conversion rates sink, and the homes you thought you’d sell this year…
Spring into Success: A Comprehensive Guide to Improving Profitability in Online Sales Programs for New Home Builders – Part 2
In Part 1 of our blog, we focused on the digital components needed to have an effective and profitable online sales program. While digital tools optimize efficiency and scalability in online sales programs, it’s the human touch that adds empathy, understanding, and adaptability to the process. By leveraging both digital capabilities and human expertise, new home builders can create a sales experience that is not only well-organized and transparent but also personalized and engaging, ultimately…
Enhancing Builder Efficiency Through Effective Online Sales Counselors
4th Annual Online Homebuyer Mystery Shop Report In the ever-changing arena of new home building, the role of Online Sales Counselors (OSCs) has proven indispensable. The 4th Annual Online Homebuyer Mystery Shop Report, a collaborative effort between Melinda Brody & Company, Denim Marketing, and Blue Gypsy Inc., sheds light on this crucial role. This annual report serves as a barometer for industry standards and practices, offering insights that help refine the strategies of home builders…
Enhancing Home Building with AI: 5 Ways OSCs Can Leverage Technology Without Losing the Human Touch
Just because you can’t leave it to AI (artificial intelligence) as we talked about last month, it doesn’t mean you can’t use it at all! The home building industry is experiencing a transformative wave with the integration of AI into various facets of operations. One crucial area where AI can make a significant impact is in Online Sales Counselor (OSC) programs. These programs play a vital role in engaging potential buyers and guiding them through…
The Power of Human Connection: Why You Can’t Just “Leave it to AI”
Let’s face it, complex queries demand human expertise. When it comes to the intricate world of home building, questions are often multifaceted. AI excels at routine tasks but may struggle when faced with nuanced or unique queries. A human touch ensures that your customers receive the comprehensive and tailored responses they need. As we implement all these “cool tools” we need to remember not to lose our empathy and understanding. Home building is a personal…
Don’t Say I Don’t Know: An OSC’s Guide to Building Trust – Scenario Three
The past couple of posts have explored how to build trust and not use the words, “I don’t know.” It’s not that we are trying to be dishonest when we don’t know the answer check out Scenario One for situations where we just may not know the information because we are new, or we haven’t committed something we SHOULD know to memory. Or that we are trying to be deceptive when we haven’t been given…
Don’t Say I Don’t Know: An OSC’s Guide to Building Trust – Scenario Two
In part one of Don’t Say, “I don’t know.” We attacked a scenario that’s easy to fall into if you are a brand new OSC, or even when you have been doing this for a while, but there may be things you just don’t know. Saying “I don’t know,” is the quickest way to kill trust with a new home buyer and have them rudely asking for someone who does know. But in scenario two…
Don’t Say I Don’t Know: An OSC’s Guide to Building Trust – Scenario One
As I got going writing this up, I realized it was waaaaayyyyy too long for a single blog post. So here’s part one of three! As an online sales counselor, whether you are new, or you’ve been doing this a while there are questions you simply can’t answer. Either because you don’t know the answer, the information doesn’t exist, or it’s not your question to answer… I’ll explain these scenarios in a three part series,…
Why Do You Need Executive Coaching with an Online Sales Program?
Whether you are setting up a new online sales program, or working on auditing, improving, or revamping an old OSC program, whoever is going to lead the OSC program or team, needs to be on the same page and understand how to communicate goals to the entire company. I’ve said it before, training an OSC cannot happen in a bubble. The leadership of the company, marketing, and sales teams all need to know what to…
What Does “When in Doubt Send It Out” Mean?
Yes, we all want to be setting appointments. Especially if your leads have slowed down, but we don’t want to set just any appointment. We want to set strong appointments that will convert, otherwise we aren’t doing what OSCs are supposed to do. You may have heard the term, “When in doubt, send it out.” But what exactly does that mean? It doesn’t mean short-cut your job as an online sales counselor and bypass the…
Five Things Leadership Should Know About Online Sales
Sometimes the people at the top don’t understand what Online Sales is, what Online Sales Counselors do, and why this role and the program are so important. 1. This is not a “Catch All” position – The online sales program isn’t a place to dump all the odds and ends in the company. An online sales counselor is not a closing coordinator, they are not the social media manager, they are not the graphic designer,…